Hey everybody, welcome to another week in Ye Olde School Café! This week, we’ll be continuing our look inside the relaunch of the X-Men in 1991 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee! Yes, it was quite an exciting time for X-fans everywhere, and for me personally, the beginning of my comic book collecting addiction! So far we’ve seen the team battle their oldest and deadliest foe, Magneto. Now that that’s over with, they look forward to some down time…too bad that isn’t going to happen!
As we watch a scene somewhere in the South Pacific, a process of rebirth is about to take a turn for the worse for those involved. A mysterious enemy from Wolverine’s past appears from a cryogenic chamber that releases a poison, killing all the men in the room. He then is shown a picture of Wolverine, which appears to immediately enrage him.
Meanwhile, back at Xavier’s School, Wolverine, Jubilee, Rogue, and Gambit are having some relaxation time playing a game of basketball. The game gets a little bit heated when they start using their powers, but eventually it calms back down. Inside the mansion, Moira McTaggert is having a nightmare about her son Kevin, and also the recent debacle with Magneto. She cries out and Banshee, Charles, and Scott all come running to see if she’s OK. As she tells them that she needs to leave, Rogue comes busting through the window, because again, the game has gotten out of hand. Moira screams and runs out of the room, and Banshee is irate. After much talking, Moira decides to leave the team and go back home alone. Banshee is visibly shaken, but doesn’t protest when Moira tells him not to. The basketball game finally breaks up, and Rogue goes out for a night on the town with Gambit. Beast, Wolverine, and Jubilee decide to tag along, though. Gambit thinks that he can outrun them with his motorcycle, and the race is on. As Gambit speeds down the road, he notices that someone has placed a wire across the road. He ducks quickly, but Rogue gets caught by it and tumbles off the bike. Before you know it, a pack of ninja drops out of the trees and attacks Beast and Wolverine. Rogue and Gambit (who are slightly ahead) immediately get subdued by this unknown enemy. The others don’t fare much better, as the ninja distract them long enough for the real enemy to reveal himself – Omega Red!
As Beast and Gambit begin to wake up, they realize that they are prisoners of the men who attacked them. It doesn’t take the sneaky Cajun long to whip out one of his patented playing cards and blast his way out of his restraints. He quickly frees Beast and Jubilee, and the fight is on inside a moving van. The other X-Men are alerted by Cerebro that there is activity just a few blocks away from the mansion. They quickly board the Blackbird and head over to the site of the disturbance. Once there, they find Beast and the others trying to pick up the pieces from the van wreckage. They think the other van has Logan inside it, but find out that it doesn’t. They are left wondering where he is.
A world away, in Berlin, Germany, Logan is confronted by Omega Red. It’s revealed that years earlier, there was a confrontation between Arkady and a team of spies (Weapon X team with Wolverine, Sabertooth, and others). Back in New York state, Professor X and the team decide to split up. One team will head to Berlin to find Logan, and the others will meet up with the White Queen of the Hellfire Club (she recently called to arrange a meeting). Across the globe in Berlin, Wolverine takes a beating from Omega Red, but his handlers tell him to stop. They mean to torture and brainwash Logan again, as this was done before many times to him in the past (as we would later learn in the Wolverine: Origins series – check it out!). Just as Logan is beginning to understand why he’s there, he recognizes one face in the room. It’s Dr. Cornelius from Weapon X, and he means to brainwash Logan again into being a puppet. Up in the ventilation shaft, a figure has been watching and reporting to someone else about what he’s seeing. He then uses a device to short circuit the lights, allowing Logan to break free, and Omega Red comes right at him. Logan suddenly has something in his hands, and he thinks he knows what it is. Rather than fight Omega Red, Logan bolts out of there and ends up at Maverick’s hideout. The two begin to discuss old times, but then an alarm goes off, and it’s time for some more action!
Well, that’s it for now, but come back next week for the exciting conclusion! We’ll see Wolverine and Maverick delve into the past some more, then Omega Red and the X-Men catch up with Logan. Oh, and also, another member of that old team of Logan’s shows up, too!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
