X-MEN: LIBERATORS#3 - January 1999

A Game of Hide and Seek!

Credits: Joseph Harris (writer), Phil Jimenez (breakdowns), Keith Aiken & John Stokes (finishes), Shannon Blanchard (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Colossus discovers that his former neighbor, Ariana, hates him because he grew up in peace with his mutant siblings, while her son Nikolas was taken away as an infant. They’re soon confronted by Omega Red, who’s hunting Ariana’s son, the missing mutant from Province 13. When Nikolas appears, Omega Red throws him and Colossus down a mountain. Meanwhile, Wolverine slowly recovers from Nokolas’ death-touch. Nightcrawler follows him to Province 13, and encounters some of the children living there. When Sergei receives word that Province 13 is closing down, he orders Wolverine buried in the woods.

Review: Some of the threads are coming together (although I’d still like to know why Omega Red was in the Savage Land), and it seems as if this mini is shaping up fairly well. Ariana had a memorable debut last issue, and while it’s predictable that she would be revealed as the missing mutant’s mother, Harris handles the flashbacks to Nikolas’ birth well, and makes her resentment of the Rasputins feel real. From a continuity purist’s point of view, it is a little unusual that three mutants would be born to the same mother, so the revelation that nuclear testing caused many of the kids in Colossus’ collective to be born mutants makes sense.

Three issues in to the mini, I’m still not sure what purpose the blonde girl with telepathic powers is meant to serve, but for some reason Harris feels the need to establish that she’s likely the only mutant still living at Province 13. (Apparently, the government just takes kids indiscriminately from this area, although I’m still not sure why the Rasputins were allowed to grow up at home.) Eh, maybe he’s going somewhere with this.

Nightcrawler’s scenes this issue emphasize the parallels between Xavier’s school and Province 13, stressing how lucky Nightcrawler was to be trained by a benevolent teacher, as opposed to a cold-hearted government agency. Of course, he only thought Xavier was a nice guy at this point. He didn’t know about the mental manipulation, enslaved alien entities, and secret dead X-Men from the past. Because, you know, those stories that played on old continuity just made perfect sense, as opposed to this ‘90s silliness.

X-MEN: LIBERATORS #2 - December 1998

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Credits: Joseph Harris (writer), Phil Jimenez (breakdowns), Aiken, Leigh, & Pepoy (finishes), Shannon Blanchard (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Colossus visits his parents’ gravesite, and is shocked when an elderly lady in the chapel spits at him and curses his family. Soon, he’s attacked by Russian soldiers who assume that he’s the escaped mutant from Province 13. Nearby, Wolverine and Nightcrawler encounter more soldiers in the woods. Soon, they’re attacked by the escaped mutant, whose touch has an odd effect on Wolverine. The mutant evades capture, leaving the soldiers to take a disoriented Wolverine into custody. Meanwhile, Sergei reflects on a young girl from the program, and receives word that Province 13 could be shut down. Later, Russian soldiers enter the Savage Land, looking for Omega Red.

Review: It’s an issue full of “middle,” so it’s hard to judge how exactly all of these threads are coming together. As vague as some of this is, I will say that the small amount of info Harris has given us is pretty intriguing. The incident between Colossus and the angry woman is particularly interesting, since Colossus’ “family” might include the historical Rasputins, and not just the immediate family already established in the books. It’s also nice to see Colossus visiting a cemetery and mourning his parents, since their murders seemed especially gratuitous back in the early ‘90s, and he wasn’t allowed a lot of time back then for bereavement (he was too busy irrationally turning heel). The Omega Red in the Savage Land sequence is something I wasn’t expecting to see, and unless this is a continuity reference I’ve totally missed, I’m curious to see why exactly he’s there.

Harris also works in a few “quiet” moments for Wolverine and Nightcrawler, acknowledging the many years they’ve spent apart and taking more time to reestablish their friendship than the main titles ever did. I question Harris’ characterization of Wolverine as an adamant opponent to hunting, though. (One of the Russian soldiers is killing time by shooting at random animals in the woods, which infuriates Wolverine.) Needless killing would anger Wolverine, I’m sure, but Harris’ dialogue makes it clear that Wolverine doesn’t consider hunting for food and for sport to be so different. It’s possible Harris based this on Todd McFarlane’s portrayal of Wolverine in Spider-Man, but that's hardly the definitive Wolverine story. Given the times we’ve seen Wolverine kill animals in the woods, an anti-hunting stance just feels hypocritical.

X-MEN: LIBERATORS #1 - November 1998

Old Friends

Credits: Joe Harris (writer), Phil Jimenez & Keith Aiken (art), Shannon Blanchard (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Wolverine and Nightcrawler accompany Colossus on a trip to Siberia. They stop at a tavern while waiting for their train and inadvertently start a bar fight. Not far away is the military installation, Province 13. Sergei, the director, overlooks the mutants gathered by the government. One of the mutants escapes and makes his way to the train station as Colossus, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler are boarding.

Continuity Notes: This story reveals that Colossus was one of several mutants created in Siberia following Cold War nuclear tests.

