STORY: "Blowback" (22 pages)  Wolverine is taken to Berlin, where the Hand and Fenris torture him in the hope of discovering the location of the C-synthesizer - a device needed to stabilise Omega Red's powers.  Maverick rescues him.

What you need to know:
Dr Cornelius, one of the senior scientists who gave Wolverine his adamantium in the first place, turns up working for the Hand and Fenris.  Cornelius was seen before in Barry Windsor-Smith's "Weapon X" storyline from Marvel Comics Presents, but this brings him into the present day continuity.

As Wolverine is tortured, we get the first flashbacks showing him as a soldier with Victor Creed and David North (the future Sabretooth and Maverick).  They've been sent to rescue a double agent, Janice Hollenbeck, but they end up screwing up Omega Red's origin - see the previous issue's entry for more details on that.  It's the first time these three are introduced as part of a black ops team together. 

Maverick makes his debut appearance, both in flashback as a member of "Team X" and in the present day as a government agent sent to... well, we never really do find out what he was sent to do, but he changes plan and sets about helping Wolverine.  (In issue #7, he implies that his original motivation for being here was questionable, but no full explanation is ever given.)

Maverick gives his name to Wolverine as David North, but after some hesitation.  Later stories establish that his real name is actually Christoph Nord, and he's an East German defector.

We are helpfully informed that the events of Uncanny X-Men #281 are taking place simultaneously.  Seems an odd choice given that that issue shipped four months previously, but it doesn't really make much difference.  That story also involved the Upstarts, and there's some suggestion of a divide-and-conquer plan.  In any event, it suffices to get the Gold team out of the way.

Psylocke lobbies to take Jubilee into battle with them, on the basis that she has prior experience with the Hand.  Jubilee's not formally on either team but still seems to be treated as a member.

Xavier has got a file about something called "Project Xavier" from 1964, which is obviously a set-up for a future story.  Lee never got around to it before leaving the book, but we'll get back to it in issue #12, when it turns out to be a file about Xavier's father's work at Almagordo, sent to him by childhood friend Carter Ryking.

Longshot returns to Earth in search of Dazzler.  Moments after he finds her, they're both abducted back to the Mojoverse by Spiral and Mojo.  This is all setting up for a storyline beginning in issue #10.

Comments:
You can almost feel John Byrne's exasperation with parts of the script here - a ridiculous opening page narration to accompany a computer doing nothing, and Cyclops trying to cover for obvious plot holes are both unintentionally amusing.  To be honest, some of this really doesn't make much sense - what exactly does Wolverine have in that canister after Maverick breaks him out, and what relevance does it have to the plot?  Byrne seems to have dialogued it on the basis that the canister contained the C-synthesizer, but it's obvious from the next couple of issues that that wasn't the idea.

The most notable thing about this issue is the introduction of Maverick, and the first mention of the black ops team he used to share with Wolverine.  That team went on to be a regular plot feature in Larry Hama's Wolverine run, and was eventually informally christened "Team X" - simply, it seems, because that made for a good title for an intercompany crossover with WildStorm's "Team 7."

Maverick, on the other hand, eventually graduated to his own short-lived solo title.  It actually wasn't too bad, but it has the unfortunate stigma of being the first comic to prove that you could be an official X-book and still get axed after a year - something previously thought unfathomable.  He later moved on to the regular cast of Weapon X.

It's all rather needlessly complex, and suffers somewhat from multiple inkers - not all of whom complement Lee's style particularly well. 

