STORY: "Dominion" (22 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), John Romita, Jr (penciller), Dan Green (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Steve Buccellato (colourist), Bob Harras (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief)

The Gamesmaster nominates Forge as the next target for the Upstarts, and Fitzroy goes to Dallas to kill him. Meanwhile, Illyana Rasputin is dying of the Legacy Virus, and Professor X dispatches Storm and Bishop to get Forge's help to save her. They arrive in time to see Forge's penthouse explode.

What you need to know:

• Trevor Fitzroy has somehow captured Selene and imprisoned her in a torture device.
• Forge has been trying, without any success, to cure Mystique's insanity. He's also been trying to stay away from Storm at all costs, which is why he hasn't told the X-Men about Magneto's return.
• According to Fitzroy, his father enjoyed humiliating him. Fitzroy also claims that his mother was murdered by Shard, and that Bishop was a witness.

Comments: Issues #301-302 are a two-part Upstarts story, and by this point the limitations of the concept are becoming painfully apparent. Fitzroy is only trying to kill Forge in order to get points in the competition, and that's just not a very exciting motivation. To be sure, Lobdell tries to jazz it up a bit by playing off Forge's role in Fitzroy and Bishop's future, but it all seems a rather contrived attempt to liven up a story which isn't much to speak of.

There's also a fundamental plot problem with the whole thing, which is why Storm and Bishop go to visit Forge in person at all. Why don't they just give him a phone call? Isn't this supposed to be an urgent mission? Trekking across the USA seems an awfully convenient way of getting them to arrive in time for the fight. What if he wasn't in? On top of that, the Gamesmaster claims that Forge was going to do something vitally important in the next twenty-four hours if he wasn't killed. He doesn't.

On the bright side, this story does have some frequently excellent artwork from John Romita Jr, and there's a pretty good scene with Storm in total denial about why she split up with Forge ("My feelings for him were never in doubt", she says, lying through her teeth). Some of the subplot scenes with Illyana at the mansion are pretty good as well. Generally, though, one to miss.

Feature characters: Professor X, Storm, Bishop (all last in X-Men Unlimited #1); Colossus, Iceman, Archangel (all last in Annual #17)

Supporting characters: Illyana Rasputin; Moira MacTaggert (next in issue #303); Forge; Opal Tanaka (between issues #290 and #305)

Villains: The Black Queen II (last in issue #283; next in Excalibur Annual #2; Bantam I (last in Annual #17/2; next in Bishop #1(?)); Gamesmaster (next in ...); Trevor Fitzroy (last in issue #299), Siena Blaze (last in X-Men Unlimited #1; next in ...), Shinobi Shaw (last in X-Men Vol 2 #23), Graydon Creed (last in issue #299; the latter two both next in X-Force #32), Fabian Cortez (last in issue #300/2; next in X-Factor #92; all five teamed as the Upstarts); Mystique (last in issue #290)

STORY: "Province" (22 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), John Romita, Jr (penciller), Dan Green, Dan Panosian (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos, ... Babcock (letterers), Steve Buccellato (colourist), Bob Harras (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief)

The rest of the Gold Team arrive in Dallas and defeat Trevor Fitzroy, though they have to stop the unstable Colossus from killing him. Meanwhile, Shadowcat comes to visit the dying Illyana Rasputin.

What you need to know:

• According to Bishop, in his timeline, Forge will come to power under the name Genesis after the Summers Rebellion.
• Colossus goes a bit nuts and attempts to kill Fitzroy. The X-Men stop him.

Comments: The second part of this story is no great improvement on the fast. The X-Men's reinforcements arrive from New York at ridiculous speed, and Fitzroy is defeated with absurd ease considering the trouble he gave the same X-Men last time. There's also a rampaging anti-mutant mob, an old idea with no particular spin here. The issue is redeemed in part by Colossus's breakdown, although it has to be said that at the time this issue came out, fandom hated the idea. Looking back, though, I think it works much better than it seemed.

Incidentally, this storyline contained an awful lot of the dreadful gimmick where Bishop and others from his timeline used X-Men sound effects as swear words. It never worked and it just made me squirm in embarrassment.

