"The Gathering"
October 1993
In a Nutshell
Tim Fitzgerald is asked to join mutant leader Xi'an's X-Men just as Xi'an is betrayed by one of their own.
Writer: John Francis Moore
Penciler: Ron Lim
Inker: Adam Kubert
Letterer: Ken Lopez
Colorist: Tom Smith
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
In the year 2099, mutant drifter Tim Fitzgerald arrives at the seemingly-abandoned Nuevo Sol. He is ushered inside by Junkpile, where he discovers a thriving community of societal outcasts, and is shown around by Tina. Meanwhile, mutant leader Xi'an confronts casino magnate Noah Synge, warning him his attacks on Xi'an's people must stop. Elsewhere in the casino, environmental activist Bloodhawk is sentenced to death via a game show, only to be rescued by Meanstreak & Krystalin, two of Xi'an's operatives. Though grateful, Bloodhawk refuses to join Xi'an's group, and flies off on his own. Later, Lytton & Desdemona Synge discover their father has been killed in a manner consistent with Xi'an's disintegration power, and Lytton demands vengeance. Meanwhile, Xi'an arrives back at Nuevo Sol. After checking in with Cerebra, his second-in-command, Xi'an addresses the crowd, including Tina & Tim, speaking about the strength of the diversity of the gathered crowd and their desire to create a better tomorrow. As Krystalin & Meanstreak join the group, Tim spots a sniper in one of the balconies, and uses his power to blast him. However, the assassin still gets off a shot, grievously wounding Xi'an. Just then, Synge's casino enforcers arrive, and as Cerebra leads the escape of Xi'an's followers, the barely conscious Xi'an tells a stunned Tim he knew he'd join Xi'an's X-Men.
Firsts and Other Notables
As the title suggests, this series is part of Marvel's 2099 imprint, a group of titles set in the (depressingly less-far than when it was original published) far future of 2099 which re-imagines classic Marvel characters (from Spider-Man to Hulk to new Stan Lee-creation Ravage) in a new, futuristic setting. There's arguably nothing more representative of the perceived sales boom in comics in the early 90s than Marvel deciding to basically run a parallel universe to their existing books set in the future, with only the name recognition of the superhero identities to draw in readers (I say perceived, because whether Marvel knew it or not, the boom was already busting by late '93). The imprint launched with four books (starring Spider-Man, Dr. Doom, Punisher and Ravage) before expanding (it's also interesting that the X-Men, stars of Marvel's consistently top-selling books, didn't get a 2099 version until the imprint's second wave of series were launched). It technically lasts until 1998's Manifest Destiny one-shot, which closes out some of the lingering plot threads from the various series, but at that point the imprint had been limping along since 1996, when many of the series had been cancelled.
The world of 2099 is essentially a cyberpunk dystopia (reminiscent of Blade Runner), though as sci-fi alternate futures go, it is not nearly as dystopic as, say, the "Days of Future Past" reality. While the series will occasionally reference past catastrophes & disasters, there's no singular cataclysm in the past of the 2099 universe, no nuclear war that restructured society or viral outbreak that decimated the population. Instead, the world of 2099 is one that represents a slow decline in society, one in which omnipresent mega-corporations have largely replaced local/state/national governments as the overriding societal structure in the lives of people, while leaving in the dust the increasingly large number of people who can't afford to buy a better life. Which isn't great, but also isn't on the same level of "humanity herded into camps/on the verge of extinction at the hands of their own creations" settings featured in other futuristic stories.
As far as its relation to the present day Marvel Universe, the idea is that by 2099, superheroes have once more ceased to exist in the world, with the existing Marvel Universe referred to as an "Age of Heroes", with some of those heroes (like Thor & the Norse pantheon) mythologized & worshiped. The Spider-Man of 2099 (the first series of the imprint launched) represents the first superhero to be active in the world since the end of that "Age of Heroes". For most of its existence, the future of the 2099-verse was considered an alternate/possible one (as most of Marvel's various futuristic settings are), eventually designated as Earth-928, though some more recent Spider-Man stories have declared it to be the actual future of the prime/"main" (or Earth-616) Marvel Universe.
This specific series will last 35 issues, plus two one-shots and a short-lived spinoff, X-Nation. It was created by John Francis Moore and Ron Lim. Moore (who was also writing Doom 2099) will, while working on this book, also serve as the regular writer of X-Factor circa Age of Apocalypse and later, will serve a lengthy stint as the writer of X-Force. Lim, meanwhile, was a veteran of Marvel's cosmic series: he was still the regular artist on Silver Surfer when launching this series and had drawn parts of Infinity Gauntlet as well as the entirety of the sequel series Infinity War and Infinity Crusade. Remarkably for the time, both creators will work on nearly every issue of this series. Barring a few covers and the final three issues, Lim, will draw every issue, while Moore will write the entire thing.
As the first issue in a new series set in an entirely different timeline from the rest of the X-books/Marvel Universe, this issue introduces a bunch of new characters, heroes and villains alike.
The first is Timothy Fitzgerald, who will eventually be known as Skullfire, a mutant with the ability to absorb and project vast amounts of energy (kind of like Havok). He's presented here as the reader-identification/new to the team figure, though he'll eventually become something like the group's Cyclops.
At Nuevo Sol, he first meets Serpentina aka Tina, a young woman with stretching powers akin to Mr. Fantastic. She is the Thunderbird of the group (in that she'll die in the series' initial story arc).
Metalhead is also there, a musician with the power to transform his skin into whatever metal he makes physical contact with.
Cerebra (which will later be the name given to the upgraded Cerebro in Grant Morrison's New X-Men run) is Xi'an second-in-command. She has psychic powers (though not, seemingly, outright telepathy), including the ability to affect nervous systems and detect other mutants (hence the name).
