UNCANNY X-MEN #318: Moving Day

Generation X is about to be a thing

Originally Published November 1994

We begin with a sign.

Specifically, the sign designating the house on Graymalkin Lane as "Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters" is being taken down. While doing so, a pair of workmen comment on the "weird looking" kid, a rare appearance from one of these alleged students.

This, as we know from the recent Phalanx Covenant, is Angelo Espinoza, one of the identified "NeXt Generation" of Mutants, who had recently been kidnapped, held captive, and experimented on by the alien-human hybrid race calling themselves the Phalanx (because I guess there's a lot of them operating as one, and because it has a cool X in it.) Angelo, however, is not so enamored of the invitation to join Xavier's school and has decided to hitchhike back to wherever it is he's from.

He's picked up by a passing Hank McCoy, who reminds Ange that this is an access road and unlikely to be traveled by non-X personnel. He reluctantly accepts a ride to the airport from Beast on the condition that the geneticist and original X-Man say nothing in any kind of attempt to convince him to change his mind and orient him toward fighting to protect a world that hates and fears him.

Back at Xavier's pad, Cyclops and Jean are giving Charles the download -- quite literally from their mind to his -- about their twelve years in the future raising Cable as their own adoptive yet also biological son. Scott is, not wrongly, having some feelings about it all, given he was forced to abandon his son for the third time in Nathan's then-young life.

Cyclops wonders whether it would be right to reveal to Cable -- now an adult -- that he and Jean were the kindly couple that raised him, mentored him in the use of his powers, and taught him right from wrong.

Charles' take: Yeah, that's pretty messed up, good luck with that.

Arguably more pressingly, Jean and Scott bring up the fact that they bore witness to the early days of the Legacy Virus, before it was refined into one that would target mutants exclusively. To that, Charles says, "Well that's real interesting, but I honestly don't know what I'm supposed to do with that information."

Further to that point, Charles' ready room and his fabulous computer were recently destroyed by Banshee to prevent it all from falling into the hands of the Phalanx (who were, themselves, powerful computers.)

Elsewhere, Jubilee, M, Paige and Everett are out on a shopping jag, celebrating their status as the New New Mutants (we'll come up with a snappier name later.) Monet throwing around so much cash gives some real culture shock to Paige (who grew up one of twelve children of a miner's widow.)

From afar, Banshee, Bishop and Storm watch, with Sean reflecting positively on his decision to take on a new role as headmaster of the new version of the Xavier School, molding these young minds and mutant powers. Bishop takes a moment to remind us that Money is basically perfect, but Everett reminds him of himself at a young age.

Personally, I don't see it, except for one quality they share that is probably not overly relevant.

Out on the road, Beast blithely sings along to the Stones until Angelo's powers go a little haywire, evincing a minor freakout. It seems the boy with the uncontrollable epidermis has a few hangups about his mutant powers.

Angelo's point: he hates seeing Hank laugh and have a good time while he, Angelo, is forced to suffer. Beast relents -- fine, be miserable if that's what you want.

Emma Frost supervises the sign crew, and has a word with Bobby Drake, whose body she recently AirBnB'd in. Bobby is irked that Emma was able to do more with his powers in half a day than he had in a lifetime with them. Emma's take: that's on you for lacking imagination.

Angel visits Jubilee and offers a token farewell and "If you ever need anything," but Jubes brushes him off. These two have never exactly had a personal relationship of any note, and it ends up being Jubilation who teaches warren a thing or two about building connections with people.

After a brief scene with Scott and Gambit where Remy explains the difference between an arranged political marriage and the consensual but on-again-off-again situationship he has with Rogue, we return out front of the mansion, where Charles offers his vote of confidence to Sean as the new Principal of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters (located at the erstwhile Massachusetts Academy.) He also reassures the Irishman that Emma Frost is not someone to be afraid of -- she's in the final phase of her redemption arc, after all, following the deaths of the Hellions.

Besides, she owns the building.

Jubilee and Xavier have their moment -- the kind of thing that's right out of the textbook on how to make a comic feel special without being too over the top saccharine and sappy and gosh darnit it nearly always works.

As Charles watches Jubilee and Sean speed off, he is somewhat surprised by the arrival of Angelo Torres-- er, Espinoza, who has returned to the school to say that he wants in after all, with Hank's sardonic words of non-encouragement clearly ringing in his ears. Xavier says of course he's welcome, and Angelo drives back off the way he came, eager to join the fight for mutant acceptance and maybe a quality moisturizer.

Watching the sun set from the gates of the now Xavier School for Adult Education Higher Learning, Xavier thinks maybe, just maybe... it's the students that have been teaching him.

Further Thoughts:

We've deduced that Scott Lobdell enjoys writing these cooldown issues after major events, and they always provide a welcome change of pace. So much happens to these X-Men in a year of comics that it's great to see them simply exist for a moment and get a chance to reflect on what's going on. I honestly think our relationship to the X-Men is such that this type of story is more welcome here than it would be with the Avengers or even the Fantastic Four.

Also, the weird sexual tension between Emma and Bobby

My preference is more for these issues to have some kind of warmup toward a future threat or plot point, somewhere in there, but it's not usually the case. So I can't single this issue our for lacking that forward momentum, but I will note it all the same. The main issue here is pushing forward with the launch of Generation X -- really giving it a hard sell by making sure we love the characters and understand the situation they are entering. But bear in mind, the X-Men have just fought off a would-be world-conquering, humanity-ending foe, which had many of them abducted and put into Matrix pods for experimentation. Apparently Jean Grey's sister even died?? One would think that bears some kind of reflection, that it would leave the X-Men with some manner of shellshock, but no, everyone seems ready to just move on from the Phalanx like it was just some weird thing that happened this weekend. Maybe the heroes are just numb to it all by now. If that's the case, I can see why young Mr. Espinoza would be reluctant to join up.

Anyway, issues like this demonstrate what's good -- imperfect but good -- about this particular stretch of X-Men comics.