Issue(s): X-Force #34
Cover Date: May 94
Title: "Guns and poses"
Credits:
Fabian Nicieza - Writer
Antonio Daniel - Penciler
Jon Holdredge, Sam DeLaRosa, & Harry Candelario - Inker
Ben Raab - Assistant Editor
Bob Harras - Editor

Review/plot:
This issue begins with the mystery of why Dani Moonstar is going around wearing a mask and using the mysterious codename of "Moonstar". And the answer is... NOTHING!

Frankly, i'm happier with that than anything else it might have been. Moonstar still refuses to tell X-Force why she's been working with the MLF, though. Also, her powers have mutated further.

This begins in the immediate aftermath of the Child's Play crossover and there are several new people around. Moonstar leaves. Paige Guthrie tells Cable that she wants to go to Professor X for training. Magma and Empath end their "relationship". Empath leaves, saying that Magma was his "last hope for redemption" (i.e. he's threatening to become a villain again). Magma accepts help from Siryn and Warpath to search for her real family. And Karma... well, Moonstar does say that Karma's "method of making decisions [is] completely avoiding them". So it probably shouldn't be a surprise that she disappears without a word and won't appear again until the Beast's 1997 series.

As for the main plot of this issue, it seems like an unnecessary delve into the revelation that Stryfe, not Cable, killed Rictor's father. That was already hinted at in the Cable miniseries and confirmed in X-Force #25, and that's all i really needed to know about that. All i really care about Rictor's past is that he was captured and tortured by the anti-mutant group The Right after his powers first manifested and he destroyed a city in Mexico. The fact that someone killed his father wraps up the need to bring in unnecessary background characters for him. The rest of his family could have been killed in the earthquake or just... who cares? That's plenty background for a team character; let him interact with teammates or make new friends to develop the character.

But this issue has Rictor going to Mexico to meet his cartoonish family of criminals.

Like a gun-running version of the Addams Family.

Rictor brings Cable and Domino with him and is slow to explain the whole clone thing to everyone so they get into a big pointless fight.

And WTF is a "liquid slide"? Wait, don't tell me.

We also get an extended flashback of the scene with Stryfe killing Rictor's dad.

Rictor eventually goes back with Cable and Domino, deciding he didn't like his family much anyway.

The trigger for Rictor going to his family is a report on the news on Mexican television, which Rictor is alerted to by Shatterstar. During Rictor's conversation with Shatterstar, Shatterstar mentions being grown in a vat.

As Michael notes in the comments, this seemingly contradicts the implication in X-Factor annual #7 and X-Men #11 that Longshot and Dazzler are Shattershot's parents (but keep reading the comments for the twists and turns on that idea).

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The "Younghunt" (last issue and New Warriors #46) ended only "hours" ago.

References:

• Rictor learned that Shatterstar has a wife in X-Force #29-30.
  
• We learned that Nova Roma was a lie in New Warriors #31.
  
• The fact that Stryfe (not Cable) killed Rictor's father was hinted at in the Cable miniseries and confirmed in X-Force #25.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A