Feature characters: Professor X (next in X-Force #24; Storm, Bishop, Iceman, Colossus, Archangel; Jean Grey (last in Infinity Crusade #6); Jubilee (last in Wolverine #71)

Supporting characters: Forge (next in X-Factor #93); Illyana Rasputin

Villain: Trevor Fitzroy (next in X-Force #32); Mystique (next in Sabretooth #2)

Guest appearance: Shadowcat (last in Excalibur #70)

STORY: "Going Through The Motions" (23 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Richard Bennett (penciller, co-inker), Dan Green (co-inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Joe Rosas (colourist), Bob Harras (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief)

Jubilee mourns the death of Illyana Rasputin.

What you need to know:

• Well, Illyana Rasputin dies, which pretty much overshadows everything else.
• According to Storm, Fitzroy was turned over to the federal authorities for hospital treatment after Colossus's attack in the previous issue.

Comments: Ah, now this is a good one. Of course, there's a hardcore of Illyana Rasputin fans who are still clamouring for this story to be reversed at time of writing (June 1999), and there's a degree of truth in the criticism that this story sacrifices a major supporting character purely to make the Legacy Virus look threatening - a feeble plot that didn't deserve her death.

Nonetheless, the story itself is great reading, with the clever decision to tell the story from the perspective of Jubilee, somebody who has little connection with Illyana but is seeing this sort of death for the first time. This isn't a story about Illyana at all, when you think about it. It's a story about death and Jubilee's reactions to it.

On top of it is a subplot in which Professor X proposes that Illyana be put in a coma to keep her alive while they try to save her, and the X-Men ultimately decide against it. This is obviously a "when do we pull the plug" storyline transported from a medical drama, but it works pretty well here.

Guest art comes from Richard Bennett, who unfortunately is suffering from a severe case of Jim Lee Clone Affliction at this point. But aside from putting some of the female characters in very silly poses that don't fit the story at all, he tells the story well enough. This is the sort of story Scott Lobdell does best - quiet and chatty.

Feature characters: Professor X (last in X-Force #24), Iceman, Archangel (b/s), Colossus (next in X-Men Vol 2 #110 f/b; after the above, all next in X-Factor #93, then Professor X in X-Men Vol 2 #24); Jean Grey (next in X-Men Vol 2 #24); Jubilee (next in X-Men Omega f/b, then in Generation X #27 f/b, then in Wolverine #72-74); Storm, Bishop

Guest star: Shadowcat (next in X-Men Vol 2 #24)

Supporting characters: Illyana Rasputin (dies; her body next in X-Men Omega f/b); Moira MacTaggert (last in issue #301; next in X-Men Omega f/b)

STORY: "...For What I Have Done" (51 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), John Romita Jr, Jae Lee, Chris Sprouse, Brandon Peterson, Paul Smith (pencillers), Dan Green, Dan Panosian, Terry Austin, Tom Palmer, Keith Williams (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Mike Thomas (colourist), Bob Harras (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief)

Magneto steals the Acolytes away from Fabian Cortez and then gatecrashes Illyana Rasputin's funeral. Disillusioned with the X-Men, Colossus leaves the team and joins the Acolytes.

What you need to know:

