X-Men 97

 

With the news from Disney+ Day that Disney will be streaming a new X-Men: The Animated Series called X-Men 97, it got me thinking why 97?  Of course the obvious answer is that the series picks up at the conclusion of the origina series, but What If( ,,, voice), the series is tacking stories from the X-Men comics from 1997?  What was going on with our merry mutants in 1997?  This series is going to look back on Uncanny X-Men from 1997 and recap all 12 books from that year.  Starting with issue....., we will look at key characters and moments and from time to time, cross over into the X-Men book as both books were running stories that crossed over.  Come to me my mutants and lets look back at issue # 340 of Uncanny X-Men

Relativity

Written by: Scott Lobdell

Pencils by: Joe Madueeira

Inks: Tim Townsend

We open with the mystery of who tried to kill Bobby Drake, AKA, Iceman's father.... and he name drops Creed, but which Creed are we talking about?

The book then shifts to Sam Guthrie, AKA Cannoball, who has most recently been moved up from the New Mutants/X-Force, to the main roster of X-Men.  Sam is working undercover on the Presidental campaing of Graydon Creed.  His anti-mutant platform has made him the darling of the "we hate mutants" crowd.  The X-Men are doing their best to disrupt the campaing from the inside knowing full well a bigoted President would mean a disatser for mutants( man this sounds super familiar)

We come to find out that Bobby was also working undercover on the Creed campaign and somehow, someway, Creed found out that Bobby was a mutant and had his father attacked, which has left him close to death in the hospital.  And if Creed found out about Bobby, does he also know Sam's secrets, too?

While Sam is feeling uneasy about these questions about his father, he knows who Creed's father is( Sabertooth for those who aint know) and Sam drops that bomd during this convo which completely rattles Creed

Back at the hospital as Bobby's father is battling for his life, he sees Gambit and asks him why he continues this fight for the rights of mutants and Gambit turns the question right back at him- knowing full well Bobby's dad could have given up all the info on Iceman and the X-Men, but he didn't.  A cool seen for Gambit to show, even tho he often seems disengaged from Xavier's Dream, he does believe... just maybe not as strongly as the others.

Outside the hospital, Creed's tactical, strike team is looking to get the drop on some mutants.  They figured if they were able to hurt Bobby's dad, other mutants would come out... and they were right.  But they did draw out a mutant they maybe didn't plan for.... Its the Wolverine!!! Editors note... I hate this version of Wolverine who was way more animal acting than man... the design is cool by Joey Mad tho

While Bobby and Ororo have a heart to heart about their parents and their love for them, Jean has made contact with Sam to let him know that Bobby's cover has been blown.  But out major moment is back at the hospital as Bobby makes a decision... to not come back to the X-Men.  He figures right now, in this moment, his father and mother need him more than the X-Men do.

Review:  From all these years ago, I had forgotten about the Graydon Creed presidental campaign and the X-Men looking to take it down from the inside.  The parallels of Creed and Trump are striking this many years later and the fact that writer, Scott Lobdell is a serial sexual harraser and a Comicsgate supporter, really leans into the Trump similarities.  Overall, a good stand-alone X- Story.  The art work is so striking and different from what we were seeing in 1997.  Madueira is on his total game here and its no wonder he became one of  the hottest artist of this era.

So re-read the book and let me know what you think in the comments section!!

The Producer