X-Men #4-7Issue(s): X-Men #4, X-Men #5, X-Men #6, X-Men #7 Review/plot: John Byrne scripts issues #4-5 and is replaced by Scott Lobdell with issue #6. Note that these issues were published after Uncanny X-Men #281-284, where John Byrne similarly scripts for a bit before being replaced. But these issues take place first, so they're appearing first in my project. So i'll mention the reasons behind Byrne's quick departure here, even though it applies to both books. The story, told in Sean Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story and on Byrne's website, is that John Byrne was getting the penciled paged faxed to him piecemeal, making it difficult to script. I think i've read that the pages even came in out of order, but Howe's book doesn't say that. When Byrne found out about a sudden plot twist that would have caused him to re-script pages he'd already done, he called Harras to complain. Harras told him that it would be taken care of, but neglected to mention that it was being taken care of by firing him from the title. They then get Scott Lobdell to script an entire issue over night, because Fabian Nicieza was already swamped, and that's how Scott Lobdell became the regular writer on both X-books (Nicieza will take over as writer on this series with issue #12; Lobdell will have a long run on Uncanny). Since the Uncanny issues were published first, i don't want to say that these are the first post-Claremont X-Men issues, but it's close. And what's interesting is that this first story is essentially a Wolverine story, not really an X-Men story. Some of the X-Men tag along, of course, but this is a story introducing two new characters, Omega Red and Maverick, into Wolverine's backstory. It comes at a time when Larry Hama is also exploring Wolverine's backstory in Wolverine's solo series. I don't know if Jim Lee wanted to do this all along or if it seemed like a good idea to focus on the X-Men's most popular character to shore things up after Claremont's departure (the Omega Red story did begin as a subplot in the first three issues but it was already known at that point that Claremont was leaving). Regardless of whether or not it was a calculated move, introducing these new characters does have the effect of making it feel like things are still happening, or happening again, in X-Men. It's similar to the situation in New Mutants/X-Force, where an influx of new characters helped revitalize the book. These characters do have some longevity. Maverick even gets his own series in 1997, and Omega Red, who has a cool design, got a visibility boost by being included in the Capcom fighting games. In the previous arc, we saw the Hand retrieving the Omega Red container from a bunker in Russia. This arc opens up with the Hand leader Matsuo Tsurayaba reviving Omega Red, even though it means the death of several agents. Matsuo sends Omega Red after Wolverine. Tsurayaba later meets with the Strucker twins (aka Fenris), telling them that things are going well aside from a few "unanticipated fatalities". Andreas Strucker says that Omega Red is needed "if we are to become the upstart dominant" which Andrea says is about "nothing less than immortality". Meanwhile, Moira MacTaggert is feeling guilty about her treatment of Magneto (as revealed in the previous arc), and she soon decides that she wants to go back to Muir Island. Also at the X-Mansion, Wolverine, Jubilee, Rogue, and Gambit are playing basketball. It's not quite like the carefree baseball games of the Claremont era though. The game gets a little rough and there's definitely some hostility, mostly towards Gambit from Wolverine and, to a lesser degree, Jubilee. Gambit also puts the moves on Rogue, which she fends off after a little hesitation. But they later agree to go on a date, although Gambit is disappointed to learn that Wolverine, Jubilee, and the Beast are tagging along as well. It's on their way out to dinner that the X-Men are attacked, first by Hand agents and Omega Red. Wolverine recognizes Omega Red as "Arkady". In addition to his coils, Omega Red's powers include causing the people around him to get sick and die. All of the X-Men on the scene besides Wolverine are captured by the Hand. The rest of the X-Men Blue team are alerted to the presence of an unknown mutant not too far from the mansion and deploy. Was there levity in Psylocke's dialogue? It seemed more like John Byrne coming up with a reason why Psylocke would respond to an alarm in a bikini. The X-Men that were captured by the hand manage to escape