X-amining Generation X #28

"Oh, Now I Get It..." / "Double Feature"

June 1997

In a Nutshell

Generation X is trapped in their dreams by Glorian

Writer: Scott Lobdell
Penciler: Chris Bachalo, Brian Hitch (2nd Story)
Inker: Al Vey, Paul Neary (2nd Story)
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Joe Andreani
Colorist: Mark Powers
Editor: Bob Harras

Plot

The students kidnapped by Black Tom wake up to find themselves aboard a ship, living their dreams. Paige is blissfully ignorant, Chamber's face is back to normal, Synch is running a children's daycamp with Jubilee, and Monet is living a decadent life with her brother at her side. Elsewhere, the real Jubilee remains a captive of Operation: Zero Tolerance. Daria pleads with her to eat, but Jubilee refuses, asking a shaken Daria how someone as young as she is could buy into Operation: Zero Tolerance. Back on the ship, Generation X's benefactor, Glorian, Shaper of Dreams, confronts the one person who refuses to play along: Skin. Insisting that Glorian has misunderstood and twisted the dreams of his friends, Skin infuriates Glorian to the point that he finally grants Skin's desire, sending him and his friends home — Skin's former home in LA.  

2nd Story: With the help of Emma's telepthy, Banshee realizes Black Tom has taken the kids to Krakoa. He and Emma fly off to try and find the island. They eventually reach the ship where Glorian was keeping everyone, just missing them. Just then, they pick up distress signals from the X-Men as Operation: Zero Tolerance attacks. Unable to locate their students, they decide to help the X-Men if they can. Meanwhile, Daria approaches Jubilee to apologize, but Jubilee blasts her with fireworks. This prompts an involuntary reaction as a swarm of nanobots fly out of Daria and attack Jubilee.  

Firsts and Other Notables

This Scott Lobdell's final issue as the writer of the series he helped launch; his departure was originally presented as brief time away while James Robinson fills in, but he ends up not returning, deciding to focus on the core X-books (before ultimately leaving Marvel when his contract ended and his offer to do freelance work was turned down). 

The issue is split more or less in half between two stories, one featuring the missing kids and the other Banshee and Emma's search for them (with cutaways to the captive Jubilee present in both). It almost seems like Bachalo needed to be spelled on part of the issue, so the plotlines were split between artists and then grouped together (with each ending up working on the Jubilee subplot). But that's just pure speculation on my part. 

Artists Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary, who would introduce/popularize "widescreen" comics via The Authority in a few years time, draw and ink the Banshee/Emma story. 

Glorian, a character with roots dating back to the Silver Age who ends up becoming a cosmic-level being who works with the Shaper of Worlds, is the antagonist of the issue, and is another example of the X-books embracing the wider Marvel Universe at this time. His schtick here — granting the dreams of the title characters, whether they want it or not — is largely consistent with his earlier appearances. 

A Work in Progress

Presumably to establish the dreamlike setting of the kids' portion of the issue, a seagull narrates it.

That image will get reused as a house ad announcing James Robinson's arrival to the series. 

Skin pretty astutely breaks down the ways Glorian is misunderstanding what his schoolmates really want. 

The kids end up back in Los Angeles (where Skin is from originally); they'll spend most of  "Operation: Zero Tolerance" there. 

Believing the kids to have ended up on Krakoa, Emma probes Banshee's memories of Giant-Size X-Men #1 for clues to its whereabouts; she says his empathetic nature makes his recollection of that time surprisingly strong. 

Even though he seemingly got eaten by Black Tom in issue #25, Bumpkin, Emma's troll-like chauffeur, is flying the plane. 

With no clues as to where their students are after Glorian whisks them away, the Banshee/Emma story concludes with the pair flying off to help the X-Men after they overhear their fight with the Prime Sentinels in X-Men (vol.) #65. However, they won't ever actually crossover and interact with any of the X-Men in the course of the crossover. 

It's revealed this issue that Daria, Bastion's young assistant, has nanobots inside her, making her a kind of proto-Prime Sentinel. 

Human/Mutant Relations

Jubilee wonders how someone as young as Daria could buy in so heavily to the anti-mutant prejudices of Operation: Zero Tolerance. 

Young Love

In further hints at a Jubilee/Synch romance, Synch's dream involves him running a daycare with Jubilee. 

Austin's Analysis
Despite his power, Glorian is not really a god within the confines of the Marvel Universe, but his role in Generation X #28 nevertheless is very much that of a deus ex machina in terms of resolving the kids' abduction and subsequent abandonment by Black Tom. I don't know if this is how Lobdell always intended to resolve that plotline, or if, his departure from the series looming, he needed a quick out, but given Lobdell's stated tendency to plot by the seat of his pants, it's probably the latter. Either way, it makes the whole thing feel very much like a, "and eventually they were rescued by, oh... let's say Moe" situation.

That said, the actual resolution to Glorian's kidnapping is pretty well done. That Skin refuses to ever buy what Glorian is selling is consistent with his characterization (Chamber is often similarly self-loathing, but he also has an air of the dramatic about him that Skin doesn't, which would make him more susceptible to Glorian). And the way Skin slices through Glorian's interpretations of his classmates' dreams by explaining what they really long for and how Glorian got it wrong is also fitting for a character whose self-loathing has often kept himself at arm's length from everyone else even as he observes them with a keen eye. And of course, Glorian finally being able to give Skin what he wants by sending him and his classmates home, only for everyone to end up not back at the school but the city Skin calls home, is a classic example of the Literal Genie trope. It's all a bit out-of-left-field, but ultimately, it works.   

Next Issue

It's big guns galore in Prophet/Cable #1-2.

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