Uncanny X-Men #288
May 1992

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STORY: "Time and Place" (22 pages)
The X-Men take Bishop into New York to recuperate and by sheer blinding luck he stumbles across one of the criminals from his own time. They have a big destructive fight and Bishop realises things are rather different in this time.

What you need to know:
Bishop claims that since coming to this time, he's killed 92 escaped criminals. This issue, he makes it 93 by bumping off somebody called Styglut.

The story is a major turning point for Bishop's character, since this is the point where realises just how out of step with reality he is and begins doing something about it.

Iceman's girlfriend, Opal Tanaka, is writing letters to somebody in Japanese. We'll come to this next issue.

Comments:
More fill-in art, this time from the highly unlikely combination of Andy Kubert and Bill Sienkiewicz. A lot of the time it works; on several pages it looks absolutely atrocious. In an era when X-Men fans were used to the relatively clean styles of Lee and Portacio, god alone knows what they made of this. It's also John Byrne's last contribution to the series, not that Marvel bothered to inform him at the time. They just stopped sending him pages to dialogue and gave the book to Scott Lobdell.

The story is perhaps a bit on the obvious side, and it does rest on a very clunky sequence where Bishop blunders across his opponent by sheer blinding luck. But there's some good character moments, at least, and Bishop gets some good material - there's a particularly good bit where he suggests that it just never occurred to him that there would be bystanders around for a fight because he's used to them running away from him on sight.
 


FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X
(last in Excalibur vol 1 #52), Forge (last in X-Men vol 2 #8), Bishop, Iceman, Storm, Archangel (next in the second story in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16) and Colossus (next in issue #290; the latter five last in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16)
The Beast (last in X-Men Annual vol 2 #1; next in X-Men vol 2 #8, then in Ghost Rider vol 3 #26, then in X-Men vol 2 #9, then in Ghost Rider vol 3 #27 and #29, then in Wonder Man vol 2 #5-6, then in the second story in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16)
Cyclops (last in X-Men Annual vol 2 #1; next in X-Factor #78, then in X-Men vol 2 #8, then in Ghost Rider vol 3 #26, then in X-Men vol 2 #9, then in Ghost Rider vol 3 #27, then in the second story in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16)
Jean Grey (last in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16; between pages 4 and 10, she appears in X-Men vol 2 #8, then behind the scenes in Excalibur vol 1 #51, then in Excalibur vol 1 #52; next in the second story in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Jubilee
(between Ghost Rider vol 3 #27 and X-Men vol 2 #10)
Opal Tanaka
(last in X-Factor #65)
Charlotte Jones (behind the scenes; last in X-Factor #68; next in issue #294)

VILLAINS
Styglut
(dies)

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Copyright 2002 Paul O'Brien.  This web site is a work of critical comment and review. All characters and publications referred to, and artwork reproduced, are ™ and © their respective owners.
 

UNCANNY X-MEN #288
Marvel Comics
May 1992
$1.25 US / $1.50 CAN

Cover uncredited - Andy Kubert (penciller) and Bill Sienkiewicz (inker)?

"Time and Place"
Plotters: Jim Lee /
Whilce Portacio
Scripters: John Byrne / Scott Lobdell
Penciller: Andy Kubert
Inker: Bill Sienkiewicz
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Colourists: Joe Rosas
Editor: Bob Harras