X-Men 97 # 2

 By Mark Rodriguez

The X-Men are back in action as they rescued Dazzler from the Friends of Humanity. They run into a government group that claim to be helping mutants but have a hidden agenda. Jean announced that she's pregnant... and this brings the attention of Mr. Sinister who plans to recruit new allies to assist him. What will happen now?

 

The issue opens with reporter Trish Tilby covering the attack of the Nasty Boys at the Charles Xavier Memorial Concert and how Dazzler and the X-Men stopped them. She reports as this is the latest example of high-profile heroism as the X-Men continue to gain favor with the public at large. Mr. Sinister angrily punches the TV, smashing the screen.

Mr. Sinister says that humanity has feared mutants which kept the X-Men busy while he continued his plans. Now the X-Men are close to realizing Xavier's dreams. The key to his genetic research is in his grasp and he won't risk losing it. He tells his new Sinister Seven that it's time to remind humanity that the X-Men should be despised instead of celebrated.

 

At the Mansion, Jean shows Cyclops her pregnancy test. He had to make sure he's seeing it right since everything he sees is red. Jean says they're going to be parents. Wolverine overhears this and storms off. Storm watches him go and follows, determines that he needs a friend's comfort.

Cyclops asks Jean who else knows. Jean says she has a feeling Storm knows. Just then an alert goes off on the mansion grounds. Cyclops say he has to get Jean somewhere safe, and she says it might be a false alarm. Just then an explosion blows out the nearby wall and knocks Cyclops and Jean back.

A new villain arrives, calling Xavier a liar and manipulator and warns the X-Men will suffer as he has. Scott tells Jean not to over-exert herself. She says she can still give the intruder a taste of his own medicine as she uses her telepathy to knock some of the debris back at him. The man calls himself Hazard and says the X-Men will perish like Xavier did. Cyclops says he dared to insult Xavier and threaten his wife. He picked the wrong fight.

 

Elsewhere, Jubilee, Bishop, Rogue and Storm are returning home after Dazzler's concert when suddenly the Blackbird is hit by an electromagnetic pulse. Bishop tells everyone that the controls are fried and to brace for a bumpy landing. Rogue heads out to slow down the plane. Jubilee asks if the can pilot since they're going to crash anyway.

Rogue gets under the plane and does her best to land safe. They land in Central park and Rogue says they're lucky it's after hours and the plane didn't go down in the middle of the day. A woman named Siena Blaze announced that she hit the plane and their day is about to get a lot worse.

 

Meanwhile, Storm finds Wolverine at a bar in Westchester called Harry's Hideaway. She asks him if he's upset over Jean. Wolverine says he's the last one the hear the news. Storm says Jean didn't tell her but she could tell she was dancing around the subject. Wolverine says he didn't mean to overhear Scott and Jean, but when one has super-senses, sometimes you hear what you're not supposed to hear. Just then Wolverine says he smells something he's not supposed to small, and he busts out the claws.

A mutant with cyclone powers smashes through the bar, calling himself Riptide. Storm says he's foolish to use wind powers against the mistress of the elements. Sabretooth shows up with his team called The Marauders. 

Back at the mansion, Beast steps in to see what all the noise is about and sees Cyclops blasting Hazard into a wall. Beast decides to leap in with a jumpkick while Hazard is still out of it. Hazard flies out of the way, smashing through the roof. Hazard says Xavier left him to rot when his mutant powers first manifested. He threatens to destroy the mansion.

Back to Central Park, Bishop brings out the guns but Siena is too fast to hit. Siena says she taps directly into the Earth's electromagnetic field. It's bad for the planet but fun for her. Rogue takes off one of her gloves and sneaks up on her. She grabs onto Siena and starts screaming and losing control. Siena wishes Rogue luck in trying to control her powers. 

 

At the bar, Wolverine tackles Sabretooth outside while the Marauders continue to fight. Storm summons lightning, and Prism says he can refract everything she throws at him. Sabretooth has Wolverine in a wrestling hold. Wolverine asks if he didn't think he could take him on alone. Sabretooth says he's always running around with his buddies so he decided to get some of his own. He tells Harpoon to pin Wolverine so they can cash their checks.

Just then Sabretooth appears behind Harpoon and tells him to not hit the wrong 'angry hairy stabby guy', which confuses him. Sabretooth says that's not him as Wolverine knocks him back. The other Sabretooth says he does a very convincing impression. He's revealed to be Morph who promptly socks Harpoon out.

 

My Thoughts- 

So I found the first issue as a Trick or Read reprint, so I decided to seek out the rest of this four-issue mini series. Thanks to Hipcomic, I was able to track this one down. 

This issue is pretty straightforward as we get introduced to Mr. Sinister's new team of villains since he got rid of the Nasty Boys last issue. The new Sinister Seven consists of Sabretooth, Hazard, Siena Blaze, Riptide, Prism, Harpoon and Arclight. Other than Sabretooth's ongoing blood-feud with Wolverine, Hazard seems to have personal beef with Xavier and by extension, his students.

One thing the new X-Men 97 cartoon did was introduce three new(ish) characters as part of the original line-up. Joining Cyclops, Jean, Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Beast, Gambit and Jubilee are bringing back Morph and Bishop as permanent members and also adding in Sunspot. 

 

The last issue explained that Bishop was stuck in their time until Beast can fix his time machine, and also showcases Storm moving from her classic 90's look to her 97 look. Likewise this issue ends with Morph coming back and I assume we'll see how he rejoins the team and sticks around.

Like I mentioned last issue, the art does a good job with keeping the characters as on-model to the show as possible, which is always good when a comic is based on a cartoon. 

We didn't get to see more of the supposed pro-mutant government group though, so maybe we'll see more of that next issue. They seem to be a separate thing from whatever Mr. Sinister is up to, so maybe both stories will cross paths down the line.

We saw several new character this time, at least new to the X-Men 90's series. It was nice to see Sabretooh again since, other than cameos, he wasn't in Season 1 of X-Men 97. He's slated to appear in season 2, but as it usually goes when companies make media outside of a main series, I really doubt Wolverine is going to bring up 'that one time Sabretooth and the Marauders attacked a bar' whenever they clash in Season 2. Just like if they ever bite the bullet and finally make a Spider-Man 90's cartoon continuation, I doubt Spider-Man is going to mention the times he fought with Morlun and Kaine.

I'll be tracking down the next two issues eventually.