X-Men Headcanon 10: Days Of Mediocre Now

I'll be calling the next post something akin to The Transitional Era, but that could have served to describe these books to. Cable shows up and helps The New Mutants evolve into X-Factor, Wolverine continues to do Wolveriney things, there's time travel shenanigans involving the Summers and Richards families, and even though Cable's been around for like ten minutes, we are already introduced to two villains who look like alternate versions of him. Oh, and we have another death, and some more roster changes on teams.

Sadly, none of these books make the Headcanon.

Tiny head, big shoulders, delicate tootsies that would in no way support his triangular bodyshape. Rob Liefeld's Cable.

The New Mutants Epic Cable by Louise Simonson, Chris Claremont, Dwight Zimmerman, Ann Nocenti, Judith Kurzer Bogdanove, Peter Sanderson, Fabien Nicieza, Peter David, Rob Liefeld, Jon Bagdanove, BobHall, Terry Shoemaker, Art Adams, Bret Blevins, Mark Bagley, Chris Wozniak, and Gavin Curtis
New Mutants: Cable, Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Warlock, Rictor, Boom-Boom
1st Appearances: Cable, Wildside, Tempo, Zero, Strobe, Forearm, Thumbelina, Reaper, Stryfe
​Also Featuring*: Vulture, Tinkerer, Rusty, Skids, Dani Moonstar, Nitro, Blob, Pyro, Crimson Commando, Super Sabre, Angel, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Mystique, Moira MacTaggert, Sabretooth, Caliban, Masque, Wolverine, Sunfire, Nguyen Ngoc Coy, Asgardians, Morlocks, Atlanteans

​Rob Liefeld has a justified reputation for being The X-Men Artist of the early 90s, and also for being ignorant of human anatomy and lazy about background images. There are scores of webpages devoted to people who love and hate his art. Peter David even wrote many a screed about what it was like to work with him in the 90s. And this is Very 90s. There are pages of his character sketches in this volume that could be easily mistaken for the DeviantArt sketches of freshmen year art students who went on to have successful careers in telemarketing, insurance sales, or designing Angelfire websites. There are some wonderful trainwreck pages where, because Rob Liefeld never bothered to learn things like perspective or, again, human anatomy, Cable has a teensy tiny head, shoulders four feet wide, and hips that could have birthed a Frost Giant. But, for the most, part you can really ignore the much over-discussed poor depiction of feet, and enjoy the bulk of this story for what it is.

Louise Simonson introduces Cable, and has him quickly become the new professor of The New Mutants. It turns out he's heaps better than either Professor X or Magneto were. Sure, he looks like a military meathead, as drawn by Liefeld, but he is depicted here as caring about the students and wanting them to become their best selves at their own pace. There's no discussions of punishments or demerits, no yelling when they disobey orders, and when Cable does test them psychologically, he then discusses what he was doing with them, and breaks down how he thinks it could help them. I love that Simonson chose this direction for the characters.

Unfortunately, probably because she has mainly written comics that were geared toward younger readers, her dialogue often explains things that one can see or infer by the art. It often feels awkward and unnecessary, but I also have to acknowledge that the writers coming after her are going to be far worse.

The Simonson story, minus the Days of Future Past storyline, and the Summer Special by Ann Nocenti is solid comic booking. Not my favorite, and not enough to make my Headcanon, but an interesting evolution of the New Mutant team, and every character she wrote in this book became better because of how she wrote them. I'm going to review X-Men: Days of Future Present separately, but I should note that the Ann Nocenti special issue is Terrible. It's a middle school level critique of pollution and media and a whole lot of other things that deserve a more mature and measured critique than what's offered here. Yes, even in a comic about teenager superheroes, the bar for social discourse should be higher than it is in here.

Still, for a late 80s/early 90s X-book, this is pretty decent, and if you're a fan of Cable, this should be a fun read for you.


