FIRST STORY: "Trust is a Two-Edged Sword" (38 pages)  Caliban kidnaps Jubilee and demands that the X-Men turn Sabretooth over to him. Shadowcat and Sabretooth go into the Morlock tunnels to deal with him.

What you need to know:
Evidently Caliban is still obsessed with Sabretooth, who was one of the Marauders responsible for the massacre of his Morlock community, and Shadowcat, who he's hopelessly in love with.

Sabretooth saves Shadowcat and Caliban from a giant sewer octopus (yes, I know, I know), but apparently only because he plans to use Shadowcat's phasing power to shut down his electronic manacles and escape.

The closing narration describes this story's effect on Caliban as "the passing of the final Horseman [of Apocalypse] and the birth of the Hound", although it's far from clear what that's supposed to mean, especially in the light of subsequent stories.

Oh, and the comic being mocked by some kids around a campfire on page 1 appears to be Rob Liefeld's New Mutants #100, which is understandable.

Comments:
Well, you do have to wonder what it's doing in Uncanny X-Men, don't you?  A story starring Caliban, Shadowcat, Sabretooth and one X-Man who usually appears in the other book. Fabulous.  Nor is it a particularly good story - although Caliban's attempt to get at Sabretooth makes sense, Caliban's speech patterns and motivations seem to be all over the place, and it's difficult to connect this man with the character we've seen before.

Ian Churchill's art is patchy. His rather thuggish Sabretooth is pretty good, but his women are annoyingly skinny, and his little scratchy lines are just plain annoying - Xavier in particular looks like he's been headbutting a griddle. Anyhow, as you've probably come to expect from Annuals, this is inconsequential but not too bad.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X (last in Uncanny X-Men #314; next in Dr Strange vol 3 #69, then in Excalibur vol 1 #79-81, then in flashback in X-Factor vol 1 #106, then behind the scenes in Wolverine vol 2 #85, then in X-Factor vol 1 #106, then in X-Force vol 1 #38, then in Uncanny X-Men #318)
The Beast (last in X-Men vol 2 #34; next in Cable #16-17, then in Uncanny X-Men #318)
Jean Grey (last sent the thank-you card at the end of X-Men: The Wedding Album; next in Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1-2, then in flashback in Cable #16, then in flashback in the fifth story in Marvel Valentine Special #1, then in Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #3-4, then in X-Men vol 2 #35, then in Uncanny X-Men #316)
Storm (last in Uncanny X-Men Annual #18; next in Cable #16-19, then in Uncanny X-Men #318)

GUEST STAR
Shadowcat (last in ???; next in Excalibur vol 1 #79)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Stevie Hunter (last behind the scenes in pages 12-14 of X-Men vol 2 #30; no further appearances)
Jubilee (last in the second story in this issue; next in Uncanny X-Men #316)

VILLAINS
Sabretooth (between Uncanny X-Men #312 and 316)
Caliban (last in Uncanny X-Men #295; next in Cable #17)

SECOND STORY: "And Nothing Will Ever Be The Same" (10 pages)  Bishop recreates his old teammates Malcolm and Randall in the Danger Room.

What you need to know:
Not much, really, other than that Bishop still feels guilty about getting his men killed.

Comments:
For once, the back-up strip in this Annual is more interesting than the lead strip, if only because it's a very early collaboration by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, who went on to do some very well received high-profile miniseries some years, first at DC and later at Marvel.  To be honest, though, there's nothing particularly great about this particular story.  Sale's visuals are sometimes magnificent, but Loeb fills the story with a dreadful cliche-ridden fight scene ("The XSE will bury me in paperwork for this, but right now I'VE GOT A JOB TO DO!")  An interesting curio if you're into Loeb and Sale's work, but very far from their best.  It'd probably be a lot better with 90% of the dialogue removed.

FEATURE CHARACTER
Bishop (last in Uncanny X-Men #314; next in Cable #16, then in Uncanny X-Men #318)

SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Jubilee (last in Uncanny X-Men #314; next in the first story)

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