NEW MUTANTS #100 - April 1991

The End of the Beginning

Credits:  Rob Liefeld (plot, pencils, inks), Fabian Nicieza (script), Brad Vancata (colors), Joe Rosen (letters)

Summary:  The team tries to stop Shatterstar from destroying the practice robots in the Danger Room, leading to a fight.  Eventually, Cable knocks him out.  Later, Shatterstar explains that he’s traveled from a future Mojoverse in search of the X-Men.  Boom-Boom goes to the kitchen to find food for Shatterstar, and discovers Feral.  Feral explains that she needs the team’s help against Masque.  Simultaneously, Mojo V’s soldiers materialize inside the complex.  The team defeats them, but while they’re distracted, Masque makes his move.  Cable quickly kills his lackey Brute, intimidating Masque into leaving.  Cable explains that the complex is no longer safe and that the team must begin the next phase of its mission.  Later, Strfye summons the MLF for an assignment.  He takes off his helmet in private, revealing he has Cable’s face.

Continuity Notes:  

• Shatterstar explains that he’s a rebel from Mojoverse, one hundred years in the future.  He claims Mojoverse is ruled by Mojo V and his executioner, Spiral.
• I believe this issue marks the first time Cable kills someone (on-panel).
• Cannonball comments that Cable’s remade the team into an “X-Force,” which of course sets up the new series.
• This issue is the first time Stryfe is unmasked.  Not only does he have Cable’s face, but he also repeats a line of dialogue uttered by Cable in a previous issue.  At one point, Liefeld considered revealing that Cable and Stryfe were the same person from different points in the timestream, and it’s obvious the creators want you to think that Cable has been Stryfe all along as the big cliffhanger.

I Love the '90s:  Proudstar is wearing a belt literally made out of pouches.

We Get Letters:  This issue prints the first letter from a fan irrationally obsessed with Deadpool.

Review:  New Mutants draws to an end, as Cable officially recruits James Proudstar, Feral, and Shatterstar to join his mysterious friend Domino in X-Force.  (Okay, Cannonball and Boom-Boom can come, too.)  And if you’re expecting any heartfelt tributes to the long-running series in its one hundredth and final issue, ha, yeah right… Anyone intimately familiar with the history of this series was surely seeing red, but as a kid who always dismissed this book as dull, I was excited to see the start of something new.  That “something new” turned out to be quite a mess, but at this moment, X-Force looks like it has promise.  A team that’s willing to “fight for the dream,” new characters, new mysteries, and more of Cable and his violent shenanigans, which is what every twelve-year-old wants.  

As for this specific issue, I have the same predictable complaints about the art (and I have to point out this is the issue with the infamous double-page swipe from Ronin), but the story does a credible job of inducting the new members into the team and setting up the new direction.  Nicieza’s dialogue helps a lot, as Cable is still amusingly deadpan and not a generic Clint Eastwood clone, and the rest of the cast show at least some semblance of a personality.  And that cliffhanger had to freak out any one of the impressionable kids reading at the time (except for me, as I had no idea who Stryfe was supposed to be.)  Now, as I said earlier, all of this leads into a book that’s genuinely awful for over a year after its release, and it turns out that Cable’s promises to help Proudstar, Shatterstar, and Feral are just as empty as his original pledge to rescue Rusty and Skids.  Knowing that the stories and art are only going to get worse from here probably does lessen my opinion of the issue, but I can’t deny that the story made me genuinely curious, at the time, to find out what happens next.  On that level, it’s a fair set-up for a new beginning.

