Supervillain battles has divided the X-Men, but we have a look at the past and the future with X-Men `97 #3! Re:cap - X-Men `97 #2; At Dazzler’s concert, the X-Men take on the villains, Nasty Boys, while at the X-Mansion, Jean Grey tells Cyclops that she is pregnant! Returning from the concert, Bishop, Rogue, and Jubilee are ambushed by Siena Blaze! The powerful Hazard attacks the X-Mansion. At a bar, Storm is talking to Wolverine when Sabretooth and the Marauders attack them!
The team is divided facing multiple threats! Wolverine is pinned by Sabretooth when his teammate, Harpoon, is surprised by Sabretooth behind him. Sabretooh is suprised and Wolverine throws him back! Morph shifts from Sabretooth and in a splash page, he socks Harpoon in the jaw! Todd Nauck provides the cover art for issue #3 which has Rogue daining the powers of Sienna Blaze whil the other X-Men are shocked. Steve Foxe and Salva Espin continue the story exploring missing pieces of the X-Men `97 series!
The streets of Westchester, New York, a mini-tornado summoned by Storm knocks away Harpoon. I feel kinda bad for Harpoon getting bashed by everyone! Trish Tilby reports on the battle with her cameraman. She is interrupted by herself, telling them to evacuate, they run as Morph shifts back! Morph’s shapeshifting is funny, a contrast to Mystique. He shifts into the Hulk to back up Wolverine who is blocking the calcium spikes of Riptide. The Marauder has his own tornado spinning around his body. Hulk Morph hops off Wolverine to smack Riptide silly! Storm flies overhead while the armored Arclight runs. Storm zaps the street in front of her.
Wolverine with his claws faces his mortal enemy, Sabretooth! Suddenly, Wolverine is blasted from behind. It is from the rifle of Agent Carl Denti. He was the agent with Val Cooper arresting FOH members in the first issue. Agent Denti tells them his team is there to arrest all of the mutants. Central Park, Rogue struggles the contain the power of Sienna Blaze who herself is weakened by Rogue’s power absorbtion. Gambit goes to check on Rogue while Bishop and Jubilee confront Blaze, but she teleports away before they can blast her!
Rogue’s full absorbtion weakens most persons unconscious or worse so this is a change. Also, Rogue takes away powers, but Sienna Blaze seems to have her abilities! Rogue is tapped into the Earth’s electromagnetic field, but Gambit reassures her control. He holds her in an embrace, almost romantic, with power crackling around them. Espin’s art is impressive with the violet and pink colors by Matt Milla. Rogue wants revenge, but Bishop says they are grounded with the Blackbird shut down by Blaze. Hazard has renewed his attack blasting at Cyclops at the X-Mansion. He vows revenge on Charles Xavier.
Jean Grey has a telekinetic shield while Beast works at a panel. He activates the mansion’s defenses. This drops panels aound the entrances and damaged areas of the mansion. We see a closeup of Hazard’s eyes blazing with energy. He releases his power blasting apart the mansion gate! Hazard finds though the part so the gate reconnect courtesty of Jean Grey! Cyclops catches her worried about the baby. Beast reports that the mansion sensors can’t detect Hazard and says that Jean’s power must have chased him away. Hank suddenly understands what Cyclops meant about Jean’s condition!
At the Westchester battle, Wolverine is ready to slash Agent Denti with his claws, but held back by Morph shifting from the Hulk. Denti’s rifle is ripped out of his hands by Storrm’s winds. The winds has Wolverine picking up a scent. This takes Logan back to his memories of his days in Team X working alongside Maverick and Sabretooth. They break into a warehouse of agents selling secets to soldiers. Some great shocked expressions by Espin. They take down the corrupt agents, Logan notices that Sabretooth has knocked away a grenade that explodes in the face of an agent, Denti! I like the origin of Denti's scar, but he doesn't seem aware of Sabretooth's role in it. This enrages Wolverine in the present who now recognizes Denti!
They are tossed by Arclight’s shockwave! Sabretooth leaves with the other Marauders in an armored van. Wolverine closes on Denti when a helicopter brings Val Cooper. She is angry that he is on an unauthorized mission. Val says that there is no hostilities with mutants now and Denti allowed the Marauders to escape. She apologizes to Storm for his actions. Denti’s badge is taken away and he is taken away while he vows to contact the Friends of Humanity (FOH). The team returns to the X-Mansion and Jubilee hugs Morph. He playfully shifts into Sabretooth and Wolverine is not amused. They update each other and Jean tells them about the new baby. I really like the happy expressions of most of the X-Men at the news. Foxe is able to balance multiple battles and characters while bringing the story up to date with season one of X-Men `97!
Four Sentinel Blasters out of Five!
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