* - I have not included the issues that repeat in the ​Days Of Future Present

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X-Men Days Of Future Present by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, Jackson Guice, Terry Shoemaker, Chris Wozniak, Jon Bogdanove, and Art Adams
Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Ben Grimm, She-Thing, Franklin Richards
New Mutants: Cable, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, Warlock, Rictor, Boom-Boom
X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel
X-Men: Forge, Banshee, Storm, Gambit
1st Appearances:  Ahab, Nocturne (unnamed)
Also featuring: Rachel Grey, Franklin as an adult, Douglock

Growing up, this was my least favorite comic series of all-time. I was new to comics, and loved the X-Men, thanks to the X-Men vs Fantastic Four, and liked the Fantastic Four, thanks to the weird version of the Fantastic Four with Wolverine and Ghost Rider. This book made no sense to me.

While this is definitely nigh-impenetrable if you haven't read the X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, and Fantastic Four that feed into this event, the whole thing wasn't helped by the fact that the comics came out out-of-order and were therefore improperly labeled, so that you were intended to read this as Part One, Part Three, Part Two, and Part Four. While I feel that all the writers on these titles were past their prime (on these titles, specifically, they should have all moved on to other titles so they could freshen up their writing, and other writers could freshen up the title), the main problem was, as often is the case: Marvel Editorial.

Reading it over thirty years later, it's ok. Not great. It's annoying at times but it's never incoherent, and it does make sense with the series that surround it. The main villain sucks, and the overall conceit is pretty unimaginative given that it's about time traveling reality benders. But I went into this thinking I was going to hate it and ended up thinking it was just mediocre.

I still can't recommend this to anyone who hasn't read pretty much all the 80s comics that led up to it. But if you're down for some convoluted X-madness, this isn't even close to the worst crossover of the 90s.​​

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Marvel Comics Presents Wolverine Vol 4 by Dwight Zimmerman, Howard Mackie, Mark Texeira. and Paul Ryan
Also Featuring: Archie Corrigan, Tyger Tyger, Ghost Rider

​After yet another Madripoor story where Archie and Tyger Tyger are in danger, we get the requisite team-up where Wolverine and another hero initially fight, and then team up to help someone. This time it's Ghost Rider.

These early Wolverine stories are a tough sell for me. There just isn't enough character development or consistency as creative teams sometimes have less than twenty pages to leave their mark on this character. That leaves me with little to talk about except art and plot points, and neither of those things are very memorable in this collection. So, at least they aren't actively bad.

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X-Men Visionaries Jim Lee by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Klaus Janson, John Byrne, Rick Leonardi, Marc Silvestri, Michael Golden, Larry Stroman
X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Banshee, Forge, Psylocke, Jubilee, Gambit
X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel
New Mutants: Cable, Cannonball, Sunspot, Boom-Boom, Ricctor
Also Featuring: Professor X, Shadow King, Rogue, Magneto, Lillandra, Captain Marvel, Moira MacTaggert, Polaris, Amanda Sefton, Legion, Nick Fury, Trish Tilby, Gladiator, Deathbird, Corsair, Ch'od, Hepzibah, Smasher, Raza, Titan, Tempest. Bolt, Oracle, Lila Cheney, Ka-Zar, Brainchild, Skrulls

The last couple volumes featuring the X-Men had the team split up into solo adventures. Here, they are brought together, along with X-Factor to set up  Claremont's grand finale on the title, which is also the beginning of Jim Lee's tenure on the book.

It is fun to see Claremont's hand gently nudged by Jim Lee's ideas, as we still get the intense continuity Claremont built over a decade but the stories feel more focused than they have since The Mutant Massacre

Ignoring the issues repeated from Dissolution & Rebirth,, this volume sees Rogue battle her inner-demons (who happens to be Carol Danvers) before being shunted off to The Savage Land to help Magneto and Nick Fury battle the same ol' Savage Land shenanigans that always seem to be taking place. 

The rest of the X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants are trying to work out how to share the mansion, and maybe set themselves up as a functional military unit (Cable's idea) when Lila Cheney shows up and tosses the somewhat reunited, somewhat new X-Men team off into space where they are either saving Professor X from Deathbird or vice-versa. 

It's fun to see the new characters: Jubilee, Gambit, and Forge, have zero loyalty to Professor X, whom they've never met before, and thus help the rest of the team figure out the twists and turns of this plot. 

I would totally make this headcanon but I've had this trade paperback forever, and the few editions available online start used at over $50. But if you're an X-Men fan, and you can find this trade or the issues it contains, it's a treat that you deserve to read. Hopefully, it will pop up in an Epic Collection soon.

