Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #310
Cover Date: Mar 94
Title: "..Show me the way to go home..."
Credits:
Scott Lobdell - Writer
John Romita Jr. - Penciler
Dan Green - Inker
Lisa Patrick - Assistant Editor
Bob Harras - Editor

Review/plot:
In the 90s, you spend your bachelor party bonding with your older-than-you son-from-the-future by fighting X-Cutioner.

Cyclops is about to go to his bachelor party with Banshee. A number of other X-Men, including the visiting Nightcrawler, are waiting already.

But before Cyclops and Banshee make it out the door, they are alerted to the fact that there's an intruder in the Danger Room. When they get there, the Danger Room is replaying the sequence of Cyclops giving his son Nathan to Askani. It turns out to be the work of Cable. Cable wants to talk to Cyclops. Banshee tries to give Cable a piece of his mind about Cable's "corrupting" of Siryn, but Cyclops sends Banshee away.

Cable is upset at Cyclops for sending him away (despite seeing a hologram showing that Cyclops made the decision based on it being the only chance for his son's survival). But Cyclops is able to show Cable a continuation of the scene where he is demonstrating sufficient grief over the incident.

Meanwhile, X-Cutioner has been monitoring Cable's body-slides and he's able to piggy-back on them and use Sidri cloaking tech to get into the X-Mansion undetected.

Sabretooth is also still at the mansion (at the bachelor party, Gambit is shadily asking everyone if they are ok with Xavier keeping him there, making it obvious to everyone that they have some kind of history). Sabretooth sniffs out X-Cutioner and warns Cyclops (via hologram; Sabretooth is still locked up).

X-Cutioner has gone to the med lab. His target is the comatose White Queen. And not for any of her actual villainy; she's his target because she has "blood on her hands" for failing to prevent the Hellions from getting killed.

Cyclops arrives and blasts the X-Cutioner before he can strike the White Queen. Cable joins in the fight (and Cable and Cyclops cover for John Romita Jr.'s depiction of Cable's strength in the dialogue).

X-Cutioner teleports away, but the experience has caused Cable to accept Cyclops as his father.

Cable doesn't join Cyclops at the bachelor party, but he does accept the wedding invitation.

The Cyclops' family history is weird enough that you can get a lot of mileage out of it even without a lot of effort, as is proven by this issue which seems to have been done without a lot of effort. Although it clearly acknowledges the story from a basic plotting perspective, this issue doesn't seem to build on the end of Cable #8, when Cable stuck around to hear from Cyclops about his mother. That issue already implied that Cyclops and Cable were beginning to build a relationship. Lobdell scraps that and starts from scratch with Cable being bitter and then everything getting a sappy resolution after a forgettable use of the X-Cutioner. Lobdell's attempt at writing banter for the bachelor party similarly falls flat (the idea of Iceman getting carded is apparently meant to be hilarious, for example).

This may seem petty but i continue to be supremely annoyed by JRJR's penchant for drawing some pages sideways at random. It doesn't seem to serve any real purpose (you can see the perfectly normal layout of the scene with X-Cutioner first locating the White Queen, for example) and it causes you to constantly swivel your comic.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This bachelor party issue should take place before the wedding in X-Men #30.

References:

Cyclops sent baby Cable into the future in X-Factor #68.

• It was confirmed in Cable #6-8 that Cable, not Stryfe, was Cyclops' son.
  
• The White Queen was put in a coma in Uncanny X-Men #281.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A