12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #330 (1996)

Now this is some Ninja Scroll anime action! Dressed like characters in a film, Archangel and Wolverine team up with Gomurr the Ancient and Dr. Strange to obtain a sip of the Crimson Dawn. The one mystical medicine that could save Psylocke before she dies of her Sabretooth-inflicted wounds.

And let me just point out, I find it hilarious that Psylocke is all bandaged back at the X-Mansion with only her face and a large swath of cleavage left exposed. Just like the real doctors do! Ha!

Her rescuers fight their way through an assortment of mystical type bad guys, including the well-named Undercloaks. They are another set of generic bad guys, but they look a lot cooler than the mist men from last issue. The heroes also face the odd Tar, who seems pretty petty and vindictive for a super-powerful mystic deity. He zaps Gomurr just because he's lonely.

In the end, Dr. Strange somehow pulls a Psylocke min-fig out of Archangel's heart and plunges it into the Crimson Dawn. This representation of their love allows Psylocke to survive in a burst of mystical energy. Not sure how that works, but at least it wrapped up in two issues!

One weird thing is the way Wolverine constantly calls Archangel "kid." I mean, I guess it makes sense chronologically, but Angel has been around a lot longer than Logan. I don't think of Archangel as an inexperienced hero. I am enjoying the slow degradation of Archangel's metal wings. This is leading up to my favorite incarnation of Angel, the one with faint blue skin, blonde hair, and feathered wings. It seemed like the best of both worlds in the '90's and it still does now.

I hope you've enjoyed this year's 12 Days of X-Mas, I know I did. For all the hate that Scott Lobdell gets these days, these old X-Men issues are very readable. They aren't all classics, but they have well-laid subplots, decent action, good guest stars and an interesting mix of villains. Classic foes like Juggernaut and Sabretooth show up interspersed with folks like the Gene Nation and Tar. This isn't exactly a golden age of the best X-Men comics ever, but overall, they have been

GOOD

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #329 (1996)

Now let's start the review of Ninja Scroll #1! Oops, that actually probably starts a little more obviously next issue, but it sure is clear what Joe Madureira likes to draw. His manga influence is clear, but this is the story where he really gets to indulge it. With Psylocke on the verge of death back at the X-Mansion, Archangel and Wolverine head out to Little Asia to find more mystical help. They end up fighting some generic photoshop smoke ninjas. The poor quality of the photoshop really pulled me out of the comic, making it hard to get through. I don't remember having this problem when I first read the comic, but tricks like this don't age well. Putting Dr. Strange floating in front of an actual picture of New York City just looks distracting, not cool or realistic.

As always, though, Mad excels when drawing the costumed heroes. Archangel and Wolverine look great, even when rocking street clothes. Dr. Strange's big scarf look is well done too.

Scott Lobdell is joined by Jeph Loeb for this arc, and I wish I could say it helped. But there is the same stilted, purple dialogue that can be extremely hard to get through. After all, when the Mandarin changed Psylocke into a ninja, she came back as "something more. And something less." Ugh.

The other thing I noticed in this issue is how overpowering the caption boxes became. This is almost Chris Claremont levels of text crowding each panel. Trust the artist to tell the story, man! Joe Mad can handle it!

I had fond memories of this issue, but on re-reading it, I don't think it quite held up to my memories. The awful photoshop smoke warrior and the captions made it a lot harder to lose myself in the action than some of my other X-Mas reads.

Fair

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #328 (1996)

It is hard to admit, but clearly Scott Lobdell had a theme during this run of his X-Men comics. That theme is redemption. Joseph, Marrow, Sabretooth, and Gambit all struggled with it. Each character accepting and moving on... or not, in Sabretooth's case.

It turns out that the childlike Sabretooth who had been hanging in the Danger Room and chumming around with Boom Boom was faking. It is refreshing to see that not ever villain got "Venom'ed" into being a good guy in the 1990's. Nope, Sabretooth was faking, and as he makes clear in his dialogue this issue, he loves being bad.

He spends a long while needling Professor X about how silly it was for the Professor to think he can fix everything. This sequence includes a great bit of characterization when Cyclops talks about his code against killing. Scenes like this are the reason why I have such a disconnect from modern iterations of the character. (Hawkeye has the same problem for me in the Avengers titles.)

After the Professor, Cyclops and Jean Grey leave, Sabretooth works some manipulation magic on Boom Boom to make her blast him free of his restraints. Boom Boom comes off as a pretty stupid character here, one that it is hard to have a lot of sympathy for. She's got to be smarter than this, especially when Psylocke is the person that ends up paying the price.

Joe Madureira must have been licking his chops at the thought of drawing this issue. He's got the ninja psylocke running around in her swimsuit and the gigantic, hirsute Sabretooth locked up like Hannibal Lecter until his escape. It is very much like Silence of the Lambs, including the facial restraints Victor Creed wears for most of the issue. As for Psylocke, she has the shiniest breasts in comic book history in this one. An odd trophy, but one she deserves for a couple panels in this issue.

