Hello and welcome to another week in Ye Olde School Café! Big thanks first of all, to Alexander for stepping up last week while I was on vacation! I love me some Batman! Anyway, the last time we were chillin’ in the Café, we witnessed a cosmic story starring the Avengers, but before that, the X-Men had a rebirth of sorts, and this week’s story will be a continuation of their exploits. They, along with the New Mutants, and X-Factor, are about to experience what it’s like to be pushed to the brink of X-Tinction! The man responsible for this, Cameron Hodge, looks like a pencil pusher that couldn’t hurt a fly. Well, after a few changes, he can do a lot more than that, and the house of Xavier will never be the same! This tale was brought to you in 1992 by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Louise Simonson, Rob Liefeld, and Al Milgrom, just to name a few. Let’s get to the action!
As the sun is setting on the Xavier Institute, Jean Grey and Storm are utilizing the Danger Room to hone their abilities, and prepare for any and all circumstances. They get rudely interrupted by Boom-Boom, Rictor, Rahne, and Cable. They reside at the mansion as well now, and want some training time of their own! After a brief disagreement, Jean and Ororo let them have their turn, and head to Harry’s Hideaway for some down time. They reminisce about how the last few years have been mighty tough for the house of X. They relive Jean’s “death” out in space, her reemergence, and all of its subsequent effects. They return to the mansion and keep the good vibes going, but then Jean leaves and Ororo is verbally attacked by Rahne. She’s still very angry at the death of her friend, Doug Ramsey.
Little do they suspect, that an elite team is watching from not too far away, and has plans to ruin their day. Within minutes of Rahne and Storm arguing, the team unleashes a strategic attack on the youths, and they seem a little confused on how to work together. Storm is puzzled by one of the team members that’s using some kind of plasma attack. Storm tries to coordinate an attack with Boom-Boom, and it actually works. They drop the strange enemy, but as Storm is about to find out, that is going to be a shock. She first recognizes the team as Genoshans, then after removing the helmet of the downed opponent, she jumps back in shock as it’s revealed that Havoc is one of the attackers! They battle anyway, but with only Storm, Rictor, and Boom-Boom, it’s a losing battle against this team that seems to be outfitted with equipment to neutralize their powers. Eventually, they get captured, and Banshee, Cable, Cannonball, and Forge arrive minutes too late. Cable and the others vow to get revenge for this attack, but they have no idea who is even pulling their strings!
Well, that’s it for this week, but stay tuned because next week will bring us to Genosha, and their tormentor, Cameron Hodge! See you next week!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
This was a fantastic event for the X Books! It made me respect Hodge and hate Havok even more back then! lol