X-Cutioner's Song Part 1: Uncanny X-Men #294

 

So, as I began formulating how I wanted to begin my examination of the nineties there were several paths that presented themselves for my investigation, and the one I settled on was an event by event break down of the nineties X-Men. This would best serve to highlight the zeitgeist at any particular moment, given Claremont was forced out of the franchise in the midst of the Muir Island Saga, it seemed best to begin with X-Cutioner’s Song when the editorial mandate of the era had taken hold with the departure of Chris Claremont and his rather strong authorial voice. I want to try and focus mostly on the text as it presents itself but there are moments where it will be necessary to reference editorial upheaval, because boy it happens a lot this decade. Our story begins in Uncanny X-Men #294, written by Scott Lobdell (get used to hearing that name), Pencils by Brandon Peterson, Ink by Terry Austin, and Colors by Mike Thomas.

 The issue opens with one Warren Worthington III arriving to take his love interest at the time Charlotte Jones to a unity concert put on in Central Park by Professor Xavier and Lila Cheney. The key part here is that despite his previous transformation into the blue skinned murder machine dubbed Archangel by Apocalypse he appears completely normal, outside of his Patrick Swayze-esque up-do. This era of X-Men is a lot. We then cut to Central Park where we see Rogue and Bishop working security undercover. Gods, Bishop is a lot, he is mostly a fun character, a no nonsense soldier sent back from the future in an attempt to prevent the disaster that ruins his timeline. Which now that I think about it if I had a nickel for every time an X-Men character from the nineties was a thinly veiled terminator pastiche, I’d have two nickels which isn’t a lot but weird its happened that much. We next see Charles Xavier backstage prepping to give one of his many speeches outlining his dream for human and mutant cooperation. Beneath the stage we see two anti-mutant terrorists planting explosives beneath the stage in an attempted assassination before they are shot by a man who looks like X-Force’s erstwhile leader Cable who claims Xavier's life is his. The action cuts back to Salem Center where most of the X-Men are providing support for Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. The key thing to take in here is Colossus’ increasingly deep downward spiral, which will come into sharper focus in our next event, Fatal Attractions. The action cuts back to New York City where X-Factor, the government sponsored team of mutants is watching the concert from their hotel room. Back in Salem Center, Jean Grey and Scott Summers are ambushed by Caliban, who has recently been transformed into the Horseman Death, attempting to kidnap them from their lunch, as Colossus and Iceman rush to intervene they are attacked by War and Famine, two more of Apocalypses minions. Colossus begins to break during the fight and starts to lower his emotional guard, but eventually the Horsemen, and apparently Cyclops and Phoenix, are teleported away. Back in Central Park, as Professor Xavier gives his speech and the crowd begins turning on him, from their midst emerges Cable, who shoots Xavier square in the chest while shouting that “the name is Cable, but the world will know me as the man who saved tomorrow.” As the X-Men present in Central Park scramble to respond, Cable teleports away and we cut to X-Force’s base in Arizona. There we see X-Force attempting to tune into the concert, (Lila Cheney being the ex-girlfriend of Sam Guthrie aka Cannonball, current leader of X-Force), as they manage to get a signal, they receive a news report of the aftermath of the concert, and the face that attempted to kill Professor Xavier, is that of their former mentor Cable.

X-Cutioner’s Song starts with a big bang, which makes sense given the demands the writers were operation under. X-Cutioner’s Song was the first major crossover event since the departure of Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld and co. from Marvel to form Image Comics and Marvel was seeking to continue the financial upswing that they had kick started. Cable is a character a lot of fans have strong opinions of, and I myself was somewhat negative on him coming into this project just due to him being perceived as the pinnacle of nineties character design excess. But despite that he was, is and continues to be a profoundly popular character so the reveal of Cable as the man who shot Professor Xavier is a good pull for tension. The usage of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse provides a fascinating wrinkle to the issues B Plot as it throws back to the Louise Simonson that had wrapped up in 1991, where the Horsemen began, and Warren Worthington III was transmuted into Archangel. It also brings Apocalypse into the narrative who is a terrifying villain at the best of times and doubly terrifying with the Professor incapacitated. The art in this issue is not my favorite, reminiscent of early John Romita Jr with all the women built like barbie dolls and all the men shaped like inverted, muscle bound Doritos. But they do all have fabulous, quaffed hair. Solid start to our journey and honestly pretty fun, not at all what the eras reputation would have you believe. 8/10