Mad didn't have enough time to set hte mood or to really follow up the classic Psylocke v. Sabretooth fight from Uncanny X-Men #213. Still, he does a nice job portraying Sabretooth's savage nature with both violence and facial expressions. Sabretooth is pretty much an irredeemable monster, and I can't wait to see him get what he deserves. (Unfortunately, I don't remember what book that happens in!)

Good

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #327 (1995)

Oof. Guys. I'm sorry. This is the issue that introduces Joseph into X-Men canon. At this point, I can't remember who exactly Joseph ended up being. (Wasn't he a clone of Magneto?) It seems clear that in Scott Lobdell's original story, this guy is supposed to be a de-aged Magneto who is young enough (in his twenties) to join the X-Men.

What a horrible, messed up idea. The purple prose and generic story don't help. Joseph wakes up in a South American orphanage where he befriends a beautiful nun and her youthful charges. Other than a few outbursts about Nazis and a fascination with mutants, Joseph seems pretty happy to bum around the farm.

But when pushed, he lets out the old Magneto and slaughters a group of drug runners who kidnapped his new friends. This story takes the whole issue to play out, with plenty of formulaic interactions and heavy handed dialogue about redemption. Hell, the cover summarizes the quality in one line "If SINS be FORGIVEN." Ugh.

Roger Cruz is on art again, and man, his stuff was not so good. He is clearly doing a similar style as Joe Mad, but his faces are far more inconsistent and the level of detail varies wildly from page to page. Perhaps drawing more costumes might have helped, but the grounded tone of the issue is not a good match for Cruz.

Sometimes it is impossible to read a comic and not dread what I know is coming later. Joseph's first appearance and his weird place in X-Men lore falls into that category.

Poor

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #326 (1995)

Happy New Year!

Today's issue has us getting more glimpses into Gambit's mysterious past before he joined the X-Men. In case you don't remember, Gambit was working for Mr. Sinister back in the old days, and he led the Marauders to the Morlocks before the Mutant Massacre. The guilt is ripping Remy LeBeau up, so he takes out his anger on the lobotomized Sabretooth the X-Men are "rehabilitating."

It's not even much of a fight, because Sabretooth is basically in a child-like state of mind. Now whether or not he's faking is still not clear as of this issue, but it is still a neat scene when Gambit has holograms of Creed's victims start showing up and accusing him of his past murders.

I'm not certain the continuity lines up anymore though. Since James Howlett and Sabretooth were kids around 1900, it makes the timeline for Creed's first murders when he was 9 seem a little bit off. Either way, it is a good scene. And at the close of the issue it sure looks like Sabretooth might be turning back into the bad guy we know and love.

There are a lot of pages dedicated to the Legacy Virus too. These pages don't hold my attention too well, as the whole arc seemed weird. I know the X-Men always stand in for the current persecuted people of the day, but the HIV/Legacy Virus thing was a big heavy handed.

It certainly doesn't help that the Legacy Virus took out Moira MacTaggart, a valuable supporting cast member who deserved a better send off.

Joe Madureira's art was so revolutionary at this time, I remember loving it. Now I'm struck by the lack of backgrounds and the heavy use of computer-generated images to try and give each page a sense of place. It's a pity that the foreground characters look so dynamic yet the primitive photoshop work doesn't. Again, Mad's Beast is the highlight of the issue, but he draws a mean Gambit too. I like the simplified outfit Storm has in this era too.

Good

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #325 (1995)

Maybe it is because this is an anniversary issue, but I actually remember this issue from my first read! It isn't that great of a comic, so I'm not sure why it stuck in my head. Perhaps it is due to the first appearance of Marrow, modern classic that she is.

One striking thought about Marrow is that she has gotten quite cleaned up over the years. Joe Madureira's Marrow is a lot uglier, with bad skin and bone spurs sticking out all over her body. In the modern era, Marrow is a lot more of a looker. I'm not opposed to the change, especially since she joined the X-Men.

Mad's kinetic artwork is always exciting, even if the proportions and perspective don't always match up. But that's OK, because this is hyper four-color action in the mighty Marvel manner. To this day, I don't think there is anyone who draws a better Beast than Joe Mad.

Scott Lobdell opens hte issue with that old X-Men chestnut; the inter-team baseball game. I'm not going to lie, it is pretty nice seeing the team like this again. Cyclops pitching, M at bat, Beast playing catcher, it just has a sense of family and fun that has been missing from the X-Men for a long, long time. Seriously, when was the last time that the X-books felt fun? Schism was dark, but I think it goes much further. M-Day was rough. That is going back a long, long time for a depressing era of mutant comics.

The modern darkness is even more striking because the characters in this book are constantly talking about how bad things are. Colossus returns after abandoning the team (and he's in a truly awful costume to make things worse). Wolverine is still rocking bone claws and a savage attitude. Cyclops? He's still the cool leader wearing a sleeveless hooded sweatshirt and ball cap. As a Colossus fan, I have to admit this is a very dark time for the character. He was hooking up with Callisto for heaven's sake! Domino is a pretty massive improvement!