NEW MUTANTS #99 - March 1991

The Beginning of the End - Part Two

Credits:  Rob Liefeld (plot, pencils, inks), Fabian Nicieza (script), Brad Vancata (colors), Joe Rosen (letters)

Summary:  Inside the Morlock Tunnels, Masque targets Feral, who refuses to join his anti-human crusade.  Feral discovers a hatch connected to the Xavier’s school’s underground complex and escapes.  Meanwhile, Cable tries to recruit James Proudstar to the team, but he refuses.  When he returns home to Camp Verde, Proudstar discovers the entire reservation has been massacred.  Elsewhere, Boom-Boom finds the note Rictor’s left behind, explaining that he’s left to rescue Wolfsbane in Genosha.  After meeting with Gideon, Sunspot informs Cable that he’s leaving the team in order to oversee his late father’s business.  Shortly after Sunspot says goodbye, Proudstar arrives and agrees to join.  Simultaneously, Shatterstar materializes in the Danger Room.

Continuity Notes:  

• This issue marks Feral’s first appearance, along with Shatterstar’s first cameo appearance.  (One panel appearances used to only count as “cameos.”)
• Proudstar finds the remnants of a Hellfire Club soldier’s mask at Camp Verde, leading him to assume the White Queen ordered the attack as retaliation after he left the Hellions.  Years later, after Marvel decides to reform the White Queen, she’s acquitted of the crime.  Eventually, Stryfe is revealed as the murderer.

• After Cable makes a reference to the bleak future of mutants, Proudstar jokes that he must have a crystal ball. This is another early clue that Cable might be a time traveler, although the hint is so vague it’s easy to dismiss as this point.  The "crystal ball" reference shows up again next issue as a red herring, hinting Cable and Stryfe are the same person.
• More vague talk from Cable:  He remarks that he lost his father at an early age, and boasts to Cannonball that he’s seen thousands of people die on the battlefield.
• Gideon is spying on Cable as he has dinner with Proudstar.  His dialogue implies that he’s in a race with Cable to recruit young mutants, which broadly fits with later revelations that Gideon singled out Sunspot because he assumed Sunspot was the “High Lord.”
• Gideon’s dialogue with Sunspot implies they grew up together.  I’m assuming Gideon’s status as an immortal hadn’t been decided yet, because it’s hard to imagine Sunspot having an adult friend as a child, one who never seemed to get older.  Gideon also mentions that he was thrown out of Harvard, in case anyone’s curious.  
• The dates marking time throughout the issue don’t add up.  I’m assuming there’s a lettering mistake that has the story go from December 14th to December 7th in the final scene.

Miscellaneous Notes:   

• The Statement of Ownership lists the average sales for the year at 182,499 copies with the most recent issue selling 194,300. 
• The cover to this issue is an homage to Uncanny X-Men #138.   There have been numerous take-offs on this cover over the years, but this is possibly the very first one.

Review:  I rarely, and I mean rarely, purchased New Mutants as a kid, but I did pick up the final two issues of the series.  I don’t think I knew specifically about X-Force, but I did somehow know that the book was coming to an end at issue #100 and that seeds were being planted for an entirely new direction.  Even this tidbit of information seemed strange to me; books at that time just ended, as far as I knew.  I had never heard of a book that was purposefully winding down in order to make way for an entirely new series.  Intrigued by what was coming next, I picked up the final issues of New Mutants just to see how the book, which was almost my age, would be drawing to a close.  

And, honestly, I thought it was a very engaging finale.  People are leaving left and right, obscure mutants are getting recruited into the team, strange villains are watching from the shadows, plus new characters are getting introduced and I actually get to read their first appearances for a change.  Remember the days when having a first appearance was like owning a precious artifact? 

Does the issue hold up today?  As an early plotting assignment for Rob Liefeld, it is remarkably coherent.  He doesn’t waste a page of the story, plowing through the events that need to happen in order to get where he wants to go, but never really crossing the line and making the plot machinations obvious.  It’s entirely conceivable that Sunspot would leave the team after his father’s death (and using this event as way to introduce Gideon also makes sense), and numbskull Rictor would likely leave the team in the middle of the night to rescue Wolfsbane.  After losing two other members in the “X-Tinction Agenda” crossover, that leaves the team with four fewer mutants.  As a kid, I thought it was fun to see how Cable would go about reforming the team, and that element of this issue holds up.  Cable can just as easily charm Proudstar, in his own way, as he can casually dismiss Sunspot when he learns he wants to go.  This portrayal of Cable isn’t easy to reconcile with the Louise Simonson issues, but it’s entertaining to watch him turn into a military general, sizing up who wants to be there and who doesn’t as he arrogantly forges ahead into this vague “war” that’s coming.

