X-FORCE #51 – February 1996

Reflections in the Night

Credits: Jeph Loeb (writer), Luciano Lima (penciler), Hunt/Jones/Quijano/Russell (inkers), Tom Vincent (colorist), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Cable and Bishop argue, as they examine the remains of Sabretooth’s shackles. Bishop suggests that Boomer might’ve helped Sabretooth escape, but Cable refuses to believe it. Cable leaves and checks on Shatterstar, who is being examined for any remaining influence from Tessa’s mind control. The Beast uses the opportunity to explore Shatterstar’s past, which annoys Cable. Elsewhere, Gambit checks on Siryn after she unleashes her sonic scream during her sleep. Outside of the mansion, Warpath follows a secret message and meets a mysterious woman named Risque at a junkyard. After an explosion buries him under debris, he instinctively throws the wreckage at the woman. She shrinks the debris with a touch of her finger. She then kisses Warpath and somersaults away. Cannonball tries to talk to Boomer about her father’s medical condition, but she refuses to open her bedroom door. The next morning, Cable tries to talk her into opening the door. Boomer comes out to reveal a new look, demanding that the team call her “Meltdown” from now on.

Continuity Notes

Warpath has now developed a super-speed power, in addition to the super-hearing that debuted a few issues ago. Boomer’s father is recovering from Holocaust’s assault against his trailer. Sunspot is beginning to think in Askani. Siryn’s troubled sleep is tied to her experience at the mental hospital.

Loeb drops some more hints, foreshadowing the upcoming “origin” of Shatterstar. Beast asks Shatterstar about his parents, and he pauses before claiming that he was bio-engineered. Beast tells Cable that Shatterstar’s DNA matches Longshot’s exactly, which is impossible.

Review

This is really a “spotlight on subplots” issue, since it has no main storyline but instead focuses on brief scenes with different team members. You would think that Boomer’s reaction to Sabretooth’s reversion would receive the spotlight in this issue, but it’s actually only a small part of the story. Apparently, the betrayal leads her to adopt a new name and attitude, but there doesn’t seem to be much of an effort to sell it here. Really, all of the different scenes are so skimpy, it’s hard to care about any of them. Warpath gets a lot of attention, but his story just involves him briefly meeting yet another mystery character. Most of the other scenes are just reiterations of ongoing storylines without really advancing them at all. Pitting Cable against Bishop works okay, and it helps to emphasize Cable’s growing connection to his pupils, but the rest of the issue is pretty bland. The fill-in art comes from Luciano Lima, who turns in a stiff, awkward Jim Lee impression. It’s strange that virtually all of the X-titles have moved away from the early ‘90s look at this point, but the Image clones still show up as fill-in artists.

WOLVERINE #96 – December 1995

Campfire Tales

Credits: Larry Hama (writer), Adam Kubert & Luciano Lima (pencilers), Dan Green (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Joe Rosas & Malibu Hues (colors)

Summary

Caliban and Cannonball join Wolverine and Storm on a camping trip. Cannonball asks Wolverine to tell them stories about the X-Men. Wolverine tells a story set shortly after his aborted wedding to Mariko. Trying to numb himself to the pain, he began drinking heavily. Storm invited him to her attic where she showed him a unique hybrid flower she grew. She cut the flower and gave it to Wolverine, asking him to place the flower in a vase next to his picture of Mariko. A grizzly bear wanders on to the campsite. Agent Noah, who has been secretly observing Wolverine with Zoe, tries to kill the bear but Zoe forces him to teleport away instead. The other mutants attack the bear, but Wolverine senses that it’s only hurt and afraid. He tosses a ball at its nose and scares it away. In Egypt, the Dark Riders use mutant death watch beetles to devour Cyber’s flesh, leaving only his adamantium.

Continuity Note

When Noah tries to kill the bear, he says that it’s “nothing compared to what we’ve already done!” Zoe says that she’s had enough and that “maybe Landau, Luckman, & Lake have gone too far this time!” What this means isn’t clear at all, but it ties into the upcoming #100 in some way.

Review

Wolverine kills another issue on its way to #100. This one does at least offer some variation on the previous issues, as Hama tries to emphasis Wolverine’s feral regression in a different way by connecting him to nature instead of just having him describe how much he enjoys clawing people now. Actually, this issue probably should have come before the last one, since the previous story had Wolverine welcoming the regression, while this one shows that he’s still holding on to his humanity. This has always been one of my favorite “quiet” stories from this era, mainly due to the flashback, which really is a sweet story about one friend reaching out to another (even if it is only three pages long). Allowing Wolverine to be the one character not to resort to violence against the bear is a nice twist, and the final internal monologue describing the regression from his point of view is well done. It’s still a slight story, but Kubert’s art is good enough to compensate a little.