Issue(s): X-Force #58
Cover Date: Sep 96
Title: "...Before the dawn"
Credits:
Jeph Loeb - Writer
Anthony Castrillo - Penciler
Bud LaRosa - Inker
Ben Raab - Assistant Editor
Bob Harras - Editor

Review/plot:
The title of Cable #35 is "It is always darkest..." and this is "...Before the dawn", and they're both by Jeph Loeb, so you might think that this is the second part of a two-parter that began there. That's not at all the case, and so i think Loeb was just tired of coming up with titles. The two issues are designed to take place at the same time, but that only matters because Siryn reaches out to Cable for help and he's unavailable due to the events of that issue (he does tell her to "be strong -- always darkest before" and then gets cut out, so there's the title).

This issue has Onslaught hitting X-Force with their greatest desires or whatever. Caliban doesn't seem to have any dreams of his own, so he dreams about being Superman instead!

Onslaught manifests in this story as young Charles Xavier, but i thought it was Franklin Richards at first, and so i interpreted this scene about being a friend that he's trusted for years as a reference to their Power Pack days.

Anyway, the Xavier avatar seems to be good, actually? And i guess X-Force win their dream challenges or something?

I'm tired of these tie-ins. I've been enjoying Loeb's stuff but this is pure water treading nonsense.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This is an Impact 2 issue. Takes place at the same time as Cable #35. We'll learn in issue #60 that Risque is "saved" from Mr. Sinister by Sledge, Blob, and Mimic, so some of them might be considered behind-the-scenes here (not sure exactly how she was taken so i don't know who, if any, should be listed).

References:

• In Sunspot's dream, he doesn't reveal his powers on the soccer field the way he did in New Mutants: Renewal (Marvel Graphic Novel #4).
  
• Cable is "currently in the middle of the fight for his life in the center of New York" in Cable #35.
  
• Boom Boom's dream involves Sabretooth, and we get a whole slew of footnotes: X-Force #45-48, Uncanny X-Men #328, and the Sabretooth Special.
  
• Warpath's dream involves his brother Thunderbird who died in Uncanny X-Men #95.

Crossover: Onslaught

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A