with some help from Cyclops, Colossus, and Psylocke. Psylocke has a "precognitive flash" and warns the X-Men to jump out of the way before the Hand transport vehicle self-destructs. The X-Men find the mask from Wolverine's brown and tan costume in the wreckage, and wonder what it means (as Vincent notes in the comments, this is a development that goes nowhere). Cyclops decides to take the group back to Professor X. Meanwhile, Wolverine fights Omega Red. The fight is said to have lasted for some seventeen hours, and it's being observed by the "Upstarts" as well as Dr. Cornelius from the Weapon X program. When Wolverine is knocked out by Omega Red, he has a flashback to a scene thirty years ago in Berlin. Wolverine was with Creed (Sabretooth). We don't see much more of that scene now, but we'll get more details later in this arc. The Upstarts are looking for something called a Carbonadium Synthesizer, and they want to pull the location from Wolverine's memory. Professor X calls a meeting with both the Blue and Gold X-teams. He sends the Gold team to the Hellfire Club (see Considerations), and sends the Blue team to search for Wolverine and the new mutant. We then see Professor X looking over files from a folder labeled "Project Xavier 1964". Back with Wolverine, we see someone named Maverick reporting back to "central", and then the lights go out and Wolverine is free and holding some canister (containing what, i don't know). Wolverine escapes and is found by Maverick, who brings him to where he can rest. Maverick isn't happy when the X-Men show up. Interestingly, he refers to Gambit, Psylocke, and Rogue as the "junior league" compared to the Beast and Cyclops (and Jubilee). People have noted that the original X-Men seemed to get short shrift during Claremont's run. They're also less powerful, and they spent a good portion of the 80s as members of groups that weren't the X-Men. So i wonder if now we're seeing an attempt to shift back in the other direction and build the original group back up as the experienced veterans, at least compared to the post-All New team. On the other hand, that was Byrne scripting that panel, and it may have just been him expressing his opinion. We're moving on to the Lobdell-scripted issues now. Omega Red attacks the "big kids" portion of the X-Men. Note that his power isn't just distributing sickness; he says that the sicker his opponents get, the better he feels. Note also that his coils are made of the same carbonadium that the Upstarts are looking for. Omega Red describes carbonadium as a malleable form of adamantium. I wonder if that's really what the Constrictor uses for his coils as well. The "junior league" X-Men are attacked by the Hand and Fenris. And the situation is complicated by a post-hypnotic suggestion from Matsuo Tsurayaba, which causes Psylocke to once again fight on the Hand's side. All of the X-Men except Wolverine wind up getting captured. As i said at the beginning, this is really a Wolverine story. The other X-Men are bit players. While the X-Men are fighting Omega Red and the Hand, we get more of that flashback from Wolverine. He, Sabretooth, and Maverick had acquired the carbonadium synthesizer and also a double-agent scientist named Janice. Sabretooth shoots the scientist rather than bother to bring her along. They are being pursued by Omega Red. Maverick was a West German agent with the mutant power to absorb kinetic impacts (which is suddenly a very popular power around this time). They jumped out of a building to escape Omega Red, saved by their healing and/or absorption powers, and were then admonished for losing the C-Synthesizer. Wolverine eventually heals and wakes up. He doesn't recognized Maverick, and any further conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Sabretooth. Note the character Birdy, who seems to be a kind of telepath. She makes an appearance in the Capcom fighting games, as a support character that Sabretooth can call on. She also appears in Sabretooth's mini-series. I always felt like i was missing something about her, like she was more important than i realized and i just didn't have the right books (after all, she appears in that game!), but it turns out this is her only other appearance. Sabretooth has been summoned by the Hand. For what it's worth, he and Gambit turn out to know each other (as Michael notes in the comments, Sabretooth calls Gambit "Remy", the first time that name is used). Cyclops warns Sabretooth that "an army of killer androids" (aka Shiva) is hunting him, but