Issue(s): Motormouth and Killpower #9
Cover Date: Feb 93
Title: "Escape!"
Credits:
Graham Marks - Writer
John Freeman - Penciler
David Taylor - Inker
Tim Quinn - Assistant Editor
John Freeman - Editor

Review/plot:
It says something about the nature of the guest appearances in the Motormouth and Killpower series that the Motormouth and Killpower portion of the first part of Mys-Tech Wars has nothing to do with Mys-Tech Wars. Motormouth and Killpower will appear again later in the crossover, but for their (only) tie-in issue, their plot is concerned with them time-traveling to fight in an arena battle for Julius Caesar. The Mys-Tech Wars portion, which sets up the crossover, is about Nick Fury. There's also a third unrelated plot: the conclusion (so to speak) of the story with Cable and Badhand. To be sure, all three threads relate to the evil Mys-Tech corporation in some way, but that's been true of just about every story in this wave of Marvel UK titles; only Nick Fury's portion is relevant to the crossover.

The last we saw of Motormouth and Killpower, Rathcoole has zapped them to an experimental research area where they're facing a monster and some Mys-Tech guards. Killpower, who has the mind of a child, thinks that they're playing hide and seek.

This was the first issue of Motormouth and Killpower that i ever had. I bought it in a bargain bin, curious about the characters since they appeared in Hulk. I wasn't very impressed. I have to admit it escaped me that Killpower was supposed to be talking like a little kid; i just thought everyone in the book was poorly scripted.

As for Nick Fury, he's working his way into the Mys-Tech's base in the Museum of Pagan Antiquities in London. He says to himself that he hopes that Wolverine and Captain America got the messages that he left for them. Fury finds Mys-Tech burning through empaths. He vows to stop them, but he's already been spotted.

Motormouth and Killpower manage to get away from the monster and the guards, and they head into Mys-Tech's base, where Killpower knows that they store their weapons. This causes them to cross paths with Fury for the first and only time in this series, despite Fury having been a part of the book since issue #1.

Aaaaaaand that's it. They literally cross paths and then go their separate ways. Note that Fury has every reason to attack Killpower, but takes his and Motormouth's word for it that they're not with Mys-Tech (anymore, in Killpower's case). Motormouth and Killpower manage to get into a Mys-Tech weapons locker and grab some guns, and then use their MOPEDs to teleport away. They wind up in a poorly rendered Escher drawing.

Meanwhile, Cable was caught in a tractor beam by Mys-Tech's agents', the Harpies. Badhand rescues him by blasting the Harpies' plane.

Cable manages to place the Clavis Key in the stone circle, which returns it to the Time Guardians.

Cable and Badhand leave, and that's the last we'll see of Cable in this series, and Badhand's last appearance ever. We see two of the Harpies crawl out of the plane crash, and we see that they're not exactly human.

That's the last we'll see of them here, too. We do actually see the Time Guardian that Cable sent the Clavis Key to during Mys-Tech Wars, though. He's in the Escher dimension that Motormouth and Killpower have teleported into.

Note that he is "the current" Time Guardian. Last issue, Cable said that he had met a race of Time Guardians, but i guess only one is active at a time. Time Guardian seems to upgrade Motormouth and Killpower's MOPEDs, and then tells them that they can go anywhere in time, although he warns them not to mess with history.

And then, for reasons not (yet?) explained, Motormouth and Killpower go back to 55 BC and get into a fight in an arena.

They save Julius Ceasar from a lion and get the thumbs up.

They then decide to teleport away again, this time to an island that Killpower once saw in a book (!). Motormouth says that she's basically adopting Killpower.

Motormouth and Killpower will next be seen on the island in Mys-Tech Wars #2, but the island doesn't have anything to do with the plot. It's just where they happen to be at the time.

As for Fury, he comes across Mys-Tech's Un-Earth Project, which plays a key role in Mys-Tech Wars. Fury confronts Algernon Crowe, and shoots him, but his bullets have no effect. Not so when Crowe shoots Fury.

Fury is put into what will be called the Da Vinci Cube.

Not only are the Motormouth and Killpower (or Cable and Badhand) portions of this issue not related to Mys-Tech Wars, but the Nick Fury portion will basically be repeated in Mys-Tech Wars #1. So from that perspective, everything here is entirely skippable. Motormouth accepting that Killpower is going to be with her from now on makes it less skippable from the perspective of the actual series, but this isn't a particularly good issue. An escape from the Mys-Tech monster and then a generic and seemingly pointless Roman gladiator battle, with subpar art. This issue has the first lettercol for the series. People are enthusiastic about Gary Frank's art (which, of course, is no longer going to be appearing here) but are wondering what Nick Fury has to do with the book, with one of the three letter writers complaining that more pages are allocated to Fury than Motormouth. The guest appearances do stop after this issue.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: One of the key considerations for the placement of Mys-Tech Wars is that Cable appears in this issue, a continuation of his appearances since issue #6, and his face is not damaged. Cable doesn't appear in Mys-Tech Wars beyond this issue, but since the rest of Mys-Tech Wars continues directly from here, all of Mys-Tech Wars would have to take place while Cable's face is not damaged. Prior to appearing in Motormouth, Cable appears in Warheads #4-5 while he's still with X-Force. And the Punisher appears in the Motormouth series beginning with issue #3, which i have before Warheads #4-5 (Motormouth #3 takes place soon after Warheads #1-3, and in Motormouth #6, Cable references Warheads #4-5). So unless the Punisher is making multiple trips to Europe and back, all of Motormouth #3-9 take place while Cable is still with X-Force, and that means that all of Mys-Tech Wars takes place before X-Force #6-10, when Cable's face is damaged. And X-Force #6-10 takes place during Infinity War, so Mys-Tech Wars takes place prior to Infinity War. Some back-up data: in Cable's appearance in Motormouth and Killpower #7 (which, again, continues directly through #9), he's described as "the X-Force leader", whereas in Cable's next appearance in a Marvel UK title, Shadow Riders #1, he's described as the "former X-Force leader". This seems to confirm that his appearance in the Motormouth and Killpower series takes place before X-Force #6-10, while he's still with X-Force.

As for this issue specifically, it begins continuing directly from last issue, but Dark Angel #9 also ends on a cliffhanger. And this is part one of Mys-Tech Wars ("This is it! Mys-Tech Wars begins here!"), whereas Dark Angel #10 is (more or less) part 3. So i've placed this in its own entry, and Mys-Tech Wars #1 is next.

References:

• While infiltrating Mys-Tech's base, Nick Fury passes the pile of corpses in the sewer first seen by Badhand in Warheads #2.
  
• Not quite a reference, but presumably the spy bug that Killpower swats is one of the ones we saw in Hell's Angel #3.
  
• Killpower killed several SHIELD agents between Motormouth #1 and Motormouth and Killpower #5, but Fury accepts that Killpower has changed sides.

Crossover: Mys-Tech Wars

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

With the perspective, that panel of Caesar almost looks like he's putting up a different finger...

It would be hilarious if Dan Brown read Mys-Tech Wars in his younger days.