Credits: Written by Fabian Nicieza, pencilled by Greg Capullo, inked by Harry Candelario and edited by Bob Harras
Plot: Cable has made it through the barrier between Stryfe’s machine and the rest of the moon, seemingly alone. Now he battles with Stryfe for the lives of Scott ‘Cyclops’ Summers and Jean Grey. Behind the machines, images flicker into being, this time showing more clearly the last time Scott and Jean were on the moon, when after battling Apocalypse, Scott had to send his son to some ill-defined future time to save his life. Stryfe trades insults with Cable, referring to him as a failed attempt to preserve a life that didn’t need preserving. Cable is clearly outmatched as Stryfe seems significantly more powerful and why Jean wonders how Cable can survive, Scott wonders how Stryfe got to this place.
Elsewhere many of the X-Men on the moon see the Dark Riders escape, Wolverine throws a strop and Psylocke learns that Apocalypse is elsewhere in the base, dying. She notifies the remaining X-Men on the base (Archangel, Bishop and Iceman) and Archangel races off to find Apocalypse and make sure his dying moments are as miserable as can be. Iceman wants to go after him, but Bishop warns against it. Sam/Cannonball and Polaris awake on the outside of the barrier, noticing that Havok is on the other. They see Stryfe and Cable’s battle and Sam isn’t confident that it’s going to go well. Styfe unleashes a telekinetic blast against Cable, stripping most of his clothes and the skin from half of his face, showing how much of Cable is cybernetic. He boasts that Cable can’t be considered a man, under all that replacement. On Earth, Charles is still ranting about what’s happening on the surface of the Moon, Beast and Jubilee have no idea what’s going on and give a blank, ‘that’s nice’ sort of vibe. Back on the Moon, Apocalypse crawls towards safety as Archangel, once his Horseman of Death, stands over him. Apocalypse waits to be killed, slain by the fit and worthy. But Archangel remembers the man he was and sees no reason to kill this weakened foe. Apocalypse screams back at him, demanding he give him a clean death, but he is alone, his life bleeding away.
As the battle between Cable and Stryfe intensifies Jean notices that whatever is holding them to the tower, is weakening. Before anyone can make anything of that, Stryfe is hit by a massive plasma charge, courtesy of Havok. It seems that he could get through the barrier as it was set to Summers DNA and by this time we have all sort of guessed what the story is here. Scott and Jean are free, but Jean is still after everything Stryfe did, is willing to work with him and try to get through all of this pain together. For a brief moment, Stryfe considers this, his demeanour becoming that of a child, but his edgelord-ness doesn’t go far and he immediately assumes he’ll be betrayed and throws an epic telekinetic tantrum, destroying his tower, but not stopping the energy things happening behind it, they only seem to get worse and Stryfe starts screaming about his leaving a legacy of hate and decay, he curses mutantkind with a loss of hope and a loss of life. Now the EM storm (god I miss the bats**t stuff of the 90s) is raging wild, leaving Cable and Stryfe at it’s mercy. Cable however, has a plan.
Cable sets up a device which he hands to Scott, then activates a self destruct system on his person and then tackles Stryfe, not to beat him, just keep him in one place. Cable starts yelling at Stryfe that no matter now similar they may look, Cable is his own man, making his own choices, including this. The timer goes to zero, Scott hits the button and there’s a massive release of energy. When the discharge dissipates, Scott, Jean and Alex/Havok are all that is left and as the rest of the X-Men arrive, Scott is left with the question, did he just sacrifice his son the Moon for a second time.
In rural Nebraska, a man called Gordon informs Mr Sinister that the box he got from Stryfe is now open, disappointed and yet unsurprised Sinister walks away ready to plot anew, but he notices Gordon has just started coughing and asks him to please take care of himself.
Notes: Now apart from a denouement in three different comics, this brings the X-Cutioners song to an end. Part murder mystery, part action movie and part Claremontian continuity clusterf**k it was everything I liked about the X-Men at the time and has been a really enjoyable re-read. We get more than a little nod to the fact that one of the two men sacrificed at the end of this story was the infant son that Scott sent into the future. We have that link to the future as well as the connection to Apocalypse and by the end of the series, all of Stryfe’s actions and words made a degree of sense. He was abandoned by his family because of the actions of Apocalypse and was sent centuries ahead into what appears have been a dystopia and then battled a man with his face, a reminder of all he had lost. I mean he is a Darth Vader level drama queen, but you get it. Cable and Stryfe bring the story to an end, but honestly this led to so many different things.
Verdict: Writing 5 out of 5– It’s one of Nicieza’s shining moments, he infuses these 90s characters with depth and makes sure most of the cast get a bit of action or development, from Havok’s sibling envy, to Archangel having to assert his humanity in the face of the chance for revenge against the monster who ruined his life. But Cable, Jean, Scott and Stryfe take centre stage and it’s the emotion more than the action that comes through, not an easy task and not one to be overlooked.
Art 4 out of 5 – Greg Capullo was one of the best things to happen to X-Force, certainly the best at his point. He did the macho posturing that Liefeld brought in, but with a stronger grasp of anatomy and perspective. He balanced action with character and was consistently the best artist on this cross-over. Yes it was over the top and a lot didn’t make sense, but none of that got in the way of really enjoyable art.
Overall: 9 out of 10 – This crossover ended on a high and looking back was one of the best serialised ones that the X-Men did. It was interesting, high stakes and came from the stories before it and launched new ideas and honestly I am glad it done in the time when I got into the X-Men as it cemented the idea that this was somewhere I wanted to be. 30 years later, I still feel the same way.
Next Time: New Warriors as one of the last times Ben is in his Scarlet Spider uniform before all kinds of things start to change.
My Marvel Life 