The two mutants we see in action the most this issue are Meanstreak (who looks like Gambit and runs like Quicksilver) and Krystalin, who creates crystal weapons formed from the minerals around her.
There's Bloodhawk, an environmental extremist who can transform into a flying gargoyle like creature; he will be an ally to the team without ever really joining them, functioning in a quasi-Wolverine/rebellious outsider role.
Finally, there's Xi'an, the mysterious mutant forming a new group of X-Men and speaking out in favor of mutant rights. He is essentially the series' more active Xavier figure, and possess the ability to deconstruct matter on a molecular level via the touch of one of his hands (which is green & scaly).
In terms of villains, this issue introduces Junkpile, a techno-organic villain who is presented as an ally of Xi'an and his fledging X-Men, but suspiciously allows Xi'an's would-be assassin free reign (next issue will confirm he is a traitor). He will effectively be the series' most oft-recurring villain.
Junkpile is working for Lytton Synge, son of Noah Synge, the head of the Synge Casino empire and the criminal Las Vegas Syndicate, who is killed this issue (in a manner intended to make it look like Xi'an did it). Lytton's sister Desdemona appears for the first time, and will factor in to the series' initial story arc as well.
Being the first issue of series released in 1993, this issue features a gimmick cover, specifically a blue foil-enhanced border printed on thicker cardstock. It is also double-sized, and features a 2099 "sneak preview" insert, containing pages from assorted 2099 books (including a few from this series' next issue), and a X-Men 2099 double page pinup.
The cover also does one of those things which drove me nuts as a kid, presenting characters with a look inconsistent with how they appear in the issue itself. In this case, both Xi'an & Skullfire are on the cover looking as they will much later in the series, not in any way they look in the issue (reading this back in the day, it took me way too long to realize that the guy front and center on the cover with the white face was meant to be Tim, as he won't appear with that look for a few more issues).
A Work in Progress
Junkpile & Xi’an are said to have been brothers in the Lawless, an group of outlaws, but Junkpile says he’s changed since those days.
Meanstreak is a former Alchemax employee; Alchemax is one of the mega-corporations controlling the world of 2099, and was responsible for the creation of the futuristic Spider-Man.
The issue concludes with Xi’an revealing he’s formed a group of X-Men, something the narrative avoids saying until the very end.
The Grim 'n' Gritty 90s
Despite this being published in 1993, the Asian Xi’an is colored with yellow-tinted skin.
In the Year 2099
This issue drops a bunch of vaguely nonsensical nouns to remind us its set in the future.
At some point between the “present” and this series, a Great Purge of mutants occurred.
In talking about historic mutant leaders, Xi’an does that Star Trek trick of naming two we know and one from a time after the “present” (though he does Trek one better and gives two future examples, one of whom, Zhao, will be referenced often (and eventually appear).
Austin's Analysis
One of the struggles with launching a new series is that not only do the creators need to introduce new characters, they also need to introduce the setting. The shared comic book universe makes this easier by giving creators working in it a ready-made setting, so they can focus on the characters (and how they fit into that setting). But launching a series in the far future of 2099, away from the familiar confines of the contemporary Marvel Universe, negates much of that advantage, leaving creators John Francis Moore & Ron Lim the task of introducing new characters, placing them in the loosely-defined world of 2099, and establishing just what it means to be X-Men in a world without Professor Xavier, Magneto or any of the other familiar trappings of the team (coming later in the life of the 2099 imprint, Moore & Lim at least have the general concept of a quasi-dystopia and the "corporations as nations" conceit to work with, as well as the general premise of the X-Men - mutants protecting a world that fears & hates them - as a starting point).
In that regard, this first issue of the series is mostly successful in accomplishing at least the first of those three goals (the 2099 setting is fairly barebones here, while the question of "what are the X-Men of the future all about?" is something the series will grapple with throughout its existence), and it does so mostly by comparing & contrasting the new character against established characters & character types. There's Metalhead, the artistic strong guy with metal skin a la Colossus, Xi'an, the enigmatic visionary-philosopher bringing everyone together like Professor X, Cerebra as his hyper-competent right hand, shades of the later Xavier/Jean relationship, Meanstreak & Krystallin the seasoned operatives, Bloodhawk the angry loner/reluctant teammate, and Tim Fitzgerald in the Kitty Pryde/Jubilee role (for now), the point-of-entry newcomer with hard-to-control powers (at first glance, the blandest of the new characters is arguable Serpentina, who exists mostly to introduce Tim to the world of the X-Men, and as we'll see, there's a reason for that).
Of course, for the series to succeed, all of these new characters will need to grow beyond their immediate one-note comparisons to existing character types, but for a first issue introduction, Moore does enough to at least create a lasting impression in the minds of readers; ultimately, a character needs to be more than "the Colossus" of the group, but for now, that's enough to help readers keep everyone straight as the serial narrative unfolds. Ron Lim's art, meanwhile, does its job, as it's clean & easy-to-follow, with the just the right mix of energy to be engaging without being confusing, while creating an interesting visual look for many of the characters to pair with the brief sketches of personality. If anything, the least-engaging element of this issue is its futuristic setting, but for regular X-Men readers drawn to the book by the name in the title (as I was, back in the day), that's likely not a problem. If a reader is looking for the familiar mix of character interaction interspersed with superhero action and a few mysteries, Moore & Lim at least do the job of a good first issue by providing enough here to get said reader back for another issue.
Next Issue
The X-Men are on the run as Xi'an clings to life in X-Men 2099 #2!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment. Please. Love it? Hate it? Are mildly indifferent to it? Let us know!