STORY: "The Phalanx Covenant - Book One: Generation Next - Part One: Encounter" (22 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Joe Madureira (penciller), Terry Austin, Dan Green (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Steve Buccellato (colourist), Bob Harras (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief)

THE PHALANX COVENANT, BOOK I, PART 1 Banshee visits the X-Men's Mansion and eventually realises that all of the X-Men have been kidnapped and replaced by Phalanx copies, who are stripping the Mansion of its technology. The Banshee rescues the other mutants left in the Mansion, and discovers that the Phalanx were accessing files on Xavier's intended next wave of recruits. He blows up the computer systems and escapes intending to protect the teenage recruits from the Phalanx.

What you need to know:

• The Phalanx Covenant was a lengthy crossover which sprawled across all the X-books. Unusually, the X-Men aren't in it - they spend the entire storyline as prisoners of the Phalanx, leaving it up to the lesser X-teams to stop the Phalanx. The two X-Men titles, meanwhile, carry a storyline which is really intended as an introduction for the upcoming Generation X title. No X-Men play any significant role in this issue's story - Cyclops and Phoenix appear briefly to make a phone call, and Jubilee is unconscious throughout.
• Monet St Croix (the second one) makes her first appearance. The full story of who Monet is is far too complicated to go into here, and I'll deal with it when I get around to Generation X. Basically, however, subsequent stories reveal that this character is in fact Monet's two younger twin sisters, who started impersonating her after she was kidnapped by her brother, to try and save their father from being upset. (Quite why he would find the disappearance of two daughters less upsetting than one is anybody's guess, but you have to bear in mind Generation X was an atrocious title at this point.) One of the twins is autistic, hence Monet's snapping in and out of an autistic state throughout this storyline.
• The Phalanx confirm that they can't assimilate mutants. They're attempting to get access to the X-Men's data which they hope will help them to work out how to do it.
• The Banshee destroys the X-Men's records, but does transmit some information to Muir Isle (a pretty stupid thing to do, all told).

Comments: A classic example of how to ruin a story on the cover, this. Scott Lobdell spends most of the issue building up the tension of the Banshee realising that the X-Men wandering around are imposters. Any sense of surprise or mystery is completely obliterated by the cover, which cheerily shows the Banshee fighting Phalanx versions of the X-Men. In fairness, the story wouldn't have worked that well anyway - it is, after all, clearly labelled "Phalanx Covenant", which hardly leaves much scope for mystery about the identity of the villains. On top of that, the Phalanx are dreadful imposters, and the big question is really how they managed to fool Sean for so long when their knowledge of the X-Men was so pathetic.

The story does feature some good artwork from Joe Madureira, though - his Phalanx remain rather patchy, but when they're good, they're very good. The splash page of the X-Men's stripped communications room is excellent, as well. At the end of the day, though, this isn't a particularly successful story.

Feature characters: Jubilee (last in Annual #18/2; next in X-Men Vol 2 #36); Cyclops, Phoenix III (both last in X-Men Vol 2 #35; both next in Wolverine #85, then in Cable #16, then in issue #318)

Guest star: Monet St Croix II (first appearance; an amalgam of Nicole St Croix and Claudette St Croix impersonating their sister, Monet St Croix, as revealed in her chronologically previous appearance Generation X #40 f/b; next in X-Men Vol 2 #36; the real Monet appears for the first time in Generation X #1)

Supporting characters: The Banshee (last in Deadpool Vol 1 #4), Emma Frost (both next in X-Men Vol 2 #36)

Villains: The Phalanx (last in issue #313; some next in X-Factor #106 f/b; others next in X-Men Vol 2 #36); Harvest (last in issue #308; next in X-Men Vol 2 #36); Sabretooth (between X-Men Vol 2 #33 and #36)

Other character: Colonel Gayle Cord-Becker ("Monet"'s governess; first appearance; dies)

STORY: "The Phalanx Covenant: Book One - Generation Next - Part Three: Enter Freely And Of You Own Will" (22 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Joe Madureira (penciller), Dan Green (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Steve Buccellato (colourist), Bob Harras (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief)

THE PHALANX COVENANT: BOOK ONE, PART THREE The Phalanx capture M, Skin, Husk and Blink, but they escape. Meanwhile, the Banshee and Emma Frost break into a SHIELD base to try and find out where the kids are.