Not surprisingly, if anything holds the issue down, it’s the art.  Rob Liefeld should not have been inking his own pencils at this stage.  There actually is a unique texture to his inks that I kind of enjoyed as a kid and can still see the appeal of, but overall, Rob Liefeld inking Rob Liefeld means even shakier anatomy, disappearing pupils, floating noses, uneven eyes, and more inconsistent backgrounds than ever before.  You might be willing to forgive things like characters hovering on their tippy toes, but the unpredictable facial expressions hinder almost every conversation scene in the book (and this is an issue that’s about 90% conversation).  When the cast doesn’t have a stoned, distant expression on their faces, they’re squinting for no reason, or spontaneously breaking out into evil smiles.  Cable grinning like a madman as he details the horrors of war is just egregiously out of place.  Who on earth would follow a lunatic who’s smiling like that while discussing the thousands of bodies he’s seen on the ground?  That defeats the entire point of the story. 

NEW MUTANTS #98 - February 1991

The Beginning of the End - Part One
Credits:  Rob Liefeld (plot & art), Fabian Nicieza (script), Joe Rosen (letters), Steve Buccellato (colors)

Summary:  Gideon arranges for one of his minions, Eve, to poison Sunspot’s father.  Meanwhile, Cable and Cannonball train in the Danger Room, as Boom-Boom and Rictor debate over what to do about Wolfsbane.  Later, Deadpool abruptly enters and attacks Cable.  The New Mutants fight back, but it’s the sudden arrival of Domino that rescues Cable.  After Cable ships Deadpool back to his employer Mr. Tolliver, he reviews new potential team members with Domino.  That night, Rictor leaves the team for Genosha, hoping to retrieve Wolfsbane, and Gideon enters Sunspot’s room, informing him his father has died.

Continuity Notes:  

• This issue marks the debuts of Gideon, Deadpool, and Domino, along with Gideon’s assistants, Adam and Eve (they really catch on).  Domino is actually Copycat in disguise at this point, but the readers won’t discover that until over a year later.  
• Mr. Tolliver is also mentioned for the first time, although he won’t physically appear until several months later in X-Force.  (And even more months pass before we learn he’s Cable son, Tyler).  Speaking of Mr. Tolliver, why is he sending Deadpool to kill Cable on the same night (we later learn) he’s sending Copycat to spy on him in disguise as Domino?
• Gideon’s powers are described as “super-human enhancement assimilation,” which means he can mimic other people’s powers.  Bizarrely, he first exhibits this power when training with robots, not super-humans.
• Deadpool’s first words to Cable:  “You’re Nathan, right?”  This establishes Cable’s first name, and clearly implies that this is Cable and Deadpool’s first meeting.  While writing the Cable and Deadpool series, Fabian Nicieza seemed to be under the impression that Cable knew Deadpool from his old mercenary days, which doesn’t work.  
• Deadpool’s given those Orzechowski-style double word balloons, although they’re colored red in this issue.  Beginning with his second appearance, they’re colored yellow, setting the precedent that continued into the first ongoing Deadpool series, which dropped the extra lines around his balloons, but colored his standard word balloons yellow. 
• Cable shoots laser blasts out his mechanical arm.  The arm we’ll later learn is consumed by the techno-organic virus.
• Gideon makes casual references to his friendship with Sebastian Shaw in the opening scene.  Later, Sunspot recognizes him as an “old friend.”

I Love the '90s:  Rictor has a giant Bart Simpson poster in his bedroom.

