What’s Covered?
UXM # 376 - 377, XMV2 # 96-97, Cable 75 - 76, X-Man # 59 - 60, UXM Annual 1999
Roster Watch
Synopsis
UXM # 376: Table Setting
Plot- Alan Davis
Script - Terry Kavanaugh
Pencils - Roger Cruz
This issue starts with Jean talking to Scott about how they should quit again. This is just as much of a tell as when a character you don't know that well on TV starts talking about their future, you just know they're about to die.
Rogue is telling Gambit that it will never work between them. I'm glad this dynamic is finally mentioned again, but this isn't really where it should go and it goes know further after this. Weird.
A young Skrull (Fiz) shows up and claims to want to help them. There's a little setup for this as we had seen some Skrulls previously acknowledging that Xavier helped them on the day Gallactus destroyed their planet.
The Living Monolith shows up, who has extra powers since Havok is dead (or missing). I always forget who the Living Monolith is. Is he also Garrok or is that a different guy? I'm too lazy to look it up.
We find out definitely who the 12 are (through Destiny's diary):
Xavier, cyclops, phoenix, storm, iceman, Sunfire, Polaris, cable, Bishop, Mikhail, the Living Monolith, Magneto.
Cable #75, X-Man # 59: Interludes 1
Writer - Joe Pruett (Cable)
Pencils - Rob Leifeld (Cable)
This Cable is pretty interesting as it recaps events from Cable -1 which I had somehow skipped. Apparently when Cable first came to our time, Apocalypse was awakened early. Apoc purposely infected baby Nathan to either control or kill him. The pure existence of Cable proved to Apoc that one day he would rule. This is pure hogwash that clearly wasn't the plan when this originally happened, but cool, it fits decent enough.
In X-Man # 59, the Fantastic Four are helping Nate for some reason. Nate is determined to track down the other AoA variants to stop them from causing problems. He fails as he is captured by Pestilence (Caliban).
X-Men V2 # 96: The Plot Thickens
Writer - Alan Davis
Pencils - Mark Farmer
Professor Xavier contacts Magneto and successfully convinces him to assist in a rebellion against Apocalypse. As Magneto is monologuing, Charles calls him out for almost saying he needs a "Final Solution." The History teacher in me got excited by this. Hitler used to call for a "Final Solution," and Magneto's hatred originated with his time in Jewish concentration camps.
Jean is trying to find the missing 12 with the help of Betsy (Psylocke), who still can't use telepathy due to fear of releasing the Shadow King. I'm really glad they didn't forget that plot point.
Deathbird attacks and successfully captures Iceman. Death (Wolverine) captures Mikhail. Famine (Ahab!?) captures Sunfire.
Death (W) fights Kitty, Rogue, and NC. Things look dire until Fix (the mutant Skrull) saves them. Kitty, Rogue, Jubilee, and Warren go after him.
Wolverine # 146 - 147, UXM Annual '99: Interludes 2
Writer - Ben Raab (Ann), Erik Larsen (W)
Pencils - Anthony Williams (Ann), Roger Cruz & Mike Miller (W)
Kitty, AA, NC, Betsy, and Jubilee are able to snap W out of his conditioning, but seeing all of this Horseman trauma makes AA snap. He's flyin gaorund curing former Horseman that he used to serve with. Betsy goes out of her way to try to find Warren and almost releases the Shadow King (Glad they are still considering this).
UXM Annual 99
Mags finds a mutant and human making out
The woman’s dad tries to kill the mutant. Magneto intervenes.
Voght sends Cortez to the Amazon
Forge and Multiple Man surveilling Genosha
Aa, NC, Kitty, Jubilee, and W head to Genosha
W goes off after Mags
Mags is mind controlling the ppl
It’s actually Exodus
UXM 377, C 76, X-Man 60, XMV2 97: Endgame
Plot - Alan Davis (UXM 377, XMV2 97)
Writer - Terry Kavanaugh (UXM 377, XMV2 97, X-Man 60), Joe Pruett (C 76)
Pencils - Tom Raney (UXM 377), Bernard Chang (C 76), Alan Davis (XMV2 97), Ben Herrera (X-Man 60)
The X-Men plus Magneto arrive in Egypt. Dumb of them to personally deliver the rest of the 12. Skrulls plus random Egyptian Living monolith followers attack them all. Professor X and Magneto are kidnapped first.
