STORY: "Phalanx Covenant, book one: Generation Next, part 4 of 4: The Currents Shift" (23 pages)  With the help of Banshee, Emma Frost and Sabretooth, the future members of Generation X escape the Phalanx, although Blink is killed in the fight.

What you need to know:
The mainstream version of Blink gets killed, in her second appearance.  She never turns up again, but the character proved very popular, and turned up again in the Age of Apocalypse storyline a few months later.  Eventually that version ended up as one of the title characters in Exiles.S

The founding members of Generation X are brought together for the first time.

Sabretooth returns voluntarily to help against the Phalanx, and surrenders to the X-Men again.

Comments:
Well, it's a big fight with a token member of the Phalanx.  With Generation X safely introduced, the rest of the X-books take up the task of actually fighting the Phalanx, as shown in the other two books of this crossover.

The moment where Sabretooth returns to help voluntarily should have been a nice turning point for the character, as part of his rehabilitation storyline.  Of course, only a few months later, Marvel pulled the plug on that arc and decided that he'd been faking all along, which robs the scene of its meaning.

Otherwise, about the most memorable thing about this issue is the death of Blink, which sparked an incredible number of demands for her return - eventually met in the Age of Apocalypse a few months down the line.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
None.

GUEST STARS
Blink I (last in Uncanny X-Men #317; dies)
Angelo Espinosa, Everett Thomas, Monet St Croix II and Paige Guthrie (all between Uncanny X-Men #317-318)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
The Banshee, Emma Frost and Jubilee (all between Uncanny X-Men #317-318)
Sabretooth

VILLAINS
The Phalanx (last in Uncanny X-Men #317; next in X-Factor vol 1 #106)
Harvest (last in Uncanny X-Men #317; dies)

Written: 21 November 2004

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