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​New Mutants Epic The End Of The Beginning by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Jon Bagdanove, John Caponigro, Jim Lee, Rick Leonardi, Rob Liefeld, Fabien Nicieza, Marc Silvestri, Guang Yap, Mark Bagley, Terry Shoemaker, Tom Raney, Kirk Jarvinen, Jerry DeCaire, and Steven Butler
X-Men: Forge, Banshee, Storm, Gambit
New Mutants: Cable Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, Warloc, Rictor, Boom-Boom, Thunderbird
X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel
New Warriors: Nova, Speedball, Firestar, Marvel Boy, Silhouette, Night Thrasher, Choro, Namorita
X-Terminators: Archie, Leech, Wiz-Kid
1sr Appearances: Deadpool, Domino, Gideon, Feral, Shatterstar
Also Featuring: Trish Tilby, Stevie Hunter, Strong Guy, Lila Cheney, Cameron Hodge, Genegineer, Havoc, Wolverine, Jubilee, Psylocke, Moira MacTaggert, She-Hulk, Reed Richards, Dr Moreau, Robert DeCosta, Rusty, Skids, Blob, Avalanche, Crimson Commando, Super Sabre, Pyro, Polaris, Siryn, Madrox, Legion, Tower, Frenzy, Stryfe, Wildside, Forearm, Reaper, Zero, Masque

The bridge between New Mutants and X-Force takes us back to Genosha for the decent but not wonderful X-Tinction Agenda, and then we get a series of issues where the old New Mutants leave the team, and Cable beings to recruit/offer refuge to an almost entirely new team rebranded as X-Force. It's a steady, if not spectacular series of stories.

While the debut of Cable, in the previous volume of New Mutants provided us with an interesting new character, Deadpool debuts here and is nothing special. Liefeld had envisioned him as just another assassin with 1980s style action quips, and it would be a few years before he became an irreverent, fourth wall breaking character. Still, Liefeld's brief run as the head writer for New Mutants is decent, if not exceptional.

Unfortunately, it's followed up by a series of annual stories called "Kings Of Pain" by Fabien Nicieza, one of the hackiest hacks to dribble his quarter-baked ideas over the X-Franchise. He doesn't get off to a good start here, as he throws New Mutants, New Warriors, X-Factor, and the X-Men into a nonsensical crossover where the government and two shadowy masterminds set out to...checks notes...create a new Proteus, a character the government has previously had nothing to do with? Sure. And on the last page, the two shadowy figures are revealed to be...Gideon, the advisor to Sunspot in the New Mutants, and Toad, the long ignored and mostly forgotten member of the Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants. It's a crusty goosehonk of a reveal that, like many of the ideas introduced during Nicieza's time with the books, goes absolutely nowhere.

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X-Factor Forever by Louise Simonson, Whilce Portacio, Dan Panosian, Eric Nguyen, and Aluir Almancino
X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast, Angel
Also Featuring: Opal, Mariko, Cable (as a baby), Apocalypse, Mr Sinister, Caliban, Cameron Hodge, Charlotte Jones, Trish Tilby, Sabretooth, Celestials, 
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While I'm glad Simonson got to return to finish the storyline she was working on when the book transitioned from her to Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio, I feel like she crammed about twelve issues into the five she was given for this series, and it just doesn't work.

She ties up the Apocalypse/Sinister/Celestials storyline in a brisk but unsatisfying way that even tosses in the destruction of Genosha, which Grant Morrison did with greater effect in New X-Men by Grant Morrison: Ultimate Collection, Book 1. Yes, this would have been a more epic end to her run than the actual ending, which is also included in this volume. But I'm not sure More Epic = Better. Her original ending story, where Iceman's girlfriend, Opal, is kidnapped by her birthfamily and becomes embroiled in a Yakuza War, was definitely Of Its Time, but it was pretty good for its time, particularly as it followed a series of over-saturated crossovers.

There's no real reason to pick this up unless you're a massive Louise Simonson fan (and there's no shame in that, she was definitely one one of the more underrated writers of the late 80s and 90s), who wants to see how her story would have ended if it was on her own terms.

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