The Gene Nation are never a huge threat in this issue. Vessel, Sack, and the other gross bozos are basically fodder for the X-team as Marrow takes on Storm. Marrow has attached a detonator to her heart, so if Storm fails to kill her, a bunch of humans will get blown up. It is kind of surprising seeing Storm just do what needs to be done and kill Marrow. (Of course, we know that this death doesn't stick for long.)

Lobdell does a nice job leveraging Storm and Wolverine's friendship as Storm deals with what she's done. These two characters have had a strong relationship for many years, something I didn't really remember.

Fair

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #324 (1995)

If you like action, then this one is for you, True Believers!

Not even the average art of Roger Cruz can dampen the mood when Sack and Vessel take on Cannonball, Wolverine, Beast, and Storm. And to be honest, I'm being a tad harsh. While the art isn't great, Cruz does a nice job on Beast, Cannonball, and the two villains. Wolverine looks a little too crazy for me (his mask would help) and Storm's sudden morphing into street clothes confused me for half the issue.

And Psylocke's psychic battle armor? Atrocious and weird. How could a metal suit cling that tightly to her butt?

Vessel's powers are a bill ill-defined; he can absorb the souls or psychic and physical power from those he kills. With 33 kills at a nearby nightclub, he's got enough in the tank to make it tough on Wolvie, Beast, and Storm. I do like bad guys that just take a big pounding, though. There is nothing too complicated in taking down the villain, just lots of punches, slashes, and lightning bolts.

Cannonball takes on Sack one on one in an enjoyable little fight that shows off the coolness of the "invulnerable while blasting" aspect of Cannonball's powers. That's always been one of the coolest powers in the comics and seeing it work against a weird possession villain is a neat twist.

The two villains reveal themselves as part of the Gene Nation, a group with ties to the Morlocks. Storm doesn't know exactly how that fits in with her memories of the underground mutant community, but I seem to remember this story introducing Marrow and bringing back a certain overpowered Russian mutant too. We'll see if I'm right in the upcoming issues.

The mysterious Gambit subplot isn't doing anything for me, just because whatever it is that Psylocke is looking for probably isn't that big a deal; I don't remember anything that affects the character these days. The Iceman and Rogue road trip is still weird too. Rogue is struggling to deal with a kiss with Gambit where she absorbed his memories, but again, Gambit just doesn't have enough interesting backstory to justify two subplots.

But the subplots don't take too many pages and most of the issue is straight-up action. I always appreciate that.

Good

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #323 (1995)

The hardest part about these reviews is finding the dang issue number on the front of the comic. Seriously, take a look at that cover and try to find it. Aargh!

This issue has pencils by a guy who I think could go places. Some dude named Bryan Hitch. How crazy is the run of artists on this title so far. It certainly isn't hurting matters having top notch artists working on all these old books. Many of them are still favorites of mine today.

Hitch does a decent job with the issue. He clearly enjoys drawing Rogue as she spends the entire issue in a tiny top and cut off jean shorts while road tripping with Iceman. Rogue maximizes every opportunity to stretch out and show off her outfit. Something tell me that it isn't doing anything for Iceman... (One small note, the previous issue described their road trip as being "ON THE RUN" and that really overstates the stakes of a flat tire.)

I don't love Hitch's design for Storm, a more regal-looking suit with a weird topknot. But the rest of the X-Men look good, I especially enjoyed the over-the-top hallucination of Emma Frost plaguing poor Iceman.

Back at the mansion, Archangel and Psylocke are flirting it up in the Danger Room (making sure to show off Psylocke's tiny swimsuit) while Cannonball takes care of the lobotomized Sabretooth. One thing that is clear from re-reading these issues is that everything is crossing over. Marvel clearly didn't think there were a lot of people reading this book but not X-Men or Wolverine. the plots are picked up and continued and cliff-hangered into and out of all the different books. Crazy.

I love Cannonball's early days on the X-Men. He was a refreshing voice and his attitude made older characters like Wolverine feel more dangerous. Cannonball had that generic costume too, which made him feel even more like a recent graduate to the X-Men. He is a great reader identification character.

The foils for this one are the now simple Sabretooth (who you just know is gonna be trouble) and the hilariously named Sack and Vessel. Sack looks like a wet glob around a skeleton who can slime into folks and control them while Vessel seems to be muscular. You've got to love mid-90's code names, huh?

Decent action, subplots, and nice art. I have to admit I'm enjoying this year's X-Mas!

Good

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #322 (1995)

Age of Apocalypse? Skipped it. We're back here with Uncanny X-Men after that whole hullaballoo wrapped up, with the start of a "modern classic" with Onslaught!

This issue is full of one of my favorite X-Men tropes, where the team is just sitting around waiting to be attacked. It would be better if they were in the mansion waiting, but I'll take what I can get.

