X-FORCE AND CABLE ’95 – December 1995

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Credits: Jeph Loeb (writer), Matt Ryan & Rurik Tyler (pencilers), Mark Pennington, Andrew Pepoy, & Ian Akin (inkers), Matt Webb & Malibu’s Hues (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

While vacationing on a tropical island, X-Force’s volleyball game is interrupted by the Impossible Man. He wants Cable to allow his three teenage children to join the team, but he refuses. After Impossible Man continually pesters the members of X-Force, Cable finally relents. The three teens check into X-Force’s hotel, but are only interested in watching television. While jet-skiing, X-Force is attacked by a giant green and purple monster named Barrachus, the Kalinator. Cable assumes that the monster is secretly the Impossible Man, until he realizes that the alien is actually disguised as his bar of soap. Cable uses his telepathic powers to learn Barrachus’ greatest fear, which is to be eaten by its mother. The Impossible Man’s children join forces to shapeshift into a larger monster and swallow Barrachus. Impossible Man thanks Cable for motivating his children, who have now taken Cable as their role model.

Continuity Notes

Caliban is referred to as “the purple one” by a hotel clerk, even though he’s actually colored gray in this issue. Since it’s actually written into the dialogue, I guess Caliban was officially considered purple at this time (he was colored white in all of his original appearances, for whatever that’s worth). There’s also a narrative caption that refers to the Askani as a “cult of women”, which contradicts the fact that men were shown to be a part of the order in the early issues of Cable.

Production Note

Mark Waid gets a “special thanks” credit, labeling him the “Ambassador to Popup”.

I Love the ‘90s

Cable is horrified to learn that the Impossible Man’s kids are “slackers”. Later on in the story, they’re concerned about missing the latest episode of Melrose Place.

Review

I believe this is the first (allegedly) comedic story to feature Cable and X-Force. Very little of it is actually amusing, since almost all of the humor is just based on the idea that the Impossible Man is annoying. Annoying doesn’t automatically equal funny, so it’s a bit that gets old quickly. Loeb keeps the story from being too obvious by revealing that the green and purple monster isn’t the Impossible Man, which at least adds a small twist to an otherwise predictable Impossible Man story. I think this is supposed to be an homage to the Impossible Man’s occasional appearances in Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants annuals in the ‘80s, but it lacks most of the imagination and fun of those stories. I will give Loeb credit for trying something different, though, and some of the scenes with the teenagers aren’t bad (their imitation of various Cable action figures is amusing). The art is extremely inconsistent, as the members of X-Force suddenly look as if they’re small children towards the end of the story. They’re not drawn in that style at the start of the issue, so I have to assume that one of the multiple inkers misinterpreted Ryan’s pencils. The transition from Ryan to Tyler is also jarring, as Tyler’s art is less cartoony and more hard and angular.

The Gamut

Credits: Todd Dezago (writer), Daerick Gross (art), James Houston (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

In a back alley, Domino fights a group of ninjas and a doppelganger of herself. After defeating them, Grizzly appears, quoting the words he spoke before she had to kill him. She stabs Grizzly with a broken street sign, exposing him as a robot. Domino yells at Arcade, who has been secretly watching in a nearby truck. She tells him she’ll see him at the same time next year.

Review

It’s annual filler, not surprisingly. Dezago does introduce one unexpected twist, which has Domino allowing Arcade to try and kill her annually in order to test herself. It’s slightly ridiculous, but seems to fit her character. The story’s nicely drawn and does what it needs to do in eight pages, so there’s really not a lot to complain about. Arcade has been redesigned to look like some sort of gruesome freak, which ties in to the Wolverine/Gambit miniseries that was released around this time.

X-MEN #34 – July 1994

Life and Consequences

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Andy Kubert (breakdowns), Matt Ryan (finished art), Bill Oakley (letterer), Digital Chameleon (colorist)

Summary

Using information given to them by Sabretooth, Gambit, Psylocke, Rogue, and Beast sneak into one of Mr. Sinister’s bases to find information on the Legacy Virus. It’s located under the State Home for Foundlings in Nebraska, the orphanage where Cyclops grew up. After defeating a defective clone of the Marauder Riptide, they discover Threnody hooked up to an elaborate device. The machinery allows her to stay lucid and control her powers. She tells the X-Men that she’s been using Sinister’s technology to learn all of the information he’s complied. When the X-Men ask her about leaving, she says that she’s using Sinister just as he’s using her. When Threnody learns about the Riptide clone that attacked the X-Men, she shocked because the cloning chambers haven’t been used since she arrived. Riptide’s cloning partner, a weak Sabretooth clone, appears and is easily defeated by Rogue. Beast doesn’t see any information on the Legacy Virus, but the X-Men learn that Sinister has genetic material on countless people, allowing him to clone them at any time. Against Beast’s wishes, Threnody decides to destroy Sinister’s genetic database. Beast tries to convince her to leave, but Threnody wants to stay and learn more from Sinister while sabotaging his work. The X-Men reluctantly allow her to stay.

