X-amining X-Force #62

"Human Nature"

January 1997

In a Nutshell

X-Force foils a plot involving Shinobi Shaw and Karma's younger siblings. 

Writer: John Dokes
Penciler: Kevin Lau with Adam Pollina
Inker: Andrew Pepoy with Norman Lee
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Colorist: Le Ann Clark 
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras

Plot

Shinobi Shaw has abducted Leong and Nga Coy Mahn, twin siblings of former New Mutant Karma, and is using them as test subjects for a machine intended to turn mutants into regular humans. Led by Domino, X-Force infiltrates his base, but one of Shaw's mercenaries, Mindmeld, uses her power to swap the minds of Domino and Meltdown with Caliban and Sunspot; the resulting disorientation is enough for X-Force to be captured and rendered powerless via inhibitor collars. Shinobi then offers Sunspot a place in his Inner Circle, but Sunspot turns it down just as Spiral teleports into the base and absconds with Leong and Nga. Just then, another mercenary working for Shaw, Clear-Cut, turns on him, helping X-Force escape and restoring Domino and Meltdown's minds to their own bodies. In the ensuing battle, X-Force manages to destroy Shinobi's machine, though Shinobi escapes. In the aftermath, Clear-Cut tells Domino to let Cable know his debt to him is paid in full. 

X-amining Rise of Apocalypse #1-4

"Hammer and Chisel" / "Blood of the Father" / "Face of the Gods" / "First Culling"

October 1996 - January 1997

In a Nutshell

The origin of Apocalypse, as he rises to power to challenge the pharaoh Rama-Tut!

Writer: Terry Kavanagh, with James Felder (issues #2-4) 
Penciler: Adam Pollina, Anthony Williams (with Pollina in issue #4)
Inkers: Mark Morales & Harry Candelario (issue #1), Morales (issues #2-3), Morales and Al Milgrom (issue #4)
Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Colors: Chris Lichtner

Enhancements: Malibu

Editor: Mark Powers
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras

Plot

When a gray-skinned baby with facial disfigurations is left for dead by an Egyptian tribe named Akkaba, he is saved by Baal, leader of a tribe of nomads called Sandstormers, who believes the child to be destined for greatness. Two decades later, when pharaoh Rama-Tut learns of the existence of the now grown child, En Sabah Nur, he dispatches his vizier Logos and top general Ozymandias to capture him, believing him to be destined for power and wanting him as his heir. As pharaoh's forces clash with the Sandstormers, Baal takes his son into the crashed spaceship from which Baal rescued the time-traveling Rama-Tut when he first arrived in Egypt; when Baal dies, En Sabah Nur claims the technology in the ship for himself. Meanwhile, Ozymandias returns a conquering hero, though Rama-Tut is upset he didn't capture En Sabah Nur and announces his intention to take Ozymandias' sister Nephri as his bride. Seeking revenge, En Sabah Nur travel's to Rama-Tut's city. Disguised as a slave, he gets caught in the power struggle between Logos and Ozymandias just as the time-traveling Fantastic Four arrive in Rama-Tut's court. Rescued by Nephri, he falls in love with the woman, but when she rejects him due to his appearance, his mutant powers activate, and he uses Rama-Tut's technology to transfigure and enslave Ozymandias. As Rama-Tut flees Egypt in the wake of his encounter with the Fantastic Four, En Sabah Nur christens himself Apocalypse, and sets out to destroy the weak!