“Huh?” Moment:  Liefeld draws the mansion’s underground complex as if it’s the actual mansion, which is in ruins at this point.  Every other interpretation of the underground level has it slick, metallic, and futuristic.  Liefeld gives some of the rooms wooden walls and floors, and even staircases that lead to…somewhere.  This could work, assuming that the underground level has multiple stories, and it’s not impossible that some of the rooms would have traditional furnishings.  Still, it’s hard to reconcile this with what we’ve seen before.

Review:  Rob Liefeld makes his debut as sole plotter on the series, and inker, and it’s appropriately Liefeldian.  The plot consists of three unrelated characters all suddenly appearing in the team’s allegedly secret headquarters on the same night, some vague hints about Cable’s past, and a few training sequences that involve giant robots.  Oh, and the ongoing Rusty and Skids subplot, the original motivation behind Cable’s introduction in this series, is dismissed by Cable casually saying that it’s “too difficult” to do anything for them now.  That’s commitment to your readers.

In terms of a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end, there’s not a lot here.  If you have the goodwill to assume that there’s a great plan in place for the Gideon and Mr. Tolliver mysteries, this issue might not seem so bad, but I don’t think anyone will tell you these plot threads had satisfactory endings.  To Liefeld’s credit, Domino and Deadpool have gone on to have long lives outside of this issue, although I think much of the credit goes to Nicieza’s scripting abilities.  Nicieza's script also creates a nice dynamic between Cable and Cannonball, which initially seems like a father/son relationship, but takes on a different meaning when you discover Liefeld wanted Cable to be Cannonball's future self at this point. 

So what does Liefeld accomplish artistically, given the freedom to draw and ink however he feels?  There’s a lot of material here if you want to make another one of those “Top 10 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings” lists.  Starting with the cover, Deadpool’s around seven feet tall and standing on straw legs, as the nine-feet-tall Gideon is standing behind him, striking a duck-face while squinting so hard his eyes have disappeared.  Little things like, say, Sunspot’s father drinking a cup of coffee, or even decorating his office or drawing his chair consistently, also seem beyond Liefeld’s grasp.  And, of course, the characters feel the need to spread their legs as far as humanly possible for absolutely no reason during the middle of conversation scenes. Pretty bad stuff, although this issue will probably always have a life on the secondary market due to Deadpool's first appearance.

CABLE #75 - January 2000

Who is Worthy to Break the Seals…?

Credits:  Joe Pruett (script), Rob Liefeld (penciler), Lary Stucker (inker), Optic Studios (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary:  Apocalypse taunts Cable, who is now his captive.  He leaves Cable’s psimitar in front of him as a final insult and leaves the room.  Death enters, shocking Cable.  Cable telepathically uses his psimitar to attack Death and free himself.  He tries to draw Wolverine’s persona out of Death, but fails.  Eventually, Apocalypse returns and fights Cable to a standstill.  Cable’s forced to give up when Death appears with Caliban as a hostage.

Continuity Note:  Rob Liefeld (or perhaps the inker) is still unable to decide which of Cable’s eyes have pupils.  On one page, both of them do.  On other pages, neither has a pupil.  Occasionally, he gets it right and remembers that it’s Cable right eye, the one surrounded by scars, which has a pupil.  (Although the colorist screws this up on one page and gives Cable’s right eye the mechanical glowing effect.)

“Huh?” Moment:  Death/Wolverine falls down a seemingly bottomless pit to his death during his fight with Cable.  A few pages later, he magically returns with Caliban as a hostage.

Creative Differences:  There is no credited plotter for this story, only Joe Pruett and Rob Liefeld as “storytellers.”  Pruett was very clear at the time that he did not plot this story and was only responsible for scripting the pages sent to him.

Miscellaneous Note:  The title of this issue is a reference to the fifth chapter of Revelation.

