WOLVERINE #138 - May 1999

Doomsday!

Credits: Erik Larsen (writer), Jeff Matsuda, Steve Scott, & Yancey Labat (pencilers), Jonathan Sibal, Scott Elmer, & Scott Koblish (inkers), Mark Bernardo (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Wolverine helps dozens of the aliens escape before joining forces with Torgo and Aria to stop Galactus. Their plan fails when Aria is unable to possess Galactus and Wolverine’s bone claws aren't sharp enough to destroy his cosmic converter. The Starjammers rescue Wolverine and Aria, but cannot save Torgo. Wolverine watches in horror as Galactus consumes Prison World. He’s also informed that Aria did not survive her injuries. Upon returning to Earth, Wolverine meets with Warbird again and apologizes for hurting her while possessed by Aria.

Review: And now we’ve reached the rushed, chaotic conclusion. I can see what Larsen’s going for here, and on paper it sounds like a decent ending. Wolverine is forced to learn that he isn’t truly “the best there is” after facing a resounding defeat, and is now given a motivation to regain his adamantium. To throw in a few more angst pains, he loses the new alien friends he’s made and is unable to rescue the family of the kid asparagus alien (who’s already lost the rest of his race to Wolverine’s teammate…or however you choose to define Dark Phoenix). Larsen also hammers home the idea that Wolverine refuses to ever quit in a fight, even against Galactus, a side of the character that’s usually glossed over in favor of tired machismo.

That’s all fine, but the execution reads like a long, exasperating sequence of Wolverine running around in circles as aliens get blown up around him. The story’s almost over before we even get to see Wolverine make his move against Galactus. Making matters worse is the trio of pencilers, accompanied by a trio of inkers, that have somehow ended up in the same comic. Jeff Matsuda is Jeff Matsuda (and he’s still looking rushed), Steve Scott’s work is reminiscent of Cully Hamner’s, and Yancey Labat’s pencils resemble early Stuart Immomen. Who could’ve possibly thought this was going to look right? Am I to believe that Marvel didn’t have a dozen manga-style artists on speed dial in the late ‘90s? It’s hard to believe that a title like Wolverine could be such a shoddy production, especially during the debut of a new creative team.

WOLVERINE #137 - April 1999

Countdown to Destruction

Credits: Erik Larsen (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Jonathan Sibal (inker), Mark Bernardo (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Wolverine rescues Aria, who takes him to Prison World’s main power core. They shut off the power, freeing the inmates. Before they can escape, however, they’re ambushed by the Starjammers, who have agreed to join the Collector’s cause. Corsair explains that Prison World was designed to be invisible to the outside world, but is now exposed without power. Wolverine questions what kind of threat the Collector needs to protect the aliens from, just as Galactus arrives on the horizon.

Creative Differences: The third-person narration on the opening page is mistakenly lettered in Wolverine’s distinctive font. (According to Erik Larsen, almost all of the captions were added by editorial anyway.) Other lettering mistakes include a hand-written correction mixed in with the computer-generated font, and numerous dropped words.

Review: I had given up on the Prison World arc by this point, but if I had made it to this chapter, I probably would’ve stuck around for the final issue. I realize that Galactus too often shows up in outer space stories, and many X-fans hated his appearance in this arc, but his role in this story does work as a legitimate twist. Wolverine’s spent the past several issues fighting to free these aliens, only to discover the Collector is trying to spare them from Galactus. Ooops. Now, the Collector could’ve saved everyone a lot of trouble by simply telling his subjects why he’s gathered them, but I’m under the impression that he’s supposed to be too arrogant and enigmatic to even consider the possibility. I still think the art’s too rushed and inappropriate for the subject matter, but I’ll give Larsen credit for picking up the pace and actually using the setting to his advantage this issue.

WOLVERINE #136 - March 1999

Trust

Credits: Erik Larsen (story), Erik Larsen & Eric Stephenson (script), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Jonathan Sibal (inker), Jason Wright (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Aria is knocked unconscious and sent back to her cell, where an Ovoid returns her consciousness to her body. Torgo escorts Wolverine to his cell, un-handcuffed, hoping that he’ll see the nobility of the Collector’s plans. His fellow captives attack Wolverine, until they realize that he’s an X-Man and not in league with Torgo. Meanwhile, the Collector receives frightening news from space. The Starjammers have also learned information that’s forced them to side against Wolverine.

Review: More aliens, more pointless fight scenes, and more subpar Jeff Matsuda art. We’ve reached our first Star Wars reference, though, which is amazing when you consider that this is the fourth chapter of the story. It is fun to see characters like Torgo (an alien robot from Fantastic Four #91, as a footnote and flashback helpfully inform us) in a Wolverine story, plus Larsen gets continuity points for bringing back one of the asparagus people killed by Dark Phoenix, and for using an Ovoid to transfer Aria back to her proper body. The Marvel Cosmic material isn’t a bad change of pace, but this plot is still extremely thin, and Jeff Matsuda doesn’t seem too interested in drawing it sometimes. The hints about a vague cosmic threat do add some intrigue to the tired story, but it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out who it’s going to be. And as much as the online fans already hated this story at the time, the final two chapters with the big purple menace just sent them over the edge.

WOLVERINE #135 - Late February 1999

From Bad to Worse

Credits: Erik Larsen (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Jonathan Sibal (inker), Jason Wright (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Wolverine and Aria arrive at Prison World, and are promptly attacked by the Collector’s guards. Their ship is destroyed, forcing Wolverine to escape through an air duct. He’s soon spotted by three patrolmen, but he easily defeats them. Suddenly, an alien places a gun to his head. Wolverine’ relieved to learn that the alien is possessed by Aria. Unfortunately, their reunion is interrupted by Torgo and a Sadri Hunter.

Review: Even though this arc was originally released on a bi-weekly schedule, I felt at the time that the story was taking forever to go anywhere. This issue is a good example of how irritating the pace could be -- Wolverine and Aria land on Prison World, and are confronted by Torgo and the Sadri. To be continued! How does that consume an entire issue? I could live with a few pages of Wolverine ripping through the Collector’s henchmen, but not an entire issue, especially when Jeff Matsuda barely seems interested in drawing them. Heck, on some pages, even the colorist looks like he’d rather be painting his house or something. (Maybe there was a technical problem, but a few of the pages have extremely flat colors that look inappropriately bright, which doesn’t help Matsuda’s occasionally sketchy artwork at all.) There’s nothing particularly engaging about the dialogue, either, unless you really want to hear Erik Larsen mocking Wolverine’s old “Canuckle-Head” nickname for the second or third time since his run began.

WOLVERINE #134 - Early February 1999

Choice in the Matter

Credits: Erik Larsen (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Jonathan Sibal (inker), Jason Wright (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: The possessed Wolverine attacks nearby police officers, leading Vision, Justice, and Firestar to try and stop him. Numerous heroes soon arrive to fight Wolverine, but none can defeat him. Finally, the alien possessing him reveals that she’s been wrongly held on a prison world that holds representatives of alien races captive. She’s heard stories of the legendary X-Man Wolverine and escaped to Earth to seek his help. Meanwhile, the Collector is informed that the alien Zennan has escaped.