The issue opens with Archangel (still with blue skin and blonde mullet) meeting up with his former love interest Charlotte, a cop who shows him a horrible new crime committed by a mutant on some human kids at a club. I'm more interested in the use of Warren Worthington's past as a plot device. The guy has had so many girlfriends he could probably launch a series just dealing with their issues. It's worth noting that Scott Lobdell does a nice job playing up the anti-mutant racism that is such a calling card of the X-Men. Most of the cops can't stand seeing Archangel at the crime scene, and one actually takes a shot at him!

Elsewhere, Beast and Bishop are leaving Pulp Fiction when the Juggernaut comes sailing down the street and crashes at their feet. Joined by Psylocke, the three X-Men actually do pretty well taking on the greatly weakened Juggernaut. I appreciated the constant commentary from Beast about how the three of them wouldn't even have a shot had Juggsy not been on his last legs. And who hurt Cain Marko this badly? Onslaught of course.

There is also an interlude with Wolverine, Storm, and Siryn, but all that did was make me wish that Siryn had spent some more time on the main X-Men roster taking her Dad's spot. Wouldn't it have been neat seeing her taking Banshee's spot on some pin-up style pages? Did that happen and I'm just not remembering it?

Tom Grummett provides the artwork and I have to say I loved it. The bright colors, the classic Beast and classic Juggernaut were a joy. I loved Siryn's look so much it actually made me want to see more of her. And I loved that Storm's walk in the rain would have been totally exploitative if drawn by a different artist (all she was wearing was a wet white dress). Grummet, Epting, and Garney, what a great run of talent on this book. Even early in their careers they are doing better work than a lot of modern X-artists.

I find myself really enjoying these back issues. Is it because they are actually decent or is it because I read them long ago and they imprinted on my impressionable mind?

Good

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #321 (1995)

Uhhhh.... there is some weird stuff in this one, folks.

This is part 3 of Legion Quest, so Scott Lobdell (plot) and Mark Waid (script) certainly have to deal with some mid-chapter nonsense for about half the book. The X-Men have teamed up with the Sh'iar to build a whacko device to send Cable's "astral self" to the past. This gives Cyclops, Rogue, Gambit, Beast, Jean Grey, Archangel, and Cable a chance to talk tough. This amused me since essentially only two X-Men were necessary for the scene. Jean Grey had to boost her powers and Cable had to go back in time. Maybe you could argue Beast helped build the gigantic time-phone, but other than that? Just grimacing and promises from the rest of the team.

In the past, the team is trapped in Israel, robbed of their memories. This is convenient since it means that Iceman, Bishop, Storm, and Psylocke haven't actually accomplished anything since we last saw them. By the end of the issue, Cable reminds them that they have a job to do (save the world, of course) but any actual conflict is going to be saved for part 4 in another title.

I did enjoy seeing Professor X and Magneto bonding in their younger days. This story is set shortly after they became friends, so the bonds are just starting, but the two guys clearly respect each other. I always thought this was a fascinating relationship and I enjoyed Marvel spending so much time expanding on it over the years. Clearly lots of people feel that way since the current X-Men movie franchise is built on the Charles/Erik bromance.

Remember when I said Legion wasn't very likable last issue? Then used his powers to go back in time? Well, in this one he uses his powers to impersonate his father and start kissing his mother. I can't really see what this accomplishes regarding his greater plot. I also can't figure out how far we are supposed to think Legion got with his emotionally disturbed parent. Either way... ewwww. Between this and the Ms. Marvel baby thing in Avengers 200 and Power Girl's pregnancy in the '90s, I really start to worry about the mental health of the comic book community.

Ron Garney provides the pencils for this one and much like Steve Epting a few issues ago, you can see how skilled this guy is. Sure, Archangel and Cyclops are built like tanks rather than their normal body shape. Rogue's eyes also take up more than a third of her face. But man, Beast is rocking a sweet mullet and Gambit looks TOUGH. Best of all, the action choreography of the opening bar fight is well done, including some nice facial expressions on all the combatants.

Fair (but almost Good)

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #320 (1995)

I'm having a hard time remembering exactly how the rosters were working for the X-Men around these issues. I thought it was still X-Men Blue and X-Men Gold teams, but the groups have been all mixed up for both issues. Were we already in the era of no set rosters?

In any case, this issue stars Storm, Jean Grey, Iceman, Bishop, and Psylocke as they travel to Israel to take on Legion in Legion Quest part 1. I'm not sure why the X-Men would only send a small team to take on god-level mutant, but that is neither here nor there.

This is a marked improvement over the previous issue. Scott Lobdell gets a dialogue assist from Mark Waid, so of course the quality is going to bump up some. Unfortunately, some unclear artwork and a very non-linear story don't make for a good mix.

Roger Cruz is not bound by the normal rules of comic book storytelling, so odd-shaped panels bounce the reader's eye all over the place. There are arrows to help you find the next panel in some cases, but not all. Then there are some pages that go across two pages and some that don't, all in all, this is a very hard issue to read.

I forgot how much I used to like Jean Grey. As a noted hater of telepaths, that takes something for me to admit. But her competence as team co-leader, her immense power levels, and that sweet pouch-filled '90s outfit make her a pretty neat character. Teen Jean just can't cut it when compared with the original.

