Cable # 36, Uncanny X-Men # 337, X-Men # 57, Uncanny X-Men # 338, Generation X # 20, Onslaught Epilogue
Onslaught (and Mark Waid's X-Men career) maybe over, but there's still trouble still afoot as the teams scramble to recover from the war.
Cable, laid out in the derelict Four Freedoms Plaza, is being examined by Nathaniel Richards with Caliban, Storm, Cannonball, Franklin, and Domino looking on. As the Techno-Organic Virus rages out of control, threatening to kil him, Cable has a vision of Jenskot and Tyler and being able to say good bye to them both. On the brink of death, Cable's control returns . . . though by Franklin's strength or his own will is unknown.
Back at the remains of the mansion, Wolverine confronts Professor X on his guilt over Onslaught. However, he's unable to get him to breakfast with the rest of the X-Men at the boathouse.
This guilt then causes Charles to leave the X-Men, taken into custody by Val Cooper under the premise of helping to understand and prevent Onslaught from attacking again.
In New York, Archangel is confronted by Ozymadias and suddenly, his wings shatter, revealing the feathered ones below. He is then drawn to a church, where Pyro is trying his best to make peace as the Legacy Virus slowly kills him. The X-Men meet up with them, but Pyro goes spazzy and then Avalanche takes him away. Archangel really has no idea how he got his wings back.
Over in Generation X, there's trouble afoot. But mainly, the gang decompresses in the aftermath of Onslaught. Franklin Richards joins the cast and Chamber and Skin are hitchiking and run afoul of Howard the Duck. PUN!
We then flip over to Charles Xavier, who is being held captive by Operation: Zero Tolerance in regards to his connection with Onslaught. His powers still removed, there's a lot of debate (Gyrich vs. Bastian) regarding just how dangerous he is. Xavier makes contact with an extremely powerful little girl (a class of creature all her own, though) by the name of Nina. Professor X recruits the help of his therapist (Dr. Ingrid Thysson) and the Mutant Hunter named Daryll Smith (who is really a Mutant) to get Nina out of there. They do this elaborate ruse and Nina is freed.
Overall, we get a nice breather after the insanity that was "Onslaught." It's nice to see the fresh scars and wounds of the battle, both emotional and physical. The Cable story is nice, if not a little too hooky. Archangel finally gets some development! Can you imagine that?
Xavier's leaving of the X-Men is good (even though it's not the first time), because it allows his character to basically take a leave from the team and allows characters like Cyclops to really stand even taller as a leader (we'll go more in-depth with this later down the road). His adventures with Bastian and Nina leave something to be desired, but suit their purpose, I suppose.
Franklin's transfer to Generation X is nice move, definetly the logical choice. Really the perfect environment for the guy.
The highlight, though, is the "breakfast" issue. It's among my favorite X-Men stories as it not only takes into account recent events, but also serves as a great focus on different X-Men characters. Scott and Bobby's goofing off with Hank makes for a fun scene considering all that "Dark Beast" stuff that was going on. Jean has a tender moment with Quicksilver which is almost heartbreaking. Gambit's attitude about Joseph is great. The entire meal itself - where the various X-Men gather around Scott and Jean's table while it's pouring outside the mansion is partially destroyed - is priceless. It really gives the X-Men the feel that no matter what kind of crap they can have sholved against them, they can still hold together.
~W~
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