Review: This is an ‘80s nostalgia project highlighting the friendship between Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler; one of the relationships dropped by the X-titles when the characters moved on to different teams and/or continents. At the time of this miniseries’ release, Nightcrawler and Colossus, along with Shadowcat, were rejoining the X-Men during one of Marvel’s retro-kicks, a move that probably wasn’t as popular as Marvel editorial predicted. One reason the new/old lineup didn’t seem too thrilling was because the creators of the main books were apparently saddled with the team at the last minute, requiring numerous storylines to be dropped while the books went into extended crossover mode for several issues. I can’t say Steven Seagle or Joe Kelly handled the addition of Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat poorly, but I never got the impression they were too excited to be using them. Joe Harris, on the other hand, is writing a story specifically tailored for (most of) the returning characters, so this feels different. There’s nothing special about the plot so far -- there’s an ‘80s flashback, some light-hearted scenes following the cast to the airport and a bar, and some cryptic teasers for a new mutant -- but the execution is competent enough. The art looks like something Marvel would’ve published circa 1982, so that’s fitting, and I get the impression that Jimenez is getting a kick out of using these characters, too.

LOGAN: SHADOW SOCIETY - December 1996

Credits: Howard Mackie (plot), Mark Jason (script), Tomm Coker & Keith Aiken w/Octavio Cariello (art), Christie Sheele & Malibu (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Neil Langram, partner of Canadian special agent Logan, is killed by Sabretooth. Logan and his friend Carol Danvers investigate his murder and uncover a conspiracy to keep the existence of mutants a secret. They find Dr. Perry Edwards, an author who has written a book about the rise of superhumans, on a list held by a secret branch of Department H. Logan and Carol travel to America and protect him from agents sent to kill him. Perry’s research has pointed him towards the Hellfire Club, where Logan investigates but finds no answers. Sebastian Shaw watches the incident and asks Sabretooth to intervene. Back in Canada, Logan and Carol discover the bodies of Dr. Edwards and numerous government officials. Sabretooth appears, explaining that mutants are choosing sides and rogue agents must be killed. Sabretooth sets off a bomb, but Logan’s powers enable him to survive and protect Carol. As Carol recovers from her injuries, Logan leaves Department H and heads for the Yukon.

Production Note: This is a forty-eight page bookshelf format book, with a cover price of $5.95.

Continuity Notes: Where to start on this one? The story takes place during Wolverine’s days as a secret agent. This is after his Cold War stint with Team X, but before the Weapon X project that gave him an adamantium skeleton. The ending is problematic since it has Wolverine abandoning Department H (and Department H apparently turning against him) and moving to the Yukon. The Weapon X serial opens with Wolverine still working as a Department H agent when he’s kidnapped and implanted with adamantium.

Carol Danvers’ role lead many people to question if this story was even canon when it was released. The story keeps reminding us that she’s younger than she seems (she claims to be under the legal drinking age at one point), but Wolverine keeps making references to the number of years they’ve worked together. I wonder if the “she’s so young” lines were added after the story was plotted when someone realized that Carol isn’t old enough to fit in with this time in Wolverine’s life. However, there’s still a cameo by Angel as a boy during the Hellfire Club scene, which would make Carol at least ten years older than him. Making this even murkier is Wolverine #-1, which takes place after Wolverine is bonded with adamantium, and has Wolverine meeting Carol Danvers for the first time. Wolverine has memory issues, but Carol doesn’t, does she?

Another potential continuity problem is Wolverine facing a group of Hellfire Club guards years before their first “official” meeting during the Dark Phoenix Saga. Also, the Hellfire Club has an “Inner Circle” at this point, but I believe that term didn’t exist until Sebastian Shaw took over years later. In their earliest appearances during the Claremont/Cockrum UXM issues, they were the “Council of the Chosen.”

Let’s just declare this one “out-of-continuity,” okay?

Review: Before Wolverine officially had annuals, Marvel would release one bookshelf format Wolverine comic each year, usually with a pretty high-profile creative team. Wolverine already had annuals by 1996, but that didn’t stop Marvel from producing a few more bookshelf comics. It’s possible a series of these were planned, as another Logan one-shot was released in 1996. If you’re willing to overlook the continuity headaches (although that seems to defeat the purpose of a prequel story), this actually isn’t half-bad. The basic idea focuses on what exactly Wolverine and Sabretooth were doing when the existence of mutants first became public knowledge, which is an era that’s largely been ignored. We know that Wolverine and various other characters from the X-universe had superheroic adventures in the shadows for decades, so exploring what they were doing as Professor Xavier and Sebastian Shaw began searching for mutants has potential. I’m not familiar with Mark Jason’s other work, but he manages to write a natural, believable script for much of the story (I really wish he’d drop the “best there is” lines, though). Considering some of Howard Mackie’s clunkers on X-Factor during this era, perhaps it’s best that he didn’t finish the issue.

Wolverine is normally clothed as a redneck while in civilian clothes, but Tomm Coker pushes the secret agent angle and instead dresses him in tight dress shirts and sunglasses (which look rather feminine to me, but I doubt he was going for that). It reminds me of the metrosexual makeover the character received after the first X-Men movie came out, although thankfully we’re spared the soul patch. The new look doesn’t really suit the character, but Coker’s art is still the highlight of the book. His style is somewhere in-between Bill Sienkiewicz, John Romita, Jr., early Chris Bachalo, and Klaus Janson. If I’m naming that many people it means I have no idea how to describe his style, but it suits the tone of the story and seems appropriate for a more “artistic” prestige-format book. A few of the pages look a little awkward, which might be the ones handled by the co-artists. The final product, though, looks very nice overall. If the story went through a few rewrites, I could see this worthy of its lofty format.