Bishop does little more than scream, Iceman and Psyclocke are window dressing. Jean Grey manages to take on Legion for a few pages, but most of the issue is Legion showing off his new power levels. He takes Storm on a little time jaunt to show that he can now go back in time. I really like that the X-Men have basically given up by page one, leaving the entire battle in the hands of Storm. Storm is powerful, of course, but I never dreamed she'd be the character best equipped to take on Legion.

David Haller/Legion comes off as a whiny kid, as he always does. There is often a kindness to his character too, but in this issue he doesn't exhibit much to sympathize with. He's pretty cruel when he taunts Storm with a chance to change traumas in her past. C'mon David, why go through that just to upset Storm?

Fair

12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #319 (1994)

MERRY X-MAS!!!

I've been a little hard on the X-Men for a few years now. Hating on Bendis and now accusing Marvel of burying the team to put the shine on the Inhumans. Just last week I wrote about how poor I found the new flagship book to be in the X-line. But now, it is time for my annual 12 Days of X-Mas. We know Grant Morrison's run was sublime. We know Chuck Austen's run made readers' eyes bleed. So let's pick an era that gets less attention. Let's look at the mid-1990's.

In the glory days of 1994, were the X-Men comics as good as I remember?

Randomly starting with issue 319, it seems I may have been off. This is clearly one of the "rest" issues between big storylines (I believe Phalanx Covenant had just wrapped up and Age of Apocalypse was about to begin.)

This issue only follows a few of the X-Men, and each story is more boring than the last. Iceman and Rogue get the most page time, but they spend it all moping. This is firmly in the time when I was certain that Iceman was about to come out as a gay man (it just took another 21 years). The heavy-handed, purple prose from writer Scott Lobdell makes it clear that there was a new direction for the character on the way. And since the issue focused on Bobby Drake's difficult relationship with his parents and Bobby's trouble with relationships, it seems like this was right in line with 1994 thinking on the subject.  Rogue is a supportive friend here, with little of the fire that has made her into one of my favorite characters. Steve Epting does a wonderful job with her, though. Even in street clothes she looks fantastic.

Archangel (rocking blue skin and a blonde mullet) and Psylocke are getting together in the second storyline. And again, the dialogue is painful. The two talk about whether they should pursue their mutual attraction or if it is too complicated in the X-Men's world. I always liked these two together.

The last storyline sets up Age of Apocalypse, with Professor X's son Legion showing up in an ominous dream, threatening about how the world would be better had Professor X and Magneto not split the mutants over the last decades. I suppose this counts as some sort of action, but really, it is a dream, so I can't count it.

What a waste of Steve Epting's talents. He's the guest penciller here, and knowing how good he was even in 1994, I wish he had been able to show off his skills on some good villains or at least our core cast in uniform.

One last question: how do Archangel's wings work? That cover has me confused!

Average

12 Days of X-Mas: X-Force #102

In our 12^th Day of X-Mas, we are looking at the “Revolution” era of X-Force. Revolution was a neat idea. Warren Ellis and a writer sharing his sensibilities took over some of the lower-selling X-Books like X-Force and X-Man. In this case, Ian Edgington is along to do the scripting.

Ellis goes back to his creation Pete Wisdom to bring some direction and snark to the title. No longer a generally mutant-interest book, Wisdom’s new focus is cleaning up the world’s “secret histories, alternative truths, and crimes against humanity.” A discerning reader could probably find some early version of Planetary, Global Frequency, and other Ellis works in this version of X-Force.

The team includes a bomber-jacket wearing Cannonball (who looks a lot beefier than I remember), a dark-clad Warpath, and a midriff-baring Meltdown (who I believe is dating Wisdom? There is chemistry there, at least). The only member who looks like an actual super-hero is Bedlam, sporting a red shirt with a distinctive X on it.

Whilce Portacio is a well-respected artist whose style meshes well with this high concept. With such a science-fiction/horror feel for the X-book, Portacio is able to show off his strength with moody scenes and concepts. X-Force doesn’t look so much like super-heroes, but they look like post-modern television stars, which was probably the point.

I don’t like this as an X-Force comic. I like my Marvel heroes bright and spandexed. Ellis’ penchant to make his characters dangerously cool with bad attitudes has gotten a bit old now, but it was still pretty “revolutionary” when this came out. And I like the core concept behind the book. More than anything else, giving the team a clear goal and reason for existing makes this a GOOD comic and one worth checking out.

I hope you enjoyed the 12 Days of X-Mas! X-Force really had a wild time over the years, with some absolutely fantastic artwork. There is one era I’m purposely avoiding, but that’s because I plan to cover it when I look at a different series during a different holiday. 

12 Days of X-Mas: X-Force #82

In the continuing saga of great artists, this issue of X-Force features future superstar Jimmy Cheung. This is a pretty neat glimpse at his early work because unlike some of the other artists we’ve seen so far, Cheung already has his style pretty well established. He’s not perfect, things can look a bit too cartoony, but man, he’s already quite good.