Review:  Not that Rob Liefeld’s run on Cable was very popular on the internet in the first place, but this issue was especially loathed.  This double-sized anniversary issue, the one people believed for years would be the ultimate battle between Cable and Apocalypse, is instead a collection of clumsy fight scenes that advance the ongoing storyline not one inch.  Literally -- the first and last page of the story have Apocalypse lording over the restrained Cable, with the same narration detailing Cable’s failure on both pages.  And even as a mindless fight scene, this is awful.  Splash page after splash page of awkward poses, ugly faces, and nonexistent backgrounds.

As far as I know, no one’s ever taken credit for plotting this issue.  The fan theory at the time was that Liefeld was told to just draw a big fight scene for the issue, but I believe Liefeld denied having any role in plotting the story.  If the story wasn’t plotted by Pruett or Liefeld, that probably leaves editorial.  And since editor Mark Powers already had a reputation as a heavy rewriter, many people just assumed this was something he slapped together during his lunch break.  Who knows the truth, but I can’t blame whoever is responsible for not wanting his or her face revealed.

NEW MUTANTS #96 - December 1990

United We Stand

Credits:  Louise Simonson (writer), Rob Liefeld (penciler), Art Thibert and Joe Rubinstein (inkers), Steve Buccellato (colors), Task Force Z (letters)

Summary:  Jubilee aids Rictor and Boom-Boom against the Magistrates.  A Mutate joins their side, vowing to help them fight the Genoshan government, as far as his programming will allow.  Meanwhile, Wolfsbane is transformed into a Mutate.  She appears on television, urging her teammates to turn themselves in.  Jubilee, Rictor, and Boom-Boom head for the Genoshan citadel, just as the united X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants team faces Cameron Hodge.  The Mutate covers for the teens, allowing them to escape, but their allies are taken into custody.

Continuity Notes:  Since the previous installment, the remaining members of the X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants have arrived in Genosha.  Independently, Jubilee arrived with Wolverine and Psylocke, who have been abducted by Cameron Hodge.

I Love the ‘90s:  Boom-Boom complains about having to “Ninja Turtle our way back in” through the sewers after escaping the citadel in the previous issue.

Review:  I guess we’re still in the days when a crossover meant focusing on your core cast members, as opposed to the later approach, which divided the heroes into various permutations and then continued the story regardless of the title.  Now that I think about it, the Uncanny X-Men issues mainly featured Wolverine, Psylocke, and Storm, while Cyclops and Marvel Girl seemed to receive more attention in the X-Factor chapters.  Not surprisingly, the focus in this issue is mainly on Rictor and Boom-Boom, and their new ally Jubilee (who’s already bragging about her friendship with Wolverine so much people are sick of it.)  I prefer this approach, since it helps to keep a sense of continuity for readers who aren’t buying every chapter of the crossover, and the regular creative team is able to deal with major events involving the cast members, such as Wolfsbane becoming a Mutate (a plot point that wasn’t fully resolved until early 1994, as it turns out.)  Simonson is able to keep the main storyline moving, while also making Wolfsbane’s transformation appropriately traumatic for the established cast.  And the inherent danger of three teenagers, two of them without their powers, left to fend for themselves on the streets of Genosha is a nice hook for the story.  

The main failing of the issue is the art, which is once again dreadfully inconsistent from page to page.  Art Thibert’s pages can almost make it work as a Jim Lee impersonation in places, and Joe Rubinstein’s pages can almost make the book look like a standard Marvel comic from the era, but at no point do the styles merge.  Also, I suspect that more than two inkers were used in the issue.  Two of the pages towards the end, the ones focusing on Cable’s team fighting the citadel’s guards, look identical to Liefeld’s inks.  And as we’ll discover in future issues, Liefeld inking himself means bolder lines, weaker anatomy, and disappearing backgrounds.  If this issue had to be another rush job, I would’ve preferred Liefeld breakdowns with Thibert doing the finishes.

