X-amining X-Men (vol. 2) #65

"First Blood"

June 1997

In a Nutshell

Operation: Zero Tolerance launches their opening salvo against the X-Men.

Writer: Scott Lobdell

Pencils: Carlos Pacheco 
Inks: Art Thibert
Letterer: RS/Comicraft
Colorist: Lichtner/Lusen/Liquid
Editor: Mark Powers

Chief: Bob Harras

Plot

In the wake of Operation: Zero Tolerance's attack on the X-Men's jet, Jean Grey suddenly finds herself somewhere else, confronted by a very much alive Iron Man. Before she can learn what's going on, she's pulled back to her reality, as Cyclops and Wolverine try to prevent the plane from crashing. Cannonball and Storm take to the air, trying to fight off their attackers. The whole confrontation is being broadcast, with people all over the country watching. Henry Peter Gyrich appears on CNBC, arguing for the legality of Operation: Zero Tolerance and the threat of mutants. In the skies over Colorado, Operation: Zero Tolerance unveils their human-sized Prime Sentinels against the X-Men. One-by-one, the heroes are overpowered and captured. Meanwhile, Bastion and his forces converge on the mansion. As Iceman watches the assault on his former teammates, Bastion holographically projects himself before the captive Xavier as he storms the mansion and accesses his files. Gloating, Bastion tells Xavier that his sacred dream is over. 

Firsts and Other Notables

X-Men (vol. 2) #65 serves as the kickoff/formal prelude to "Operation: Zero Tolerance", with the Earthbound X-Men team attacked on their way home from Hong Kong as Bastion makes his first (public) move, capturing them and storming the mansion. The crossover doesn't officially begin until issue #66, which comes month after next thanks to Flashback month; Wolverine's solo series will pickup on events started here, while Iceman will step into this series as the lead protagonist for the duration of the crossover.

Iceman will be joined by Cecilia Reyes, who makes her first appearance in this issue. A doctor, she is a mutant with the ability to generate a protective force field. Her defining characteristic will be a reluctance to engage in the superhero lifestyle, though that won't stop her from getting dragged onto various iterations of the X-Men through the years. 

Also making their debut this issue are the Prime Sentinels, cybernetic human-sized Sentinels which emerge from unknowing human hosts. They will serve as, essentially, the shock troops of "Operation: Zero Tolerance", and were memorably adapted into the first season of X-Men '97. 

More hints at Bastion's origin as a Nimrod/Master Mold hybrid occur here, with the other Sentinels referring to him as the "prime unit" amidst his own thoughts about he owes his existence to mutants.

Setting up his return to a starring role, Iceman is seen watching the attack on the X-Men on TV, telling his recovering father (whom he's been tending since Uncanny X-Men #340) that he has to go help.  

This issue opens with a brief scene in which Jean briefly slips into the Heroes Reborn universe and encounters Iron Man; it's a bit that doesn't really go anywhere, and seems to have been a last minute addition, as this issue also includes the original unfinished opening pages to the issue, without the Iron Man appearance. For what it's worth, Lobdell was always more open to the general idea of Heroes Reborn (and co-wrote the first seven issue of the HR Iron Man series), so this might just be him having some fun.

A Work in Progress

One of Cecilia Reyes' colleagues watching the X-Men/OZT fight notes he met Storm once, with a footnote pointing back to X-Men #122, a reference to the sequence when Storm visits Harlem, meets Luke Cage, and learns some hard truths inside a crack den (the idea being that encounter with Storm is what led this medical professional to turn his life around). 

Bastion tells Xavier that he got the necessary information to break into the X-Mansion from Jubilee, suggesting that while she never fell for Bastion's ruses in Generation X #27, she did ultimately provide him the information he was after in some manner.  

Amongst the files Bastion is after are the Xavier Protocols (his documentation on the best ways to defeat all the X-Men), information on the Mutant Underground, and the Danger Room schematics. 

Human/Mutant Relations
During the attack on the X-Men, Henry Peter Gyrich goes on TV to spin the attack and build support for Operation: Zero Tolerance. 

During his rundown of all the bad things mutants have done, Gyrich mentions that 34 people died as a result of "Onslaught" (not counting the superheroes the world believes dead), which is a remarkably-small number considering all the giant robots stomping through Manhattan in the course of that story. 

One couple watching the news likens the attack on the X-Men to the internment of the Japanese during World War II. 

Austin's Analysis
It's finally here! After months of build-up and teases, Bastion and Operation: Zero Tolerance finally make their move and kickoff the next X-Men summer crossover event. Of course, we know better, because we know that Flashback Month, in which all the books publish a "minus one" issue that has nothing to do with the current plotlines, is looming, thereby punting the actual start of the crossover out a month. But on paper, at least, X-Men #65 is a suitably pulse-pounding kickoff to the story. In fact, given the relatively scattershot approach to this crossover and its limp ending (brought on by behind-the-scenes creative changes), it's arguable that this is really the high point of the whole story. 

As random as Bastion's attack on the X-Men at this moment is (there's really no specific inciting incident that sets him off other than a vague sense of "I guess we've prepared long enough), the swiftness and decisiveness of it lands. Cutting back and forth between the X-Men/Sentinel fight (and underscoring that fight with the more fundamental "survive an airplane crash" narrative) and the media push to legitimize the attack (and the success — or lack — thereof) makes the whole thing feel like a big deal, even if the whole thing is structured such that it's never going to feature in any roundup of the X-Men's greatest battles. We know, both from hindsight and the conventions of the genre, that the X-Men will ultimately bounce back from this, but Lobdell and Pacheco make the most of the issue's closing images, of Bastion, walking the halls of the X-Mansion and gloating to Professor X while his forces overpower the X-Men. Above all, they sell the feeling that the X-Men, however briefly, are completely outmatched, which is a strong feeling with which to kickoff the story. 

Next Issue

Access permitting, we'll return to the miniseries glut with Imperial Guard #1-3!

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