John Francis Moore has the team setting up shop in San Francisco with a pretty reduced lineup. Dani Moonstar, Siryn, Warpath, Meltdown (formerly Boom Boom), and Sunspot make up the team at the start of the issue. I had totally forgotten that Sunspot and Boomer were dating. The pairing is no odder than the one with Cannonball, although dating two best friends is always an interesting choice for new drama.

Another forgotten (to me) character makes his debut in this issue. Jesse Aaronson (later known as Bedlam) shows up asking the team to help out their former mentor Domino. (Both Bedlam and Domino will end up filling out this era’s roster by the close of the issue.) This all sets up with a new villain called the Gryphon along with a strange new Marvel science-villain organization. Thanks to some sharp character design from Cheung, even the low-level guards and flunkies are pretty interesting and unique looking. I’m not sure I buy the threat-level they pose to the team, but the look pretty good in their slimmed down, Mandroid-ish armor. (In a great twist, there is no psyche-shielding on the power suits, so Moonstar just drops each of them with one hit.)

I’m not a huge fan of the “team uniform” look, because it takes away so much of the visual flair of super-hero comics. Sunspot can make out just fine in a uniform, but Warpath and Siryn lose so much of their unique palette and contrast on each page.

This is another FAIR issue of X-Force. This is something of a trend at this point. Moore does a nice job giving each character a voice (and making Siryn an effective leader) but there is nothing ground-breaking here. That will have to wait for tomorrow’s issue. 

12 Days of X-Mas: X-Force #70

Check out the nice turnaround from the last issue I reviewed. About thirty issues ago, the team was rededicated to its mission and bidding farewell to founding member Cannonball. Now, with John Francis Moore writing, it is time for another split. Fortunately, Adam Pollina is still around on pencils, although I think he’s getting quite a bit of help from his inkers at this point.

With Zero Tolerance wrapping up, Cable has decided it is time for the team to go underground to continue their mission. The only problem is? He never cleared that idea with the team. So instead of the young mutants taking on new identities and sticking with Cable, instead they strike out on their own. I enjoyed seeing Cable take the news so well; he realizes that the adult soldiers he raised can make their own decisions.

So Cable’s out. But so are some other regulars. Domino is dealing with some pretty brutal treatment from the Zero Tolerance camp, so she needs some time on her own. Worst of all, Ozymandius shows up claiming Caliban for Apocalypse. Cable would have stood up for his teammate, but I guess Ozymandius is sporting some powerful telepathy himself. After slipping Cable a mental mickey, no one even knows Caliban in in trouble. Warpath is trapped in a weird cartoony world with the Vanisher. I can’t really remember what the heck is going on with that weirdness.

Pollina really shows off his skills with the Warpath and Vanisher stuff. The sudden alterations between cartoon-like dogs and savage creatures is jarring, but due to Pollina’s excellent stage-setting, it looks continuous too. Some of the pages look like Pollina spent a good amount of time making folks look great. But other moments… I can’t even recognize Pollina’s art. Siryn is a great example of this; she looks spot-on and charming for most of the issue, but suddenly she loses detail towards the end of the issue. Very strange.

I like where this book is taking the team, and the characters are all developing nicely. But the lack of a clear conflict (including the odd non-confrontation with Cable) keeps this from becoming a really strong comic. FAIR it is.

12 Days of X-Mas: X-Force #44

With issue 44, we’re in the Jeph Loeb and Adam Pollina era of the team. As I will continue to say as I do these reviews, I’m absolutely floored at the level of artistic talent that transitioned through this book. Any editor would dream of a bullpen of artists coming through.

Adam Pollina’s superstar status isn’t quite earned in this debut issue. The characters are all a bit on the cartoony side, and there are times when the anatomy shifts a tad. But the seeds are here. The top-notch facial expressions. The unique takes on costumes and civilian clothes. He also uses geometric shapes to fill in panel backgrounds, which Liefeld did for a short while back in issue #1. It’s a neat effect, one I’d like to see used more today. Pollina doesn’t shy away from making his male characters just as attractive as his women. (I just read on Wikipedia that Pollina worked for an adult comics publisher before Marvel, so I guess I see how that happened!)

I also love his big, dopey Caliban. This is my favorite take on the character for sure.

Jeph Loeb’s story picks up with the team hanging out at the X-Mansion as Cable and Cyclops debate what to do with the team. I like the respect the team holds for Cyclops. These days, Scott Summers is so close to a villain that I find myself remembering his old status fondly. Loeb has the characters all doubting themselves quite a bit. They are definitely in the “student” aspect of their personalities, totally going along with Cable and Domino’s leadership.

It is pretty fun, considering how established the X-Force roster is after 44 issues. There has been a fair amount of turnover, but the core of the New Mutants team is still here. Cable, Domino, Warpath, Sunspot, Rictor, Shatterstar, and Boom Boom are all still hanging around. Sabretooth is in his mindless animal state, kept safely locked away in the Danger Room. So basically, the issue is all talking, with the team debating what Cable is going to do with them. In the end, it is pretty much status quo with one big change; Cannonball is off to join the X-Men. The cover gives it away a little bit, but that’s OK. I remember thinking it was a big deal when Sam Guthrie made the grade to full X-status. Now that he’s an Avenger, it is crazy seeing how far the character has come.