What you need to know:

• From an X-Men point of view, not much. This is another part of the Phalanx Covenant crossover, and once again the X-Men aren't in at all. It's really an issue of Generation X.
• And from that point of view, you may be thrilled to learn that it has the debut appearances of Skin and Blink (a throwaway character who has nonetheless got an awfully big fanbase). It's also the first issue where M comes out of her catatonic state to do something, and the first issue where M, Skin and Husk meet. Other than that... not much you need to know.

Comments: More Generation X stuff, and consequently another issue you can safely skip if you're only interested in the X-Men. However, if you actually are interested in Generation X, this is a decent introduction to most of the team. Sure, they're all a bit one dimensional at this stage - Husk acting as if she's much more experienced than she really is, M being arrogant and enigmatic, Skin as a sarcastic bastard - but the story does make a decent job of setting up some of the team dynamics and persuading you that you might want to read about these people again.

The subplot with Emma and Sean isn't anywhere near as interesting, though. So they bicker - it's hardly unexpected. Having them waltz straight into a SHIELD base without being noticed (after Sean somehow disrupts all their sensors sonically? Uh?) is just plain silly, though. And while Harvest has a nice little speech about how he joined the Phalanx for decent reasons but has abandoned them all now that he's in the collective, it's very difficult to get worked up about villains as bland as the Phalanx. Sure, they're powerful, but they're not very interesting.

Oh, and this story is one of only two appearances for Blink (or at least, the mainstream version), who unfathomably has got an enormous fanbase that keeps demanding her return. Quite what the appeal is, I've never understood - she's really just a poor whimpery thing who heroically sacrifices herself in the end to lend a bit of finality to the story. I mean, she's okay, but throwaway characters usually have to be a lot more special than this to get fans.

Anyhow, at the end of the day this is a decent enough story if you're interested in Generation X. If you're actually looking for an X-Men story, look elsewhere.

Feature character: Jubilee (last in X-Men Vol 2 #36; next in X-Men Vol 2 #37, then in Excalibur #83 b/s)

Guest stars: Paige Guthrie, Monet St Croix II, Everett Thomas (all last in X-Men Vol 2 #36), Angelo Espinosa (last in Generation X #½ f/b); Clarice Ferguson (first appearance of the latter two; all next in X-Men Vol 2 #37)

Supporting characters: The Banshee, Emma Frost (both between X-Men Vol 2 #36-37)

Villains: The Phalanx, Harvest (all between X-Men Vol 2 #36-37)

Guest appearance: SHIELD (continuity unknown)

STORY: "Moving Day" (23 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Roger Cruz (penciller), Tim Townsend (inker), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Steve Buccellato (colourist), Bob Harras (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief)

A prelude to Generation X (what, for the fourth month running?!)

What you need to know:

• Effective from this issue, the X-Men's Mansion is renamed The Xavier Institute For Higher Learning. The former Massachusetts Academy becomes Professor Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters. (It's since changed back.)
• Cyclops and Jean Grey are back on the active roster and tell Professor X what happened to them in the Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix miniseries. Basically, they were taken into the far future and spent a decade raising Cable as a child. I have grave problems with this entire plot - see Comments. Oh, and from this issue on, Scott and Jean move out of the mansion and set up home in the boathouse.
• In a classic example of foreshadowing without having worked out the plot in advance, Professor X muses that he fears Cyclops and Phoenix will "pay the dearest price" before the Legacy Virus is defeated. Never referred to again, naturally.
• Sean and Emma are revealed as the headmasters who will be training Generation X, although given how widely that was promoted in advance, it can't have surprised too many readers.
• Iceman goes to visit Emma to ask how she did all those great tricks with his powers back in issue #315. She basically tells him to try harder and doesn't help him at all.