Creative Differences: Hawkeye was originally in Erik Larsen’s script, but editor Mark Powers replaced him with Vision to make the story fit with Avengers and Thunderbolts continuity. However, Wolverine’s method of dispatching the Avenger was left unchanged, so in the published issue, the normally intangible Vision is grabbed by Wolverine and thrown into a van.

Review: It’s a “Wolverine vs. Everybody” story, long before Mark Millar got the idea to stretch the same plot out over six issues. There’s no mistaking that the basic premise of this issue is pretty dumb. The woman allegedly needs Wolverine’s urgent help, yet she has the time to “test” him against a dozen or so Marvel superheroes in a continuous string of gratuitous fight scenes. Ideally, any “testing” would’ve been satisfied by the opening fight with three of the Avengers, but that wouldn’t satisfy the issue’s gimmick. And, once you accept the fact that this is just a gimmicky action story, it’s a lot easier to enjoy the ridiculousness.

Larsen’s choice of heroes is anything but obvious (Moon Knight, Black Cat, U.S. Agent, Falcon, Rage, Black Widow, Speedball, etc.), so the sheer novelty of seeing these characters in a Wolverine story is amusing. Larsen’s also thrown in two Spider-Man anti-heroes he designed, Cardiac and Solo. Solo’s anti-terror motivation gives him a shaky justification for joining the other heroes, but Cardiac is clearly there because Larsen wants to see the character again. Cardiac’s gimmick is that he targets individuals who exploit legal loopholes; he’s never been portrayed as a “patrolling the streets” vigilante. I guess it’s conceivable that he wouldn’t allow Wolverine to terrorize Manhattan if he came across him, so it’s not a total stretch, but I wish more of the character’s individuality could’ve been maintained.

Matsuda’s art still looks too rushed for much of the issue, but when he’s on his game, the cartoony style works quite well. I’ve never seen a manga-style U. S. Agent before, but I kind of like it. This chapter of the story is probably the one best suited for his style, because starting with the next issue the story takes a weird turn into prison drama/space opera. At that point, his work looks particularly out of place. This installment, as goofy as it is, might turn out to be the best installment of the arc. If you’re willing to accept it as a “don’t think too hard” action issue, it’s fun.

WOLVERINE #133 - January 1999

Losing Control

Credits: Erik Larsen (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Jonathan Sibal (inker), Jason Wright (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: A female alien escapes captivity by possessing her captors. She lands on Earth and possesses a teenager in the woods. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Warbird drink in a bar. When a TV news report broadcasts Powerhouse’s attack on the UN, they leave to confront the mutant extremist. Wolverine defeats Powerhouse, but the inebriated Warbird is injured during the fight. Abruptly, a teenager races into the crime scene. The alien leaves his body and possesses Wolverine.

Continuity Notes: Powerhouse is an Erik Larsen creation who first appeared (without a name) in Spider-Man #15. She’s a prototype for the Savage Dragon character Rapture. Larsen also drew an alternate cover for this issue, which was used as the basis for the cover to Savage Dragon #61.

Miscellaneous Note: The final splash page of an evil, possessed Wolverine directly mimics the ending of Savage Dragon #14.

Review: I wasn’t too eager to continue buying Wolverine at this point, but I was a Savage Dragon fan at the time, so I was willing to give Larsen a chance. He lost me before this arc finished. In retrospect, this storyline actually isn’t so bad, but at the time I had a hard time getting past Matsuda’s art, and found a lot of the dialogue irredeemably bad. When online fans made similar complaints, I recall Larsen admitting that Lenil Francis Yu would’ve been a better choice as artist, and he revealed that editorial had rewritten more than a few pages of the story. While Yu does eventually return, the editorial rewrites never stop. Reading Larsen’s issue-by-issue catalog of rewrites online (for Wolverine and Nova) was surreal. I was used to freelancers complaining about rewrites after they left a book, but not during their run.

Larsen did a lot of press before his run began, so even though his stint on the book wasn’t very long, we have a clear idea of how he interpreted the character and what he wanted to do with the title. Larsen’s complaint, even though he admitted he wasn’t a regular reader of the book, was that Wolverine spent too much time fighting ninjas, guys in trenchcoats, and Sabretooth. He wanted to see Wolverine face off against Blastaar or Annihilus. That didn’t seem to represent the sentiment of most fans, who wanted the books to be even more “realistic,” but I think it’s a legitimate way to go. At least it’s not another recycling of the original Claremont/Miller miniseries. Obviously, it’s all in the execution, but I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with pitting Wolverine against Avengers and Fantastic Four villains. It probably would’ve been best to mix them in with some of the established villains instead of wildly going off in a new direction, though, given the amount of sheer hate these opening issues generated.

The new art and direction for Wolverine, coupled with the frosty responses to the “Hunt for Xavier” and “Magneto War” crossovers, contributed to a strong backlash against the X-titles in 1998/1999. I don’t know if too many of the vocal haters actually stopped buying the books, but the overall sentiment of fans online was intensely negative. Regardless, this isn’t a bad start for the run. My major complaint at this point is Matsuda’s artwork, which is already looking rushed and inconsistent.

MAGNETO AND THE MAGNETIC MEN #1 - April 1996

Opposites Attract

Credits: Gerard Jones (writer), Mark Waid (plot assist), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Art Thibert w/Jaime Mendoza & Lary Stucker (inks), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters), Kevin Tinsley (colors)

Summary: In response to his brother’s construction of the Sentinels, Magneto has created his own team of robots, the Magnetic Men, to aid mutantkind. They stop Will Magnus’ newest creation, Sinistron, from kidnapping the mutant Kokoro, but soon encounter him again on the slave-nation of Genosha. When Sinistron paralyzes Magneto’s consciousness, Antimony leads her fellow Magnetic Men to discover their own sentience and break free. United, the team defeats Sinistron, and Magneto realizes that his robots are more than machines, but are his new family.

Continuity Notes: The Magnetic Men are based on the personalities of the deceased members of the Brotherhood (the original group lead by Magneto in the Amalgam Universe, killed by his brother’s Sentinels). The Amalgam answer to the Metal Men, the team consists of Antimony (Scarlet Witch and Platinum), Bismuth (Toad and Tin), Cobalt (Mastermind and Gold), Iron (Unus the Untouchable and Iron), and Nickel (Quicksilver/Iceman and Mercury). The woman they save in the beginning, Kokoro, is an amalgam of Psylocke and Katana. Sinistron is a robotic version of Mr. Sinister.