FEATURE CHARACTERS
The Beast, Cyclops, Gambit, Rogue, Psylocke (last in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89) and Wolverine (also in flashback following the flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #60 and preceding the flashback in issue #7)
Forge (next in Uncanny X-Men #282-286, then in Wolverine vol 2 #51, then in X-Men Annual vol 2 #1)
The Banshee (next in Moon Knight vol 3 #41, after which he leaves the X-Men behind the scenes)
Professor X (next in Uncanny X-Men #282-284, then in Uncanny X-Men #286, then in Wolverine vol 2 #51, then behind the scenes in Wolverine vol 2 #53, then in Wolverine vol 2 #63, then in Wolverine vol 2 #65, then in Wolverine vol 2 #58, then in X-Men Annual vol 2 #1)
Storm (last in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89; next in Uncanny X-Men #281-286, then in Wolverine vol 2 #51, then in Uncanny X-Men #287, then in issue #8)
Jean Grey (last in Wolverine vol 2 #50; next in Uncanny X-Men #281-286, then in Wolverine vol 2 #51, then in Wolverine vol 2 #63, then in Wolverine vol 2 #65, then in Uncanny X-Men #287, then in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16, then in Uncanny X-Men #288, then in issue #8)
Iceman (last in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89; next in Uncanny X-Men #281-287, then in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16, then in Uncanny X-Men #288-290, then in Infinity War #1-2, then in Alpha Flight vol 1 #110, then again in Infinity War #2, then behind the scenes in Wonder Man vol 2 #13, then concurrently in Infinity War #2 and Moon Knight vol 3 #41, then concurrently in Infinity War #2 and Fantastic Four vol 1 #367, then in Wonder Man vol 2 #13, then in New Warriors vol 1 #27, then in Infinity War #3, then in Fantastic Four vol 1 #368, then again in Infinity War #3, then concurrently in Infinity War #3 and Warlock & The Infinity Watch #8, then in Quasar #38, then in Infinity War #4, then in Fantastic Four vol 1 #369, then again in Infinity War #4, then in Quasar #39, then in Infinity War #5, then in Wonder Man vol 2 #15, then in Infinity War #6, then in Uncanny X-Men #291-294, then in issue #14)
Archangel (last in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89; next in Uncanny X-Men #281-287, then in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16, then in Uncanny X-Men #288, then in the second story in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16, then in Uncanny X-Men #289, then in Infinity War #1-2, then in Moon Knight vol 3 #41, then in New Warriors #27, then in Quasar #38, then in Fantastic Four #368, then concurrently in Infinity War #3 and Moon Knight vol 3 #41, then concurrently in Infinity War #3, Quasar #38 and Warlock & The Infinity Watch #8, then in Infinity War #4, then in Fantastic Four #369, then in Alpha Flight vol 1 #111, then again in Quasar #38, then again in Infinity War #4, then in Quasar #39-40, then in Infinity War #5, then in Wonder Man vol 2 #15, then concurrently in Infinity War #6 and Fantastic Four #370, then in Infinity War #6, then in Uncanny X-Men #291-294, then in X-Factor #84, then in issue #14)
Colossus (last in Quasar #28; next in Uncanny X-Men #281-287, then in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16, then in Uncanny X-Men #288, then in Uncanny X-Men #290, then in Infinity War #1, then in Fantastic Four vol 1 #367, then in Infinity War #2, then in Moon Knight vol 3 #41, then again in Infinity War #2, then in Wonder Man vol 2 #13, then again in Moon Knight vol 3 #41, then in Fantastic Four vol 1 #367, then concurrently in Infinity War #2 and Moon Knight vol 3 #41, then concurrently in Fantastic Four vol 1 #368, Wonder Man vol 2 #13, Infinity War #3 and Moon Knight vol 3 #41, then in Fantastic Four vol 1 #368, then concurrently in Wonder Man vol 2 #13 and Moon Knight vol 3 #41, then again in Wonder Man vol 2 #13, then again in Infinity War #3, then again in Fantastic Four vol 1 #368, then in New Warriors vol 1 #27, then concurrently in Quasar #38 and Infinity War #3, then again in Fantastic Four vol 1 #368, then again in Wonder Man vol 2 #13, then again in Fantastic Four vol 1 #368, then again in Quasar #38, then again in Infinity War #3, then concurrently in Infinity War #3 and Warlock & The Infinity Watch #8, then again in Quasar #38, then in Fantastic Four vol 1 #369, then again in Infinity War #4, then in War Machine vol 2 #14, then concurrently in Infinity War #4 and Fantastic Four vol 1 #369, then again in Wonder Man vol 2 #14, then again in Infinity War #4, then again in Wonder Man vol 2 #14, then again in Infinity War #4, then again in Wonder Man vol 2 #14, then again in Infinity War #4, then again in Fantastic Four vol 1 #369, then again in Infinity War #4, then in Quasar #39, then in Infinity War #5, then again in Fantastic Four vol 1 #369, then concurrently in Infinity War #5 and Fantastic Four vol 1 #369, then again in Infinity War #5, then in Infinity War #6, then in Fantastic Four vol 1 #370, then concurrently in Infinity War #6 and Fantastic Four vol 1 #370, then again in Infinity War #6, then in Uncanny X-Men #291-294, then in issue #14)

GUEST STAR
Maverick I (Christoph Nord; "David North"; first appearance; a mutant with the power to absorb kinetic energy; a former teammate of Wolverine and Sabretooth in "Team X"; last in flashback in issue #6; also in flashback following the flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #60 and preceding the flashback in issue #7)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Lila Cheney (last in Uncanny X-Men #277)
Dazzler (last in Uncanny X-Men #260)
Longshot (last in Uncanny X-Men #248)
Jubilee

VILLAINS
Omega Red (also behind the scenes in flashback following the flashback in Generation X #11 and preceding the flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #61)
Matsuo Tsurayaba and the Hand
Fenris: Andrea Strucker and Andreas Strucker
Dr Cornelius (last in flashback in Weapon X vol 2 #25)
Mojo (behind the scenes; last in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89)
Spiral (last in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89)
Sabretooth (in flashback following the flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #60 and preceding the flashback in issue #7)
Carter Ryking (behind the scenes; last in flashback in Gambit vol 3 #4; next in issue #12)

OTHER CHARACTERS
Janice Hollenbeck (a double agent; first appearance; in flashback; last in flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #60; next in flashback in issue #7)
Arthur Barrington (behind the scenes; last in flashback in the next issue; next in Maverick #3)

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