X-amining X-Men (vol. 2) Annual '97 #1

"Not A Cloud In The Sky"

May 1997

In a Nutshell

The Gamesmaster traps the X-Men in a world that seems too good to be true!

Writer: John Francis Moore
Pencils: Steve Epting
Inks: Dan Green
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Comicraft/KF 
Colorist: Brad Vancata
Editor: Kelly Corvese

Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras

Plot

Life is good for the X-Men: they are treated like celebrities, chased through the streets of Salem Center by autograph seekers. Rogue and Gambit are happily dating, Beast has cured the Legacy Virus, and Cyclops can control his optic blasts. The government has shut down the Friends of Humanity, and Bastion has been arrested. But something doesn't feel right to Joseph. Looking at old photos of the X-Men, he realizes what it is: Jean Grey is missing, and none of the other X-Men seem to have any idea who she is. Worried about his sanity, Rogue and a reluctant Gambit humor Joseph as he uses Cerebro to track down Jean, discovering she is a captive of the omnipathic Gamesmaster. He explains that he's given the X-Men a perfect world in exchange for Jean — the one member of the X-Men whose psychic abilities could pierce the illusion. If they give her up— or sacrifice one of the other X-Men in her place —  they can live in a paradise. If they refuse, he'll revert reality, but they'll always remember what they lost. Joseph manages to distract the Gamesmaster long enough for Jean to escape and attack him on the Astral Plane. She tries to learn as much as she can about him, but he escapes, leaving behind only an address of his possible location. The X-Men investigate it, but find the house abandoned, save for a TV playing a news report about crimes against mutants, making it clear the Gamesmaster's perfect reality has crumbled.

Firsts and Other Notables

Gamesmaster, former overseer of the Upstarts contest, who last appeared being cryptic and nonsensical in X-Force, is the villain of this story. It makes his last appearance for a good long while, as he won't return until the second X-23 series in 2010. 

This represents a reunion of sorts for the (very) brief X-Factor (and Factor-X, during "Age of Apocalypse") creative team of John Francis Moore and Steve Epting. 

A Work in Progress

The "perfect reality" setup in this issue has a couple of touchstones specific to this era of the series, including Bastian being arrested and the Friends of Humanity being shutdown, and Beast finding a cure for the Legacy Virus. 

I'm pretty sure the picture of the original X-Men that keys Joseph in to the absence of Jean Grey is meant to be the same as the one which opens Uncanny X-Men #289.

When Joseph points out the things "wrong" with the altered reality, he mentions that Wolverine should still be half-animal, though at this point, Wolverine's post-Wolverine #100 animal regression has more or less ended. 

Joseph uses Cerebro to find Jean; Gambit says that only telepaths can use it, but that's not quite true. Telepaths are better at using it, but technically anyone can. 

Talking about villains who might be able to alter reality/warp perceptions, the Kulan Gath story from Uncanny X-Men #190-191 gets mentioned, though it gets attributed to Selene (in fact, Selene was involved in the story, but she didn't play a role in the transformation of Manhattan to "Conan times"). 

Gamesmaster apparently has a long-running beef with Joseph/Magneto because he's immune to psychic manipulation, which is broadly consistent with Magneto's natural resistance to telepathy but also, it's not like he's the ONLY person Gamesmaster can't affect — he should also be mad at Wolverine, Rogue, and Jubilee, to name just a few of the characters said to be "difficult" for telepaths to read.  

When Jean dons psychic armor on the Astral Plane, it resembles Xavier's armor (from X-Men #117, amongst others). 

The Grim 'n' Gritty 90s

The World Trade Center is featured on the cover. 

The Reference Section

Jean is being held in the back room of a "Bullseye" store; I believe this is meant to be a reference to Target stores. 

The Gamesmaster-possessed staff who attack the X-Men are referred to as "Stepford clerks" by Gambit.

Young Love

Gamesmaster tries to use the Gambit/Rogue/Joseph tension as a motivator to keep his altered reality in place. 

Austin's Analysis
As far as non-Claremont/Adams annuals go, this is not half bad. All too often — especially in the 90s — these turn into a dumping ground, art-wise, but in Steve Epting this has an accomplished, established artist turning in top-notch work. John Francis Moore's story is well-suited to the double-sized format, which gives it more room to hit all the expected "establish the new reality, have someone realize it's wrong, blow it all up" beats without stretching a well-worn narrative out across multiple issues. It's a bit shaggy at the edges — at its heart, this is another story playing around with the Gambit/Rogue/Joseph triangle, but then the plot mechanics force Jean Grey to get thrown into the mix, and gin up a flimsy rationale for Gamesmaster to want to mess with Joseph — and if Gamesmaster is going to be used in a story, it'd be nice if he actually got developed as a character instead of just being a plot device. But this is still probably the best Joseph story yet, for whatever that is worth. 

Next Issue

The final battle with the Dragons of the Crimson Dawn in Excalibur #110!

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