NEW MUTANTS #95 - November 1990

Shell Game

Credits:  Louise Simonson (writer), Rob Liefeld and Co. (pencilers), Joe Rubinstein and Co. (inkers), Brad Vancata (colors), Joe Rosen (letters)

Summary:  Storm, Rictor, Boom-Boom, Wolfsbane, and Warlock are teleported to Genosha by Pipeline.  Warlock is severely weakened by the transport and near death.  Cameron Hodge has the mutants placed in power-dampening bodysuits and takes Warlock captive for experimentation.  Warlock sneaks away as Hodge argues with Dr. Moreau and frees his teammates.  They’re forced to leave him behind, but Wolfsbane soon returns to rescue Warlock, who's taken captive once more.  She witnesses Warlock turn into ashes as Hodge futilely tries to steal his powers.  Meanwhile, the remaining members of the X-Men and New Mutants contact X-Factor.

Continuity Notes:  

• This story is continued from the first chapter of “X-Tinction Agenda,” Uncanny X-Men #270.
• Storm at this point is an adolescent after being de-aged by Nanny.
• Rictor and Wolfsbane share their first kiss, paying off the romantic subplot that’s been building for a few issues.

Creative Differences:  The united X-Factor, X-Men, and New Mutants team gets a call from Washington at the story’s end.  An altered word balloon establishes that the caller is Val Cooper, speaking on the President’s behalf, asking them to travel to Washington.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority:  Pipeline’s teleportation leaves the team naked, forcing the artists to cover them creatively for much of the issue.

“Huh?” Moment:  Wolfsbane suddenly disappears after Hodge invades the New Mutants’ cell and taunts them.  (Her disappearance is even confirmed by Boom-Boom’s dialogue.)  Five pages later, Wolfsbane is back in their cell, with no explanation.

Review:  Who doesn’t have nostalgic memories of “X-Tinction Agenda?”  Just look at those hand-lettered chapter numbers on the covers; they’re adorable.  Actually, even as a kid, my main interest in “X-Tinction Agenda” resided in the Claremont/Lee Uncanny X-Men issues.  I thought the art was too inconsistent in the X-Factor and New Mutants chapters and simply lost interest in the story after a certain point.  Nine issues seemed excessively long for a crossover back in those days.  

This was one of the earliest Rob Liefeld comics I purchased as a kid, and because I didn’t understand that this was a last-minute jam issue, I had no idea what to make of his art.  Some pages have an admirable amount of polish, others just look like a muddy collection of shadows.  You never know when a character will look recognizably human, or devolve into some kind of hunchbacked monster in-between panels (like Dr. Moreau, for example.)  The story isn’t served by the inconsistent art, but Louise Simonson is able to extract some humanity out of the events.  Warlock’s sacrifice for the team, and their willingness to do the same for him, is well played, and there’s certainly the sense that the stakes have been appreciably raised in this adventure.  Warlock’s actual death scene isn’t nearly as emotional as his other scenes in the issue, however, and it’s sad to see that this is an early case of an established character being killed off in order to sell the significance of a crossover.

NEW MUTANTS #94 – October 1990

Lethal Weapons
Credits:  Louise Simonson (writer), Rob Liefeld (penciler), Hilary Barta (inker), Joe Rosen (letters), Brad Vancata (colors)

Summary:  Cannonball takes a keycard from Dragoness, allowing his team to escape the MLF’s custody.  Meanwhile, Cable and Wolverine stop their fight after Cable explains the significance of the MLF’s plot in Madripoor.  The two teams reunite at a warehouse the MLF is using to stockpile Sleet, arriving just as Stryfe appears.  During the battle, Rictor accidentally causes Dragoness’ powers to set the building on fire.  The heroes escape, unsure if Stryfe has survived.