Continuity Notes

Sinister’s lab is inside a “pocket-dimensional tesseract chamber”. Beast says that his ability to access it explains Sinister’s ability to teleport (uh...okay). This issue also confirms that the Marauders who returned from the dead were clones. How exactly Riptide’s clone appeared in this issue isn’t explained, although I guess it’s supposed to imply that Sinister is in control of programs that Threnody isn’t aware of. Based on subsequent stories, the information Threnody destroyed didn’t seem to affect Sinister.

Rogue tells Threnody that the price she’ll pay for working with Sinister is “th’ bleedin’ of your soul”. Gambit hears the phrase and questions where he’s heard it before. This could be seen as an early hint at his past with Sinister, but I think it’s supposed to tie in with the subplot about Rogue taking on Bella Donna’s characteristics. I don’t think the “Bella Donna is inside Rogue” subplot was ever resolved.

Miscellaneous Note

The previous issue was only nineteen pages, while this one is twenty. This reminds me of the early issues of X-Force, which would often cut stories short.

Review

I liked this issue as a kid, because it looked like Threnody’s storyline wasn’t going to be forgotten, and the vague hints given about Sinister intrigued me. It holds up okay until the ending, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. Why would Threnody suddenly decide to destroy Sinister’s genetic databank? It seems strange that she would impulsively decide to wipe out so much of Sinister’s research, even with the Beast telling her not to. If she had such a problem with Sinister having this information, why didn’t she do this sooner? And even if it takes months for Sinister to notice what she’s done, her actions are still going to undermine her goal of learning from Sinister’s data (and, of course, put her life in danger). Up until the irrational ending, though, this isn’t that bad. It’s nice to see the X-Men initiate the action in a story instead of just reacting to a threat. Nicieza does a decent job of developing the various character arcs as the story unfolds, so the issue doesn’t feel as if it’s just killing time until the upcoming crossover starts. Andy Kubert only provides breakdowns in this issue, but Matt Ryan’s finishes give the book a look consistent with the previous issues. It actually looks identical to the previous issues when Ryan was only inking, which says a lot about his drawing abilities.

The X-Men are shown to be genuinely concerned about Threnody, which probably needed to be clearly established since they let Sinister take her away in her previous appearance. I should point out that nothing in that issue indicated that Sinister was actually going to harm Threnody (he wanted to use her powers to find Legacy Virus victims, not experiment on her), but letting one of their nastiest enemies walk away with a mutant didn’t exactly present the X-Men in the best light. I wonder if someone at Marvel realized that, because her storyline was followed up on pretty quickly (judging by the standards of the time, at least). Of course, the X-Men don’t come across much better in this issue, as they let her stay with Sinister, knowing what he’ll probably do to her for destroying his research.

EXCALIBUR #71 – November 1993

Crossing Swords

Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Ken Lashley, Darick Robertson, & Matthew Ryan (pencilers), Smith/Elliott/Emberlin/Nelson (inkers), Oakley/Brosseau/Sharpe (letters), Joe Rosas (colorist)

Summary

Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Professor Xavier arrive at Muir Island, with a plan to use Kitty Pryde as bait to lure Colossus back to Earth. Xavier feels that Colossus suffered a severe head trauma after his fight with the X-Cutioner and requires surgery. Kitty reluctantly agrees and contacts Colossus, claiming that she wants to join the Acolytes. Colossus arrives on Muir Island, where he’s taken captive and Xavier performs the surgery. Cable teleports to Muir Island for revenge against the Acolytes after Magneto’s attack, but is stopped by Phoenix. The Acolytes arrive to take Colossus back and are easily defeated. Colossus chooses to go back to Avalon in order to teach the Acolytes that Magneto’s message was about more than violence. Excalibur decides to stay on Muir Island to protect the research facility from any further attacks.

