X-MEN '92 #8 - #10

"THE TWELVE" | "A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH" | "EARTH X"
Writers: Chad Bowers & Chris Sims | Art: Alti Frimansyah w/Cory Hamscher (#10 assist)
Color Art: Matt Milla | Lettering: VC's Travis Lanham | Cover Art: David Nakayama
Production: Carlos Lao | Editors: Heather Antos & Jordan D. White
Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso | Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley | Executive Producer: Alan Fine

The final chunk of X-MEN '92 begins with our heroes and the Ex-Brood fighting off the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, who have arrived to exterminate the Brood. Rogue gets a spotlight here, going to-to-toe with Gladiator while the rest of her friends battle the remaining members of the Imperial Guard -- and the entire fight proves to be a diversion allowing Gambit, Beast, and Death's Head to hijack the Guard's ship. The X-Men escape back toward Earth, where this short-lived series' sub-plots quickly come to a head.

First, we learn that the Gamesmaster is actually Mystique in disguise, and the entire Upstarts competition has been the brainchild of Apocalypse as a way to steel the X-Men against an impending threat. Apocalypse reveals himself to the Upstarts and recruits them to his cause, and at the same time is joined by Cassandra Nova and the mysterious Joseph. Meanwhile, President Kelly arrives at the site of Lila Cheney's concert in Westchester to confront Professor X and X-Factor, revealing that he doesn't trust the X-Men to protect Earth and that he's made a deal with Apocalypse.

Apocalypse and his team show up, we get some jokes at the expense of nineties whipping boy Adam-X, then the X-Men arrive on Earth with the Ex-Brood. Apocalypse reveals a heretofore unknown benevolence to Xavier, explaining that he wants to save the world from a mutant Celestial named Xodus, who has recently awakened. But before he can explain his plan, he's gunned down by Cable as X-Force shows up.

X-MEN '92 #5 - #7

"THE ADVENTURES OF CYCLOPS AND PHOENIX: THE LAST X-MAN"
"LILAPALOOZA" | "HOMESICK ALIEN BLUES"
Writers: Chad Bowers & Chris Sims | Art: Cory Hamscher (#5) & Alti Frimansyah (#6-7)
Color Art: Matt Milla w/Dono Sánchez Almara (#6) | Lettering: VC's Travis Lanham
Cover Art: David Nakayama | Title Page Design: Nicholas Russell (#5)
Production Design: Carlos Lao | Assistant Editor: Heather Antos | Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso | Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley | Executive Producer: Alan Fine

Following the first story arc of their ongoing series, Chad Bowers and Chris Sims give us a one-off story in issue 5 to remind readers that, while they've left the X-Men, Cyclops and Jean Grey are still members of the cast. We pick up with the couple in Alaska, from whence they're plucked to the future by an elderly woman named Rachel. Cylcops and Jean work with Rachel -- a.k.a. Askani -- to infiltrate the lair of Mister Sinister... but in the end it turns out Askani and Sinister are on the same side, working together to create the ultimate weapon against Apocalypse. That weapon proves to be a clone created by Sinister using genetic material grabbed from Cyclops and Jean while Rachel led them through his lair. The story ends with the couple transported back through time just after meeting their clone "son", Cable -- and when next they materialize, they find themselves in the year 2099, confronted by that era's X-Men.

As usual, kudos to Bowers and Sims for integrating the often labyrinthine continuity of the nineties into their story -- though in this case it's not really that difficult. Cable created by Sinister as a weapon against Apocalypse is pretty much the character's mainstream universe origin as well, and Rachel pulling Cyclops and Jean through time to Cable's future was the plot of the ADVENTURES OF CYCLOPS AND PHOENIX mini-series in 1993 (hence the title of issue 5's story). There's a twist here, with Sinister and Rachel in cahoots and Cable created in the future as a clone rather than in the present day as a biological child, but for the most part, this story adheres to existing continuity pretty well, just streamlining it a bit for the X-MEN '92 audience. And the cameo appearance by the X-Men of 2099 on the issue's final page is probably my favorite part of this one! I loved that series when I read it "first run" off the stands, and it's always nice to see it revisited.

X-MEN '92 #1 - #4

"LET THE GAMES BEGIN" | "YOUNG BLOOD"
"THE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE" | "PAGES FROM THE BOOK OF SINS"
Writers: Chad Bowers & Chris Sims | Art: Alti Frimansyah
Color Art: Matt Milla | Lettering: VC's Travis Lanham | Cover Art: David Nakayama
Production: Carlos Lao | Assistant Editor: Heather Antos | Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso | Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley | Executive Producer: Alan Fine

The ongoing X-MEN '92 series picks up precisely where the "Infinite Comics" left off: Professor Xavier has opened his school to a new class of young mutants, Bishop and Psylocke have recently joined the X-Men, and Cyclops and Jean Grey are on a leave of absence. We're still apparently set in the SECRET WARS universe, as the X-Men's "world" is referred to once or twice as Westchester (which gets a little confusing since their local municipality is also, as in the source material, called Westchester too). It's pretty clear at this point, if it wasn't already, that this really isn't a straight continuation of the X-MEN animated series. The initial team lineup as seen in the Infinite Comics was the same as on the show, but the similarity ends there. These X-Men have fought in a human/mutant war and are lauded as great heroes by the world, for one thing. For another, references are made to events that never happened on the TV series -- and I'll note some as we get to them.

