Credits: Written by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Greg Capullo, inked Harry Candelario by and edited by Bob Harras.
Plot: Stryfe has arrived to battle Apocalypse and proceeds to pound on him, berating him about some great wrong done to him and Apocalypse has not got a clue who this spiky armoured assailant is. After batting him around his sanctuary and chasing him into his teleport chamber, Stryfe is surprised when Apocalypse strikes back, divesting him of his helmet. Then it’s Apocalypse’s turn to be surprised as Cable’s face stares back at him. This causes hesitation, which Stryfe responds to by impaling Apocalypse with a sword bearing his own face. As Stryfe starts monologuing, Apocalypse is able to crawl to his teleport device and is whisked away. Stryfe is furious, but composes himself before he is seen by the Dark Riders, who according to their own code, must now follow Stryfe.
Now we’re off to Graymalkin and Bishop and Wolverine react very differently to Cable’s home in this time. Bishop is awed by the view of Earth from orbit, but Wolverine isn’t fond of the station’s AI being anti-smoking. Cable asks Professor, that same Intelligence to show them the records they have for Stryfe. We learn that Stryfe was an anarchist between the years 3783 and 3806 AD, 1800 years in the X-Men’s future. He battled the Clan Chosen (Cable’s rebellion against the ruling order) and the rulers of most of the world of that time, the High Lords of New Canaan. When most of the world became all of the world, Stryfe fled back in time with a Zero unit to nearly ten years in the past of where they are now. When Cable’s rebellion failed, he did the same, now both men where in the same time, trying to alter the future to either promote peace and order or in Stryfe’s case chaos by removing the High Lords before they came to power. It was only recently that Cable learned that he and Stryfe had the same face, It explains how Cable could have been seen shooting Professor X without Cable actually being in this current time, but the problem is no one knows why..
Back at the infirmary part of the Mansion in Westchester, Sam and Alex check in with the injured Gambit, Rogue, Quicksilver and Boom Boom, hospitalised after the fight with the MLF. Sam/Cannonball is asked to check in on his team as they’ve been acting up. Alex then visits the medical lab where he’s informed that the virus that’s killing Charles may have to be removed at it’s source, but that was the middle of his head and the risks for that are obvious, but they may have no choice.
In the Danger Room, Rictor and Sunspot argue that they shouldn’t be held in cells as whatever Cable has done, he did away from X-Force and they joined after he left. Siryn learns that the Jamie Madrox she had a relationship with was an errant dupe and while Jamie/Multiple Man knows what happened, he doesn’t really share the feelings that dupe had. Sam walks in and everyone tells him they’re fine, but anyone can see that this is a powderkeg.
In Stryfe’s hidden base, Jean Grey and Scott ‘Cyclops’ Summers break out of their cell as they realise that the dampening of their power was done by Stryfe, not by some device and the two make a break for it. Back at the Mansion again, Apocalypse breaks in, only to collapse in front of the X-Men, including the enraged Archangel and he whispers his intentions, which is to join the X-Men in battling Stryfe.
Notes: The second act of this story comes to a close as all sides are now looking at Stryfe. The more this goes on, the more it looks like an angry teen’s tantrum. Apocalypse, Cyclops and Jean Grey are these huge figures in Stryfe’s life and for what now seem obvious reasons in Apocalypse’s case, no one knows who the hell his is. The whole first part of the issue reminds me of the film Street Fighter. Now that was a dumpster fire of a film, but it was the last film by an actor called Raul Julia, in that film he plays the villain and he has a scene where an atrocity he committed is detailed to him and he has absolutely no recollection of this moment. It’s really one of the only good thing about that film, unless you were a local drug dealer when it was being made. The end of the scene is below.
That’s Stryfe. This is all so big and important, but no one else involved knows why. This cross-over is missing a scene where Scott asks Jean “Do we know who this guy is? I feel he thinks we should know who he is.” Might have seemed a bit glib there though. Apart from the first fight, it’s very much a moving the pieces just a little bit further, but with Apocalypse falling before his enemies and the man he thinks of as his protege, it looks like things are about to change.
Verdict: Writing 3 out of 5 – There’s not a lot for the writer to do here, its’ mostly place holding and exposition, but the passionate declaiming from Stryfe and the interactions on Graymalkin have enough going on to keep you interested.
Art: 4 out of 5 – As much as it was Rob Liefeld’s book, the art for first 3 years were never as good as when Greg Capullo was doing it. He could do consistency, anatomy, eyes, feet, backgrounds and details as well as action and great design work. He made all the imposing characters look imposing and was able to clearly move the story along. His Cable and Stryfe looked like they had the same features, but not by drawing the same man twice, there’s a subtle difference that few artists of the time managed. All in all, this was great stuff.
Overall: 7 out of 10. 2 thirds done and it looks like we’re going to end with a bang. Highly fun and diverting and tickling both the fun stories and nostalgic part of my brain.
Next Time: More New Warriors stuff, I swear though, just this one for a while.
My Marvel Life 