UXM #364 & X-MEN # 84, January - February 1999

Uncanny X-Men #364

Escape From Alcatraz

Credits: Steve Seagle (plot), Ralph Macchio (script), Lenil Francis Yu (penciler), Tim Townsend & Edgar Tadeo (inkers), Liquid! Graphics (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: In Florida, the animated Cerebro that impersonated Professor Xavier destroys its headquarters and flies away. In Alcatraz, the X-Men and Brotherhood continue to fight the Cerebro unit that Xavier calls “Cerebrite Beta”. During the fight, Toad, Mimic, and Shadowcat are blasted by Cerebrite Beta and disappear. Xavier senses that they aren’t dead, so the remaining X-Men are intentionally hit by Cerebrite’s ray in order to investigate. Nightcrawler, who was separated from the team, witnesses the incident and assumes his teammates are dead. He flees in their jet and heads for Tajikistan.

Continuity Notes: The Cerebro unit in Florida reveals (while talking to itself, conveniently enough) that the imposter X-Men from a few issues ago were a “holographic creation…based on existing profiles written by Professor Xavier.” I’m not sure if a more specific origin is given later, but the idea is that Cerebro mixed and matched info on various mutants in order to create new X-Men. However, that doesn’t explain the opening scenes of UXM #360 that had Xavier recruiting each member in real life.

The Cerebro unit (or Cerebrite Beta, as I guess it’s now known) in San Francisco is no longer drawn as a robot, which is how it appeared in the last issue and on this issue’s cover. It now resembles the energy form of the Cerebro unit fighting the other team in X-Men. A less obvious design change comes from Professor Xavier, who suddenly goes from a red jumpsuit to a tucked-in dress shirt and black pants for one page.

Production Note: An uncredited artist draws the last six pages of the story. Some of the pages resemble Pascual Ferry’s work, which is likely since he also works on the next chapter in X-Men.

Review: And now the crossover goes from dull to atrocious. Judging by the cover dates, this crossover was shipped bi-weekly during the final chapters, which would help to explain why this comes across as such a rushed mess. Lenil Francis Yu arrives as the fill-in artist, turning in a job that starts off fine but deteriorates as the issue goes on. Whenever Yu penciled one of the main X-team books during this era, his work seemed to suffer. This one is particularly rough, which I’m sure had something to do with deadline issues. Ralph Macchio shows up for another random fill-in job, turning in a script that mostly consists of characters talking to themselves, describing their powers, and reciting the storyline so far. When they’re not repeating info that’s on the recap page, the characters have lines like, “Ugh! It’s enough to make me puke the way you upworlders fall all over yourselves like the Knights of the Round Table trying to prop up a stricken King Arthur!”

Even if the dialogue were tolerable, there’s only so much you can do with the thin plot. It’s twenty-two pages of Cerebrite Beta fighting the X-Men and Brotherhood, when they’re not busy arguing over who gets to leave with Xavier. You’d think that Xavier would have something to say about this, except that he only speaks in this issue when he has some exposition to spit out. It’s honestly hard to tell if he’s supposed to be unconscious during certain scenes, or if Macchio just didn’t want to give him anything to say. (He’s often drawn with his eyes closed and mouth open, but that doesn’t stop him from speaking a few times.) The action scenes might’ve saved this, but since every page is covered in bland exposition and Yu’s art suffers whenever multiple characters appear, the fight is just boring. This one really is terrible.

X-Men #84

Dream’s End!

Credits: Joe Kelly (writer), Adam Kubert & Pascual Ferry (pencilers), Matt Banning & Pascual Ferry (inkers), Richard Isanove & Monica Kubina (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Nightcrawler rescues the remaining X-Men in Tajikistan and uses the Aurora jet’s tracking system to find Xavier and the others. As Cerebro is explaining its plan to create peace by “cataloging” humans, the X-Men arrive. Convinced that he needs to use his telepathy to connect with Cerebro, Xavier asks Nina to reactivate his telepathic powers. Xavier connects Cerebro with every human mind on earth, revealing the uniqueness of the human race. Cerebro realizes the error of its ways and dissipates. Reunited, the X-Men return home.

Continuity Notes: The Aurora jet is the vehicle used by Cerebro’s imposter X-Men in UXM #360 and X-Men #80. The real X-Men confiscated it at the end of the storyline.

It’s revealed that by “cataloging” people, Cerebro is placing them inside a cocoon. Cerebro claims that it was created when Bastion attempted to download its files. A failsafe sent its central programming “into a secondary vessel”, which somehow lead to it becoming a sentient being after it passed through Bastion’s “complicated neural network”.

