STORY: "Farther Still" (21 pages)  The Hand call in Sabretooth to recapture Wolverine.  The X-Men go after Wolverine and get captured by the Hand.

What you need to know:
Matsuo is able to enslave Psylocke with a post-hypnotic suggestion, evidently implanted back when she was a captive of the Hand in Uncanny X-Men #256.  This aspect of the plot ends up making no real sense at all.

Maverick tells Wolverine that he was a "West German freedom fighter."  His own series later established him as East German.  Considering that he was also involved with the Weapon X project, his memories turn out to be remarkably intact.

Sabretooth turns up accompanied by his telepathic aide, Birdy, who makes her first appearance here.  She doesn't do anything significant here, but Larry Hama went on to use her in a another Sabretooth story.

Sabretooth reveals that he's met Gambit before.  This is eventually elaborated upon in issue #33.

Creed killed the defector, Janice Hollenbeck, in a panic while trying to escape Omega Red.  "Team X"'s failure to recover the C-synthesizer didn't go down very well with their superiors.

In the Mojoverse, Longshot and Dazzler escape Mojo and hook up with the obligatory rebel movement.  Again, this is building up for issue #10's story.  Dazzler still hasn't got her memories back after going through the Siege Perilous back in Uncanny X-Men #250, but somewhere after this issue she apparently starts to recall things.

Comments:
Lots of running around, not a great deal of real development.  Sabretooth turns up with a curious high-class look which doesn't really suit him, although you can kind of see what Jim Lee was going for.

By this point Lee is only providing breakdowns for the art, and Scott Lobdell has been brought in at short notice to do the scripting (which he does perfectly well).  Still, the plot's awfully cluttered, with a lot of characters running around for no particularly good reason - what exactly do Fenris add to the plot, for example?  And what's the point of the Psylocke "hypnotic enslavement" stuff?

Once again, energy carries the story up to a point.  But the plot is being held together with string, and the whole thing starts to seem a bit garbled.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
The Beast, Cyclops, Gambit, Psylocke, Rogue and Wolverine (also in flashback following the flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #61 and preceding the flashback in Uncanny X-Men #228)

GUEST STAR
Maverick (also in flashback following the flashback in issue #7 and preceding issue #5)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Jubilee, Lila Cheney, Dazzler and Longshot

VILLAINS
Omega Red (also in flashback following the flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #61 and preceding his appearance behind the scenes in issue #2)
Sabretooth (last in the second story in Marvel Comics Presents #89; also in flashback following the flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #61 and preceding the flashback in Sabretooth & Mystique #1)
Matsuo Tsurayaba and the Hand
Fenris: Andrea Strucker and Andreas Strucker
Dr Cornelius
Birdy (real name unrevealed; first appearance; Sabretooth's telepathic aide; last in flashback in Maverick (one-shot); next in Sabretooth #1)
Mojo (next in Wolverine vol 2 #52)
Spiral (next in Wolverine vol 2 #51)
Major Domo (last in the fourth story in Marvel Comics Presents #89; next in X-Men Annual vol 2 #1)

OTHER CHARACTERS
Major Arthur Barrington (in flashback; first appearance; last in flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #60; next behind the scenes in issue #5)
Janice Hollenbeck (in flashback; last in flashback in issue #7; dies)

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