It's the comic book equivalent of the Cloverfield Paradox, maybe.
In that, if you were reading comics 800 years ago in 1992, you almost certainly bought this, but does anyone remember it? X-Men Annual #1, "Shattershot, part 1: the Slaves of Destiny" Written by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Jim Lee (layouts), P. Craig Russell, Brian Stelfreeze, Adam Hughes, Stuart Immonen, Dan Panosian, Greg Capullo, and Mark Texeira; inks by P. Craig Russell, Brian Stelfreeze, Dan Panosian, Mark Texeira, Joe Rubinstein, and Harry Candelario.
That was a way stronger creative lineup than I remembered for this; and one way too strong for such a creampuff of an annual.
On Mojoworld, it's the last day of the rebellion, but not in a good way: Mojo has crushed the rebels, including capturing Quark (from the Longshot mini) but the "toymaker," Arize escapes, making a desparate extradimensional jump to earth. After some object lessons in the Danger Room, the Blue Team of X-Men is sent to scenic Afghanistan in search of a sudden alien appearance, and find Arize, who was not in great shape after the trip.
A great deal is made of Spiral being the only one who could navigate the journey from Mojoworld to earth safely, but she doesn't appear here, even if she may have transported in the retrieval team Mojo has tasked with bringing back Arize.
Despite including Gog and Magog (again from Longshot) and the brainwashed Quark, the retrievers do not fare well; with Wolverine rather callously stabbing one nobody to death. He and Psylocke seem to think the retrievers should resist Mojo, but they don't seem to have a lot of free will, and may also have hostages at home, as one cameraman tells Gambit. When the retrievers with names flee--which may involve Spiral, but isn't clear--Wolvie and Rogue nearly follow, but are stopped by Cyclops, who considers the mission complete. (Rogue and Wolvie are mildly steamed: Longshot had been missing for some time, and they angrily note he was their teammate, not Cyke's.)
Back on Mojoworld, the ratings are great, but Mojo is a laughing-stock; and a shadowy figure watches and plots against him...
I am virtually positive I had this back in '92, but had absolutely no recollection of it, and definitely hadn't read it in years. Also, I got the next chapter from the same quarter bin haul, and I'm not sure I had even seen it before, andShattershot ran three more annuals? For some reason, I thought only two. I feel like I would've got the X-Factor Annual, but again it's like it's been wiped right out of my mind. Then again, '92 was a pretty fun year, so I may have some rough spots...
I'm telling you man, those Walmart comics that they packed in those hand & finger-slicingly sharp plastic cases were the ticket back then. That's very much how I got this all parts to that storyline back in the day. '92 to about '96, '97 was pretty much a wild time to see who various packs and what they contained in them as the casing was clear enough that you could see what that 1st issue and the back of the last, and BARELY see what the others were, but it came you a good enough idea of what you could get. Seeing Marvel and early 90's Image packs together like that on the shelves certainly was something. Definitely miss those days.
I'm telling you man, those Walmart comics that they packed in those hand & finger-slicingly sharp plastic cases were the ticket back then. That's very much how I got this all parts to that storyline back in the day. '92 to about '96, '97 was pretty much a wild time to see who various packs and what they contained in them as the casing was clear enough that you could see what that 1st issue and the back of the last, and BARELY see what the others were, but it came you a good enough idea of what you could get. Seeing Marvel and early 90's Image packs together like that on the shelves certainly was something. Definitely miss those days.
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