Bishop is pulled from some other timeline (I didn't know cuz I'm not really reading his solo series) and is captured shortly after. He's quickly captured by none other than Deathbird. I'm glad they didn't miss this opportunity.
Backup comes in the form of X-Force (Sam and Warpath) Generation X (Jubilee, Chamber, Synch), and Havok. But it was a trick. Fake Sam captures Storm unawares.
A fake Havok captures Polaris. And a Fake Colossus takes Cyclops.
Apocalypse is thrilled that he's collected all the Pokemon.
He immediately stores his Pokemon in protective plastic sleeves.
With the 12 gone, the remaining team members (Gambit, Rogue, Beast, Marrow, Colossus, and Fiz) have the green light to be eliminated.
in Cable # 76, Madelyn Pryor pulls Cable and Cyclops in the Astral Plane for a chat. In X-Man # 60, Nate dreams and nothing of consequence happens.
This takes us to the finale in XMV2 # 97.
Gambit, Rogue, Beast, Marrow, Colossus, and Fiz are fighting for their lives. When all hope looks lost, the rest of the mutant Skrulls switch sides and help.
We learn that the real point of "The Twelve" all along was a story seeded by Apocalypse to bring this group together. Apoc plans to use stolen Celestial technology to Siphon the powers of the 12 and use Nate's body as his next host. Picking up a theme from the Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, we see that inside the Apoc armor is an old man.
Things don't go to plan because Magneto is drained earlier than expected. No one knew that he Fabian Cortez was keeping him on his feet. This helps the 12 to break free. Mikhail sends the Horseman to another dimension. Iceman, Sunfire, and Bishop attack the Living Monolith.
Magneto uses Polaris to re-charge his batteries (something we'll continue to see). Bishop uses too much power and is then sent through space and time, which I'm guessing puts him back where his solo series left off. Scott and Jean attack Apocalypse. Apoc is about to fully absorb the powers he needs and transfer his consciousness into Nate...
...until Scott pushes Nate out of the way.
This leaves Scott to become the new vessel for Apoc. Wow!
My Connections
I was talking recently about how it's been a while since we had a traditional crossover. I find it interesting that there was no attempt to cross over with Generation X or X-Force. Do the X writers consider those series to be inconsequential? That's basically the impression I've come to on my own, so to see them not involved here makes it feel more justified. Now they did cross over with Cable and X-Man, but who the fuck cares about X-Man!?
I know it shouldn't really matter, but "The 12" roster has changed a number of times over the years. I remember when Master Mold first spoke of it, Franklin Richards was part of it. Where's he? In another version, Beast and Archangel were a part of it. I'm glad they aren't to be honest, because they are lame. On this point, why would Cyclops belong here? Why is his genes so important to Sinister. All he can fucking do is shoot eye lazers. That's not even that cool. His wife can read minds and move any object with her mind. Now that's power!
That's cool that Ahab is a Four Horseman. Is this Rory!? I mean, really, you're going to add Ahab but not say shit about how Rory has gone evil? Seems like a missed opportunity. We didn't even get a passing exclamation from Kitty saying "Rory, is that you!?" Ugh. Maybe they'll pick up on this in a future issue and I'll have to correct this complaint in a future blog.
Oh, and I am just RACING to New X-Men (and Extreme X-Men). You've probably noticed that many of my blogs lately have been lazy. It's true, I'll own it. I'm phoning it in and just trying to hurry up and get to this new era. I'm not sorry.
Creators
I'm really happy to see Rob Leifeld again. I don't care about his bad feet, his art is so much better than what we've seen for years. Yes, I know that I grew up in the 90's and am biased by my Image era indoctrination, but I don't care. His art rocks and he does the best Cable!
Alan Davis is a national treasure, but is he getting rusty? This crossover was a little weak and the next one is absolute garbage. Maybe it's time to retire while you're ahead.
Characters
My only comment for the characters section this week is this hilarious line of dialogue from Gambit:
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