Review: The Amalgam books produced by Marvel seemed to be more “’90s” than DC’s lot, mostly due to X-artists like Roger Cruz and Jeff Matsuda. In terms of story, this reads as a traditional superhero comic, but it’s definitely not penciled in a style associated with ‘90s DC. Even though DC had their fair share of Image-style artists, that’s not the look people tend to associate with that era of the company (DC probably has more Jim Lee clones today than it did in 1996). Since most of the artists chosen for their Amalgam titles were pretty conventional, I’m guessing DC editorial specifically avoided the Mike Deodatos of the day. If the goal of Amalgam was to evoke the old school, that didn’t stop Marvel from hiring artists that could just have easily shown up on a Youngblood spinoff. Then again, this is pretty restrained for a Jeff Matsuda job, so maybe he intentionally toned things down. Personally, I find this style more palatable than his X-Factor work.

Even though I know very little about the Metal Men, I’ve always considered this a great concept. Making Will Magnus Magneto’s brother is a cute play on their names, and the Amalgam Universe is filled with these in-jokes, but giving Magneto a team of Metal Men modeled after Marvel’s earliest mutants? That’s the kind of creative thinking and continuity-melding you want in an Amalgam book. Now, if only the Metal Men had actually maintained a healthy newsstand presence following the Silver Age, perhaps I would’ve gotten more out of the actual story. I’m sure there are character bits and inside references I’m missing out on, so unfortunately much of the issue comes across as standard superhero fare. Perfectly acceptable, but not particularly exciting. The references I do get are entertaining, so I’m assuming fans of both the X-Men and Metal Men will get a lot more out of this than the average reader.

X-FACTOR #136-#137, August-September 1997

Nothing Lasts Forever

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Art Thibert w/Sean Parsons (inkers), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters), Glynis Oliver (colors)

Summary: Mystique continues to explore her powers, and antagonize Wild Child. When Forge attempts to lecture her, she kisses him. Meanwhile, Val Cooper learns that people within the government know X-Factor is still alive, and that Sabretooth was a sleeper agent of the Hound program. She sends word to Forge, but he receives it too late. Sabretooth has broken free of his collar and attacked X-Factor. Val arrives to see an angry Mystique standing over the unconscious bodies of X-Factor.

Continuity Notes: Government agent Bowser is back, after disappearing in issue #134. He’s apparently behind the Hound program and is shocked Sabretooth has broken free and is seemingly working on his own. Sabretooth later tells Mystique that the offer he was given is still available to her.

Review: I hope you wanted more shadowy government conspiracies in X-Factor, because that’s what you’re going to get. It was inevitable that Sabretooth would turn against the team, just as it was inevitable that he would break out of the X-Men’s basement and attack them, also. The story goes for dark and scary, but there’s no way you’re going to get that out of Jeff Matsuda. His extremely cartoony style might’ve been appropriate for something like Generation X, but he’s the last guy who should be drawing a story about Sabretooth ripping through his teammates during a blackout. Overlooking his personal style, many of the pages just seem rushed. Sabretooth’s fight with Polaris in particular just looks like a page of rough sketches that were inked and colored. The dialogue is as awkward as usual, hitting its low point when Sabretooth clumsily declares that maybe in “a different time, a different world” Wild Child would’ve been a great partner for him. Geez…

It Was a Dark & Stormy Night

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Andy Smith (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Kevin Somers (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Val Cooper calls her ex-husband, Major Edmund Atkinson, for help. With Atkinson’s troops acting as support, they arrive with X-Factor at a local hospital. Val fears that either the Hounds or Operation: Zero Tolerance is coming to abduct X-Factor. Atkinson sends his troops away, but vows to stay and fight with Val. She sends a message to X-Factor’s headquarters for Bowser, offering to surrender. According to her plan, Havok intercepts the message and arrives with Fatale. They teleport away with X-Factor, although they arrive too late to save Atkinson from a laser blast to the chest. Meanwhile, Sabretooth arrives at Trevor Chase’s home. Another Hound, Stone, stops him from killing Trevor. Sabretooth instead targets Trevor’s family.

Continuity Notes: Shard is now missing after “depixelating” during Sabretooth’s attack. Apparently claw marks are fatal to holograms.

Review: You would think X-Factor would’ve been the ideal title to deal with the events of Zero Tolerance, but it seems like an afterthought Mackie had to slip into the book. The Hounds have been the generic government conspiracy against mutants for over a year in this title, and now we’re supposed to be worried about OZT, too. Val Cooper throws in a reference that essentially reads as “We’ve got to protect X-Factor from the Hounds! And, yeah, I guess Zero Tolerance, too.” All of the OZT material could’ve been incorporated into X-Factor’s never-ending conspiracy months earlier, but I guess the X-books are too fractured by this point to really pull that off.

Every issue of X-Factor needs some nonsense, so I’ll compile this month’s checklist. 1) Val Cooper’s ex-husband (a character briefly impersonated by Mr. Sinister during Peter David’s run) suddenly appears in-between issues. Previously, he was a federal agent who wore nice suits and performed lie detector tests. Now, he’s a platoon leader gifted by Andy Smith with ridiculous ‘90s anatomy. He’s also such a brilliant tactician that he sends away his troops as the bad guys arrive. Showing that Atkinson is willing to fight for Val but doesn’t want to put his troops in the unenviable position of fighting fellow soldiers could be a nice character bit, but instead it just comes across as a foolish decision. Mackie also tries to give Val and Atkinson Moonlighting style banter, but it’s incredibly awkward. 2) Mystique now declares that she hates Val for allowing Sabretooth to join the team. Val spends a few pages berating herself over what Sabretooth’s done. Aside from the fact that Val fought against his addition, Mystique didn’t seem to mind having Sabretooth around when they went off on their own adventures together. 3) Val’s plan is ridiculous, since she’s just inviting the Hounds to come on the off-chance that Havok might be monitoring their communication frequency. She really couldn’t think of a better way to contact Havok? 4) Havok also brags that he isn’t a killer, which is amusing given his willingness to kill everyone on a commercial airline, and the near-lethal blast he gave Polaris a few months back. 5) By the way, since when is Sabretooth working with the Hound program? Originally, the shadowy government agents behind his placement in X-Factor sent him to kill one of the Hounds.

To Mackie’s credit, at least the pace of the book is starting to pick up. Some of the inevitable events, such as Sabretooth turning on the team, are now out of the way and it almost seems as if the endless conspiracy subplots are headed somewhere. Even Havok, who seems to be undergoing yet another personality revision, is given something to do. This is still mostly terrible, but there is a small amount of momentum now.

X-FACTOR #-1 - July 1997

A Summers Tale

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Glynis Oliver (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Forge and Mystique talk about their feelings and embrace for a kiss. Suddenly, Stan Lee interrupts and tells a flashback story. Thirteen-year-old Alex Summers has been adopted by the Blanding family. Their son Todd has died, and the parents are unwittingly molding Alex into his image. Neighborhood bully Vince targets Alex, and with Mr. Sinister’s encouragement, kidnaps Alex and his foster-sister Haley. Vince admits to triggering the accident that killed Todd and boasts that he’ll kill the Blanding parents. Alex and Haley escape in time to discover Vince aiming a gun at their gas tank. Alex uses his powers for the first time and accidentally kills Vince. Mr. Sinister erases his memory of the event.

