STORY: "Broken Mirrors" (22 pages)   Alexander Ryking's mutant son Carter learns of his father's death, and breaks out of the institution where he's been held throughout his life, now completely insane.  He abducts Professor X from Alexander's funeral.

What you need to know:
It's the first appearance of Carter Ryking, a character who they presumably had big plans for, but never really went anywhere.  The cover gives his codename as "Hazard", but he never actually uses it in a story, as far as I can find.

Carter was a childhood friend of Xavier.  His father, Alexander Ryking, is retroactively added as a member of staff at the Almagordo project, which was already associated Brian Xavier and Kurt Marko (the Juggernaut's father).  Carter seems to think that something nasty happened to him at Almagordo which resulted in his institutionalisation.

We're told in passing that Alexander Ryking was an industrialist.

Carter reveals that he sent the secret file which Xavier was brooding over back in issue #5.  This doesn't really make sense.  It's hard to see where he got the file from, and how he sent it to Xavier, considering that he's supposed to have been in an institution all this time.  For that matter, where did Ryking get that armour he's wearing when he gatecrashes the funeral?

Wolverine finds the file and isn't best pleased - he thinks Xavier's been hiding something from him.  Wolverine and Xavier have both read the file, and while we're not told what's in it, the implication is that Wolverine thinks Xavier's father was involved in something connected with his own origin.

There's another page of Gambit and Rogue tentatively discussing their relationship status.

Cyclops is brooding about his attraction to Psylocke.  There's a dreadfully heavy-handed bit where he breaks his photo of Jean because he's so distracted

Psylocke leaves to visit her brother, which is a plug for her guest appearance in Excalibur.

Comments:
After the Image exodus, Marvel found themselves racing to get the books back on track, especially with a major crossover just around the corner.  Fabian Nicieza was brought in to write X-Men without any particular fanfare, and just kind of stayed.  He was already writing X-Force at this point, making him a natural choice to approach.

Andy Kubert was hired as the new regular artist, but he doesn't turn up for another couple of months.  For the moment, Art Thibert fills in on art, and turns in some perfectly okay filler work that isn't a million miles from Lee's style.

So - the creators find themselves taking over at rather short notice, and with two months to fill before the crossover.  What to do?  They go for the sensible option - take an outstanding plot line and follow it up.  The Ryking storyline was already in progress from the back-ups in the last two issues, and the file had been introduced back in issue #5.  It did at least succeed in giving the impression of direction.

Mind you, in retrospect, this arc looks very much like an exercise in tap-dancing.  Ryking is wheeled out, some vague hints are dropped (of the sort that leave options wide open), and the whole thing is promptly forgotten about.  I have the sneaking suspicion that they weren't entirely sure where this plot was heading, so they just dropped some hints and hoped an idea would come along.  It's actually not such a bad issue, and (other than that awfully hamfisted bit with the broken photograph) there are some decent scenes at the Mansion, but in retrospect this is an odd little diversion that doesn't really lead anywhere.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X (last in Marvel Comics Presents #118; also in flashback following the flashback in New X-Men vol 1 #121 and preceding the flashback in the next issue; also in flashback following the flashback in Gambit vol 3 #4 and preceding the flashback in X-Men Forever #4)
The Beast, Gambit, Rogue (all last in Infinity War #6), Cyclops (last in Avengers vol 1 #351) and Wolverine (last in Marvel Comics Presents #118)
Psylocke (last in Infinity War #6; next in Excalibur vol 1 #55-58, then in X-Factor vol 1 #84, then in issue #14)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Jubilee (last in Moon Knight vol 3 #41)
Sharon Xavier (in flashback; last in flashback in New X-Men #121; next behind the scenes in flashback in X-Men Forever #4)
Cain Marko (also behind the scenes in flashback following the flashback in the second story in X-Men Unlimited vol 1 #13 and preceding the flashback in X-Men Forever #4)
Kurt Marko (behind the scenes in flashback following the flashback in the second story in X-Men Unlimited vol 1 #13 and preceding the flashback in X-Men Forever #4)

VILLAINS
Carter Ryking (first appearance; last behind the scenes in issue #5; also in flashback following the flashback in Gambit vol 3 #4 and preceding his appearance behind the scenes in issue #5)

GUEST APPEARANCE
Valerie Cooper (between Avengers vol 1 #350 and X-Factor vol 1 #79)

OTHER CHARACTERS
Alexander Ryking (behind the scenes, deceased; last in the second story in issue #11; no further appearances for the corpse)

Last revised: 16 August 2004

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