What’s Covered?
Generation X # 26 - 31, X-Men Unlimited # 16
Synopsis
X-Men Unlimited # 16: Recruitment
Writer - Ben Raab
Pencils - Melvin Rubi
Emma decides to start enrolling humans into the academy as a cover, however she finds mutants and robots anyway. The top male candidate is secretly a mutant. The top female candidate had been replaced by one of Bastion's Prime Sentinels to be placed as a sleeper at the school. Ultimately, Banshee fights the girl and the boy goes his own way. Let's move on.
Generation X # 26 - 31: OZT
Writer - Scott Lobdell (26 - 28), James Robinson (29 - 31)
Pencils - Joe Bennett (26), Chris Bachalo (27 - 31)
I'm going to take all 6 of these issues (the OZT related ones) and break them down into 3 separate stories that unfold over the course of these issues.
Banshee, Emma, and Penance
Banshee and Penance are mourning the death of Emma Frost, just before she wakes up. Apparently she had put herself in a coma like state to trick Black Tom. While she was passed out, she was propositioned again by Nightmare, however I still don't know where or if this is going anywhere.
This arc focuses on Sean and Emma trying to find the rest of the kids. At one point they deduce that the kids are going to Krakoa, however that's not where they are.
Emma and Sean are traveling between Emma's safehouses, on the run from OZT Prime Sentinels. Emplate's envoy shows up and promises to help them locate the kids (since he knows where Monet is at all times) in exchange for having Penance back. What happens next is pretty confusing to me. So Emma is telling Emplate that she'll make the trade, however she signals to Sean that she's just faking. He doesn't believe her and freaks out, so she knocks him out. Later, he wakes up and punches her in the face and the trade is called off. Emma is later telling him that she wouldn't have done it, but he tells her that she isn't welcome anymore at the academy.
Jubilee
Jubilee, having been captured by Bastion during Generation X # 25, spends the rest of this arc imprisoned. We start by seeing Jubilee start to break out, but instead of freeing herself, she chooses to give CPR to one of the goons that she hurt.
Bastion is fascinated by Jubilee's motivations, like most villains don't comprehend how a hero could not be evil like him.
Jubes is being looked after by a young human (?) named Daria. When Jubilee attacks Daria, she awakens into a robot and a bunch of drones shoot out of her. This pushes Daria to realize that she isn't a human and she beings to be more sympathetic to Jubilee. Eventually, Daria helps Jubilee to gain freedom and sacrifices herself so she can get away.
Remaining Kids
The arc starts with the 5 remaining kids (Husk, Jonathan, Skin, Synch, and M) adrift in the middle of the ocean on a small plant based raft. I THINK this was Black Tom sending them to Krokoa (or something), but they never get there. While floating, Monet puts Husk back together by peeling away her layers. Skin is in worst shape than everyone else because the sun is doing a number on his skin. Monet freaks out and flies off to find some help.
Later, the team is in a dream state. 4 of the team members are in a fantasy, but Skin rejects it, instead choosing to face his fate head on. It turns out all 5 have been put there by Thomas Gideon and a talking pigeon. Dude, don't ask.
Gideon teleports the kids to East LA where they are running from Prime Sentinels. The team, plus Skin's cousin and a former lover/hater named Torres face off with more Sentinels.
My Connections and Creators
I had a lot of emotions during this arc. I'm not going to lie, at first, I really hated it. I felt like I would fly through an entire issue without stopping to take notes, then I would get done and not be sure what I had just read. I get that this series is trippy and focused on character stuff, and I like character stuff, but it's all just too weird for me and I'm not enjoying most of the issues.
It did get better though at the end. Is that because James Robinson took over??? Is he the new head writer on the series? This is the end of free issues on Marvel Unlimited. I decided to buy the next 15 to keep going. I thought maybe I would quit, but I just need to find out what's happening to Monet.
Why is Bachalo drawing Emma like she's 14 and the kids looking like they are X-Babies from the Mojoverse?
When asked why Chris Bachalo left Generation X, he had the following to say in Comic Creators on X-Men:
"I think issue #25 was our apex, and the book kind of went downhill from there. I think Scott left pretty soon after that: issue #28, I believe. At that point, I think the company was in turmoil. Marvel was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and really lacked creative direction. I think that was my worst period of work. I was getting behind and ended up having to draw the book in a hurry. The industry was starting to spiral down at that point, too. Sales were dropping big time. After issue #31, I was offered Uncanny and made the move.
Character Beats
Jubilee
There is a nice moment where Jubilee thinks back on the time after Illyana's death. We see a cute little moment where Cyclops is comforting her and she says:
“Are you and me, like, having a conversation?”
Profound stuff.
There's also a really fun moment when Bastion is trying to trick Jubes into thinking the X-Men are dead and she believes it until she's shown Wolverine begging for his life. She knew he would never do that so the ruse was up. But then later Bastion really does capture the X-Men and she thinks it's BS again until she sees Wolverine with his hand on Jean's. She ultimately knows it's real, because at the end of all things, he would reach out to her.
Monet and Jono
There's a nice moment where M reminds Jono that he should be nicer to Paige. From that point forward, those two put awkwardness behind them and appear to be together.
Synch and M
Synch thinks they are going to die and so he asks Monet to make out because he's never done that. Apparently she hadn't either, so she goes along with it. Is this the start of something between these two!? If so, I didn't know that.
Speaking of two, we also see that Synch synch's his powers to Monet to get her invulnerability and then makes a shocked look when he sees her true secret. After a bomb goes off, we see Synch holding two young twins in place of Monet. What's this all about!?
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