X-amining X-Force and Cable '97 #1

"The Last Valkyrie"

July 1997

In a Nutshell

Dani Moonstar reunites with Cable and the New Mutants to save the Valkyrie from Malekith. 

Writer: John Francis Moore

Layouts: Rob Haynes

Penciler: Casey Jones
Inkers: Jason Martin & Jon Holdredge
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Colorist: Leann Clark

Editor: Jaye Gardner
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras

Plot

In Montana, the Valkryie Brunnhilda crashes into the Mutant Liberation Front's base, warning Dani Moonstar of mortal danger in Asgard. She passes the concentrated life force of the Valkyrie to Dani before being captured by giant demon dogs and dragged into a dimensional portal. Dani proceeds to contact her old friends in X-Force, who have history with Asgard, and the group travels there to discover the realm is being ruled by the Dark Elf Malekith. As X-Force battles his army of rock trolls, Malekith, sensing the power of Valkyrie in Dani, attempts to claim it using a Runespear, but Cable pushes Dani out of the way, taking the spear instead. X-Force retreats, leaving Cable behind, and unites with the dwarf Kindra and the giant Skadi. As Cable endures torture at the hands of Malekith, Dan and Sunspot travel to Valhalla, where Hela is waiting in the Hall of Death alongside the bound but lifeless Valkyrie. Dani manages to shoot a psychic arrow at the Valkyrie containing their life force given to her by Brunnhilda, and they revive. With their help, Malekith is defeated and order restored. Though she says she must return to the MLF, Dani and X-Force part amicably, and she promises she will soon explain everything to them about her connection to the MLF. 

Firsts and Other Notables

Set earlier in the timeline but released contemporaneously to X-Force #67, X-Force (and Cable's) 1997 annual is the second part of John Francis Moore's efforts to integrate Dani Moonstar into X-Force for the first time alongside her former New Mutants teammates, presenting a "I'm still on the MLF but we can work together" story ahead of her subsequent departure from the MLF and reveal as a SHIELD agent.

Valkyrie appears briefly to bookend the story, making one of her semi-random post-Defenders appearances (prior to this, she was in a Ghost Rider story). Moore will use her again in a later issue of X-Force.

The villain of the story is semi-regular Thor foe Malekith, future star (?) of Thor: The Dark World. 

His takeover Asgard is predicated on the fact that all of the Asgardian gods (or Aesir) are currently scattered on Earth with no memory of their past lives, a status quo established in the waning days of Thor's solo series before it was cancelled as part of the "Heroes Reborn" (technically, it reverted to its Journey Into Mystery title and briefly became an anthology book before then getting cancelled). 

Also, I think the problem with Cable's compass in that panel above is that it doesn't appear to exist.

Founding New Mutant Karma gets named checked, which also serves to promote, via footnote, the Beast miniseries of which she is inexplicably a central part. 

There's a random pinup inserted at the end of the issue. 

The story also concludes with a dedication —  “This one’s for Stan and Jack, who opened the gates of Asgard, and for Chris and Art and Walter, who dazzled us with their deluxe tours of the golden realm” — acknowledging the contributions of the creators who helped create the world in which this story is playing (although Louise Simonson and Brett Blevins, who told the most recent "New Mutants in Asgard" story which gets directly referenced here, are left out). 

Creator Central

Pencils come from Casey Jones, late of co-penciling Excalibur with Carlos Pacheco.

The Chronology Corner

This story takes place between X-Force #62 and #63. 

A Work in Progress

X-Force and Cable '97 #1 is essentially a New Mutants reunion issue, something that gets called out directly in the text. 

In addition to the mention of Karma, both former New Mutants Cannonball (currently with the X-Men), Wolfsbane (currently with Excalibur) and Illyana (currently de-aged and dead) get mentioned. 

Boomer's hatred of Asgard, well-established in Louise Simonson's Asgard story in New Mutants #79-#86, is mentioned, as is the fact that Asgard's sun supercharges Sunspots power.