Continuity Notes: Mr. Sinister claims that young Alex could potentially be more powerful than his brother, but he lacks all control. This is presumably an explanation for why Sinister has focused more on Cyclops than Havok.

Review: This is one of the “suburban” Flashback issues, as it focuses on a character’s childhood before he developed powers and doesn’t involve superheroic action. As far as I know, no one had done a story about Havok’s childhood, so it’s a logical avenue to explore during Flashback Month. Howard Mackie’s dialogue is still unnecessarily clunky in places, but he is able to make Alex’s adopted family believable enough. Tying Alex’s conflict at home, his inability to live up the Blanding’s biological son, with the action elements that come later is a good idea. (How exactly Todd died isn’t very clear, but apparently Vince threw a rock which caused the car accident that killed Todd. I have no idea how a rock could do this, unless Vince was throwing boulders around.) Vince is more evil than the standard neighborhood bully character, but that works to the story’s advantage. Not only does Vince stand out amongst typical bullies, but his death also doesn’t come across as this horrible sin Havok committed in the past. That might have been the story’s intent, since Havok was supposedly a villain during this era, but instead it comes across as a fairly innocuous part of his backstory. Thankfully, they didn’t have him kill his sister or parents, which is where I could see this story going today.

X-FACTOR #134 - #135, May - June 1997

The Child

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Eric Battle (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Glynis Oliver & GCW (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Bowser loads a disc of what he believes to be Forge’s secrets into a government computer. The disc releases a virus that gives X-Factor access to all government databases. The team travels to Bowser’s home, where Mystique interrogates him over the whereabouts of Trevor Chase. Trevor emerges from a back room, releasing monsters created by his reality-warping powers. One of the monsters consumes Bowser and disappears. Meanwhile, Guido awakens from his coma. After causing a ruckus, he’s placed under arrest.

Review: Is it too much to ask for two issues in a row that actually make sense? Just one issue after a story mostly dedicated to the heroes faking their deaths, they reveal to the government that they’re actually alive. So, what was the point? Allowing the team to live as “ghosts” opens up a lot of possibilities and ties into the new “underground” direction of the book. Going out of your way to set the idea up and abandoning it the very next issue doesn’t make sense. Even if the team just had to invade Bowser’s home, Mystique could’ve easily impersonated anyone she wanted to and completed the mission. Aside from the squandered opportunities, the story is essentially the same as most of the issues of this run. There’s some alleged “humor” at the expense of Wild Child falling over himself on the team’s jet, the dialogue is clunky, and characters are often saying and doing things that make little sense (Shard repeatedly refers to her future as “alternate.” Technically, it is, since Onslaught killed the X-Men in her timeline. However, would she really think of her own timeline as “alternate”?). The fill-in art comes from Eric Battle, who has vastly improved from his previous issue, but is still turning in a subpar Matsuda impression.

A Virtual Reality

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Glynis Oliver & GCW (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Mystique drops Trevor Chase off at his parents’ home, but Trevor is upset that Mystique is leaving him to rejoin X-Factor. Meanwhile, X-Factor learns that Madrox is planning on retrieving Guido from government custody. Because Madrox is unaware that Guido still has a weak heart, Forge orders the team to stop him. Madrox does rescue Guido from the government agents, but Guido collapses with more chest pains. X-Factor saves Guido and gets him help, while a distressed Madrox disappears.

Continuity Notes: Mystique knew Trevor Chase’s grandmother, but says it’s too painful to talk about her. This might be a hint that Destiny is supposed to be the grandmother.

I Love the 90s: Trevor Chase has a Tom Cruise “Mission Impossible” poster, and a Nintendo 64.

Review: So, this issue, X-Factor is back to playing dead. I guess the disappearance of government agent Bowser in the last issue gives them cover, but it’s not as if they knew he was going to disappear when they revealed themselves at his home. Plus, shouldn’t they be concerned about finding this guy? Aside from that, how long does Forge expect X-Factor to stay “dead” when his computer virus sent out a message bragging that he was hacking into the government’s databanks? Why would he need to know this if he was dead? There’s not a lot to say about this one, as it’s typical X-Factor. The shadowy government agents in this issue appear to be working for Bastion, which I guess is a step up from keeping them in total obscurity. Wild Child and Madrox are treated as comedic relief, although neither has anything particularly amusing to say. Another forced romance subplot is introduced, as Forge begins to have feelings for Mystique again, apparently because she’s growing more compassionate. (I'll say it again...Marvel really had no idea what to do with this character in the ‘90s. She went from reformed villain, to “crazy,” to outright villain, to amoral government agent over the course of five years, and is now heading back to “reformed villain.”) Using Trevor Chase, a jealous kid with god-like powers, as a budding villain at least has potential, but he’s only a small part of a story that’s virtually identical to the previous issues.

X-FACTOR #132 - #133, March - April 1997

Previously…in X-Factor: Havok declared that he was sick of being manipulated by others and formed a new Brotherhood team. Because this title rarely makes sense, he recruited the Dark Beast, the man who brainwashed him just a few issues earlier. Meanwhile, Mystique has somehow learned info on the shadowy government organization that’s conspiring against X-Factor.

Breakaway

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver & GCW (colors)

Summary: Forge resigns X-Factor from government service, as Madrox arranges to meet with Shard in a cemetery. Upon learning that Wild Child was spying on their conversation, Madrox leaves in anger. Unbeknownst to Madrox, Shard arranged the incident with Wild Child to draw Madrox closer to her. Later, Mystique checks on the home of mutant child Trevor Chase. She learns that he was kidnapped from his parents by a mystery man with a grudge against her. When armed men attack her outside of the home, Forge tries to drive her to safety.

Review: Going “underground,” or breaking away from the government, is probably the most obvious story you can do with a government-sponsored mutant team. Casting the government itself as an enemy is another obvious route, which is the direction this title had been moving in for the previous year. I don’t necessarily mind using the old clichés, but Mackie really isn’t adding a new spin or making the characters engaging enough to keep the story interesting. There’s also the ridiculous idea that Forge is personally going to be looking after Mystique and Sabretooth from now on, independent of the government, which is stretching credibility too far. The rest of the story has more mystery men with vague motivations ordering attacks through telephones, and a rather ridiculous romantic subplot that expects us to believe that both Madrox and Wild Child are falling for Shard, the hologram.

