X-MEN #30: The Ties that Bind

Jean and Scott get the wedding bell blues!

Originally Published March 1994

It's Jean and Scott's Wedding Day! And we begin with...

...a surprisingly long and ornately-penned letter from Wolverine explaining to some degree why he's not there. I know that we'll eventually find out that Logan was born (spoiler alert) a fancy boy from the 1800's, but I still can't see the "Old Canucklehead" putting pen to paper for multiple paragraphs to elucidate his feelings.

I don't even know what he's going on about with this "look at each other with new eyes" stuff, but I'll chalk that up to being whacked out of his gourd since he found out his memories weren't his memories.

That out of the way, we begin to tour the wedding day as Jean is tended to by her mother and maid-of-honor Ororo, along with her daughter-from-a-possible-future Rachel. These two haven't shared much space in the time they've been around, so even moreso than Cyclops and his temporally-estranged son Cable, there is something of an awkward dynamic, but they're trying to make it work.

While Scott and the Boys wrestle with their toughest foe yet -- the bow tie -- Charles stops by to offer some words of support.

Scott admits to feeling a little scared but Professor Xavier comforts him by saying look what you've already accomplished and faced in your life -- let's take the next step together (metaphorically, as the Professor is still in his chair.) I can't really relate -- I actually wanted to be there on my wedding day.

As Charles switches from his Shi'ar hoverchair to a more standard Earthbound wheelchair -- there are normies around, you know -- he drops a letter from Wolverine, which he is saving for later as there are more important things going on.

With the Prof narrating the significance of the moment, and with great pomp and circumstance, the bride enters.

They do a hand-fasting, the Priest says the words, the rings are exchanged, and, well...

Instead of going for pictures or anything, the happy couple proceeds to the dance floor where they share their traditional first dance to U2's "One." A little basic but I guess it beats "With or Without You." Music for the event is, of course, provided by Lila Cheney.

From afar, a restraining device-wearing Sabretooth watches from a snowy hill and contemplates going down there to wreck everyone's fun, when a mysterious message -- perhaps one written by a bone claw -- is written in the snow.

Not such ornate penmanship now

This being a big gathering of mutants, we check in on some of our faves -- Beast and Iceman tease one another about their mutual datelessness (Bobby's on the outs with Opal, and Hank hasn't seen Trish since she was covering the Bloodties in Genosha.) Havok and Polaris roll their eyes at being asked when their turn is coming, Wolfsbane and Rictor share a moment now that Rahne is not quite so stuck in mutate form, and Cable and Val Cooper share a little banter about his status as a wanted fugitive.

And who else could possibly catch the bouquet and garter, respectively, than high-flying Rogue...

And master t'ief Gambit?

As the festivities come to an end, Jean shares a special moment with her other father, using her telekinesis to have a dance with Charles (the normies have mostly left by now.) We aren't told what song is playing so I have no choice but to assume it's Extreme's "More Than Words."

Later, Scott heads off for his honeymoon, leaving Charles with a few words about how he has impacted his life.

With the day done, Charles finally has time to check his mail. There's a letter from Moira back at Muir Island suggesting that Cable might hold the key to curing the Legacy Virus, but more importantly he finally opens that letter from Wolverine.

Incidentally, this does not look like the same penmanship from earlier, maybe it was a forgery!

And with that simple read, Charles is brought to laughter as our story ends.

Further Thoughts:

In a lot of media, a wedding story is a time for high drama -- twists, shocking appearances, some kind of stumbling block down the aisle. In the X-Men's world there have only been two big trips to the altar to date -- Wolverine's to Mariko, which was shocking called off due to mind-controlling influence of Mastermind, and soon afterward Scott's to Madelyne, which could only occur after the question of whether she was the reborn Jean Grey here to wreck shit could be settled (at the time, it was thought she was not.)

This one goes off completely without a hitch. And why not? It's not meant to peak drama or stir shock, but to be a collectible souvenir for comic buyers, a mutant milestone you can bag and board to be worth, no doubt, thousands of dollars in the future. Making it an important, or even interesting story would be beside the point, a hat on a hat -- later for such things. Save the drama for an issue people might not already be inclined to buy. There was nothing in this issue that didn't need to be there. No serious villain, risk of danger, or shocking last-minute revelation. There wasn't even a chance of Wolverine objecting because he wasn't even there (or was he??!) and openly gave his blessing beforehand in writing anyway.

It's a crass way of looking at it, but doing a 100% earnest and undramatic wedding issue is at least a nice change of pace. I truly believe that we as X-Men fans are very attached to these characters and don't mind seeing them simply live their lives without having to do a supervillain punch-em-up on their wedding day too. The focus is instead on quiet moments -- resolving the feelings of misgiving that Charles has had seeing his two first students tie the knot, and what it all means for the often-believed-to-be-doomed future of mutantkind, coupled with a glimmer of hope on the Legacy Virus front. The issue provides exactly the experience it's meant to, all sentimentality and smiles and kisses and teary-eyed applause, and tomorrow it's back to sexy blasty-hand action.