Sabretooth isn't concerned (and that won't figure further into this story). Sabretooth takes the still-brainwashed Psylocke to search for Wolverine. New costume for Sabretooth. Note that Sabretooth doesn't recognize Maverick either. Maverick and Wolverine are able to defeat Sabretooth and free Psylocke from Tsurayaba's control, but Psylocke uses her powers to control Sabretooth, pretending that he's captured Wolverine and is bringing him back (the control isn't foolproof and Sabretooth keeps repeating the same phrase, which is pretty funny). When the Upstarts learn the location of the C-Synthesizer (it seems to have been buried with the scientist, Janice), Psylocke stops pretending. Sabretooth helps too, forced by Psylocke. However, that only lasts until Maverick frees the other X-Men, and then they wind up having to all fight Sabretooth. But he's defeated mostly off panel while we're watching the Wolverine/Omega Red rematch. Omega Red and Fenris are defeated. Later, Matsuo Tsurayaba and the Hand go to Janice's grave to retrieve the C-Synthesizer. But Wolverine is laying in wait for them. Wolverine cuts up the Hand guys, but doesn't kill them (the pain "will come later"). But it's not quite clear what happens to them; they're not seen after this scene (I'm not really sure what was done with Fenris or Omega Red, either). Notice that at least one of Matsuo Tsurayaba's hands gets sliced off, though. We'll later learn that he lost both hands. After Wolverine takes care of the Hand, he's confronted by Dr. Cornelius. Note that Wolverine doesn't recognize him. In a subplot running through all these issues, Longshot shows up at Lila Cheney's place where an amnesiac Dazzler is still living. Longshot is pursued by Spiral, but Cheney teleports the good guys away. However, they get hijacked while in transit and wind up on Mojo's world. They run away, and join up with the resistance forces in Mojoworld. Later, Longshot is captured, and Dazzler thinks to herself that she needs to get help from the X-Men. But the next two issues of this series will be a Ghost Rider crossover, so we won't get back to the Mojo plot until issue #10. How to describe these issues. They're action packed, and Jim Lee's art is nice, so it's a lot of fun in the moment. But it's very low calorie fun. Elements like the C-Synthesizer feel like perfect MacGuffins, totally irrelevant in the long term. The flashbacks to Wolverine's past, dealt out very slowly over three issues, really don't amount to much, certainly not much that we'll need to remember beyond this arc (aside from the fact that Wolverine knew Maverick at the time). And of course Wolverine's backstory is getting loaded to the breaking point. It's also worth noting that we're seeing the beginning of the period where long term plot elements are introduced without the writers having a clear idea of where they're going. Whatever is introduced with the Upstarts here has very little to do with what happens with them in the future, or even what's going on with them in Uncanny. But Omega Red is pretty cool, and Maverick seems intriguing and for the moment this title feels like it has the right energy. Quality Rating: C+ Chronological Placement Considerations: Moira MacTaggert leaves the X-Men during this arc. I've placed her appearance in X-Factor #75 prior to this, since in X-Factor #74 they believed that she was still with the X-Men when they first tried to contact her. In issue #5, there is a meeting of both the Blue and Gold X-Men teams, with Professor X telling them that they'll have to split up, with the Gold team responding to a call for assistance from the White Queen while the Blue team looks for Wolverine and Omega Red. A footnote confirms that this all takes place before Uncanny X-Men #281. At the very end of this story, Maverick says that he hopes that the information that he's passed on "regarding your former comrade" is a proper demonstration of gratitude for Wolverine giving him the C-Synthesizer. That's a set-up for Marvel Comics Presents #101-108; the "comrade" is Nightcrawler, who also happens to be in Germany. Temporary note: Another footnote says that this story takes place after Spiral and Mojo's appearances in Wolverine #51-53, but the MCP seems to disagree with that (placing Mojo's appearances in Wolverine #51-53 and the Shattershot annual event between issues #6 and #7 of this series, even though Wolverine is imprisoned between those issues). References:
Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A Inbound References (9): show Comments"(I'm not really sure what was done with Fenris or Omega Red, either)." Posted by: clyde | February 3, 2016 4:08 PM Fighting game nothing; I remember Omega Red from the animated series! Heck, this really does feel very much like the "zeitgeist" period despite Claremont's departure with all these elements more or less solidified in one of the early definitive takes on the team. (it doesn't hurt that they have the typical mentality of "we want to show off our new toys with the classic stuff" that many comic adaptations tend to have) Posted by: Ataru320 | February 3, 2016 4:44 PM Omega Red was really popular when I was a kid because of his character design. I still think it's good. His was a popular trading card back when those mattered. I agree that Jim Lee's art appears to be breakdowns with his inkers or whoever doing finishes after issue #7 or #8. I remember it starts looking a little off for the last few issues of his run. Posted by: Red Comet | February 3, 2016 8:42 PM It was at this time that Jim Lee proudly declared to John Byrne that he was bringing Wolverine back to the garish Yellow and Blue costume, not realizing that it was Byrne that designed the Brown and Tan costume to begin with. Also the script for the bit with Cyclops finding Wolverine's mask seemed to be a bit of Byrne going meta....because going by the art alone, it made no sense why the mask was there since he wasn't wearing it beforehand. I'm guessing that Byrne had no plot notes to work with at all. And it was probably colored tan by mistake. And yeah, I agree that the Psylocke in bikini page was probably non-sensical to Byrne with no context, so he added the dialogue of just coming out of the pool. It's pretty plain to see Byrne's nightmare scripting scenario here. Posted by: Vincent Valenti | February 3, 2016 8:44 PM Remember being bored to tears by this story. Looking back, the awful 90s seeps through every panel. Psylocke seems to have graduated from the Rob Liefeld achool of sword holding. And her anatomy in the gratuitous bikini panel is ridiculous.j That Sabretooth redesign is hideous. Suddenly, he's 8 times his former size. And Lee loved thise face sleeves. Gambit, under Claremont, was a mysterious Edward Scissorhands-esque figure, often in shadow, who we barely got a clear view of his face. Under Lee, he's a shirtless, ponytailed, basketball wizard alpha male jock. And lastly, what the hell is Maverick wearing? What a busy, hot mess of a design. Pretty dull start to a pointless, aborted run, loaded with vapid "kewl" characters. But nowhere near the insulting, distesectful level of awful of Uncanny 281 (maybe in my top 3 worst ever). Posted by: Bob | February 3, 2016 10:09 PM And I've never understood Marvel's insistence on and going back to this outfit for Wolverine over the far superior Byrne design? Posted by: Bob | February 3, 2016 10:12 PM And a nightmare for the X-Titles in general. Maybe I'm limited this way, but I will defend myself as a Claremont-scholar, and these people are unrecognizable. I bought these books in real time and I literally do not know what's going on. Claremont had some influence over the amount of cheesecake on screen, but this is "No! Stop! Ewwwww!" And I like sexy girls in comics. Comics needs more of them. But not like this. There are merits to Jim Lee's art and design, but to me, they all fall apart with those pictures of Betsy and Rogue. This is Jim Lee (who has no idea what he's doing) trying to carry the weight of the most important comics franchise of the last twenty years, and he'll ditch it a year later. But in the meantime, he can provide T and A, because that's all that really matters. I am honestly ashamed of myself that I kept reading the title for the next year or so [through the next crossover anyway.] Posted by: ChrisW | February 3, 2016 10:15 PM I was completely confused when Psylocke had a "precognitive flash". This was probably intended as a reference to Betsy's precognitive flashes in the early Captain Britain stories. However, like most American readers, I hadn't read them at this point, and Byrne's script didn't reference them. Posted by: Michael | February 3, 2016 10:37 PM Why are the Hand and Fenris after the c-synth? Omega Red says it will allow him to control---or get rid of?