Continuity Notes:

• This issue continues last issue’s hint that Cable and Wolverine have a long history together (Cable even calls Wolverine “Logan.”)  As Wolverine explains to Wolfsbane:  “Fight goes way back…an’ it’s real enough.  This old buzzard an’ me been tryin’ to come to a reckoning, off an’ on, fer years.”
• It’s confirmed that the armed soldiers that occasionally appear with the MLF are paid humans.  Stryfe, not surprisingly, considers them expendable.
• Cable and Stryfe have their first on-panel confrontation.  Cable declares that Stryfe won’t be able to kill any more women or children, which is broadly consistent with later revelations that Stryfe killed Cable’s wife and brainwashed his son.
• Boom-Boom and Cannonball have their first kiss.  After Dragoness tauntingly kisses Cannonball, a jealous Boom-Boom decides to show him a real kiss.
• On the final page, Cable promises that rescuing Rusty and Skids is the team’s next goal.  The next issue blurb on the same page swears that Cable was genuine, but unfortunately, the team will have to deal with the Genoshans next.  For the record, Cable never does anything to help Rusty and Skids.

“Huh?” Moment:  Cannonball, with both hands restrained, is somehow able to steal a keycard out of Dragoness’ headdress as they kiss.

Review:  It’s not hard to see why an adolescent reader would love Rob Liefeld’s Wolverine.  If you liked the giant, exaggerated cowl Jim Lee gave the character, then Liefeld’s got him beat.  I’m not sure how Wolverine is able to hold his head up with this enormous thing around his face, but I’m guessing an adamantium skull helps.  I initially wondered if Liefeld was inspired by Todd McFarlane’s interpretation of Wolverine from the “Perceptions” arc in Spider-Man, but looking at the cover dates, apparently it’s the other way around.  I actually don’t mind this over-the-top rendition of the character, and it seems as if Liefeld has a lot of fun with him during the story.  This is also by far Hilary Barta’s best issue as inker, giving the issue the faux-Art Adams texture that Liefeld’s pencils need.  

The story is largely an excuse for Wolverine and Cable to jump around during a series of giant panels, while the other characters dutifully get into the proper position for the climax.  The issue would’ve been greatly served with a lengthier confrontation between Cable and Stryfe, instead of the mild one-page shootout we’re given.  Stryfe’s supposed to be Cable’s greatest nemesis, his main motivation to fight, so seeing them together for the first time should feel like a big deal.  Instead, the reader is simply given a few more cryptic lines of dialogue before Rictor screws things up (again) and the team’s forced to abandon the fight.  Unfortunately, it’s just the first in a series of anti-climatic confrontations between Cable and Stryfe, which in retrospect, turned out to be one of the weakest rivalries in the ‘90s X-comics.

NEW MUTANTS #93 – September 1990

Madripoor
Credits:  Louise Simonson (writer), Rob Liefeld (penciler), Hilary Barta (inker), Joe Rosen (letters), Brad Vancata (colors)

Summary:  Sunfire meets Cable and the New Mutants in Madripoor, where the Japanese government has traced the manufacture of Sleet, a new drug that was used to poison the water supply of a Japanese town.  Cable’s convinced that the Mutant Liberation Front is behind Sleet.  With the aid of portable Cerebro units, the mutants split up and search Madripoor.  Cannonball, Boom-Boom, Warlock, and Sunfire are soon captured by MLF operatives.  Meanwhile, Cable tracks a mutant signature that turns out to be Wolverine.  They immediately fight, much to Sunspot’s horror.

Continuity Notes: 

