X-MEN #17-19: A Skinning of Souls Pts 1-3

 

The X-Men's least-favourite White Russian returns as they tangle with a mysterious psychic foe!

Originally Published February-April 1993

Part One: Waiting for The Ripening

To begin with, the X-Men are finally taking that long-promised trip to Ust-Ordynski Collective Farm on the shores of Lake Baikal, home of the Rasputin family (no, not that Rasputin family... as far as we know) which has little de-aged Illyana and her Doc Martins very excited.

But before we get to that, the Russian mutant superheroine known as Darkstar, and her companion Alexi, investigate the strange happenings in a town called Neftelensk, where the entire the entire populace appears to have been turned mindless -- either by a malevolent supervillain or by recently-introduced consumerism, who knows?

You know, I felt this way often when I lived downtown

But as Darkstar takes to the sky to investigate, she learns that it may be the doing of her sinister father, the one and only... whoever this is!

As Laynia lashes out at her father (the villain known as Presence -- which is actually kind of a cool name? Am I too stoned?) it becomes clear that this is all just some crazy hallucination she is stuck in.

Elsewhere, Alexi hears the voice of the real mysterious psychic threat, and succumbs to it as well. Three days later, some Russian bigwigs, including the enigmatic Colonel Vashin, discuss the situation, agreeing to send in the Russian national hero -- Ωmega Red!

As I said

Three more days later, the X-Men -- Cyclops, Psylocke, Wolverine, Iceman, Jubilee, and of course Colossus -- are finally arriving in Russia, having been sidelined by an adventure in Wolverine's solo series. Cyclops, flying the Blackbird, is having a hard time focusing on his joystick.

Back in Westchester, Xavier observes Gambit and Rogue having one of their trademark flirts as Gambit works to help Rogue regain some of her confidence during her bout of (probably-temporary) blindness. The Prof wonders whether he ships them.

Hank interrupts to ask about a personal matter, but his interruption is interrupted by X-Force, who want to borrow a Blackbird to fly to Nova Roma to tell their former New Mutants teammate Magma and Warpath's former Hellions teammate Empath about all the people who've died lately.

The Professor, however, is not made of jets, contrary to popular belief -- and the situation with X-Force is too tenuous anyway, what with them basically being an outlaw group barely tolerated by the government and the world at large. So he declines to sanction the request, but recommends asking the New Warriors -- who have a mutant connection in former Hellion Firestar -- to go. We are told we can read all about it in upcoming issues of New Warriors (written by Fabian Nicieza)... and who could possibly resist?

Meanwhile, in Japan, we see a distinctly purple-hued scantily-clad ninja babe making short work of some mooks. She lets us know that revenge is coming. But for whom? And when?

Don't we already know a scantily-clad purple-haired ninja babe? What is this, some kinda knock-off?

In Russia, while Colossus does manual labor to work his aggression out, Cyclops is tormented by the lack of closure provided by X-Cutioner's Song...

Same, Scott

He blunders into the washroom, where 75% of the time you are likely to find Psylocke, freshly showered and wearing nothing but a towel.

At breakfast, the X-People marvel at how Illyana has been de-aged... or so we are told, given that Andy Kubert, bless him, can't seem to draw anyone not like a sexy pinup. She's even got a full face of makeup on!

Is this what Taylor Swift was referring to when she sang about "sexy babies"?

But unfortunately, shadowy forces conspire on this happy home -- between the pages, Omega Red, too, has been co-opted by the mysterious baddie, so Illyana, and the X-Men, represent Mother Russia's last hope!

Part Two: The Crops Mature (ew...)

So we catch up with the X-Men, who have agreed to the mission for whatever, and see Colonel Vashin dropping the team into the frigid, dystopian city.

Thank god Psylocke put on a jacket. Wouldn't want her upper torso to catch a chill

Everyone in town, including Darkstar and Alexi, are of course, zoned out in a kind of living death, but they've got the mind-controlled Omega Red to fight.

Over in Japan, our mysterious off-brand Psylocke -- known as Kwannon -- shows off her hand-iwork* to her boss, Lord Nyoirin (who you would be forgiven for thinking was the Mandarin.)

*See, it's funny, because she's just slaughtered a bunch of Hand ninjas.

Things are going from bad to worse as the X-Men have their hands full with Omega Red, and then get attacked by the real baddie, the Soul Skinner. Skinner takes a waltz through Scott's psyche, but it's a busy place right now, with all the trauma and unresolved feelings stemming from his upbrining and the recent business with Stryfe and Cable, one or both of whom may be his missing time-displaced son, something he has big feelings about.

