Generation X should be way older. And way crankier.

I certainly am, anyway. Also, I don't think Jubilee is traditionally...built like that. Hell, I'm not sure Psylocke is built like that; the OAFE review of Monet notes the figure is probably bigger than it should be. Maybe in more ways than one. Still, I got a spare dirt cheap at Target, and thought I would see what I could do. The hands swap out, the neck could be a sticking point.

This week started out pretty well, then went south on me; but maybe wasn't a complete loss. We'll see you next week!

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This issue, the Massachusetts Academy loses their accreditation, from the looks of it.

It feels like three distinct circles: writers Marvel would like to write Howard the Duck, writers that would like to write Howard the Duck, and then writers that'll actually get to write Howard the Duck. It also feels like there should be maybe some overlap in those three circles, somewhere maybe? And yet, here we are: from 1996, Generation X #21, "To Live and Die and Molt in L.A." Written by Scott Lobdell, pencils by Chris Bachalo, inks by Joe Pimentel. 

Ugh, that title...I don't know if Lobdell was jumping up and down to use Howard, or if somebody in editorial decided he was no longer radioactive from his movie and should appear somewhere? Howard seems a little crankier than usual here, as he picks a fight in a dive bar that "don't serve ducks or muties," but he's being antagonistic on purpose, as he and Chamber are running a distraction for Skin. This was probably set up the previous issue, so it's not super clear here. 

Meanwhile, back at school, the rest of Generation X is taking a test, proctored by guest-star the Beast. M finishes her test early, but then spaces out, tears her test into pieces, and makes a remarkably detailed little origami house out of it. Beast suspects this isn't related to her mutant powers, as Sean and Emma had thought, but that M was autistic. Which, from the time this issue was published, is probably going to be played off as some Rain Man baloney.

An old man, which is pretty obviously Skin using his powers to disguise himself, visits his own grave to watch his mom and his gang boss mourn him. He doesn't elaborate to Chamber or Howard, though. Sure, whatever.

Also this issue: another U.S. Postal Service statement of ownership: Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 296,414. Single issue nearest to filing date: 304,658. And the credits note "In memory of Mark Gruenwald, dearly missed."

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"The End" Week: Generation X #75!

Excalibur was my ancilliary X-book, so I'm not sure I even read the crossovers with this title. But most of the characters have gone on, so...from 2001, Generation X #75, "Brand New Day" Written by Brian Wood, pencils by Ron Lim, inks by Sandu Florea and Randy Elliott.

The kids of Generation X are wondering if their time there hasn't run it's course; since Emma and Sean are both acting weird: Emma had killed her sister Adrienne (who had set a bomb that killed Synch) and appeared to dream about it and really enjoy it. She also used her powers to mindwipe an investigating cop, while Sean was hitting the bottle after the death of Moira MacTaggert. (Pre-House of X stuff. I'm not sure they were a couple then, but it still hit him pretty hard.) Husk is trying to be the adult and organize missions for her team, but Emma won't approve one to help "tree-huggers" since it might hurt her bottom line. And Chamber got a letter from Xavier's, offering him a table at the big-boys' table, with the X-Men! Jubilee encourages him to take the spot, but he was already sold.

When Chamber tells the rest of the team, Monet scolds Husk for not even pretending to be glad for him; but she's not mad about that: what are they even doing there? Was there an end goal, or a graduation, anywhere in sight? In the middle of their discussion, there's a balloon from Jubilee that appears to be altered from the usual lettering, like a late correction? But she decides to go back to L.A. and sort out her life; with Skin accompanying her. Husk opts to head north and help the environmentalists, claiming she doesn't want to be an X-Man. Uh-huh. Monet says she'll head home as well, and together the kids tell Sean their decision. He didn't feel like he'd been doing a good job for them, so he couldn't blame them; and says he'll return to Ireland to get himself together. The kids still love him...but ask him to tell Emma, who had gone over all scary.

From an upstairs window, Emma watches the kids make their goodbyes, then takes a call from the Professor, who has sent a helicopter and some X-uniformed guys to pick her up. Sean, who looks about twenty years too young with Ron Lim drawing him, locks the place up, happy he saw the kids (that lived!) grow up. Of course, he'd next be seen--with Jubilee, and Husk!--around Uncanny X-Men #403, as part of the short-lived mutant cops team X-Corps. Why Sean would be part of that, and why Jubilee and Husk would join him; well, that one wasn't a great idea and wasn't executed well, either: they needed somebody on that team. Emma might have been on her way to Genosha there, since she would shortly turn up in New X-Men #115: her secondary mutation and relationship with Cyclops were coming up. Those have been around so long it feels like forever, doesn't it? Read more!

Emma Frost bags out halfway through this one, she's not spending Halloween with kids.

It's August as I write this, and was brighter than the surface of the sun when I went out earlier, but we're still blogging as Halloween a comic as I could find! From 1998, Generation X/Dracula, "Children of the Night" Written by Joseph Harris, pencils by Tomm Coker, inks by Troy Hubbs. (I'm glad the GCD had that, those credits were nearly impossible to read there!)

The cover--an homage to X-Men Annual #6, and the back cover features Bill Sienkiewicz inks!--makes it look like this is going to be fairly straight-forward: Dracula attempting to sway Chamber, with the restoration of his ruined face. (I thought it should be just a glowing, ruined hole; or at least jawless; but Chamber's face is portrayed here as if merely wrapped. He seems less wrecked than Jonah Hex or Snake-Eyes, and that was kind of supposed to be his whole deal!) But the story is more impressionistic and a bit vague: there are multiple dream sequences, vampiric thralls that are magically restored to human in the end, and an ambiguous ending that's probably never followed up on.

Aside from the It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown trick-or-treaters, there are more callbacks to X-Men Annual #6 than I had thought: the 'D' emblazoned scarves Dracula gave to his special favorites, and a character stabbing Drac that probably should've finished him.
(From X-Men Annual #6, "Blood Feud!" Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Bill Sienkiewicz, inks by Bob Wiacek.)

In this case, it's Husk finally realizing she could change into wood and stab him, but she misses the heart. Rrrrright. There is an interesting moment slightly earlier, when Dracula is about to bite her, and she sheds a ton of skin at him to get away. For Drac, I imagine that would be like trying to bite into an apple and finding nothing but multiple layers of skin: gross, and oddly unsettling. Overall this issue's not in the ballpark of its inspiration (partially because I'm not as attached to the Gen X kids) but it has a couple interesting visuals.


Out of the 1998 annuals oddball pairings, we've blogged X-Men/Dr. Doom, Hulk/Sub-Mariner, X-Man/Hulk. I probably still have Machine Man/Bastion somewhere, but I think I actively skipped Alpha Flight/Inhumans recently. Maybe I might've coughed up for it, if I realized it maybe might have the Stan's Soapbox where he answers a question from me! Collect them all!

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