Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1994-03-01 00:01:10 |
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Uncanny X-Men annual #18
Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men annual #18
Cover Date: 1994
Title: "Trust is a two-edged sword / And nothing will ever be the same"
Credits:
Glenn Herdling / Jeph Loeb - Writer
Ian Churchill / Tim Sale - Penciler
Hilary Barta & Bud LaRosa / Tim Sale - Inker
Lisa Patrick - Editor
Review/plot:
Caliban has kidnapped Jubilee because he's mad that the X-Men have taken in Sabretooth.
The X-Men call Kitty Pryde in from Excalibur to help, since she's had a relationship with Caliban. She's sent into the Morlock tunnels with a recalcitrant Sabretooth. And they get into a fight.
When they go back to their truce, Caliban tries to flood the tunnel they're in. They wind up getting flushed to a part of the tunnels where there's, uhhhhh, a giant squid?
Caliban jumps in to rescue Kitty from the squid. Sabretooth initially abandons Kitty to the squid but then returns to kill it. There continue to be some chaotic back-and-forth betrayals, but Kitty eventually leaves with both Sabretooth and Jubilee.
The second story is of some interest because the creative team is Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, who will go on to do some acclaimed work together. But the story is just Bishop using the Danger Room to revisit his dead XSE friends and then spending time with Jubilee.
Quality Rating: D+
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP have the main story slightly before the wedding of Cyclops and Jean Grey.
References:
- The X-Men/X-Factor rescued Caliban during the Mutant Massacre in X-Factor #11.
- Caliban joined Apocalypse in X-Factor #24 and we first saw his upgraded form in X-Factor #50.
- The X-Men took in Sabretooth (as a hybrid patient/prisoner) in X-Men Unlimited #3.
- Kitty doesn't want to betray Caliban like she betrayed Colossus in Excalibur #71.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
Caliban is scarred at the end of the issue and the end implies that Caliban is more evil than ever... so naturally the next time Caliban shows up in Cable 17-19, he's got no scars and he's back to being a good guy.
I don't understand why the MCP places the main story in a different place than the back-up. I may be missing something but I don't think there's any reference in the back-up preventing it from happening right after the main story.
Kitty can't breathe and stay untouchable at the same time? That must have caused problems after the Mutant Massacre where she was stuck being intangible for several issues.
Something like this was been mentioned before- that there's a limit to how long Kitty can phase through a solid object without taking a breath. For example, in Uncanny X-Men 206, Kitty phases herself and Storm underground but worries that Storm will suffocate. In issue 209, Harry Leland and Selene combine their powers to trap Colossus underground and Kitty goes looking for him but notes that she better find him quick because she can only stay underground as long as she holds her breath. But in issue 211, she gets trapped phasing and nobody worries that she might suffocate if they don't save her soon. Claremont's idea seems to be that she can phase in the open air as long as she wants but she can only phase through a solid object as long as she can hold her breath. I've assumed since I was a kid that the reason for the difference was that Kitty can phase anything she touches- when there's oxygen around she can phase it but underground there's no air for her to phase.
I think you might be right about Claremont's conception of how it worked. After I posted, I was trying to remember the scene in #209 where she goes underground, it seemed familiar that there was a reference to it there.
Have they ever used knockout gas on her while intangible? Seems that would be a good way of seeing whether she needs to breathe or not.
Contrastingly, much later we'll have the Whedon Breakworld scene where she phases through an incredibly dense space bullet, which has outer casing a mile thick. However long she can hold her breath for, it's not going to be long enough for her to travel a mile, especially when it's specified that the density of the bullet makes it difficult for her to phase through. There's probably other examples but that one springs to mind.
Thunderbird used knock-out gas on her in #193.
It was theorized that her powers increased over the years.
I knew about Kitty being unable to breath when phasing through solid objects, but didn't understand how when intangible, she was supposed to be able to breathe at all. The idea that she phases the air in contact with her is a good one, and the gas scene brought up fits in with that.
Jonathan, regarding Kitty phasing through the Breakworld bullet, Whedon wrote it like it took Kitty less than five minutes to phase a mile- Scott and Emma get into a short fight with Ord and Kruun in the same time it takes Kitty to phase through the casing. Honestly, a lot of things about the bullet plot didn't make sense.
