UNCANNY X-MEN #385 (October 2000)

Shell Game

Credits: Chris Claremont (writer), German Garcia, Michael Ryan, and Randy Green (pencils), Panosian/Pepoy/Ketcham (inks), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters), Richard Isanove (colors)

Summary: Gambit’s team of X-Men raid an upscale party in Madripoor, aiding the Goth and Crimson Pirates in abducting several attendees. Rogue’s crew of X-Men arrive, stunned to see their teammates working with the villains. The two teams fight, with Rogue’s side apparently losing. Unbeknownst to their opponents, Gambit has touched skin with Rogue, imparting unto her the means of defeating the Goth’s leader. After everyone is teleported to their secret Chinese base, the united X-Men attack Tullamore Voge and his slavers. Rogue, having absorbed Gambit’s power, overloads the Goth’s leader with energy. The resulting explosion kills him, and enables the X-Men to defeat the slavers. Gambit, recognizing Rogue’s discomfort with killing their opponent, offers her his support.

CABLE #78 - April 2000

 

I Still Believe I Cannot Be Saved

Credits:  Joe Pruett (writer), Juan Santacruz w/Michael Ryan (pencilers), Andrew Pepoy (inker), Gloria Vasquez (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary:  Cable returns to his warehouse to discover it’s been ransacked.  According to Blaquesmith, the burglars were attempting to access the building’s secret room, where he’s working on a cure for the techno-organic virus.  Meanwhile, representatives of the Ranshi Empire search for time travelers in Manhattan.  Later, Cable meets with Stacey and erases her memories of their relationship.  As he leaves, he admits he loves her.  On his way home, Cable’s techno-organic virus goes out of control.  Irene Merryweather later discovers him in the streets.

Continuity Notes:  

• Cable loses control of his techno-organic virus (again) due to the events of Uncanny X-Men #379.
• Ozymandias gets a subplot page, pondering what he’ll do now that Apocalypse is dead.  Linger in obscurity would be my guess…
• Speaking of Apocalypse’s “death” -- this issue makes the same mistake a few of the spinoffs made during this period.  Cable claims Apocalypse has been “defeated” and Cyclops is dead, ignoring the actual ending of X-Men #98, which had Apocalypse merging with Cyclops’ body and then teleporting away.  How do you get “dead” or “defeated” out of that?

I Love the '90s:  The title of this issue is of course a reference to the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1995 hit, “Bullet with Butterfly Wings.”  And, yes, this is not technically a ‘90s comic, but I couldn’t ignore that one. 

Review:  What a weird issue.  This is the final issue of Cable before the “Revolution” relaunch of the early 2000s, which means it’s also Joe Pruett’s final issue of the title.  And he spends the issue wrapping up a romantic subplot from the Joe Casey days that’s already been pretty definitively resolved, setting up new characters for what I’m assuming is the next writer’s run (or else this Ranshi Empire stuff makes no sense at all), introducing a new Blaquesmith subplot for some reason, and closing the issue with a quickie tie-in to a storyline occurring in the main X-titles.  So, judged as a single coherent story, there’s barely anything here.  And if you’re actually intrigued by that cliffhanger, I hate to tell you that the next issue picks up six months later. 

The only plotline that’s reasonably lucid this issue is Cable and Stacey’s break-up.  Pruett handles their conversation fairly well, but the scene is marred by Juan Santacruz’s tendency to draw human faces that are abysmally inhuman.  I don’t want to be too hard on the guy, but it’s shocking to me that Santacruz found work on a mainstream title at this point in his career.  He spends much of the issue imitating Ladronn’s backgrounds and Bernard Chang’s anatomy, creating this bizarre blend of two disparate styles we’ve already seen in the book, but botching both badly.  Inserting an interlude by former Wildstorm artist Michael Ryan, the next penciler on the book, adds yet another clashing style to the issue.  And even if Michael Ryan’s pages are kind of bland, he does draw competent human anatomy, making the switch back to Santacruz’s pages even more frustrating.  I don’t think anyone will tell you Cable was particularly good during this era, but this is still a pretty sad way to close out this run.

X-MEN: CHILDREN OF THE ATOM #4 - July 2000

Child’s Play
Credits:  Joe Casey (writer), Paul Smith and Michael Ryan (pencilers), Paul Smith and Andrew Pepoy (inkers), Paul Mounts (colors), Jim Novak (letters)

Summary:  Scott Summers awakens inside Xavier’s mansion, still reluctant to join his side.  Meanwhile, Fred Duncan discovers William Metzger is working with his superiors.  Using technology taken from the Sentinel prototype, Metzger plans on helping the government locate mutants.  Later, Xavier invites Bobby Drake and Jean Grey to join his new school, while Magneto is rejected by a neophyte mutant.  Finally, masked men attack Warren Worthington’s home.  They’re stopped by Xavier, who asks Warren to join him.

I Love the '90s:  William Metzger appears on “Politically Inept with Bill Czar” to discuss the mutant issue.  This is a reference to Bill Maher's previous talk show, "Politically Incorrect." 

Review:  So, someone thought it would be a good idea to help the book’s deadline problems by replacing Steve Rude with Paul Smith.  That’s…c’mon…was Adam Hughes not available?  Smith doesn’t even last a full issue without needing a fill-in, although Michael Ryan’s pages thankfully aren’t a jarring transition.  This is possibly the finest looking issue of the series so far; Smith’s interpretation of the gawky teenage X-Men is fantastic, and Paul Mounts’ colors are competitive with any of the Photoshop coloring going on today.  

The story still suffers from far too much setup, however.  There are four different scenes in this issue of either Xavier or Magneto approaching a young mutant and asking him or her to join his side, along with more pages spent hinting that William Metzger is up to something nasty.  It’s been four issues now; the guy should’ve done something at this point to appear even somewhat menacing, but instead we’re stuck with more closed-door meetings and talk show appearances.  There is some action in the issue, though, as Angel is attacked in his home by a Marvelized version of the Klan.  This hate group wears black hoods and burns Xs on lawns instead of crosses, though, so you’ve got to be a sharp reader to pick up on the connection.  (They’re such a prosaic, and easily filmable, villain for the X-Men to face, I’m surprised they haven’t made it into any of the X-Men movies yet.)  Michael Ryan handles the action well, and the colors used on the flame effect as the house burns look great, but this is still a meager amount of action in a comic filled with monotonous conversation scenes.