---his death factor. But that's his greatest power: even if he doesn't like it for some reason, why would the Hand and Fenris care? Note that we get a go-nowhere, out of the blue claim while Wolverine is a captive that Fenris wants to reproduce his healing factor. Then Wolverine escapes and he's got "the stuff" in that canister. What stuff? I suspect Byrne used the vague word because he didn't have a clue what was going on either. I've seen another website claim that Wolvie's bone marrow or platelets or something was in the canister, but I don't recall that being clear from the story. And Wolvie does nothing with the canister once he escapes. I havent checked, but the snow in the Wolvie/Omega Red fight is meant to be out of whack with the warm setting during the basketball game. Lee just drew whatever he wanted, to hell with consistency. These issues are about as incompetently written as a McFarlane comic. Absolute gibberish. Posted by: Walter Lawson | February 4, 2016 3:58 AM This story is a complete mess. I do like Omega Red and the new look for Sabertooth though. Posted by: Berend | February 4, 2016 4:36 AM @Walter- I think the idea is that the c-synth will also enable Tsuyaraba and the Hand to cheaply produce carbonadium. As for what they were going to do with an army of ninjas/soldiers equipped with carbonadium, well, they're bad guys- I'm sure they had some Evil Plan. Posted by: Michael | February 4, 2016 7:44 AM Also it seems a tad bit insulting that Jim Lee gave Sabretooth a costume that very closely resembles the one that he just took away from Wolverine...almost as if that was supposed to be some consolation or something. Posted by: Vincent Valenti | February 4, 2016 9:31 AM I must have seen that image of Sabretooth leaping on Maverick a million times as a kid. I remember it being on a lot of merchandise, including a sweater I had. Posted by: TCP | February 4, 2016 10:12 AM It's partly nostalgia, but I've always liked Jim Lee's costumes during this era of X-men despite the pouches. I've always preferred this Sabretooth costume to his original one, which was very generic. The fur on the shoulders was a good choice by Lee as it gives the appearance of a lion's mane. I've noticed that aspect of Lee's costume has been kept as during the past decade or so they've had him mainly in street clothes with a fur-collared jacket that imparts the same outline. Posted by: Red Comet | February 4, 2016 10:57 AM Is there a panel where Maverick says "Let's dance"? or am I just imagining that because that seems like something stupid a character in this era of comics would say? Posted by: Mark Black, MLIS, Youth Services Librarian, Author, Self Loather | February 4, 2016 2:42 PM Red Comet, I don't agree that the original Sabretooth costume was generic... IMHO, *this* costume is generic, with its typical 90s face sleeve and geometric shapes. As for the story, I agree that it doesn't make sense. What are the villains after? Why does Omega Red need the c-synthetiser? Also, note that it's first hinted that OR is some old foe that knows Logan well. But then, it's revealed that he only saw Logan briefly before being hit with the grenades (which, I assume, is what put him into his coma/death?). Bad story and not very good art. Even when I was a teenager, I know that something was off here... Oh, and good points about Gambit, Bob. Post-Claremont writers destroyed him... Posted by: Piotr W | February 4, 2016 2:49 PM The fur on the shoulders was a good choice by Lee as it gives the appearance of a lion's mane. Posted by: Robert | February 4, 2016 3:10 PM Oh and he removes the fur from the arms and legs. But still he just makes minor changes to an existing design. From a design perspective these Image guys were all pretty much hacks. They borrowed heavily from what other creators had done, whether that be in comics or from various '80s action figures they'd grown up with. Posted by: Robert | February 4, 2016 3:15 PM I loathed all of Lee's redesigns, which, sadly, were entrenched in newbie fans' eyes after the cartoon. Posted by: Bob | February 4, 2016 5:01 PM @Mark, i gave the issues a flip-through and didn't see that phrase. Maybe it's in Maverick's appearance in issues #10-11, or in Wolverine #62-64. Posted by: fnord12 (who needs to adjust the character limit for this field) | February 4, 2016 6:41 PM He has a tough guy line at the end of #10 that Mark might be thinking of: Panel 1: "You're so eager to mambo with Maverick? Fine." Posted by: Robert | February 4, 2016 7:10 PM Cyclops' warning/threat about the army of killer androids to Sabretooth is, like, my favorite (ironically enjoyed) panel of all time. It's just total over-the-top comicness. I'm glad to see it got mentioned. The basketball game, while absolutely ridiculous, is, in