Down Under

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver & GCW (colors)

Summary: Forge and Mystique’s getaway car is destroyed in the chase. Val Cooper and government agent Bowser investigate the wreckage but find no survivors. Bowser insists on following Cooper after he hears reports of an explosion at X-Factor’s headquarters. The duo investigates the explosion with six masked guards. Most of the guards are killed by Forge’s defenses, and the surviving two accidentally unleash a chemical biohazard. Cooper and Bowser escape and seal off the remains of the headquarters. The deceased guards return to life, revealing themselves as the members of X-Factor in disguise. Meanwhile, Madrox visits Guido in the hospital. He’s greeted by Havok, who offers him a role in the Brotherhood, which Madrox declines.

Production Note: Eric Battle is incorrectly credited with penciling this issue.

Review: For the first time in ages, X-Factor has a twist ending that actually works. Reading through the issue, I didn’t like the way Forge’s defenses were casually killing soldiers, or Val Cooper’s somewhat nonchalant reaction. Revealing that no one died (and that Cooper was in on it all along) redeems the story, and it’s even a legitimate surprise. This is a much better example of how to deal with the tired “heroes vs. government” story than the previous issue. The subplot, however, is a disappointment. Mackie’s attempts at “humorous” Madrox dialogue all fall flat, and “new attitude” Havok is just as dull and pointless as ever. Plus, Havok’s already tried to recruit Madrox into the new Brotherhood, so I have no idea why this scene even exists in the first place.

WOLVERINE #127 - #128, August 1998 - September 1998

Wolverine #127

I’m King of the World!

Credits: Chris Claremont (writer), Lenil Francis Yu, Carlos Pacheco, Cary Nord, Jeff Matsuda, Melvin Rubi, & Mike Miller (pencilers), Tadeo/Holdredge/Alquiza/Miller (inkers), Wright & Smith (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Wolverine learns that Hydra and the Hand have teamed up to take over Madripoor. With the help of various props, he divides their forces and convinces them that Captain America and other heroes have arrived to stop them. Police chief Tai explains to Wolverine that the Hand’s leader, Matsuo Tsurayaba, is positioning himself as the new Prince of Madripoor. Meanwhile, Sabretooth teams up with Shadowcat to keep Hydra and the Hand out of Madripoor. They search for Viper, who was turned over to the Hand by a local crimelord she thought she could trust. Soon, their search leads them to an oil tanker, where Wolverine is tracking Hydra activity. The floor drops underneath them, as Matsuo Tsurayaba unveils his trap.

Continuity Notes: The former Prince of Madripoor was killed in Wolverine #98 (aka the Madripoor bloodbath issue). Police chief Tai was run over off-panel by Tyger Tiger in that issue, but I guess he got better.

For the record, Sabretooth is helping Shadowcat fight the Hand and Hydra because it’s “fun”, and because he wants Madripoor to remain an outlaw nation. Wolverine (who is wearing his ‘80s brown costume for no discernable reason) is also searching for Viper, along with Jessica Drew and Tyger Tiger, who were apparently kidnapped in-between issues.

Review: And now the story is so incomprehensible, it reads as if an entire issue has been skipped. Somehow, all of the characters are suddenly aware that Hydra and the Hand have teamed up to take over Madripoor, Viper (the character who set the story in motion) has been kidnapped off-panel, Jessica Drew and Tyger Tiger have also gone missing off-panel, there’s a political struggle for Madripoor royalty, Shadowcat and Sabretooth are working together, and Wolverine is waging a one-man war on Hydra and the Hand. Where did this stuff come from? Hydra and the Hand had brief cameos in the last issue, but there certainly wasn’t anything to set up what we’re seeing here. What is this story about? Viper marrying Wolverine? Sabretooth gaining adamantium? A power struggle for control of Madripoor? It’s certainly possible that all of these ideas could be connected, but the story hasn’t even come close to doing the job. What’s even more frustrating is the fact that a large portion of the issue consists of ridiculous scenes that have Wolverine impersonating members of the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Hulk. It’s Silver Age-level silliness that has nothing to do with the actual story, and it eats up pages that could’ve covered all of the off-panel plot developments that have happened since the last issue. The art is also a mess, as six different pencilers with mostly incompatible styles turn in an obvious rush job.

Wolverine #128

Green for Death

Credits: Chris Claremont (writer), Stephen Platt & Angel Unzueta (pencilers), Banning/Mendoza/Candelaro/Hunter/Martin (inkers), Wayne Robinson (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Matsuo begins the process of brainwashing Wolverine, Sabretooth, and Shadowcat into Hand assassins. Shadowcat breaks free of her restraints and rescues Viper, Tyger Tiger, and Jessica Drew, who are secretly being held by Hydra nearby. Sabretooth escapes from his restraints and immediately attacks Wolverine again. Wolverine convinces him to stop the fight and join forces against Hydra and the Hand. After they’re defeated, Viper attempts to kill Sabretooth, but Wolverine and Shadowcat stop her. Viper declares that she will have vengeance on Sabretooth, and anyone who’s protected him. She assumes the throne of Madripoor, and issues warrants for Wolverine and Shadowcat.

Continuity Note: Viper is installed as Madripoor’s “ruling prince”, a position Wolverine claims “she only occupies as long as our symbolic ‘union’ still stands.” Don’t ask me how this works, because I can assure you it makes no sense. According to the story recap in the gatefold, Wolverine agreed to marry viper “to prevent a bloody gang war…in an effort to unify rival factions.” It would’ve been nice if the story itself ever got around to explaining that.

Review: And now we have the brutal conclusion. Somehow, this issue even manages to top the last issue in terms of sheer incomprehensibility. We’re now told, through a story recap on the inside front cover, that Wolverine and Viper married to create some sort of truce between rival gangs. This also somehow leads to Viper assuming royalty in Madripoor. What? Wolverine owns a bar in Madripoor; he’s not supposed to be some kind of monarch, is he? (And why is Viper the prince and not the princess of Madripoor?) And if her marriage to Wolverine is what gives her power, how does she get away with openly calling for his arrest (or worse)?

The rest of the issue consists of some clichéd brainwashing scenes, which I assume were supposed to call back to the popular “Lady Mandarin” storyline, but instead feel like time-killer. In another example of impenetrable storytelling, the Hand’s magics have briefly given Wolverine, Sabretooth, and Shadowcat elements of each other’s personalities. This isn’t a bad idea for a story, but it’s poorly introduced and really doesn’t go anywhere. Wolverine has to outright say that Sabretooth now has his sense of honor, which contradicts a scene from two pages earlier that had Sabretooth declaring that he has no friends and planning his lone escape. This is supposed to set up the idea that Sabretooth hates Wolverine more than ever, because he’s now lived with Wolverine’s moral center and knows that he can’t live up to who he truly is. Again, this is a perfectly fine idea, but the execution is horribly botched.

The art is actually more of a mess than the previous issue, as Stephen Platt and Angel Unzueta do another last minute job. Platt was supposed to be one of the hottest artists of the ‘90s after his much-hyped run on Moon Knight, but he seemed to disappear after leaving for Image. Wizard loved his stuff due to his McFarlane-esque obsession with detail lines and heavy ink, but what we get here is a generic, stiff, early ‘90s style job without any excessive busyness to distract from the poor drawings. Unzueta’s pages look like a bizarre mix of Carlos Pacheco and Jeff Matsuda, and they’re really not any easier on the eyes. I’d complain about their storytelling skills, but it doesn’t seem as if there was a coherent story to tell in the first place.

