STORY: "X-Cutioner's Song, part 11 of 12: Conflicting Cathexes" (23 pages)   The heroes, along with Apocalypse, storm Stryfe's base on the moon, and fight through his remaining henchmen.  Meanwhile, Stryfe takes Cyclops and Jean out onto the surface of the moon, in preparation for his final showdown with Cable.

What you need to know:
More X-Cutioner's Song, continuing from X-Factor vol 1 #86.  The storyline concludes in X-Force vol 1 #18.

Apocalypse rather foolishly tries to fight the Dark Riders on his own.  Unfortunately for him, they've taken his old teachings to heart - since they believe in survival of the fittest, and Apocalypse isn't feeling too well, they set about killing him.  (It doesn't stick, of course.)

Rather obvious error: Wolverine can't have shattered ribs, whatever he says.  Unbreakable bones are kind of his schtick...

No doubt there was a trading card with this one as well, but... er, I've lost it.  I'm sure somebody will let me know what it said soon enough...

Comments:
Not much to say about this one - it's the big build-up to the final part of the storyline, and most of it's an extended fight scene.  The art gets a little cluttered, although in fairness, Kubert's called upon to draw an awful lot of characters here. 

It works well enough in the context of the original storyline, and there's a nice moment with Cannonball finally meeting up with Cable and trying to get answers out of him.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X (last in X-Factor vol 1 #86; next in X-Force vol 1 #18, then in Uncanny X-Men #297, then in Wolverine vol 2 #66-67)
Archangel (last in X-Factor vol 1 #86; next in X-Force vol 1 #18, then in Uncanny X-Men #297-298, then in issue #19)
The Beast (last in X-Factor vol 1 #86; next in X-Force vol 1 #18, then in Uncanny X-Men #297)
Bishop (last in X-Factor vol 1 #86; next in X-Force vol 1 #18, then in Uncanny X-Men #298, then in issue #19)
Cyclops (last in X-Factor vol 1 #86; next in X-Force vol 1 #18, then in Stryfe's Strike File, then in flashback in New Warriors vol 1 #31, then in Wolverine vol 2 #66-68)
Jean Grey (last in X-Factor vol 1 #86; next in X-Force vol 1 #18, then in Stryfe's Strike File, then in Wolverine vol 2 #66, then in Uncanny X-Men #298, then in issue #19)
Iceman and Psylocke (both last in X-Factor vol 1 #86; both next in X-Force vol 1 #18, then in Wolverine vol 2 #67-68)
Storm (last in X-Factor vol 1 #86; next in X-Force vol 1 #18, then in Wolverine vol 2 #66)
Wolverine (last in X-Factor vol 1 #86; next in X-Force vol 1 #18, then in Wolverine vol 2 #66-68)

GUEST STARS
Cable and Cannonball (both between X-Factor vol 1 #86 and X-Force vol 1 #18)
X-Factor: Havok, Polaris (both next in X-Force vol 1 #18) and Wolfsbane (next in X-Factor vol 1 #87; all last in X-Factor vol 1 #86)

VILLAINS
Stryfe and Apocalypse (both between X-Factor vol 1 #86 and X-Force vol 1 #18)
The Dark Riders: Barrage, Foxbat, Gauntlet, Psynapse, Tusk (all next in issue #21) and Harddrive (next in issue #23; all last in X-Factor vol 1 #86, where all but Barrage and Tusk were behind the scenes)
Zero (last in Uncanny X-Men #296; next in Deadpool: The Circle Chase #1)

Last revised: 7 September 2004

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