X-amining X-Men 2099 #2

"Synge City Blues"
November 1993

In a Nutshell
Xi'an's condition worsens as the X-Men search for evidence he was framed for Synge's death.

Writer: John Francis Moore
Penciler: Ron Lim
Inkers: Adam Kubert & Mike Sellers
Letterer: Tom Smith
Colorist: Ken Lopez
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Plot
Xi'an's X-Men race away from Nuevo Sol, pursued by the Synge Casino enforcers. They receive an unexpected assist from Bloodhawk, who helps fight off the enforcers and takes the X-Men to a secure location, saying his debt to Xi'an for freeing him from Synge is complete. Back at Nuevo Sol, Lytton Synge admonishes Junkpile for the botched assassination of Xi'an, ordering him to finish the job. Later, a drunk Desdemona crashes her father's memorial service, reminding Lytton she now owns equal shares in the casino. Elsewhere, with the injured Xi'an mysteriously being covered by a cocoon-like red carapace, the X-Men split up, with Meanstreak, Krystalin & Metalhead heading to Synge's casino in order to find evidence that Xi'an was framed for Synge's murder. After they leave, Junkpile tracks down the remaining X-Men guard Xi'an. At the casino, Meanstreak & Metalhead are captured by the Rat Pack, while Junkpile makes short work of Cerebra, Tim and Tina, only to discover Xi'an fully encased in his cocoon.

Firsts and Other Notables
In the wake of that attack, Xi’an’s body has reacted to his injury by forming a kind of protective shell around the wound, a reaction that is described very much like the later concept of Secondary Mutations. This will in turn lead to a further change to his power, as revealed in the next issue.

Meanstreak references a friend who works at Alchemax (the company which features heavily in Spider-Man 2099); this will turn out to be Jordan Boone aka Halloween Jack aka Loki, who will serve as a quasi-villain in this series (and become one of the only 2099 characters to show up in the "main" Marvel universe, later appearing in X-Force during Moore's run).

This issue marks the first appearance of the Rat Pack, a group of elite casino enforcers working for Synge, who are loosely themed around the old Frank Sinatra-led Rat Pack of the 1960s (suggesting the legacy of classic Vegas lives on in 2099).

This issue runs the series' first letter column (titled "Are You...eXperienced?"), featuring letters reacting to issue #1. A brief editorial note discusses the launch of the series, and claims Marvel was receiving mail addressed to the book before it was even announced, so large was the desire for an X-Men series set in the 2099-verse.

A Work in Progress
It’s confirmed this issue that Junkpile works for Synge, and conspired with him to coordinate the assassination attempt on Xi’an last issue.

Synge is hooked on some kind of drug, delivered via a "shriek ampule".

Before being recruited by Xi’an, Cerebra worked for Stark/Fujikawa, the 2099 incarnation of Tony Stark’s company.

We also get more background on Xi’an, including the source of his enmity with Synge (for refusing to join his Casino Elite), which led him to leave the country for Saigon, from which he returned a changed man, with a vision for a post-corporate world.

In the Year 2099
It’s revealed that the foundations of the Hoover Dam were damaged during the “big one”.

Human/Mutant Relations
The Syndicate goons use the term “Genescrape” as a derogatory term. "Flatscan" is also still being used as a derogatory term for humans.

Austin's Analysis
Whereas issue #1 dealt with a lot of setup, in terms of introducing the new characters and settings, while kicking off the immediate plot involving the death of Noah Synge and the targeting of Xi'an, this issue is much more action-focused, as the would-be X-Men of Xi'an work to escape Synge's enforcers and keep their leader alive. As such, not a whole lot happens, in terms of advancing the plot or deepening the characters. Cerebra performs a bit of an info-dump for Tim about Xi'an's background, but even that invites as many questions as it answers. Beyond that, this is pretty much all-action, and that's fine (particularly since the double-sized first issue was light on it), though it never bodes well when a series already feels like it's spinning its wheels in just its second issue.

Next Issue
One of the X-Men of 2099 goes the way of Thunderbird! Read the review now here. 

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