X-MEN #5: Blowback

The X-Men hunt down Wolverine's abductors!

Originally Published February 1992

Breaking news! The X-Men are under attack. Cerebro has detected a hostile mutant less than five miles from the mansion. The alert is so urgent it cuts into Psylocke's Standing Around Being Sexy time.

Good to know the Siege Perilous didn't change everything and Betsy still loves taking dips at inopportune times

Four of the captured X-Men -- Beast, Jubilee, Gambit and Rogue -- fight their way out, with an assist from the others (Psylocke puts on a jacket rather than change into her fighting swimsuit.) Unfortunately, the goons self-destruct rather than be taken alive. Their partners, meanwhile, made off with Wolverine, leaving his mask behind as a tease.

Somewhere else, where there is a lot of snow, Wolverine fights Omega Red while Fenris, Matsuo, and Dr. Cornelius -- a shady mf'er who goes back to the Weapon X program -- watch the Russian take Wolverine to his limits.

Just what we need, some bushy-bearded redhead dweeb who thinks he's in charge

On the brink of unconsciousness, Wolverine's mind flashes back some thirty years ago to a mission in Berlin when he was with the CIA. But here and now, he's in the custody of our Upstart baddies, who want to use him for his knowledge that may be the key to finding something called the Carbonadium Synthesizer, which is allegedly the key to Fenris winning the game and immortality and their new Reich and such.

Frau Gaga

Their plan is to essentially use Omega Red to beat it out of him by jogging his memories with science. Painful, violent science.

Back at the mansion, Professor X divides the X-Men up into their Blue and Gold teams, noting that the Gold team has a date with Emma Frost at the Hellfire Club, so as to conveniently establish the timeline between this and Uncanny X-Men for any curious readers. The Blue team, meanwhile, are headed to Berlin in search of Wolverine. Before going their separate ways, Scott politely asks Jean not to die.

 "Eh, no promises."

With that, Xavier and Forge get back to their chess match (spoiler alert: Forge loses despite having specifically designed a device to fry Charles' brains.)

Back in Berlin, Wolverine survives another beating designed to gently coax out his secret memories. As he's being put back to sleep until his next round, we see the proceedings being watched by a mysterious presence.

The mystery man, Maverick, cuts the lights, and when they come back on, Wolverine is free, semi-lucid, and in possession of some kind of important canister. In his escape, he learns the difference between the #17 bus and a leap from the 17th floor window.

One goes downtown, the other goes way downtown

Logan awakens being tended to by Maverick, who indicates -- more for our benefit than anything since Wolverine is still pretty out of it -- that he's an old acquaintance of Logan's. In fact, he features in the recurring flashback's Wolverine has been having to his time in Berlin, as part of Logan's CIA mission, along with a strangely familiar-looking tall buff blond guy.

Traveling light I see

Voicing John Byrne's opinions of the Chris Claremont-created mutants Gambit, Rogue and Psylocke, Maverick doesn't like the new kids' odds against the bad guys here, but he is a lot more heartened to see the "real" X-Men Beast and Cyclops comprising the secondary assault team.

Elsewhere, Lila Cheney and Alison Blaire (aka Dazzler, aka Skippy) chat about Alison's ongoing amnesia when a familiar face drops in.

Hot on his heels is Mojo's #1 dancing queen, Spiral, but Lila is able to teleport the three of them away from danger, or so it seems.

To be Cont'd!