Chris Claremont's penchant for throwing a lot on his characters gets lampshaded as the relative absurdity of a Cheyenne woman becoming, essentially, an Asgardian angel of death is pointed out.

The departure point for the trip to Asgard is the site where the events of the X-Men/Alpha Flight miniseries took place. 

It goes unstated, but Caliban and Shatterstar pull of a fastball special.

Skadi, the giant whom X-Force fights alongside, is a new character, though Kindra, the dwarf, met them in New Mutants Special Edition #1, the first "New Mutants in Asgard" story.  

Narration at one point refers to Siryn as having grown up in Scotland, despite being, somewhat famously, Irish.

Hela was the villain of the Simonson "New Mutants in Asgard" story, in which she tried to use Dani to take over Asgard, something which gets referenced here. 

Young Love
Kindra still has the hots for Cannonball. 

To the EXTREME! 
Dani apparently blames Cable for breaking up the New Mutants, which actually makes a lot of sense from her perspective, given she left the team just before he arrived, and once she made it back to Earth, her old friends were now part of this hyper-militant group led by Cable. 

Austin's Analysis
X-Force — at least this iteration of it — is usually at its best when its engaging with its connections to New Mutants. Not just for the Leo Pointing meme nostalgia feels, but because the tension between what the characters were then compared to what they are now is rich and satisfying. As we'll see, one of the reasons John Francis Moore's run is held in such high regard is because it revels in that tension, making his X-Force, arguably more than in any other creative run, a "New Mutants As Adults" series. Much of that starts here with X-Force and Cable '97, an issue whose most important character — the one driving the action and undergoing some arc, however minor — isn't technically reflected in the title billing. Published the same week as X-Force #67, this issue continues (or starts, depending on how you want to look at it) Moore's efforts to reintegrate Dani Moonstar into the series. Given she is one of the key New Mutants who wasn't there for Cable's arrival and the group's transformation into X-Force, she is a key player in driving the New Mutants-to-X-Force tension.

Of course, in the process, this issue is filled with plenty of Leo Pointing moments and Glup Shittos from past New Mutants Asgardian stories. But the stuff I enjoy more than, say, the return of Kindra, the elf with the hots for Cannonball, is Moore remembering that Meltdown hates Asgard, and that for all the changes she's undergone since her last trip there, that would remain true. Or having Sunspot once more revel in the added power granted him by the Asgardian sun. Not only do moments like that show that Moore has done his homework and tickle us longtime fans in the feels, by reminding us of the earlier, younger versions of the characters, we recognize how far they've come (even if Tabby still hates Asgard).

It's funny that this is a co-headliner book, given that Dani's presence and the way this story rests specifically on the past experiences of the pre-Cable New Mutants leaves its co-headliner little to do. Despite sharing top billing, Cable largely disappears from the second half of the narrative, getting captured, tortured and ultimately escaping on his own, but it all plays like an afterthought to the continuing adventures of X-Force in Asgard (Siryn bristling at the way Moonstar usurps her long-held authority as team leader is a much better depiction of "old New Mutants, new X-Force" tension than anything Cable does). This issue makes it clear why Moore will shortly write Cable out of the series he's largely defined up to this point. 

Casey Jones is certainly no Art Adams, though he's on par with Brett Blevins (who penciled the New Mutants' second extended stint in Asgard), lending the high fantasy characters and tropes of Asgard with just the right touch of cartoonish whimsy. The end result is a another '97 annual with pleasantly strong and story-appropriate art (after Steve Epting in X-Men '97).

To call X-Force and Cable '97 an underrated or hidden gem is to perhaps give it more credit than it deserves. It does mostly play on fan nostalgia and the art, while decent and a step above fill-in level, isn't going to knock anyone's socks off. But I am comfortable saying this one of the more enjoyable issues from 1997 I've read of late, and that counts for something. If that's more damning of the quality of the line than it is praise for the issue itself, so be it. 

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