I’m pretty intrigued to see what was going on in the next issues, though! The issue ends with Siryn (mouth clamped, of course) being taken into a mental institution. I don’t remember what happens there at all!

This is a pretty GOOD comic, covering an interesting era in X-history. The best part? Pollina’s fantastic Sunspot! 

12 Days of X-Mas: X-Force #32

Happy New Year!

The Younghunt. Oof. Fabian Nicieza has written some fantastic comics over the years, but there are some mighty iffy concepts out there too. It doesn’t help that the villains teaming up to partake in the hunt are a pretty weak mix. Sienna Blaze, Shinobi Shaw, Trevor Fitzroy, and Graydon Creed are not grade-A villains. Mostly (now) forgotten second-generation villains that didn’t end up having much staying power, it is hard to take them seriously. The only other hunters in the issue are rocking absolutely awful 90’s looks. Fenris, the neat brother/sister villain team, are clearly the coolest villains in the issue. But they look bad.

For the first part of a crossover with the New Warriors, there isn’t a whole lot of Warrior goodness happening. Justice is hanging out with Shinobi Shaw and making overtures towards joining the Hellfire Club, but it is all a cover. Dwayne Taylor shows up too, but I don’t think any character ever refers to him as his Night Thrasher identity. It took me a moment to remember who he was!

Its too bad, the idea of hunting down former members of the New Mutants and Hellions is a strong one. I had almost forgotten that Firestar was a former Hellion. I’m tempted to read more of the crossover to see if she has any nice moments with Warpath or any of the other mutant-focused characters.

Again, as the first part of a crossover, why oh why would we have to spend so much time on the boring Guthrie farm? There has never been a good reason to spend a lot of time with Cannonball’s generic family. Even seeing early-days Husk doesn’t help if she’s acting this silly and doe-eyed. I was amused to see Cannonball and Boom Boom frolicking around at the ol’ swimmin’ hole, though. Their relationship is something else that I had totally forgotten about.

I’m also curious to see what is happening in the next X-Force issue I read. With most of the team really starting to mature, I am not sure Cable is really a necessary part of the team. His obscure future talk and fatherly advice are unnecessary at this point. I want more Rictor. I want more Shatterstar. I want more Siryn. I don’t need to hear Cable talking about responsibility and his lost son from the future!

How lucky was this book artist-wise? From Rob Liefeld to Greg Capullo to Tony Daniel? Daniel’s art isn’t my cup of tea, but there is no doubt he’s got dynamic pencils. Every gal looks super hot and every guy has the same face and long hair, but the directing in the action sequences is fun. I do wish I had read one of his issues that didn’t spend so much time talking on a farm.

This one is only FAIR. I can’t give a comic that spends most of its time whining on a farm a top rating. 

12 Days of X-Mas: X-Force #25

Wow. Raise your hand if you remember these insane hologram covers. These things seemed pretty awesome on the trading cards of the time, I’m not sure it works so well just glued on the cover of a normal comic book. It is still cool, but it certainly prevents any uniform type of look on those covers.

So this is part of the Fatal Attractions storyline, almost a crossover, but not quite. There is a “mystery” villain, but I’m going to go ahead and spoil Magneto’s involvement now (20 years later). But while Magneto is the big bad of the issue, most of the fighting is between X-Force and Magneto’s disciple Exodus.

I always like it when Magneto uses his powers in a way that makes sense. After lurking in shadows for most of the issue, when it comes down to it, Magneto and Cable finally battle it out. Now, Cable is a half-metal cyborg, so how long do you think that fight should go? Fabian Nicieza does a nice job keeping Cable’s involvement an overall “win,” but boy, that is a short fight. Cable honestly shouldn’t have much of a chance against the master of magnetism. Since Cable manages to bring most of his recruits home and save the Professor (the AI program that helped raise Cable), he can claim a win, but c’mon, Magneto whipped up on ol’ Nate.

This is one of those issues where the rich history of the X-Men really makes for some interesting interactions. When Exodus takes most of the team up to Cable’s former spaceship, the mystery antagonist might still be shadowed to the reader, but the characters have no doubt about who they are speaking with. Cannonball and Sunspot spent years with Magneto as their mentor, so when he shows up as the mastermind, they aren’t concerned. It is pretty neat seeing the way Magneto sort of backs down and flatters his former students too. The characters’ history makes the moment work.

Greg Capullo does another nice job with the art in this issue. Exodus is a bit of a challenge, though. Not only is his 90’s look ridiculous, but I have absolutely no idea what his powers are. When Exodus uses his vague powers take on the X-Force team, it just looks like big blasts of random energy. Seriously, what the heck can he do besides be ominous and menacing? (And sport a sweet mullet?)