X-FACTOR #131 – February 1997

Brotherhood
Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver & GCW (colors)

Summary: Inside the remains of the Morlock Tunnels, Havok makes plans to form his own Brotherhood. Elsewhere, the Dark Beast is assaulted by two of the guards looking over him in custody. A female guard named Barnes orders them to back off, even after the Dark Beast severs one of their thumbs. Soon, Havok breaks into the facility, searching for the Dark Beast. Barnes takes him away in an escape pod, which Havok blasts to the ground. He recruits Fatale, who is also in custody, to teleport him to the craft’s location. Havok frees Dark Beast from his restraints, and offers him a role in the new Brotherhood. Dark Beast shows his gratitude by attempting to kill Barnes, but Havok stops him. He claims that the new Brotherhood won’t kill humans, but will take the initiative to help mutants.

Review: We’ve now arrived at my final issue of X-Factor, ending a complete run of over sixty issues. Like most issues of this era, this one is a poorly written mess that can’t hold up to any real scrutiny. After a dream sequence, Havok decides that he’s lived as the pawn of other people for too long, and is going off in his own direction. It’s an odd characterization shift that never worked for me, and it’s an extremely weak rationalization for making him a villain. Havok’s insecurities about living up to his brother’s reputation, and his past experiences with mind control, are used to justify the new characterization. The mind control angle seems silly to me, as comic book heroes are often mind-controlled, and Havok was never been under someone else’s influence for more than a few issues, so it’s never defined him in the past. His insecurities involving his brother are just normal human emotions that were supposed to make the character seem more real, not drive him towards villainy. It’s extremely forced, and even though last issue’s letter column promised that this story would explain Havok’s new motivation, it’s just as unconvincing as the previous chapters of this storyline.

It seems as if Marvel’s already responding to negative fan reaction to Havok going bad, as he backs off of the maliciousness he’s exhibited in the more recent stories. According to one of the extensive narrative captions, Havok was still under Dark Beast’s influence when he tried to crash a commercial airplane a few weeks earlier in Uncanny, which is obviously a quickie way to dismiss that story (even though that issue went out of its way to sell the idea that this was the “real” Havok). Now we’re really really seeing the real Havok, and Marvel means it this time. Even if he’s not an outright villain now, it’s obvious they’re serious about making him an ongoing antagonist, so his actions end up making even less sense than usual. Havok now claims that he doesn’t want any humans to die, and prevents Dark Beast from killing his guard. Even if you buy the retconned explanation for his behavior in Uncanny, it’s hard to justify why he would recruit the bloodthirsty Dark Beast as a teammate. What does he think is going to happen? And if he’s so angry about being manipulated so many times, why is he recruiting the man who brainwashed him just a few issues ago?

Even if you have a lax attitude towards continuity and characterization, I don’t see how this issue can work. The scripting is often bland and clunky (Havok apparently can’t use contractions, giving us lines like this: “Everything that has happened in the past month is going to give the world even more reason to lash out at mutants all over again!”), many of the pages are bogged down with too many captions, and most of the characters are devoid of anything resembling a personality. Matsuda’s artwork works in a few places, especially in the opening dream sequence, but the storytelling and anatomy seem to deteriorate as the issue goes on. His manga-influenced designs also go too far when he gives Barnes, the morally superior guard who risks her life to protect Dark Beast, a bizarre hairstyle that resembles Bugs Bunny’s ears. I can’t imagine why Marvel thought this art style was appropriate for the darker, grittier tone they wanted for the series. Of course, it’s hard to justify anything Marvel did to the title by this point.

X-FACTOR #129 – December 1996

Playing With Fire
Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver & American Color (colors)

Summary: Val Cooper demands that Forge turn over the mutant suspects X-Factor was ordered to arrest. Forge reveals that the mutants were actually Madrox, the Multiple Man, which shocks Val. Mystique morphs into Madrox and turns herself into the authorities. Meanwhile, Shard and Wild Child watch over Madrox in a secret safe house. Madrox reveals that only his body with the Legacy Virus died, but the shock of his death gave the rest of his bodies amnesia. He began work as a secret government agent while his memory returned. Madrox eventually grew uncomfortable with his government work and wanted out. Havok recently offered to help him escape, but he left on his own. He claims that the government invented charges against him in order to retrieve him. Meanwhile, Mystique escapes from custody and meets with Pyro. X-Factor searches for her, but she moves beyond the range of her tracking device.

Continuity Notes: The story mentions that Madrox had two other duplicates when he died in issue #100. Madrox claims that he was unaware that he had a “twin” for a while (what exactly happened to this duplicate isn’t revealed). Since the original Madrox was the one with the Legacy Virus (as far as we know), this means that the character that exists today is actually a duplicate of the original. Biologically, they’re all supposed to be the same, so I guess it doesn’t make a real difference.

I Love the ‘90s: Madrox and Wild Child are playing Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64, which was brand new at the time.

Review: The “mutant militia” era of the title continues, as we get closer to the final issue of X-Factor I purchased. The goal of this issue is to get Mystique in place for the upcoming “Assassination of Graydon Creed” story, while the rest of the issue is dedicated to justifying Madrox’s resurrection. I’m not thrilled with the execution of either element, but I do think this is more readable than the past few issues. Using Mystique to fool the government agents isn’t a bad idea, and her escape is nicely handled. It’s the idea that Forge can’t track her because she’s “out of range” that bothers me, since it’s a very obvious cheat that allows the character to remain free for the next issue. Forge is supposed to be the world’s greatest inventor, yet he can’t invent a tracking device that reaches more than a couple of miles? The explanation for Madrox’s non-death is very predictable, but I prefer it over an excessively complicated retcon. Adding even more evil government agents to his story doesn’t work, though, since it’s a tired cliché that’s already being overused in this title by now. Despite those complaints, I’ll give this issue credit for at least reaching a level of coherence. I seem to recall the next storyline sends everything off the rails again, though.

X-FACTOR #128 – November 1996

Night of the Hounds
Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver (colors)

Summary: In Georgia, X-Factor is called in to apprehend a group of mutants accused of murder. Forge usurps authority from the local sheriff and his men, allowing X-Factor to take charge of the investigation. When the team is ready to apprehend the mutants, they begin to merge together. Forge realizes that their target has been Madrox, the Multiple Man. Meanwhile, Bastion’s aide Harper warns Graydon Creed to stay away from the Friends of Humanity and continue his presidential run.

Continuity Notes: Graydon Creed names Senator Brickman his Vice Presidential nominee. I’m sure this goes nowhere, but giving Creed a VP at least adds some credibility to the storyline. Also, Shard claims that she’s no longer a hologram, but a “photon-based lifeform” after the events of Uncanny X-Men ’96.