Comments: And oh look, here comes more prelude stuff for Generation X. For the fourth bleeding month in a row.

Now, if you're a Generation X reader, all well and good. The story does show us the new team in a situation where they aren't about to get killed, and so it's a nice introduction to the team. The subplot with the extremely cynical Skin threatening to walk out does work, and there's a nice sense of the X-Men's role as trainers being formally handed over to Sean and Emma, even if it's a bit meaningless since the X-Men weren't really doing any training before.

But if you're looking for X-Men stories... well. There's some worthwhile development of the ongoing subplot with Iceman feeling insecure after Emma used his powers better than he could, although the scene is undermined by some pretty dreadful artwork. The way in which the X-Men's plots are being crammed in is all too clear from the treatment of Scott and Jean, though. These characters have supposedly been away for a decade (their time), yet they slip back in as if they'd never been away. This is just plain wrong.

So far as the art's concerned, Roger Cruz - still in his bad Jim Lee phase - turns in work that varies from okay through to just plain awful. The cover, though, is one of Joe Madureira's best. So that's alright, then...

Feature characters: Professor X (last in Excalibur #85; next in X-Men Annual Vol 2 #3, then in Bishop #1-2, 4, then in X-Men Vol 2 #38, then in X-Force #40); the Beast (last in Cable #16; next in Cable #17, then in X-Men Annual Vol 2 #3, then in Bishop #4, then in X-Men Vol 2 #38, then in X-Force #40, then in X-Men Vol 2 #39); Cyclops (last in Cable #16; next in Cable #17, then in X-Men Vol 2 #38, then in Marvel Holiday Special 1994, then in X-Men Vol 2 #40, then in issue #321); Phoenix III (last in Cable #16; next in Cable #17, then in X-Men Vol 2 #38, then in X-Men Unlimited #7, then in Marvel Holiday Special 1994, then in issue #320); Storm (last in Cable #16; next in Cable #17-19, then in X-Men Annual Vol 2 #3, then in Bishop #1, then in Rogue #1, then in X-Men Unlimited #7, then in Marvel Holiday Special 1994, then in issue #320); Gambit (last in Cable #16; next in X-Men Annual Vol 2 #3, then in Wolverine #87, then in Bishop #4, then in X-Men Vol 2 #38, then in Rogue #1-4, then in X-Men Unlimited #7, then in Wolverine #89, then in X-Men Vol 2 #40, then in issue #321); Iceman (last in Cable #16; next in X-Men Vol 2 #38); Archangel (last in Excalibur #83 b/s; next in X-Men Annual Vol 2 #3, then in Bishop #4, then in issue #319); Bishop (last in Excalibur #83; next in X-Men Annual Vol 2 #3, then in Bishop #104, then in X-Men Vol 2 #38, then in issue #320); Jubilee (last in Excalibur #83; leaves the X-Men; joins Generation X; next in X-Men Annual Vol 2 #3)

Guest stars: The Banshee (next in X-Men Annual Vol 2 #3/2), Emma Frost (next in Generation X #1; both last in X-Men Vol 2 #37); Monet St Croix II, Everett Thomas, Paige Guthrie, Angelo Espinosa (all between X-Men Vol 2 #37 and Generation X #1; all teamed with Jubilee as Generation X)

STORY: "Untapped Potential" (23 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Steve Epting (penciller), Dan Green, Tim Townsend (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Steve Buccellato, ... Becton, ... Hicks (colourists), Bob Harras (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief)

Iceman takes Rogue to meet his parents for dinner, only for his father to wreck the evening with his bigoted comments. Meanwhile, Archangel and Psylocke go to a restaurant and declare their love for one another.

