X-amining X-Men 2099 #5

"Lightningstrike: Fall of the Hammer Part Three"
February 1994

In a Nutshell
The X-Men become embroiled in the "Fall of the Hammer" crossover.
Writer: John Francis Moore
Penciler: Ron Lim
Inkers: Jim Sanders III
Letterer: Ken Lopez
Colorist: Tom Smith
Loki, Mischiefmaker: Joey Cavalieri
Odin, All-Seeing: Tom DeFalco

Plot
As Fitz escapes from Alchemax's security forces, on Valhalla, floating above New York City, Meanstreak, Krystalin & Bloodhawk are confronted by Heimdall. He takes out Meanstreak & Bloodhawk, but Ravage helps Krystalin escape. Below, as the crowd cheers the return of Thor, Fitz commandeers an aircab to get up to Valhalla, recalling how the X-Men arrived in the city and were caught by Alchemax at the apartment of Meanstreak's friend Jordan Boone, prompting the group to split up & Fitz to be captured. As the cab climbs higher, it suddenly gives out, but someone grabs Fitz to prevent him from falling to his death. On Valhalla, Loki appears before Meanstreak and offers to disable the neurotech that gives Heimdall his powers, allowing the X-Men to knock him out. Loki then reveals himself as Boone, having undergone Alchemax' genetic restructuring process to gain powers for himself. Just then, Fitz arrives, along with his rescuer, Dr. Doom. Fed up with the environmental harm being done by Valhalla, Bloodhawk takes to the sky, intent on destroying it, only to be blasted down by a bolt of lightning hurled by an angry Thor.

Firsts and Other Notables
This is part 3 of the "Fall of the Hammer" crossover amongst all the (then-current) 2099 titles, continuing from Spider-Man 2099 and Ravage 2099, and continuing in Doom 2099 and Punisher 2099. It involves the efforts of the evil company Alchemax to recreate the Norse gods via genetically modified individuals residing on a floating city above New York called Valhalla, and the efforts of the various superheroes to stop them as a result of the dangers poised by Valhalla to the city.

This issue marks the first appearance of the previously-mentioned Jordan Boone, an old friend of Meanstreak's whose disappearance prompts the X-Men's involvement in the story. It is revealed that Boone has willingly transformed himself into the new Loki, having done so in a manner that enables him to retain memories of his previous life (the other Alchemax-created Aesir truly believe themselves to be the Norse gods reincarnated). Shortly after this, Boone will transform into a new form, Halloween Jack, which will be his dominant form for the rest of the series.

Fitz gets separated from the rest of the team because he gets stuck in a futuristic beanbag chair, and I can't decide if that's hilariously awful, or hilariously brilliant.

A Work in Progress
Krystalin’s mother was a Thor worshipper, and Krys still wears a Mjolnir necklace in her honor.

Fitz is able to consciously activate his power for the second time, something he attributes to Luna mucking around in his head in the previous issue.

He also finds that, being able to use it, he likes it.

In the Year 2099
Apparently, Hagar the Horrible is still a cultural reference in 2099 (even though it’s barely one in 2026...).

Ditto Dan Dare.

And White Fang (which at least has an air of classical literature about it).

The cars in the future are magnetic.

Boone won the (presumably Reed) Richards Foundation award for physics.

Austin's Analysis
It's always going to be tough on a new series when it is forced to participate in a crossover early in its run (see also: Generation X), as it robs the nascent title of any character or narrative-driven momentum created in its first issues. It's even more problematic for this series, which still hasn't really defined what it's all about, and was forced to split off a chunk of its main characters from the rest before any of them had any opportunity to gel as a group. It's also always going to be confusing to pick up one chapter of a five part story without reading all the rest (as I did both when I read this issue originally and re-reading it now for this review), especially when that chapter happens to be the third one, but Moore does himself no favors by also starting this issue in media res, and then going back to fill-in the events that led to the characters' conditions at the start of the issue. It creates an unnecessary level of confusion, as it's easy enough to assume the characters are where they are at the start due to events in previous (unread) chapters, but then it turns out that's not the case and the flow of events is being manipulated for little dramatic purpose.

All of that said, this could be a lot worse. It mostly features the title characters, relegating the other 2099 characters to background roles, and the presence of Jordan Boone gives the X-Men a personal connection to the events of the crossover (instead of just having them fight for a generic good). Participating in a crossover certainly does the budding series no favors, doing very little beyond some minor character development for Fitz to further our understanding of the characters or the themes of the series, but as an isolated installment of a larger crossover, it's at least easy to follow and mildly entertaining, which is perhaps more than could be expected of it.

Next Issue
The Freakshow debut!

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