Summary
Forge and Prof-x play chess when the x-men return home with an injured Jean, Storm tells them what happened. Both the professor and Forge decided to accompany them to rescue Jean’s psyche from Emma Frost’s body. Elsewhere Fitzroy cuts off shinobi’s finger along with his father’s ring to secure leadership of the upstarts. He then opens a portal so his criminal friends from the future can travel back as well. Storm unleashes her powers to breach their defenses. A fight ensues and Fitzroy opens an even larger portal after killing the rest of the hellions. When the X-men are about to be overwhelmed by sheer numbers Bishop and his team; Randall and Malcolm; come through the portal and start mowing down Fitzroy’s forces. Bishop grabs Fitzroy by the throat and prepares to kill him.
The Good
Bishop- This issue marks the debut of Lucas Bishop into the world of comics. At the time he was supposed to be African American, in modern times we know he’s of Aborigine decent since Gateway is his granddad.
Cover-Bishop flanked by his boys Malcolm and Randall; it stands the test of time pretty well.
Art-classic Whilce Portacio and literally some of his best work ever.
The Bad
Hellions- To this day we have no idea who some of these students of Emma Frost were. Never explored again just swept under the carpet, not cool!
Chaos and unresolved plots-Portacio has allot happening in this issue. Jean’s mind is in Emma’s body, Fitzroy insinuates his “dad” is the head of the hellfire club….who’s currently lead by Shinobi shaw? Or was it Sebastian? This was never followed through; he eventually just became a descendant of the Shaw bloodline. How Jean Grey manifested telekinesis in Emma Frost’s body was also never fully explained. One other time Emma manifested telekinesis again during Onslaught, never Explained?! Another problem, Bantam’s role as chronicler of Fitzroy’s portals also was never explained or what his powers were?!
The Ugly
The Debut of Black Superhero Bishop! Need we say more? 3/5
What will it take to review indie published Black Age products on there own merits, styles, and flow? Indie is not the mainstream in the same manner that Hip-Hop or Urban music is not Classical Music. Music is so much better at assigning value and respecting distinctions than the visual domains. This biased practice filters over into to many narratives about Black indie creations, creators and events.