The X-universe has three major time travelers among their ranks, or at least they did as of the 90s. Rachel Summers was the first, and it was eventually revealed that she existed only within her particular timeline. There are no alternate Rachels. Bishop is another of the three, and as we know he's now even further displaced, living in this timeline since Xavier was murdered. The third major character displaced from time was Cable, and he's got a lot of special circumstances regarding his birth. He's the child of Scott and Jean's clone Madelyne Pryor. He was implanted with a virus and raised in yet another alternate future. So we're not going to see an exact duplicate of Cable in the Age of Apocalypse, but since Cable had a solo book at this time they had to replace it, and that's how we got this title.
You have to love that this issue starts with a Terminator reference. The young man referred to as Nate is revisiting his memories, most of which don't make any sense to him. He also ends up psionically visiting Magneto very briefly, before being awoken by Forge, his friend and leader in a band of travelers.Among them are Toad, Soaron, Brute, and Mastermind. They're all mutants, and they travel around in the guise of actors putting on plays to entertain the few remaining humans in America. Forge warns Nate not to use his powers too often, because it turns out he may be just as powerful as Apocalypse himself.
Even the Shadow King (who is apparently living inside a lava lamp in Apocalypse's lair) thinks so. Apocalypse tasks Domino to find Nate and either get him to join their side, or kill him.
This picture is here because I love her costume design.
Forge, Soaron, Brute, Toad and Mastermind all work together to try to save some humans that have been boarded on a train to be moved by Apocalypse's orders. Nate isn't supposed to get involved, but his desire to be a hero means he can't just sit back and do nothing.
Siryn is among the humans, but she suddenly realizes she is not in fact a human anymore. Nate insists they take her along with them. The travelers are stopped on the road by another man, and while he doesn't look a thing like him, the diamond on his forehead and his name, Essex, tell us exactly who he is: Mr. Sinister.
While certainly related to the plot going on throughout the other series, I like that this one can sort of stand on its own. The lack of bulging muscles and giant gun make Nate automatically more appealing to me than Cable as well. I also found it fun to see a mutated and more ugly Toad here long before the X-men movie made the change.
What I find most interesting is that X-Man is wearing a costume that reminds me of the "leather clothes" costumes Morrison would introduce in New X-Men a little under a decade later.
ReplyDeleteI can see the resemblence, though it definitely has the excessive buckles and pouches that were so common in the 90s. :)
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ReplyDeleteReading your Age of Apocalypse posts while watching episodes of Sliders does two things for me. First, it smacks me in the face with 90s nostalgia. Second, it makes me worried about what all my alternative selves are doing in those infinite parallel universes. ;-) I like the real effort the Marvel writers have been putting into giving the time traveling characters a special place in this alternative universe. Even they can't escape from it, apparently!
I agree, a good issue. Loeb has increasingly become a hit-or-miss writer over the years, but this was a strong era for him and he does good work here. I like the characters, the way the story is largely isolated yet still tied to broader events in important ways. I didn't get that Essex was Sinister (because these are literally the first Sinister stories I've ever read), but that's a neat twist with a lot of promise. I've been a fan of the work Skroce's done with the Wachowskis, so it's nice to see some of the 90s comics where he first came up, as he is a very strong designer and visual storyteller.
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