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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Trehern Reads: Uncanny #XMen #294 (1992)

Does anyone else think "Cleveland steamer" when they see this cover?
Let's switch over to Marvel Comics for a week.  And I don't mean the media-heavy, Disney-owned, entertainment JUGGERNAUT known as Marvel Studios today; I'm talking early 1990s Marvel where anything and everything could happen.  Dreams could come true, characters weren't dying and being resurrected and we were still living in the best era of comic books.

If you remember the 90s, you know one of the best cartoons was the X-Men series.  And this issue of Uncanny X-Men came out the same year!  Stan Lee was advertising it IN THE COMIC BOOK!!  So cool.  So if you're ready to throw cards with Gambit, ride lightning with Storm and check out Rogue's finely toned body suit, meet me after the jump!!

The cover of Uncanny X-Men #294 features one of my favorite X-Men characters: Cable.  I had his action figure as a kid, and he was the baddest mother f*cker on the planet.  Half-man, half-machine like the Terminator, Cable didn't give a sh*t about anything...or anybody.  He shot first and never asked questions.  And he was on the cover of this mother f*ckin' issue!  So you can imagine how pumped I was...

The story jumps around to a couple different characters: Jean and Scott talking infidelity and then being attacked by some fiend named Caliban (?); Colossus and Iceman grocery shopping; and Professor Xavier giving a speech at a peace rally in NYC.  I love the almost mundane dialogue in this issue; maybe it's because I know these characters so well or something, but reading Colossus and Iceman grocery shop and talk about their love lives is so perfect.  And most comic books were like this back then; you didn't have to put in subtle nuances for upcoming reboots, you didn't need to kill off any characters to get readers, and sometimes you didn't even have to force action scenes onto every page.  I mean this issue has action (a lot actually), but it also gives you time to breathe...time to look around and appreciate this world the author and artists have created for us.  But you know that something dangerous is looming, so you enjoy the quiet moments while you can...

This is part one of the X-Cutioner's Song, which appears as a collected edition here (order Amazon products through PCB!!).  I haven't read the whole series myself, but this single issue REALLY makes me want to delve into a 20-year-old crossover event that has little to do with upcoming theatrical releases. I love the characters, I love the artwork, I love the cliffhanger and I SWEAR TO GOD CABLE WILL KICK ASS WHEN HE GETS HIS OWN MOVIE!!!

My final rating of Uncanny X-Men #294 is...
9 out of 10 Psylocke Bikini Posters

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