I'm not necessarily complaining about this; the series is still fun, and -- I'll note for the umpteenth time -- it's a treat to see the X-Men running around in their Jim Lee costumes. But, as with Chris Claremont's X-MEN FOREVER, something of a spiritual forebear to this series, Marvel advertised a "continuation" but what we've actually wound up with is more of a reinvention. To put it plainly, if you tell me that a series is going to "continue" the X-MEN cartoon, I would expect the series to pick up precisely where the cartoon left off: with Professor X away in outer space with Lilandra while the X-Men, still feared and hated by the world at large, live in a loosely brokered peace with Magneto. Start there. It's a continuation. Pick up where the series left off. It's not rocket science, people.

(And I'll give Claremont some credit -- X-MEN FOREVER at least did begin practically exactly where X-MEN #3 ended, with the mutants searching for Fabian Cortez. It just went off the rails pretty quickly after that.)

X-MEN '92 INFINITE COMICS #5 - #8

"HEAD GAMES" | "TEN OUT OF TEN"
"KELLY'S HEROES" | "EVOLUTION"
Writers: Chad Bowers & Chris Sims | Artist: Scott Koblish
Colorist: Matt Milla | Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham
Assistant Editor: Heather Antos | Editor: Jordan D. White
Production: Annie Cheng | Production Manager: Tim Smith 3
Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso | Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley | Executive Producer: Alan Fine

Before we get back to the X-MEN '92 story, I'll take a moment to discuss the format of these "Infinite Comics". I think they're something Marvel does at least somewhat regularly; digital-first stories, usually inconsequential to continuity, drawn and produced with digital consumption first and foremost in mind. This is the first one I've read, and it's pretty cool. It's meant to be read in a "landscape", rather than a "portrait" format like a traditional comic, presumably in order to better fit a tablet or computer screen. There are animated effects, word balloons disappear and appear in single panels as characters speak for extended monologues, and sometimes static images of characters move between backdrops as they talk. (In the earlier chapters, for example, as Cassandra Nova leads the X-Men through Clear Mountain, she also speaks with Professor X on the astral plane, and while her figure stays the same, her background changes between the two locales.)

Now my limited dinosaur brain will always prefer just reading a normal old-fashioned comic book without all these bells and whistles, but I do have to admit that the effects are cool as a novelty. Though I must wonder -- Marvel reprinted these stories in comic book format and then again in trade paperback, and I can't imagine how they were translated to paper! Specifically the bits where panels change and appear behind characters as they stand in static poses, talking... I can only assume there are several instances of repeated artwork in those books, which would look odd to a casual reader.

X-MEN '92 INFINITE COMICS #1 - #4

"HOPE YOU SURVIVE THE EXPERIENCE" | "HERE COMES TOMORROW"
"THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES" | "LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD"
Writers: Chad Bowers & Chris Sims | Artist: Scott Koblish
Colorist: Matt Milla | Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham
Assistant Editor: Heather Antos | Editor: Jordan D. White
Production: Arlin Ortiz | Production Manager: Tim Smith 3
Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso | Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley | Executive Producer: Alan Fine

I seem to recall that advance buzz on X-MEN '92 explicitly described it as the continuation of the X-MEN cartoon series which aired on the Fox network from 1992 - 1997 -- and while the group lineup presented here supports that (Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Jean Grey, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, and Professor X), what we have, at least at this point, isn't exactly what was advertised. The reason is that X-MEN '92 debuted as part of Marvel's SECRET WARS event in 2015. I don't know a ton about the event, but I've gleaned that it featured a number of "Battleworlds", pocket universes joined together in some sort of large-scale multiverse governed overall (I think) by Doctor Doom.

So this world features the TV series lineup on a Battleworld called Westchester, ruled by Baron Kelly, Westchester's version of Senator Robert Kelly (who, in the cartoon's continuity, actually went on to become president). These X-Men are said to have fought in a mutant war, ultimately saving Westchester and becoming heroes to one and all.

But the majority of this Battleworld stuff is mere window dressing, thankfully. Aside from these sparse and occasional references, the story really could exist in the timeline of the X-MEN cartoon. As the action begins, the X-Men fend off an attack by a group of "free range Sentinels", and then travel to a facility called the Clear Mountain Institute, where the mysterious Cassandra Nova is overseeing the development of a large number of mutants, including a few bad guys like Toad, Blob, and Sabretooth. The scene where the X-Men first arrive at the facility, in fact, is a nice callback to the X-MEN show in a way, as we get a group shot of a bunch of totally unrelated mutants just sort of hanging out in their costumes. The cartoon did this often, especially in its first season.

X-MEN '92

Time to delve once more into everyone's favorite digital subscription service, Marvel Unlimited, and look at something more recent from the ol' House of Ideas. This time around I'm going to dedicate a few weeks to X-MEN '92, a series which spun out of Marvel's "Secret Wars" event in 2015, and ran for a number of digital-first installments, followed by an ongoing series that was cancelled with issue 10. This one has been on my to-read list practically since it started, and I'm excited to finally read it.

As I understand, the idea is that this series is a continuation of the X-MEN cartoon series which aired on Fox in the early to mid-nineties, but that's practically all I know about it. I'm not really familiar with the creators, other than that co-writer Chris Sims is a comics journalist/reviewer of some repute -- and perhaps some notoriety? (I've never really been big on the whole comics journalism scene, for good or ill.) So the main draw to me is stories written by a guy who was a fan of the X-Men in the nineties, starring the X-Men wearing their Jim Lee-designed costumes. But I'm going in totally blind otherwise, so we'll soon find out what I think.

I'll be looking at this one a few issues at a time beginning this Friday, and I expect that overall, it should take a little more than a month to cover, so be back here in a mere five days as our journey into nostalgia begins!

Available on Amazon:
X-MEN '92 vol. 0: WARZONES!
X-MEN '92 vol. 1: THE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE | X-MEN '92 vol. 2: LILAPALOOZA