Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #306
Cover Date: Nov 93
Title: "Mortal coils"
Credits:
Scott Lobdell - Writer
John Romita Jr. - Penciler
Dan Green - Inker
Lisa Patrick - Assistant Editor
Bob Harras - Editor

Review/plot:
This issue is designed to give Angel some closure on the death of Candy Southern. By, uh, bringing her back and then killing her again.

Ok, the other purpose of the issue is to show that CAMERON HODGE IS BACK!!!!!! (Cue unanimous groans from the audience.)

Hodge is stopped (for now...!) thanks to a sacrifice by Candy, who was bonded to him.

Prior to Hodge appearing, Jean tried to scan Candy's mind, and learned that she was the "first of many".

And Hodge said there are "scores" more techno-organic sleepers, all able to pass for human even in the face of telepathy or Shi'ar technology.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: A footnote in the beginning says that this issue takes place between Uncanny X-Men #304 and X-Men #25. Which makes it sound like it takes place out of sequence. But the events of last issue (#305, which hinted at Cameron Hodge's return) are referenced, including a footnote to "last issue". So they really could have just said it took place before X-Men #25 (which it definitely does; the X-Men are preparing for the final confrontation with Magneto). For what it's worth, this takes place after Forge is made the liaison for X-Factor but we don't know how long that has been the case (Forge doesn't answer a question from Storm about how he's getting along with Havok).

References:

• Candy Southern died in X-Factor #34.
  
• In a Danger Room session with Quicksilver, Xavier wonders if Magneto will treat the X-Men with the same "courtesy" as Xavier treated him in Uncanny X-Men #304 when he hurled him from Earth instead of defeating him "once and for all".
  
• Storm and Forge have dinner together and agree to become friends again. Forge says that they haven't spent any quality time together since they were "trapped in another dimension", which was circa Uncanny X-Men #225.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Probably not enough to raise the HSR, but this is, in a sense, a prologue for the Phalanx Convenant.

I don't "get" Cameron Hodge. He just isn't deep enough a character to justify the number of time he's come back.

Anyone ever wonder if Candy Southern is a "Bond girl" name (ie, "southern candy")?

Another example of how "Fatal Attractions" wasn't so much a crossover (excepting X-Men 25/Wolverine 75) but a shared story-branding.

As for the Candy Southern name ... probably. She was named by Roy Thomas after all. Not exactly a bastion of women's equality, that one.

Jeff and Andrew, check the comments of Uncanny X-Men #31, Candy's first appearance.

As to Hodge, I kind of like his distinctive motivation -- he's actually driven by an *inferiority* complex and some stalkerish obsessions with regard to Warren Worthington III that he compensates for by hating all mutants -- but only Louise Simonson ever made the character work as anything more than a raving maniac. And by the time of Inferno, that's all he really was.

It doesn't help that this is the second time he's tried to hurt Warren by using Candy against him. Poor Candy Sothern; she was reimagined as a fairly strong character in New Defenders, but after that book was cancelled she turned into one more woman in a refrigerator.

I definitely think this should have a higher historical rating, for being build-up to Phalanx Covenant, and Candy's (final?) death, and I suppose for being another of Hodge's comebacks, too.

Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinions regarding what they think is important, but in terms of my project i don't usually increase the rating just because it's the build up to a storyline (i guess unless it's a really important storyline, and i don't think that Phalanx Covenant qualifies) or when a villain comes back from the dead for the umpteempth time.

I can see the argument for Candy's death, but in my opinion her real death was in X-Factor #34. Candy's appearance here is kind of like Una's in Captain Marvel #40 or something like that. It's just a post-death appearance to give characters closure.

Just to clarify, I (sincerely) did not mean to "pressure" fnord about the HSR. I just tealized that the Phalanx Convinent wasn't mention at all in the write-up and so I thought it prudent to mention (to people coming at these books "new" or those who didn't recall) that this is "going somewhere" and wasn't the random one-off encounter that it might seem here. That's all. ☺

Techno-organic(ish) sleeper agents targeting mutants is an idea that will be reused for Operation: Zero Tolerance. My recollection is that the Phalanx storyline doesn't do much with it, or less than the OZT story, at any rate.

@Walter: I don't recall that being used much in Phalanx Covenant, either. I always got the sense that, aside from imperfect assimilations (of which there were many, from "Douglock" to Candy Southern to Sara Grey to even Stephen Lang himself), Phalanx agents were all truly drinking the Kool-Aid, so to speak.

See, here I can get behind the idea of the Phalanx - the art sells them as gross and weird and creepy. I get the sense that JRjr had seen Akira or Tetsuo the Iron Man - the pale, fleshy, gloppy approach to the design is very distinct from any previous take on Warlock... though the next time he draws them they have a very different look, with a horror movie vibes. But I like thinking that the original concept might have been that they're a hybrid sort of the technarch, but with more organic than techno...