Review: And again, the X-Men chapter is more enjoyable than the UXM installment. Kelly’s script still has some personality, and Kubert’s art is up to his usual standards. Pascual Ferry’s half of the issue looks a little rushed in comparison, but it’s not bad either. The crossover finally ends, as Xavier has his powers restored and is reunited with the team. I wonder if that was always supposed to be Nina’s role, and if she was an editorial creation in the first place (it seems unlikely Larry Hama would’ve created such an enigmatic character for the purposes of a one-shot comic). Overall, it’s not a very satisfactory conclusion, but it has its moments. I think the major problem is Cerebro, who just isn’t an interesting villain, personality-wise or from a design sense. After introducing the idea of Cerebro as a villain, it seems as if the storytellers didn’t know where to go with it, as details of Cerebro’s plan are inconsistent from chapter to chapter, and the storyline ends with him getting the warm fuzzies and disappearing. It’s never very clear why he was kidnapping mutants in the first place, or why he abandoned some (like the X-Men in Tajikistan), but ruthlessly pursued others (like Pyro in the first chapter). This might’ve worked better if the storyline were cut in half, but reading issue after issue with such a dull villain becomes a chore.

UXM #363 – January 1999

Uncanny X-Men #363

When You’re Unwanted

Credits: Steve Seagle (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Art Thibert & Tim Townsend (inkers), Liquid! Graphics (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Wolverine, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, and Marrow follow Professor Xavier’s trail in San Francisco. Nearby, a Cerebro robot attempts to “catalogue” a latent mutant, but he’s ordered by a mysterious voice to follow new instructions. In Utah, a Cerebro robot steals samples of Bastion’s nanotechnology from a government facility. In Chinatown, Black Crane, a friend of Wolverine’s with mystic abilities, directs the X-Men to Alcatraz. When they arrive, they’re attacked by a new Brotherhood of Mutants, consisting of Blob, Toad, Mimic, and Post. Professor Xavier emerges and stops the fight, declaring the Brotherhood his new students. Xavier claims that they’re united against a common enemy, as a Cerebro robot suddenly bursts in.

Continuity Notes: Toad is now apparently insane, and speaks in rhyme. Post claims that the Brotherhood broke Xavier out of his New Mexico prison, not knowing that his telepathic powers were gone. A narrative caption says that the Cerebro robots were created by Bastion, a claim later repeated by Professor Xavier.

Miscellaneous Note: The Statement of Ownership lists average sales for the year at 233,656 copies, with the most recent issue selling 218,895.

Review: This is the crossover’s second weak issue of UXM. Like the previous issue, this is just dull. The X-Men go where the story needs them to go, fight the Brotherhood, find Xavier, and then the real villain appears. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the plot, the execution just fails to make it interesting. The X-Men have been separated from Xavier for over two years at this point, yet his return doesn’t feel like that big of a deal. Bachalo’s art might have something to do with this, as his cartoony style just doesn’t seem to convey any drama. I didn’t have that problem with his previous work, but the character designs in these issues are so exaggerated it’s hard to buy into the story (Liquid!’s extremely bright color palette is also a part of the problem, as the interior of Alcatraz is often portrayed as a shiny yellow). The selection of these characters as the new Brotherhood did seem odd at first, but Blob, Post and Mimic’s connection to Xavier/Onslaught actually works in the story’s favor. Toad, on the other hand, doesn’t have that connection, and is now insane for no obvious reason. I guess it’s the latest in his ongoing series of personality changes, but this switch has always annoyed me.

X-Men #83

Tomb of Ice

Credits: Joe Kelly (writer), Adam Kubert (penciler), Livesay/Wiacek/Llamas (inkers), Richard Isanove (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: In Tajikistan, the X-Men fight off the animated Cerebro. They flee with Nina and Renee Majcomb, who explains that she and Nina traveled to this monastery after escaping from Bastion. Months later, the animated Cerebro arrived to kidnap Nina, killing dozens of monks in the process. Nina was able to use her telepathic and reality bending powers to keep it away, until she was distracted by the X-Men’s arrival. The animated Cerebro returns and possesses Colossus’ body. During the fight, Cerebro blasts Storm and she disappears. The remaining X-Men are left unconscious as Cerebro flies away with Nina.