Continuity Notes

Phoenix (Rachel Summers) feels a connection to Cable but doesn’t know why. Cable doesn’t understand it, either. The readers know they’re siblings, but it’s hard to figure out what the characters themselves know at this time. By this point, Cyclops thinks that Stryfe is his son, but the connection between Stryfe and Cable was still unknown. Even if Cable isn’t sure if Stryfe is his clone, twin brother, or himself from another timeline, he should have still figured out who his parents are at this point, but the stories are still vague.

The Acolytes are back in Avalon with no explanation after being shipped away in escape pods in X-Men #25. Colossus is shown bowing before Exodus, which doesn’t seem consistent with his behavior in that issue, either.

Review

And now, Excalibur is dragged into the quagmire. The Fatal Attractions storyline is really over at this point, but I guess someone decided that Excalibur should start participating in the X-crossovers, so here we are. Everything about this issue seems like a rush job (how many comics have three artists, four inkers, and three letterers?), and at four dollars, it still feels like a rip-off. Lobdell tries to justify the crossover by using the existing connections between Excalibur’s members and the main X-characters, which is a good idea, but it’s not enough to keep the issue from feeling so unnecessary. I wonder if Marvel instantly rethought the decision to have Colossus join Magneto, because this issue is another backtrack. Immediately after joining Magneto, Colossus let the X-Men sneak into Avalon and stop him. Now, Xavier suddenly decides that Colossus was brain damaged when he defected in the first place. See, Colossus fans? He’s not a villain now; he was just a little crazy when he sided with Magneto. Colossus certainly didn’t appear to be brain damaged at all in the previous chapters of this storyline. He was undoubtedly pissed about the death of his family, but not crazy. It’s the type of retcon explanation you expect to see years after a controversial story is published, not a month later. At the end of the story, Colossus decides to stay with the Acolytes in order to teach them about what a nice guy Magneto could be. Is this the same Magneto who just crashed his kid sister’s funeral and sent an electromagnetic pulse that killed hundreds of people? This can’t possibly be reconciled with the story Marvel had published a month earlier. It’s as if Marvel wants Colossus to join Magneto, but doesn’t want to him be a villain. They want Magneto to be a powerful, bloodthirsty opponent, but they want to remind fans of his compassion and humanity. Which is it?

Bringing Excalibur even closer into the main X-titles, Cable makes a brief guest appearance. Having Cable meet his sister is an obvious way to tie all of the books together, but Excalibur was so far on the periphery at this point that it didn’t even occur to me at the time. Everyone made a big deal about the revelation that Cable was Nathan Summers, but his connection to Rachel Summers never seemed to come up. His place in this story doesn’t amount to anything, and it’s an obvious distraction to the main story. What’s worse, the pages he appears on are printed out of order in my copy, making this issue seem even more disjointed.

With this issue, the team moves to Muir Island, where it would stay for the rest of the book’s run. Nightcrawler, Kitty, and Phoenix talk about the team’s new direction: “cutting deep into the problems that fall between the cracks of the X-Men, X-Factor, and X-Force…”, “we’re hoping we can stop a problem before it becomes a disaster…instead of the crisis management favored by everyone else wearing an ‘X’ on their costume.” Basically, the title is going to be less wacky and just fight the same bad guys the other X-teams fight. Nightcrawler spelling out all of the other X-teams just emphasizes how superfluous this direction really is for Excalibur. It sounds like he’s outright saying that Excalibur will fight the castoffs from the main books. And stopping problems before they become major threats was supposed to be X-Force’s role, even if Excalibur claims to be doing this in a pacifist way (which never works in superhero comics, anyway). At any rate, Excalibur is now officially an X-book.

I’ve heard some people comment that sales on Excalibur actually went up after Alan Davis left, revealing the outright stupidity of the general audience. I don’t know if these issues of Excalibur actually sold better than the Davis run, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I was one of those people who didn’t buy the Davis run but got into Excalibur around this time. In fairness, I couldn’t have afforded another book a few months before this and don’t even remember seeing the second Davis run on the stands. By the time the Davis run was over, I was a thirteen year old with an increased allowance. Seeing Excalibur taking part in the X-crossovers and fighting established X-villains, my completist urges wouldn’t let me pass the book up. I thought the book was garbage until the Warren Ellis issues, but I faithfully purchased each issue during this awkward yearlong phase. The upcoming issues are comics I remember almost nothing about, so I have no idea what to expect when I go back over them.