Miscellaneous Note: According to the Statement of Ownership, average sales for the year were 194,652 with the most recent issue selling 205,663 copies.

Review: This is Madrox’s inevitable return to the book. Before the “mutant militia” makeover, this would’ve been a welcome move, but dragging the character into the current incarnation of the team just seems cruel. The entire issue builds up to the Madrox revelation at the end, which results in an extremely padded story. Madrox and his dupes spend a few pages running from stereotypical rednecks, Forge and X-Factor spend a few pages dealing with the stereotypical rednecks, each cast member splits up and has a long inner monologue, the monotonous presidential race intrudes for two pages, then Madrox is caught, and finally his identity is revealed. Like I’ve said before, if Mackie wrote more engaging characterizations, these thin plots would be more forgivable. Unfortunately, most of the characters barely have any personality, so you end up with dull characters starring in dull stories.

X-FACTOR #127 – October 1996

Darker Destiny
Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Al Williamson (inker), Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver & Malibu (colors)

Summary: A young mutant named Trevor Chase is attacked by Friends of Humanity members. They claim that they learned about him through Raven, which is the civilian identity Mystique has used for two years while training Trevor. Elsewhere, the members of X-Factor are shackled and taken to a government building for a debriefing. Mystique escapes and goes to the hospital to visit Trevor. She then steals Trevor’s case file from the police and tracks down the local Friends of Humanity headquarters. She terrorizes the members and demands to know who ordered the attack on Trevor. Forge is excused from the debriefing and sent to find Mystique. He soon finds her by Trevor’s side at the hospital, where she privately declares that Graydon Creed will die.

Continuity Notes: Trevor’s mutant ability is described as the power to “alter transpatial realities”. There are two shadowy figures in this issue. One is the government agent who is smoking a cigar and looking on as X-Factor is brought in for questioning. The other is Bastion, who is interrogating each member of X-Factor about Shard (whose existence the team is still trying to keep secret). After his identity is revealed, Val Cooper assures Bastion that he has her full cooperation.

Review: I’m not sure what else I could say about X-Factor at this point. It’s not very good. This issue continues the “evil government forces conspire against the team” storyline, which has already gone too far, as the cast is shown shackled before they enter a debriefing. It’s absurd to think that any of the team members would stand for this in the first place, and Mackie puts no effort into showing how the cast feels about the incident anyway. Would any of these characters just shrug their shoulders and accept the fact that their superiors want to put them in chains for no reason? As for last issue’s cliffhanger that had the Dark Beast declaring that he would save the mortally wounded Polaris, it’s simply ignored. Polaris just declares that she’s okay and recovering nicely. The Dark Beast isn’t even seen or referenced in this issue. Fine then. Who needs issue-to-issue continuity? There is a nice idea here, as it’s revealed that Rogue isn’t the only young mutant Mystique has aided through the years. This makes sense, and it works well with her previous characterization. However, Mackie’s scripting is so awkward and clunky it’s hard to care about the boy, or buy into Mystique’s anger over his attack.

X-FACTOR #125 – August 1996

The Ticking Clock
Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver (colors)

Summary: The Dark Beast unveils a brainwashed Havok to Onslaught, hoping to impress him with a powerful follower. Meanwhile, X-Factor is attacked by their training Sentinel, which has suddenly gone back online. Forge sends Mystique to retrieve Sabretooth, and the duo are soon greeted by the teleporting Fatale. Fatale teleports the Sentinel away, forcing X-Factor to leave the missing Sabretooth and Mystique behind as they track the Sentinel. The team soon arrives at the former headquarters of the Brand Corporation. They’re attacked by Havok, who follows orders and tries to kill X-Factor. During the fight, Fatale exposes Random to the team as the Dark Beast’s plant. Random remains loyal to Polaris and tries to save her from Havok. He takes a direct blast from Havok, forcing his body to revert to its true teenage form. Nearby, Forge discovers an army of Sentinels underground and is attacked by Post. Post soon declares that the fight is boring him, and orders the Sentinels to attack New York City.

Continuity Note: This is the first appearance of the brainwashed Havok. As the months progress, Marvel will try to sell him as an actual villain and not just a programmed one, but it doesn’t catch on.

Review: The Onslaught crossover reaches X-Factor, and doesn’t manage to impact the title’s quality either way. Since most of the storylines seem to have been going around in circles for a year at this point, dragging the book into the latest crossover isn’t much of a distraction. The Dark Beast had been a behind-the-scenes villain in the title for a few months, so using him as the connection to Onslaught makes sense. There are a few ongoing threads that are resolved here, as Havok returns and Random is exposed as the Dark Beast’s pawn, but the delivery is so bland it’s hard to care. As usual, the dialogue is dull and the characters don’t exhibit much personality. Making the team’s former leader a brainwashed villain and actually sticking with the idea had potential, but I don’t recall it ever working out. This issue’s introduction of brainwashed Havok is just as flat and boring as the rest of the story. Polaris gets dialogue like, “I don’t want to live in a world in which there is no hope that I can have you back”, and Havok gets gems like, “Then…I shall kill you!” The actual pacing of the story is fine, as it moves quickly without feeling too rushed, but the scripting makes it a chore to read. Matsuda’s art, as usual, is all over the place. His redesign of Havok isn’t perfect (what are those things on his shoulders supposed to be?), but it’s a tolerable combination of his previous looks and it suits Matsuda’s style. The rest of the artwork looks rushed, as figures twist and deform without reason, making it even harder to care about what’s going on.

Free Fall
Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Stefano Raffaele (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver & Kevin Somers and Malibu (colors)

Summary: Fatale teleports Mystique and Sabretooth into the sewers, where they meet the Dark Beast. He neutralizes their inhibitor collars and offers them an opportunity to work for Onslaught. Forge arrives through a teleportation portal, and Dark Beast asks them to kill him. Instead, the pair turns against Dark Beast and attacks him. Mystique morphs a suit of spiky armor to defend herself, but is quickly knocked unconscious by the Dark Beast. Sabretooth fights him to the ground, but Dark Beast teleports away before he can be harmed. Forge, Mystique, and Sabretooth look at the Dark Beast’s monitors and learn the X-Man Beast is being held captive.

Continuity Note: Mystique’s shapeshifting powers begin to change with this issue. Previously, she was only able to change her physical appearance, and not adopt new powers or go beyond a humanoid form. Now, she can create claws, change her eyes to adopt feline vision, and turn her bones into a spiky armor. There’s no explanation for the change outside of “I’m full of surprises”.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority: To disguise the fact that Raffaele has drawn Mystique wearing a thong, her entire buttocks are colored white to match her costume.