Continuity Notes: Renee Majcomb and Nina ended up in this monastery because Nina picked the memory from Xavier’s mind. Xavier spent time with these monks as a “youth”, which was presumably during the time he spent traveling the world. It’s revealed that Nina “imprinted” on to Xavier like a duck does its mother, explaining why Cerebro reads her as Xavier.

For the record, the Cerebro in UXM is a robot, while the one in X-Men is an energy form that wears the standard Cerebro headpiece, and appears to have a metallic spine. Another Cerebro is directing their orders from the “Liberty Electric Authority”, which is presumably in America.

Production Note: One page in this issue is clearly drawn by another artist. The page is a quick cutaway that recaps events that occurred in San Francisco during the previous chapter of the crossover. The dialogue is also pretty stiff, leading me to believe that Joe Kelly didn’t write it, either.

Review: The X-Men chapter is once again more enjoyable than the UXM installment, although this isn’t as strong as the previous issue. Kelly doesn’t give you the impression that he’s simply going through the motions, but it’s still not that interesting of a story. There is one nice character moment, as Nina gives Rogue a telepathic play-by-play of the X-Men getting devastated by Cerebro while she’s trying to fly her away. The story ties up some of the loose ends from the previous issue, as the dead monks are explained, and we’re told why Cerebro detected Xavier in Tajikistan. The explanation doesn’t make an awful lot of sense, but that’s true of most of the story elements that surround Nina. Adam Kubert’s art is as strong as ever, even though I dislike the design of the animated Cerebro. Having him possess Colossus doesn’t exactly improve the look, either.

UXM #362 & X-MEN #82 – December 1998

Uncanny X-Men #362

Meltdown

Credits: Steve Seagle (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Art Thibert & Tim Townsend (inkers), Liquid! Graphics (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Pyro, whose powers are out of control due to the Legacy Virus, is causing havoc in the Midwest. He asks for Professor Xavier, so Nick Fury summons the X-Men for help. Wolverine is finally able to confront Pyro, just as a mystery figure attempts to kidnap him. Pyro forces it to teleport away. His powers then explode, and Nick Fury takes his unconscious body away. The X-Men return home and try to locate Xavier with the Cerebro unit recently mailed to them by Moira MacTaggert. Shadowcat finds two identical readings for Xavier, one in San Francisco, and the other in Tajikistan.

Review: This is the beginning of the “Hunt for Xavier” crossover, which isn’t exactly considered a highlight of the Seagle/Kelly issues. This issue has a rather thin plot, but somehow Seagle manages to fit an excessive amount of word balloons into every page of the story. Bachalo is also cramming almost every page with small panels, which is apparently a quirk that he enjoys. In the end, you’re left with very tiny X-Men buried under a weight of word balloons. The story is already pretty dull, and the cramped look of almost every page doesn’t exactly encourage you to keep reading. Seagle does work in a few nice character moments, such as Marrow’s cynical attitude towards the Professor and Cecilia Reyes’ introduction to Gambit, but this one is mostly boring.

X-Men #82

The Hunt for Charly!

Credits: Joe Kelly (writer), Adam Kubert (penciler), John Dell & Jesse Delperdang (inkers), Richard Isanove (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Storm, Rogue, Colossus, and Gambit arrive in Tajikistan, where they find a hidden monastery in the snow. After breaking through the door, they discover dead bodies covering the ground. When Colossus touches a mirror, his finger goes through it. The X-Men investigate and find themselves inside a “non-logic” world. By concentrating on their deepest feelings, they’re able to return to reality. They’re greeted by Nina and Renee Majcomb. Nina apologizes for attacking the team, because she mistook them for a monster. She then tells the team that they’ve allowed a real monster to come in, as an animated Cerebro enters.

Production Note: All of the scenes inside the “non-logic” world are digitally painted by Richard Isanove. This is the first time the technique has been used in an X-book (it will show up a few times in the next year, I think exclusively in Adam Kubert’s issues).

Review: This is much more cryptic than the previous chapter, but it’s more fun to read. The combination of Kubert’s art and Isanove’s intricate colors creates a visually stunning issue. Even if much of the story details are left vague, Kelly’s script is strong enough to make the characters interesting, and he uses the “non-logic” world as a way to offer insight into each cast member. None of it is particularly new (Storm feels deeply about the X-Men as a family, Colossus misses his sister, Rogue is still fixated on her night with Gambit months earlier in Antarctica, and Gambit is wrapped up in another mystery -- the Green Mist Lady), but it’s another example of Kelly’s ability to make the story about the characters. Unfortunately, all of the things I like about this issue really have nothing to do with the main story, which is a bad omen for what’s ahead.