Basically, at the Summers buffet of psychic scarring, the Soul Skinner's eyes are bigger than his stomach

Otherwise, only Colossus and Vashin could get away, being armored against Omega Red's death spores or whatever. They find the only other free people still living in the town, a group of children who appear to be unaffected by the Soul Skinner.

It appears children are immune to the Soul Skinner's evil, which is great news, because they already planned on weaponizing Illyana. In fact, some state goons break into the farm, guns-ablazing, and abduct her.

Politely

The plan: use an experimental procedure that will either re-activate her mutant genes... or kill her! Either way, right?

Part Three: Harvest of the Innocent

While the Soul Skinner does his thang to the captive X-Men, he notes some similarities between himself and Cyclops, having once lost a child and wondered whether he could have done more, himself--

--made all the more complicated by the fact that Soul Skinner learned that his wife was actually a government operative assigned to spy on him. Talk about deep cover!

Skinny Boy sends Omega Red after Vashin and Colossus, who is very much against what the government plans to do to his sister, but may not be able to prevent it.

Colossus, who has been on the razor's edge for a while now since the what became of Mikhail, goes on a rampage but Vashin is still able to try to talk him down, continuing to appeal to the greater good. Unfortunately, the Soul Skinner arrives to tell Colossus "By the way, these guys just murdered your whole family," which is true.

Their last name is Rasputin though, so there's a chance they'll be back

Colossus lashes out again, with Vashin protesting that they only meant to sent Soul Skinner to another dimension so they could be rid of him, not kill innocents -- this was totally unauthorized and there will be a hearing about it!!

And of course, the Soul Skinner also takes exception to how close Colossus was coming to agreeing to let Vashin and the rest put Illyana's life in jeopardy -- jeopardizing children is a big no-no to the Soul Skinner. He'll soul-skin you good for that one.

Despite this, the Soul Skinner basically pushes the "Kill Illyana" button (set to "very slowly") as a way of ending all this madness, while Colossus walks off seemingly just because he can't deal.

The other X-Men, having thawed themselves between the pages, arrive, strike a pose, and start kicking whoever it is that seems to need a beatdown.

Colossus returns with the children in tow, and asks Psylocke to jab one of them with her psychic knife. That seems kind of "wtf" but she's into it.

This basically gives Soul Skinner the blue screen of death, overloading him with the Innocence of Children, his one weak spot.

Oh, and speaking of death, here's Col. Vashin to tell us more.

You didn't get the set-up, but that was a pretty good one-liner

With that all wrapped up, the X-Men survey the situation and decide that, well... that's that. The Soul Skinner is done, Omega Red slipped away between pages to menace the X-Men another day, Russia will continue to surveil its mutants in the interest of national security, and the Rasputins are orphans.

Here's Jubilee to put the button on it:

Further Thoughts:

Fair to say that the early 90's are a messy time for comics, in a lot of different ways. I don't necessarily think the creative team on this book is quite on the same page: inappropriate anatomy aside, Andy Kuber's art looks cool, trendy and flashy, but it doesn't quite convey the intricacies of what I think are Fabian Nicieza's plot concepts, mostly regarding the shadiness of the Russian government and their plans for Illyana, as well as the tragic backstory of the Soul Skinner. Exposition is muddled, events happen abruptly, explanations -- when they happen -- are revealed in word balloons sprawled across a massive action page in a fashion that is unwieldy. Hardly a single moment has time to breathe, despite bringing back the already-iconic Omega Red and killing a major character's parents. And though the Soul Skinner is all over this thing, you'd be hard pressed to remember what he looks like other than he's the one on any page that looks like a bad guy. It's an awkward fit and if you really, really, need clarity in a story these might not be your favourite issues.

Honestly though, it's a breezy and agreeable enough way to spend three issues that trying to summarize and make sense of risks underselling. I'm being extremely lenient by grading on a curve here because there is a lot of that clunkiness baked in, and perhaps "The Soul Skinner is a total monster but he has a soft spot for kiddoes" is not that revelatory of a twist, but by this point in history you kind of know the deal of how comics are going to look and feel. 

1993 X-Men comics don't always set your brain on fire with the scope of their ambition, but they work hard to be a feast for the senses: pulpy and fun, with a few ideas contained within.