• The Acolytes find out that Fabian Cortez was a traitor to Magneto, because Magneto's new sidekick Exodus shows up and tells them. For some reason, Magneto apparently doesn't want any action taken against Cortez aside from stealing the Acolytes from him. The Acolytes go to live with Magneto on his new space station, Avalon.
• Exodus's comments that Cortez will be "a victim of someone else's legacy" were widely interpreted as an allusion to the Legacy Virus, but nothing ever came of this.
• This story confirms that Chrome died in saving Magneto's life in X-Men Vol 2 #3.
• Curiously, Bishop doesn't seem to understand the whole concept of mourning. This is flatly contradicted by subsequent stories which revealed details of his home timeline.
• Magneto's powers have been vastly increased, which he attributes to his "near discorporation within Earth's EM field", whatever that means. It's perhaps worth noting that X-Men Vol 2 #1-3 established that the more energy Magneto tries to control with his powers, the madder he gets, which might account for some of his actions in this story.
• In a frankly ridiculous scene, Magneto kills the Acolyte Senyaka for the crime of killing humans without his permission, even though he claims he would have given his permission if asked. Cable #12 reveals that Senyaka in fact survives this story because of his mutant powers.
• Avalon includes loads of technology which Magneto appropriated while he was living with the X-Men and training the New Mutants. This was widely criticised as an attempt to rewrite that period of his history, but in fairness, it is consistent with Magneto's increasing involvement with the Hellfire Club towards the end of that storyline that he could have at least removed some technology from the X-Men's mansion, even if he didn't have Avalon in mind at the time.
• Magneto apparently intends to gather mutants on Avalon and then destroy the Earth, judging from his comments in this story. Needless to say, nothing ever comes of this.
• And finally, Colossus leaves the X-Men and joins the Acolytes. He eventually returns to the X-Men in issue #360.

Contrary to popular belief:

• This issue supposedly commemorates the X-Men's thirtieth anniversary, and issue #1 is indeed cover dated September 1963. However, since Marvel shifted their cover dates back a month or so in the late 1980s, I strongly suspect it's slightly out from the right date.
• Stan Lee's editorial says that the X-Men have been around for "three continuous, non-stop decades." Very nearly true, but not quite. There was a gap of nine months between issues #66 and 67, which is when the book was cancelled and revived as a reprint title. Actually, since pretty much everything in the years 1970 to 1975 was reprint material, the claim's dodgy however you look at it.

Comments: Oh, god. This one. The story that destroys Magneto.

While I've tried to give it the benefit of the doubt in the notes above, there's just no getting away from the fact that this issue is utterly disastrous as far as Magneto's character is concerned. For some fifteen years, Magneto had been used as an opposite of the X-Men's dream. The power of the character came from the fact that not only were his views sincerely held, but that the backdrop of anti-mutant hatred made it disturbingly plausible that he was right. In other words, Magneto works because he provides a rival viewpoint.

This, though... well, this is just a raving lunatic. He gatecrashes the funeral of somebody he supposedly cared for deeply, and starts a fight. He kills one of his own Acolytes for no reason (a scene doubly moronic because none of the other Acolytes have second thoughts about siding with him, utterly destroying their credibility as intelligent characters). He doesn't have a philosophy any more, despite the incoherent trappings in the dialogue. He's just a venomous little spitball of hatred, and that's not what Magneto's about.

All this is a dreadful shame, since it totally undercuts the good points in the story. The story gets off to an excellent start with Exodus disrupting Cortez's plans at a stroke. And the concept of Colossus running off to join Magneto wasn't such a bad one - it only looks bad because Magneto is such a laughable idiot in this story. Why would anybody through their lot in with this psycho? This could have been an absolutely classic story if Magneto had shown up at the funeral in a suit and tie, had a sensible conversation with the X-Men, and taken Colossus with him at the end. But the idiotic parts of this story overpower everything else, leaving this issue among the worst X-Men stories there are.

Feature characters: Professor X (last in X-Men Vol 2 #24), Storm (both next in Gambit Vol 1 #1); Colossus (last in X-Factor #93; leaves the X-Men; next in X-Men Vol 2 #25); Bishop; Jean Grey, the Beast (both last in X-Men Vol 2 #24), Archangel (all three next in issue #306); Iceman (last in X-Factor #93); Psylocke (next in X-Men Vol 2 #25, then in Wolverine #75), Rogue (next in Gambit Vol 1 #1-4; both last in X-Men Vol 2 #24); Cyclops, Gambit (both last in X-Men Vol 2 #24; Gambit next in Gambit Vol 1 #1-4, then both in X-Men Vol 2 #25, then in Wolverine #75, then Cyclops in Excalibur #71, then both in X-Men Annual Vol 2 #2, then in Avengers Vol 1 #368, then in X-Men Vol 2 #26, then in Avengers West Coast #101, then in issue #307); Wolverine (next in Gambit Vol 1 #1, then in Marvel Comics Presents #138-142, then in Wolverine And The Punisher: Damaging Evidence #1-3 (?), then in Wolverine: Evilution, then in X-Men Vol 2 #25, then in Wolverine #75, where he leaves the X-Men), Jubilee (next in X-Men Vol 2 #25, then in Wolverine #75, then in Excalibur #74 b/s, then in X-Men Annual Vol 2 #2, then in issue #308; both last in Wolverine #74)