What you need to know:

• In a scene foreshadowing the upcoming Age of Apocalypse storyline, Legion visits his father in a dream, and helpfully explains the plot. According to the good Professor, Legion has apparently merged all his seperate personalities into one. Supposedly this accounts for his enormous power increase in this storyline. Anyhow, he plans to go back in time and kill Magneto, thereby allowing Professor X to proceed with his dream unopposed.
• Warren finally gives an explanation of why he's so rich even though an X-Factor plotline had him supposedly losing the family fortune to Cameron Hodge. It turns out he just lost the family business, but there's a fair bit besides which he still owns.

Comments: This issue comes as something of a relief simply by virtue of actually containing an X-Men story. For an indication of the state the title was in at around this time, consider this. The preceding four issues are all devoted to plugging Generation X. The next two issues are lead-in material for the Age of Apocalypse crossover, and then the book gets put on hiatus for four months while a load of miniseries carry the crossover (which has bugger all impact on this title in the long run). So basically, this is the only issue in about a year long period which is really devoted to advancing the plot.

Unfortunately, it's rather a mixed issue. On the plus side, the Psylocke and Archangel stuff is good. Sure, it gets a tad mawkish at time, but it scores heavily for openly acknowledging the drivel which normally plagues X-Men relationships and promising to play it straight. A nice change, and consequently one of the many reasons why the later Crimson Dawn plot that complicated Psylocke enormously was such a dreadful error.

The Rogue and Iceman stuff ought to work, and on a few moments comes close to something worthwhile, but blows it by writing Iceman's father so far over the top that it's impossible to imagine what he can be thinking. This is really beyond melodrama, although Steve Epting's excellent artwork goes a long way to saving it.

Feature characters:Professor X (last in X-Force #40), Iceman (last in X-Men Vol 2 #38; also in f/b preceding f/b in Iceman #4), Psylocke (last in X-Men Vol 2 #38), Archangel (last in Bishop #4), Rogue (last in Rogue #4), the Beast (last in X-Men Vol 2 #39; all next in Marvel Holiday Special 1994, then the latter three in X-Men Vol 2 #40, then in issue #321)

Supporting characters: William Drake (next in X-Men Vol 2 #58; also in f/b preceding Iceman #4 f/b), Madeline Drake (next in X-Men Unlimited #15; both last in issue #308)

Villain: Legion (between pages of X-Factor #109)

STORY: "LegionQuest - Part 1: The Son Rises In The East" (22 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (plotter), Mark Waid (scripter), Roger Cruz (penciller), Tim Townsend (inker), Bill Oakley (letterer), Steve Buccellato (colourist), Bob Harras (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief)

LEGIONQUEST, PART 1 Legion builds a dome in the Negev Desert, and the X-Men are called in to investigate. Unfortunately, they are unable to stop Legion from opening a portal in time, and Storm, Iceman, Bishop and Psylocke are sucked through it with him.

What you need to know:

• Not much that isn't in the above paragraph, really. This is the first time we see Legion use his time-travelling powers, and that's about it.

Comments: So it's back to the grind with more set-up. And what a surprise, it again takes the form of a big and rather pointless fight. Later parts of the crossover are decidedly more interesting, but this is little more than an action sequence to get the plot underway, and there's not much to be said about it, really.

Feature characters: Professor X, Storm, Phoenix III, Iceman, Bishop, Psylocke (all between Marvel Holiday Special 1994 and X-Men Vol 2 #40)

Supporting characters: Gabrielle Haller (between X-Factor #109 and X-Men Vol 2 #40); Lilandra Neramani (between Marvel Holiday Special 1994 and X-Men Vol 2 #40); Gladiator (last in ...; next in Starjammers #4)

Villain: Legion (between X-Men Vol 2 #39-40)

Other character: Jahf (last in issue #203; next in Gambit And The X-Ternals #3)