STORY: "Fallout!" (22 pages)  The Gold team stage a rescue attempt; the Blue team escape their brainwashing; the X-Men escape before Asteroid M is blown up; but Magneto decides to remain behind for a noble death.

What you need to know:
Magneto is acting increasingly erratically, as Fabian Cortez' power-ups drive him mad.  He's now decided that he wants to break Xavier's spirit rather than brainwash him.

Magneto still hasn't twigged that Cortez isn't really healing him.  He works it out by the end of the issue, but it's a bit late by then, because Cortez bails in an escape pod.  Cortez hopes that Magneto and the other Acolytes will get killed, leaving him free to claim a position as Magneto's heir.

Rather strangely, while he's brainwashed, Gambit invites Rogue to touch his hand.  He seems to think, for some reason, that he might be immune to her powers.  This caused much speculation for a while.  (As it turned out, he wasn't immune at all.)

Magneto and the remaining Acolytes suicidally choose to remain behind on Asteroid M.  His reasons for this are, frankly, not entirely clear.  He seems to see it as a big symbolic gesture.  Anyhow, as it turned out, the Acolytes sacrificed themselves to save him, and he survived.

Comments:
This is Chris Claremont's final issue, ending a run on the X-Men which began in 1976.  He eventually returned to the X-books in 2000, with Uncanny X-Men #381.

It doesn't read like a farewell issue, aside from a bit of speech-making at the end.  In fairness, Claremont had already resolved most of the major plots in progress in Uncanny X-Men a few months earlier, so this final three-parter ends up largely as a piece of fun.  It would be nice to say that Claremont rounds off his run with some great piece of thematic closure... but really, X-Men vol 2 was always more about Jim Lee.

The result is the X-Men fighting the X-Men, with some villains hanging around as well, and everyone ganging up for a suitably heroic finale, while Cortez looks like an appropriately cowardly villain.  It's not exactly subtle, but it gives Lee plenty to enjoy himself with.

All told, pretty entertaining, even if the storyline frequently relies on energy to carry it past some extremely ropey plotting.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X and Jean Grey (both next in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89, then in Wolverine vol 2 #49-50)
Archangel, Colossus, Iceman, Psylocke and Storm (all next in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89, then Colossus in Quasar #28, then all in issue #5)
Gambit and Rogue (both next in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89, then Rogue in Wolverine vol 2 #54)
Wolverine (next in Marvel Comics Presents #85-92, then in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89, then in Quasar #28, then in Marvel Comics Presents #93, then behind the scenes in Marvel Comics Presents #94-96, then in Marvel Comics Presents #97-99, then in the third and fourth stories in Marvel Comics Presents #100, then in Ghost Rider / Wolverine / Punisher: Hearts of Darkness (one-shot), then in Wolverine vol 2 #54, then in Wolverine vol 2 #48-49, then in flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #50, then again in Wolverine vol 2 #49, then in Wolverine vol 2 #50)
Cyclops (next in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89, then in Quasar #28, then in Wolverine vol 2 #50)
The Beast (next in Spider-Man vol 1 #15, then in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89)
Forge (next in flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #50)
The Banshee

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Chief Magistrate Anderson (next behind the scenes in Fantastic Four vol 3 #10)
Moira MacTaggert

VILLAINS
Magneto (next in Uncanny X-Men #304)
Fabian Cortez (next behind the scenes in Avengers vol 1 #357)
The Acolytes: Annemarie, Chrome and Harry Delgado (all three next, deceased, in Uncanny X-Men #299) and one unnamed member (presumably dies)

GUEST APPEARANCES
Valerie Cooper (next in X-Force vol 1 #5)
Nick Fury (next in X-Force vol 1 #1)

OTHER CHARACTERS
Alexey Kamanev (no further appearances)
 

back | next