STORY: "Dream's End, part 1 of 4: The Past is but Prologue!" (24 pages)  Mystique plans to kill Robert Kelly and develop an anti-human virus.

What you need to know:
The "Dream's End" crossover runs through this issue, X-Men vol 2 #108, Cable #87 and Bishop: The Last X-Man #16.  It's designed to wrap up a running subplot, in which Robert Kelly was running for President.  Obviously, he couldn't actually win - not least because DC had already decided Lex Luthor would win the 2000 election in the DC Universe, and having a fictional president in the Marvel Universe as well would look like copying.  So Mystique and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants turn up to have a crack at assassinating him.

Way back in "Days of Futures Past", it was established that in one version of the future, Mystique and her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants assassinated Robert Kelly, leading to the election of a virulently anti-mutant government and the Sentinel domination of North America.  While that timeline was averted when the X-Men saved Robert Kelly, it's still the threat which is meant to hang over this storyline.

Ultimately, the X-Men did succeed in saving Robert Kelly, only for him to be shot by a student for turning his back on anti-mutant policies.

Mystique also has a secondary plan: she's going to design a version of the Legacy Virus which only kills normal humans.  We see her testing it in this issue.

Sabretooth turns up as a member of the Brotherhood.  It's not immediately clear what he's doing there, since mutant politics were never really his thing.

Bishop has rejoined the X-Men, having returned to this time period during the Maximum Security crossover.  He's still obsessed with Trevor Fitzroy, the villain from his solo series.

Rogue's powers were scrambled in X-Men vol 2 #107, and as a result she's now randomly manifesting various superpowers that she's absorbed in the past.  That includes Wolverine's bone claws.  This storyline continues on to X-Treme X-Men.

The Brotherhood attack Muir Island, which leads to some of the X-Men heading over there.  In the end, Moira MacTaggert is killed, and Wolfsbane loses her powers.

By the way, Kelly was an independent candidate for President.  This was established right at the outset of the storyline, and I'd forgotten it by the time I got around to reviewing this issue.

Comments:
"Dream's End" is a bit of a strange storyline - it kills off two major characters, and yet never really feels like it's achieved anything of note.  It seems to be part of the campaign of closure which was trying to wrap up major storylines before the Morrison/Casey era began.  However, it falls into the familiar problem with crossovers, and ends up seeming like a string of fight scenes in search of a decent plot.

Still, the art's quite good.  And some of the X-Men's subplot material has its moments.  By this stage, Claremont seems to be focussing his efforts on set-up for X-Treme X-Men.  Hence the amount of time given to Bishop and Rogue, two of the characters he was taking with him.

This isn't terrible, but it's far from fantastic.  Practically speaking, the storyline has to rank as underwhelming given that it's supposed to be paying off the whole question of Kelly's assassination - and nothing really comes of it when he dies.

Read the original review.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X (last in Maximum Security #3; next in X-Men vol 2 #108, then behind the scenes in Generation X #73)
The Beast (last in Hellcat #3) and Colossus (last in Maximum Security #3; both next in Cable #87, then in X-Men vol 2 #108)
Bishop and Rogue (both last in Maximum Security #3; both next in Bishop: The Last X-Man #16, then in X-Men vol 2 #108)
Cable (last in Cable #86; next in Cable #87, then in X-Men vol 2 #108, then in Uncanny X-Men 2000)
Gambit (last in Maximum Security #3; next in Cable #87, then in X-Men vol 2 #108, then in Gambit #24)
Nightcrawler (last in Maximum Security #3; next in X-Men vol 2 #108)
Phoenix III (next in X-Men vol 2 #108, then in X-Men Unlimited #31, then in X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1-4, then in Cable #92, then in issue #392)
Psylocke (last in Maximum Security #3; next in X-Men vol 2 #108)
Storm (last in Black Panther #27)
Thunderbird III (last in Maximum Security #3)
Wolverine (last in Wolverine 2000; next in Bishop: The Last X-Man #16, then in X-Men vol 2 #108, then in flashback in issue #389, then in Wolverine vol 2 #158)

GUEST STAR
Wolfsbane (between X-Men Unlimited #27 and Bishop: The Last X-Man #16)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Robert Kelly (last in flashback in X-Men vol 2 #107; next in Cable #88)
Moira MacTaggert (between X-Men Unlimited #27 and Bishop: The Last X-Man #16)

VILLAINS
The Brotherhood of Mutants: Mystique (last in X-Men vol 2 #106), Sabretooth (last in flashback in X-Men vol 2 #102; both next in Bishop: The Last X-Man #16), the Blob, Avalanche (behind the scenes; the latter two last in X-Men vol 2 #106) and Post (behind the scenes; last in issue #379; the latter three next in Cable #87)

GUEST APPEARANCES
X-Force: Jesse Bedlam, Cannonball II, Meltdown II and James Proudstar (all between X-Force #113-114)
Generation X: Chamber, Skin (both next in Generation X #71), Jubilee, M II (both next in Generation X #72) and Husk (next in Generation X #74; all last in Generation X #66)

OTHER CHARACTERS
Sir Gordon Phillips (first appearance; chronologically last in flashback in X-Treme X-Men #3; dies)

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