• Rob Liefeld is still drawing Cable with that giant knife on covers and pin-ups, but I don’t think it’s ever used in any story.
• Cable knew Sunfire’s father, Suburo Yashida, and apparently has a deep respect for him.  Whether or not he’s already met Sunfire is ambiguous, but Sunfire does tell Cable it’s a shame his son met such an “untimely fate.”  This is another early reference to Cable’s son, a mystery that flounders around for years before it’s finally decided that Tyler, a.k.a. Mr. Tolliver, a.k.a. Genesis, is Cable’s son.  (More accurately, his adopted son from his wife’s previous relationship.)  Since Tyler exists in the future, it’s unclear how Sunfire knows about him.  
• More of Cable’s advanced technology appears, as he rides through the sky with Sunspot and Boom-Boom on a flying motorcycle.  He still hasn’t been identified as a time traveler at this point, however.
• This issue marks the first appearances of three MLF members:  Dragoness, Kamikaze, and Sumo.  As you might’ve discerned, they’re all from Japan (Dragoness even links her mutantcy to the “twisted genetics” created by Hiroshima’s bombing).  This is the first indication that the MLF is a global organization, an idea that’s quietly ignored over the years.
• Stryfe meets the New Mutants for the first time, teleporting into the battle with Zero after Cannonball’s team defeats Dragoness, Kamikaze, and Sumo.  He uses a “paralysis ray” (rather than his massive telekinetic powers, oddly enough) to incapacitate the team.

Creative Differences:  Numerous lettering corrections this issue.  One is during Stryfe’s introduction of the Japanese MLF members to General Coy (who’s aiding the team in Madripoor).  Another correction has Sunfire lecturing Cable on the futility of revenge when Cable talks about killing the man who killed his son.  Later, Stryfe’s dialogue has been altered as he congratulates Zero for teleporting them into the battle just in time.  An entire page of Cable and Wolverine’s fight scene has also been re-lettered, and judging by the shift in coloring techniques, I’m assuming the original page from New Mutants #93 has been altered somehow in the initial Cable and the New Mutants trade paperback (page 146 in case you’re curious).

“Huh?” Moment:  Boom-Boom is able to identify Kamikaze’s power as the ability to “explode on impact” even though this is the first time they’ve met and he hasn’t used his powers yet.

Review:  As the cover says, we just knew a Wolverine/Cable fight “had to happen,” so here we are. Before the story reaches that point, there’s a totally unrelated plot involving the MLF that must be addressed.  I actually like this incarnation of the MLF, a global group of terrorists with a masked leader and a different set of mutants operating all across the globe.  They’re a lot like Cobra, but since Cable is essentially a G. I. Joe character thrust onto a mutant team at this point, it works.  If the MLF were ever allowed to develop as a concept, there’s a lot of potential here.  Unfortunately, the team’s destined to become background players in Cable’s war against Stryfe, and once Stryfe is revealed as an insincere believer in his own cause, the rest of the MLF are just cast off as forgotten cannon fodder.  I don’t think anyone’s ever cared enough about them to even use them as cheap shock value deaths.

At the time this was published, of course, no one knew any of this was coming.  I’m sure the target audience was thrilled to see Stryfe finally confront the team face-to-face, and to receive even more vague clues about Cable’s past.  And throwing in Sunfire is a nice nod to longtime readers, as well.  (I guess it could be argued that linking Japan and Madripoor creates the impression that Asia is much smaller than it truly is, but I think it helps to establish just how extensively the MLF has infiltrated the continent.)  And because this book hasn’t totally left the Bronze Age yet, many of the ongoing character subplots are still advanced, even in the midst of an all-action issue.  Cable has an internal monologue revealing how much he does care about his students, Wolfsbane’s relationship with Rictor continues, against the team’s objections, Cannonball is annoyed by Sunfire’s attitude and the revelation that Cable has a son, and Sunspot reflects on how much more respect he has for Cable than Professor Xavier.  This leads into the final scene, as Sunspot witnesses Cable fighting another one of his idols, Wolverine, and is heartbroken.  It’s melodramatic, yes (and I’m not sure if it’s ever been established that Sunspot has strong feelings either way about Wolverine), but you need these character moments, especially in a teenage superhero title.

And, yes, I’ve skipped New Mutants #92.  It was apparently an inventory issue involving the Skrulls, one that Marvel didn’t bother reprinting in the original Cable and the New Mutants trade, or in the newer editions.  There might’ve been a one-page scene establishing why the characters are flying to Madripoor at the end of the issue, but I don’t feel like I’m really missing anything to be honest.