X-MEN #6: Farther Still

The chase is on for the secret of the Carbonadium Synthesizer!

Originally Published March 1992

The X-Men's Blue Team -- specifically Cyclops, Beast and Jubilee -- are having a good time skulking through the Berlin complex where a mystery mutant -- known to us as Omega Red -- has absconded with Wolverine. It's been a real walk in the park for the most part, except they have no idea where said mystery mutant is. He could be anywhere on the premises, or even in another country, or perhaps on top of them!

In addition to having the complexion of a Crest White Strip, Omega Red is outfitted with carbonadium tentacles which are almost but not quite as strong as Wolverine's Adamantium, and which are a great way to deliver his vaunted Mutant Death Factor, whatever that actually is. He can also, in a pinch, release a lethal pheromone into the air that knocks his enemies out, and he gets free long distance calling, but that doesn't come up in the story.

Elsewhere, Maverick works on reviving Wolverine, whose healing factor has been greatly taxed by all the shellacking he's experienced at the hands of Omega, and also throwing himself out of a window, plus I think he got a hangnail at some point. 

Wolverine, half-alive and half-not so much, flashes back to his CIA days, on a mission featuring Maverick and some other tall blond guy named Creed to liberate the Carbonadium Synthesizer from the Communists of East Germany. Creed shoots the scientist lady they're supposed to be extracting when she becomes a liability in their attempt to escape Omega Red (in the past), causing both Logan and Maverick to be like "Bro!"

There's something familiar about all this...

Amidst all this, We find time to check in with Longshot and Dazzler (and Lila Cheney) as they accidentally drop into Mojoworld despite that being literally exactly where they don't want to be. Scripter Lobdell gets a lot of mileage out of different characters referring to Mojo as a "fat blob," proving how he won the X-Men writing gig in the first place. Call it "Lob-dialogue."

Don't knock it, it was probably hugely influential on how I grew up thinking comics should be written

The trio fight their way out and regroup at Longshot's Rebellion HQ, where Dazzler has a reflective moment of "Gee, this sure is a lot of stuff happening considering I do not remember anything about anything" before smooching Longshot because why not?

Who wouldn't?

Back in Berlin, Rogue, Gambit and Psylocke encounter Fenris and do some battle, which is mostly a big laugh for them, until Matsuo arrives and activates his post-hypnotic control on Psylocke.

It has been <1 month since an X-Man was brainwashed!

Back in the past, Logan and Creed had a falling out over Creed's propensity to murder innocent people they were supposed to be keeping alive. Logan walks out of the CIA, taking with him the secret of the Carbonadium Synthesizer, which is a real shame because they were planning on using it on their next album.

See, because a synthesizer is also...

...yeah.

Anyway, Mama Von Strucker didn't raise no dummies, as Fenris has called in an Aryan pinch hitter to track down the missing Logan. 

Hey, I know him... from the past!

That's right, that big hairy Creed guy from Logan's CIA days is actually the modern-day bad guy Sabretooth! And he knows how to wear that double-breasted suit!

Sabes comes in and meets the gang: the brainwashed Psylocke who answers only to Matsuo, and the other captive X-Men, including Gambit, who seems to have a bit of a backstory with the furball.

Intriguing! I'm excited to find out what this is about very soon

Thanks to Psylocke's bond with Wolverine, Sabretooth has the Google Maps Easiest Route to Maverick's Hidey-Hole (avoiding tolls and highways.) He'll have Wolverine tracked down in just about as much time as it takes to put on his unitard.

Thank God this panel takes up 3/5 of a page, I was worried they might have to come up with more story

The battle is a quick victory... 

...for Sabretooth that is, who was able to curb-stomp his longtime foe because he was basically already half-dead. Wolverine is returned to the custody of the Upstarts for further torture, while the baddies offer Omega Red a chance to kill as many X-Men as he wants other than Wolverine to sate his "mutant death factor."

To be continued... !