my opinion, a great piece of 90s historical kitsch, much like Dazzler's various musical careers in the 70s and 80s make the books feel like that era. White Men Can't Jump came out in '92, and I think Jim Lee (and therefore everyone afterward) drew inspiration for Gambit from Woody Harrelson. I certainly cast Harrelson in that role in my head as a kid. Personally, I think it makes the absence of a black character on this team stick out. All that being said, there's not a whole lot to love here. While I think he was great at character design, Jim Lee's plotting seems basically without direction, like a teenager who finally got the car keys only to discover he didn't have anywhere to go. I kind of wonder if you could have taken Lee's art and character design and Liefeld's plot vision -- which, in his early days, I actually think was promising -- and somehow merge them into a single person, you might have had a true great talent, someone maybe like Frank Miller. But you'd still need to find someone to script it. I can feel Byrne's curmudeonlyness showing through in the stuff he wrote here, as he clearly wasn't happy about the conditions he had found himself in returning to the X-books. And Lobdell... my feelings about Lobdell are complex. At times it feels like he's really, really good, on par with Claremont almost. And then, at other times, he just feels utterly inane. At least, however, he's better than Nicieza. While I think he has gotten better as he has matured over the years, his initial work on Uncanny is almost unreadable to me. Which is sad, because I can see some neat ideas about how to enter the post Claremont era in those early books, that are just spoiled because Nicieza can't write them. Posted by: FF3 | February 5, 2016 6:26 AM > fnord12 (who needs to adjust the character limit for this field) The hero we need, not the hero we deserve. Posted by: FF3 | February 5, 2016 6:34 AM "I'm gonna remix this little party a bit" is a great line (for all the wrong reasons). Posted by: Enchlore | February 6, 2016 2:03 PM A couple other things to note- Maverick is talking to a Major in this story- Maverick's boss is eventually named Major Arthur Barrington. I think that this might be him, and if so, he should be listed as a character appearing. Posted by: Michael | February 6, 2016 2:24 PM I believe if u look close the folder that Xavier is looking at says "project Xavier 1964", not 1984. Posted by: tommy | February 7, 2016 10:00 AM Oops, that was a typo. Thanks tommy. Posted by: fnord12 | February 7, 2016 12:29 PM @Michael - i added a note about "Remy". Regarding Major Barrington, does the guy ever have any actual on screen appearances? Looking at the MCP, it seems like it's all flashbacks and BTS except i guess that X-Men Origins: Sabretooth insert. Posted by: fnord12 | February 7, 2016 12:33 PM He appears in Maverick 3, where he dies. Posted by: Michael | February 7, 2016 1:03 PM Ok, added him. Thanks. Posted by: fnord12 | February 7, 2016 1:19 PM @Walter and Michael: I'm wondering if the C-Synthesiser had something to do with the Death Spore Virus? Arkady carries it and the carbonadium enables him to control it so did Tsurayaba and the Hand have bigger plans for releasing the virus? Recall he was previously up to no good on Madripoor in Uncanny X-Men #268 with Fenris (Andrea and Andreas Strucker) whose father had previously attempted unleash the virus in Strange Tales #156? It was also known to animate and preserve dead bodies so did the Hand plan to use it to restore dead agents to life? Posted by: Nathan Adler | February 7, 2016 2:55 PM @Walter- BTW I checked- the basketball game was at the Mansion, while the fight in the snow between Logan and Omega Red was near the Struckers' base. So there's no inconsistency. Posted by: Michael | February 7, 2016 4:05 PM Must admit, I am disappointed that one of my all-time favorite panels didn't make the cut here. I think it really highlights the work of Jim Lee, not to mention has a nice dash of humor that ran through this stretch of X-Men. I refer to the panel of the whole team having broken in and staring down the villains. Scott stands there with a great look, saying "You have something of ours." The humor, of course, comes from Hank: "Don't forget our resident Japanese by way of Britain psionic ninja. You can imagine how hard they are to replace." (paraphrasing, as I don't have the issue at hand). I'm also glad that others have mentioned the whole thing with Logan's mask. It was confusing as hell, with Scott holding up