UNCANNY X-MEN #381: Night of Masques

The rest of the X-Men meet the Neo!

Originally Published June 2000

We begin, after a cold open commentary from the hand of Gambit...

...in a treasure trove.

This is Jean Grey's secret place, some kind of weird, heretofore unseen underground clubhouse getaway she has maintained for years and never even got to show Scott, much to her regret. She has brought her... (nephew? Stepson?) Cable, who sees it in terms of its military capabilities (not much.)

Jean reminds him that his war against Apocalypse is over, which is funny -- I don't remember Apocalypse being defeated, just that they all kind of... stopped fighting. But sure, I'd be a lot happier if that war were over, so let's pretend it is, and that Scott's sacrifice was really meaningful.

Jean reminds him that there's room in the life of an X-Man for vulnerability, just as Wolverine or Storm. Now, however, she's ready to change the mood, revealing that they are in Venice for Carnival.

I'm pretty sure "underground Venice" is... water

Using her telepathic abilities to change their costumes into something more festive (and ironically inconspicuous,) Jean and Cable mingle and banter as the X-woman currently known as Phoenix seems to enjoy tweaking her clone-sister's-temporally-tossed son. 

Amidst the revelry, Jean slips into her own mind, where she -- in a cool all-black psionic form -- finds "someone" has been leaving telltale playing cards for her, as if in a message.

Back in this plane of reality the pair of X-people are on the lookout for trouble. They find it, in the form of Henry "J." McCoy (various sources give Hank's middle name as Philip, but don't ask me when it was established, it's just something I somehow know.)

Beast adds some levity to this Carnival, openly stating his intention to be the Poster Boy for mutantdom and literally acting like Nightcrawler (used to, I guess, before he joined the cloth.) 

As for what he's doing in Venice? He got a plane ticket and a playing card.

Finally, the expected baddies to arrive -- the Shockwave Riders!

Who are they and what do they want? That falls under the purview of Nunya (as in Nunya Business.)

A fight breaks out. Storm arrives to lend a hand, Cable gets hit with a whammy that causes his techno-organic virus to go into overdrive, and Jean enjoys the pleasures of cracking skulls herself.

Unfortunately, the Riders -- who are Neo-affiliated -- have a secret weapon: the Psi-Shark!

It is my duty to inform you that this shit is cool as hell

Once inside Jean, it munches and crunches its way through her memory, seemingly in search of something.

Unfortunately for the Shockwave Riders, Jean is Phoenix. Don't believe me? Here she is to tell you herself:

Gambit, smooching some lady nearby, arrives just in time to contribute nothing to the effort.

Some of the Shockwave Riders teleport away. Cable, seeing Phoenix's display of aggression, wonders if he should just do the world a favor a cap her like Old Yeller.

They do manage to take one Rider captive, but he would rather die than give up the secrets of the Neo.

Unfortunately, that won't stop Jean from getting what she wants as she dives into the deceased's fading psyche!

I've heard of "Wake Up Dead Man," but this is ridiculous!

And that's where we leave off!

Further Thoughts:

As with the previous issue of the New Claremont Run, I have a bifurcated opinion on this.

First and foremost: This is a good comic. When I say I'm a hard person to impress but an easy person to please, this is what I'm talking about. There was a certain amount of character work, charm, and well-executed action here that made it roughly as good -- in terms of craft -- as the average issue from Claremont's Heyday. Despite being away from the property for a decade, Claremont engages well with the inner workings of a newer character like Cable, as well as deploying strong voices for Jean and Beast -- characters he's technically barely ever written. Like X-Men #100, it engages well with the status quo as we left the X-Men while also following their thread six months down the road: Jean has lost her telekinesis, Gambit is off doing Gambit things, beast is wearing longjohns for some reason. (Whether it makes in-universe strategic sense or not, the point of having a character that looks like Beast is to not cover him up.)

Adam Kubert has somehow leveled up from Guy Who Is Good at Drawing X-Men to being an industry leader, capturing the intimate human element, the action with gravity and depth, and the excitement of Carnival, to say nothing of the loopiness of the psionic stuff and some extra flourishes around flashbacks as well. Flexing his muscles, Kubert draws several sequences in sprawling double-page spreads that are flashy and elegant, but alas cannot be done justice by this recap format. 

The combo of Kubert-Townsend-Isanove is a potent one that seems to bring out the best in all. After several years where the vibe of X-Men art seems to have been "Just give it to someone who can get it done," there's a huge increase in intentionality in both series that's already paying off.

The "but" -- and it's a big "but" -- is the question of whether being a Good Comic is Good Enough. Remember we were sold on a Revolution, a game-changer that would galvanize readers and restore the X-Men to their place atop the pantheon of Marvel Comics. This isn't that and it doesn't seem to want to be. It's not a major happening, it's just a good little comic. Sneaking beneath the surface are things we were taught -- by, for instance, Wizard Magazine -- to ridicule about Claremont's old school scripting style -- stodgy, supposedly stilted dialogue, characters explaining exactly what's happening in their fight and with their powers... when I was a kid, I would have scoffed at all of it like I was supposed to, but being Old and Grizzled and nearly a decade into this project (which I could not complete if I did not enjoy comics written by Chris Claremont) I not only forgive it, I celebrate it. I suspect a lot of other people do too, with the perspective of modernity and the widespread appreciation for Claremont's original run, but that doesn't do much good for the audiences of 2000 who craved the big new thing.

Do we care about the Neo? They are mysterious and their resources seem to be shockingly plentiful. They're a fine villain of the month but are at risk of overstaying their welcome with this slow build. We've seen them get the upper hand and get beaten back -- what are they after, how will they try to get it, what do they even do? The answers to these questions need to be really exciting to justify this level of hype, but I don't expect them to.

Still, the Psi-Shark was dope.