Another thing Capullo’s art really emphasizes is how strong the team line-up is at this point. Rictor might look like another 90’s bozo, but aesthetically, his green and brown toned costume really looks good in the group. Warpath’s red and blue still takes up a lot of space on the panel, contrasting with Shatterstar’s white, Feral’s orange, and the pinks and yellows for Boom Boom. Capullo does a really nice job with the team action, and Nicieza has the personalities and power sets into an interesting and useful mix. This is a well-rounded superhero team.

This isn’t a great comic, merely GOOD, but it is an easy, fun read. The art keeps the book interesting, and frankly, using Magneto makes the book feel more important than it has so far. This is definitely on the stronger side of the X-Force books I’ve sampled so far. 

12 Days of X-Mas: X-Force #15

Here we go, Greg Capullo! 

And man, does the art take a turn for the better! Capullo is a respected artist and huge draw now, but this is one of his earliest assignments, so he’s nowhere near as polished as he is on Batman. That said, there is no denying the immediate improvement in storytelling and anatomy that he brings.

Capullo gets to show off with a couple nice fights, too. Deadpool vs. Cable works out pretty well, with Deadpool rocking some Spider-Man poses as he throws down with Cable. I can’t say I understand why Cable wants to go punch-for-punch with DP, except that it looks cooler and more “comic book-y.” 

Capullo is the best X-Force artist (so far) at drawing women too. Domino looks fantastic. Without her metal facemask and in some conveniently torn clothing, she looks fantastic. As a more mature reader, I question why her pants now look like a thong and how she got a conveniently placed hole on the chest of her costume, but I’m sure younger Timbotron didn’t mind.

The other fight goes by a tad quicker, but still shows off the team’s powers nicely, Crule suddenly re-enters (almost like a movie skipping back a few seconds) and comes after Cannonball once again. I swear, it is like a few panels of last issue just get erased and Capullo gets to do them over with his better pencils. Is that possible? 

This time, Cannonball barks out some orders, setting Shatterstar and Feral after the close-quarters combatant. It’s pretty neat seeing Cannonball treated like an effective team leader. Sam Guthrie was one of my favorites when I was younger, and THIS is how I liked seeing him. Confident and battle-trained, he’s much cooler than he was in the earlier issues. More importantly, with Cable gone, there is actually a role for Cannonball to play. With Cable around, Cannonball barely deserved a few lines of dialogue. Now he’s making decisions and recruiting his best friend Sunspot back onto the X-Force roster.

Man, do I like Siryn. Her costume is so dynamic and cool; I can’t help but like her. That under-arm cape is tremendous! And while Liefeld made his mark drawing Shatterstar and Feral, Capullo is no slouch. Both characters look really nice in these pages. I remain stunned that Shatterstar’s padded facemask can look so neat under so many artists’ pencils! Crule, though? He’s awful. From his name to his generic look, I’m remembering why I blocked this storyline from my memory all those years ago.

This GOOD comic is back to being art-driven, but now it is being served by Fabian Nicieza’s plot and pacing. This is the best it has been since I started re-reading.

Tomorrow, we see how the X-Force team responds when placed into an X-crossover…

12 Days of X-Mas: X-Force #14

We are in uncharted waters here, folks. I chose this issue to review because I thought it was the debut of dynamic penciller Greg Capullo. (You may have heard of his Batman work? Or Spawn?) But it turns out Capullo only did the cover, and the interior pencils are by fill-in penciller Terry Shoemaker. 

Shoemaker’s art is fine, but it is a bit cartoony. It’s brighter than Liefeld’s crosshatched work in the first issues. I think I see some Chris Batista-like details in the faces, and Larry Stroman’s style in the figure work. So a book that launched to feature the artist is saddled with a workmanlike fill-in, but clearly the art-driven direction of the book is taking a back-seat.

Fabian Nicieza is still writing, and things have cleared up nicely. The book opens with Cable and Domino infiltrating Tolliver’s estate while Cannonball and the rest of the team take on SHIELD. This era is clearly part of the confusing Externals plot, a storyline I have worked hard to block from my memory. The silly-named Crule shows up to kill Cannonball at the end of the issue, because… I think the Eternals are sort of like Highlanders? There can be only one… (maybe?) The main team doesn’t have much time to decide on their future plans. There is some talk about a long-term plan for the team without Cable’s influence, but they can’t really decide on a plan before Crule’s arrival.

I remember being very surprised by the other big development in this issue. When Domino and Cable get inside Tolliver’s home, they find Domino tied up against the wall. That’s right; the Domino who has been appearing in this book since the New Mutants days is in fact Vanessa, Deadpool’s sometime girlfriend. The real Domino has been captured and tied up for all this time. I do appreciate that Cable seems to zip through Tolliver’s other flunky at the close of the issue, setting up a big Cable/Deadpool throw down for next month. Of course, Deadpool seems to kill regretful Vanessa as he arrives, so it isn’t all fun and games.

While the art isn’t as fun as the early issues, the plot does move along more smoothly. Having Nicieza plot and script his own stories does seem to have improved the pacing of the issue. This is still only a FAIR comic, but it is getting better as the pacing and story improve.