Logan's brown mask, saying he wasn't in uniform, then Logan's in his yellow costume fighting. For those of us not reading his solo series and not knowing he had changed costumes, I couldn't tell what the hell that was all about. Posted by: Erik Beck | March 2, 2016 11:33 AM Wolverine #64 is where we see Mark Pacella swiping the Sabertooth leap. I'm certain that the confusion was the result of trying to script over pages that deviated from the offered plot. Must have been fun. Posted by: Vin the Comics Guy | April 17, 2016 8:59 PM @Bob: Why would a gritty, street level character want to be brightly pineapple colored? In a contemporaneous Wolverine story in which he first switches the costume, he says the change is motivated by a desire to embrace his more human side, at the expense of his animalistic side. So he wants to wear the brighter, more traditionally superheroic costume, instead of the one that is darker and more animalistic. Obviously, Lee just liked the blue-and-yellow one better, but they did at least work in an in-universe explanation for the change, one which specifically addressed fans complaints that the blue-and-yellow costume wasn't dark enough. Posted by: Austin Gorton | August 17, 2016 12:53 AM Erik, my all-time favorite panel is the grand debut of Jim Lee's Europop redesign of Fenris. The hilarious post-basketball flirting scene between Anna-Marie and Remy being a close second. But the sheer WTF moment of seeing trashy Neo-Nazi fashion made me realize that Ol' Jim must be a fellow camp aficionado, because seriously! Posted by: Jon Dubya | February 10, 2017 1:49 AM Gambit under Claremont was a dark hero surviving psychotic episode just long enough to do the right thing at times. Brilliant! Taking his persona to a French Bjorn Borg really did harm him. Omega Red needs more air time (especially in this Era) and Jubilee needs a makeover or an industrial accident. Posted by: Rocknrollguitarplayer | March 8, 2017 11:08 PM In issue #4 Xavier says to Banshee that he can't speak because he broke his jaw. I don't remember anything like that happening in issue #3. What happened, then? Posted by: Bibs | January 20, 2018 9:10 AM Oh, and I forgot to mention that issue #4 was the very first X-Men comic I ever read! I didn't really collect much at the time, so I had a few scattered issues here and there (this arc, the Mikail Rasputin arc in UXM, the Sabotage arc in X-Force and the Upstarts crossver were really the only comics I had for years). I only started collecting around the Onslaught era (horrible time to start, I know that now), so I guess this point marks the beggining of an era that isn't particularly good story-wise, but has its appeal mainly to 90s kids like me who grew up with the cartoon. Posted by: Bibs | January 20, 2018 9:18 AM In issue 3, a mind-controlled Gambit hit Banshee in the jaw with his staff. This issue, we find out it's broken. I don't have problems with a character being hit in one issue and finding out the injury was serious in the next issue or the issue after that. Posted by: Michael | January 20, 2018 9:28 AM Me neither, I just didn't remember that bit from #3. Thanks for the heads up ;) Posted by: Bibs | January 20, 2018 10:57 AM One thing I don’t understand is that Cornelius was shot in the head at the end of the story by Maverick. So how did he survive that, given that he was shown alive in the Death of Wolverine series? Posted by: Matt | January 20, 2018 3:41 PM Maybe Maverick was shooting blanks Posted by: Bibs | January 22, 2018 7:03 AM I agree with Jon Dubya, Andrea von Strucker's outfits were A-MA-ZING. They were as good as camp can get. So much so that they were still around in the Daredevil/Punisher/Nomad crossover regarding the Kingpin's legacy. Incidentally, the Fenris's participation implies that they were not taken away in this arc; neither was Omega Red. Indeed, neither was Matsu'o; somehow they all got away after being defeated (twice, in Matsuo's case). I don't know about Maverick shooting blanks at Cornelius, isn't there a rather nasty hole on the good doctor's head? Posted by: The Transparent Fox | April 16, 2018 6:07 PM Was X-Men 4-7 ever collected in a TPB? Posted by: Chris Hubble | June 17, 2018 12:02 PM Loads. Just not the recent X-Men Epic Collection: Mutant Genesis. Posted by: AF | June 17, 2018 2:01 PM @ Chris Hubble - All of the first seven issues were collected in X-Men: Mutant Genesis. Posted by: Erik Beck | June 17, 2018 2:02 PM Comments are now closed. |
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