Review: This is really a continuation of the main story, but I guess Matsuda’s inability to draw the entire issue forced it into becoming a backup. That is a preferable alternative to having the two artists interrupt one another, even though Raffaele’s art is even worse than Matsuda’s. Matsuda’s art during this period at least has a cartoonish charm that occasionally works. Raffaele’s work just looks like an awkward Jim Lee knockoff. The story’s main purpose is to have some other characters discover that the Beast is being held captive, which seems like something that should’ve happened in one of the X-Men’s titles since it really has nothing to do with X-Factor. Mystique and Sabretooth also lose their inhibitor restraints, which is presumably a big deal, but I don’t recall if this went anywhere. Suddenly giving Mystique new powers with no explanation is just annoying, and I think they were just dropped after X-Factor’s cancellation anyway. Just like the main story, it’s pretty dreary.

X-FACTOR #124 – July 1996

Future Memories
Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver & Malibu (colors)

Summary: The members of X-Factor place themselves inside a holographic environment to train with Sabretooth. Forge hopes Sabretooth will show his true colors and that Washington will change their minds about adding him to the team. During the course of the training session, Shard suddenly appears. Wild Child disrupts the simulation and stops Sabretooth from attacking her. Polaris, uncomfortable with the team’s new direction, flies away to collect her thoughts. Meanwhile, Random is sent by Fatale to continue spying on X-Factor. He morphs from his true teenage form into his muscular bounty hunter persona. He speaks to Polaris, who tells him that she’s going to stay with X-Factor and try to change things from the inside. Later, Forge tries to convince Val Cooper to keep Shard’s existence a secret from the government, but she refuses. When she speaks to her superior, however, she changes her mind.

Production Note: All of the scenes with Random are clearly drawn by a different artist, but no one else is credited.

Continuity Notes: According to Forge, Shard’s existence is causing his holographic system to disrupt. He wants to keep her a secret from the government after she tells him about last issue’s break-in. He thinks that her knowledge of the future could be an asset. The government superior Val Cooper speaks to is intentionally obscured in shadow.

Review: It’s not uncommon for the various X-books to kill a few pages with a training sequence, but it seems like Mackie is using it to kill virtually the entire issue. Only one plotline is actually advanced, and it’s only incrementally, as Forge learns about the government agents who broke into their headquarters last issue. His plans for doing something about it, and how he even feels about the break-in, are just glossed over. The idea that Random had been spying on X-Factor had already been established, so almost a third of the issue is just spent reminding us of it. And I’ll again point out that the scrawny, teenage Random just looks incredibly dumb. Polaris’ doubts about the new direction, which I imagine are supposed to reflect the reader’s, are a nice touch. Unfortunately, her bland dialogue doesn’t really sell her dilemma, and she doesn’t come to much of a decision outside of, “well, I guess I’ll stick around for awhile.” The shadowy government agent Val Cooper speaks to is the definition of an old cliché, which wouldn’t even be so bad if the story was successful in making me care about any of this conspiracy stuff. Just as X-Man behaves irrationally and his powers explode in every issue of his series, I wonder if every issue of X-Factor is going to have faceless, shadowy government agents with secret agendas from now on.

X-FACTOR #123 – June 1996

It Begins…Again!
Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver & Malibu (colors)

Summary: X-Factor watches as Sabretooth fights the Hound, a genetically enhanced mutant hunter. The team joins the fight, but learns that the Hound can counteract their mutant powers. Polaris focuses her powers and manages to knock the Hound unconscious. Forge taps into the facility’s database as a team of masked government agents appears. One of Val Cooper’s friends, Gladstone, is with them. He tells her that he’s been sent to ask for her cooperation. He doesn’t know what’s going on in the facility, telling her that they should both forget about the place. Meanwhile, shadowy government agents invade X-Factor’s headquarters and attempt to steal data from Forge’s databanks. Shard appears and chases them away. At Graydon Creed’s campaign headquarters, a man named Mr. Harper brings a large cash donation from a mysterious donor. Two days later, Val Cooper takes Senator Kelly to the facility where the team faced the Hound, only to discover that it’s now a farm being used for agricultural research.

Continuity Notes: Sabretooth tells X-Factor that he was sent alone to kill the Hound because the government didn’t want to risk X-Factor on the mission. The Hound describes himself as a mutant who has been turned into a weapon by the government. His first target was Mystique (as seen in X-Men Prime), but he failed.

Senator Kelly seems to be fine after Graydon Creed's attack in UXM #333.

Mr. Harper’s employer isn’t named, but it’s intimated to be Bastion. It’s implied from Creed’s conversation with Harper that the Hound was sent after Mystique as a favor to him. Creed claims that Mystique possesses info that could “prove damaging to us all”. It’s established that Mystique is Creed’s mother and that he hates her, but this is the first time it’s been implied that she knows something about Bastion (if in fact Harper’s employer is Bastion). It's possible that simply the revelation that she's Creed's mother is enough to disturb Bastion, who wants Creed in office. Harper tells Creed that he’s suggested to his mysterious employer that they keep Mystique around just to “keep you in check”. There’s certainly a lot of implying and inferring in this two-page scene.

When Forge taps into the facility’s database, he sees Rory Campbell’s name as a part of the coded information. I assume that this is supposed to tie in to the idea that Rory will one day become the mutant-killer Ahab, but if the story’s implying that Campbell is actively working to target mutants now, that contradicts his current character arc in Excalibur. Also, Forge can apparently shoot energy blasts out of an attachment to his metal hand now.

Review: I never watched The X-Files, but I’ve always assumed that the show was influencing Howard Mackie as he wrote this series. Didn’t X-Files have the agents constantly coming up against mysterious government entities that hindered their investigations? I seem to recall Mackie using that bit more than once during this era, as the team was placed in-between rival government agencies with conflicting motives. In this issue, the mysterious government officials in charge of Sabretooth want the mutant-killer Hound dead, although I assume the government agency that created him (presumably lead by Bastion), wants to keep him alive. Or perhaps the agency that created the Hound deemed him a mistake and wanted him dead? Or does someone in the government want Sabretooth dead? And if the Hound was created by Bastion, why is he genetically altered and not a cyborg like the rest of Bastion’s soldiers? None of these questions are actually intriguing within the story, they just make the plot seem needlessly confusing. There’s no clear motive for anyone’s actions, and “mystery” is being used as an excuse for some of the nonsensical plot elements. I suppose you could use the government itself as a legitimate adversary for the team, but the execution is here is boring and cliché.

Aside from the nonsensical plot, there are also the continually flat characterizations. All of the characters have bland dialogue, and the only thing approaching an internal conflict is when Polaris has to concentrate really hard to undo the Hound’s neutralizing effect on her powers. This scene is extremely bland also, since it relies on the clichéd “hero strains themselves really hard to do something they couldn’t do a few pages earlier” trick. Matsuda’s art remains inconsistent, as a few decent cartoony images emerge on the occasional page, but the majority of the issue is marred by ugly faces, odd poses, and bizarre anatomy (Sabretooth’s legs are attached to his chest on the first panel of the first page). This is pretty dire stuff.