Guest stars: Shadowcat (between X-Men Vol 2 #24-25); Nightcrawler (between Excalibur #70-71); Havok, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Multiple Man, Strong Guy (all five next in X-Factor #95), Quicksilver (all six teamed as X-Factor II; all next in X-Factor #94); Cannonball II, Boomer, Rictor, Shatterstar, Feral, Sunspot, Warpath (b/s; all as X-Force; between X-Force #25-26)

Supporting characters: The Banshee, Revanche (both between X-Men Vol 2 #24-25); Lilandra Nermani (between Excalibur #70 and X-Men Unlimited #5)

Villains: Magneto, Exodus (both between X-Force #25 and X-Men Vol 2 #25); Fabian Cortez (between X-Factor #92 and X-Men Vol 2 #26); Sven Kleinstock, Harlan Kleinstock, Joanna Cargill, Carmella Unuscione, Scanner, Milan (all next in X-Men Vol 2 #25), Amelia Voght (next in Cable #9), Javitz (next in Cable #10), Senyaka (next in Cable #12; all last in X-Factor #92; all as the Acolytes)

STORY: "The Measure of the Man" (22 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Jan Duursema (penciller), Jose Marzan (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Joe Rosas (colourist), Bob Harras (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief)

Iceman, Bishop and Rogue prevent mysterious genetically engineered creatures from killing Opal Tanaka. Storm steals the blueprints of a government-designed suit of armour which cloaks the wearer from Magneto's electromagnetic awareness.

What you need to know:

• The weird creatures in this story (which appear to be a whole load of unravelling skin stuffed into a costume) are a prototype version of the Phalanx, according to the next issue.
• Storm begins to suspect that when she first met Xavier as a child, he used his telepathic powers to influence the course of her life. If true, this is an enormous addition to past continuity which really does throw an entirely new light on Xavier, but it has never been verified and seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Contrary to popular belief:

• The Ambassador St Croix who appears in this story apparently doesn't have any close family connection to Monet St Croix of Generation X. For one thing, he's American (Robert Kelly says so) and she's not. For another, he presumably never remarried after the death of his wife Lenore, who died in 1947, so there doesn't seem to be any scope for Monet to be a descendent.

Comments: Normal service is resumed with this competent story beginning the build-up for the Phalanx storyline. The main plot is unobjectionable, and the image of Rogue after she uses her powers to absorb the mind of one of her attackers and promptly finds out just how weird they really are is a good one. The subplot is a bit more questionable, hinting at untold nastiness beneath Xavier's facade, which is never really delievered on. There's also a very curious, and arguably downright wrong, scene in which Storm complains about Xavier asking her to steal, when she had previously been proud of her heritage as a thief.

As the previous issue was double sized, this story has guest art from Jan Duursema, who cropped up doing rush jobs on a lot of X-books of the period. This is a very patchy effort indeed, but a couple of pages shine through.

Feature characters: Rogue (last in Gambit Vol 1 #4), Iceman (both next in X-Men Vol 2 #25, then in Wolverine #75, then Rogue in X-Men Annual Vol 2 #2, then both in Avengers #368, then in X-Men Vol 2 #26, then in Avengers West Coast #101, then in issue #307); Storm, Professor X (both last in Gambit Vol 1 #1); Bishop

Supporting characters: Opal Tanaka (last in issue #301; next in Iceman Vol 2 #1); Robert Kelly (last in issue #299; next in X-Men Prime)

Villains: The Phalanx (first appearance)

Other character: Ambassador Louis St Croix (first and only appearance; also in flashback); Lenore St Croix (his wife; first appearance; dies in flashback)