X-Men ’92 #1
Marvel Comics
Written By: Chris Sims, Chad Bowers
Art By: Scott Koblish
Colors By: Matt Milla
Chris Sims, Chad Bowers and Scott Koblish have teamed up to bring us one of our favorite X-men Story lines to-date. The original X-Men from the 1992 series are back! The starting line-up includes Professor X, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine, Beast, Jubliee, Cyclops and Jean Grey. X-Men ’92 originally was released as a digital comic earlier in the month as a part of Marvel’s Infinite imprint but the print copies hit stores this week. ’92 takes places in Westchester, home of the X-Men and X-Mansion. The issue begins with a trip to the mall for some exercise and laser tag. Cyclops is still the stiff anti-fun leader depicted in the original series while Wolverine challenges his authority at every opportunity. Of course it is a matter of time before the two begin arguing. After the match the gang is interrupted by two Sentinels who attack the mutants.
This issue also serves as an ode to the first episode of the original series. In the animated series, the first episode also takes place in the mall where a Sentinel attacks the mall as the mutants are shopping. In the original series, for the most part, humans are scared of the mutants. This issue takes place at a later time, after The Westchester Wars, where humans have realized it is possible to peacefully coexist with mutants. This is notable when Wolverine shopping for shirts and an employee approaches him to praise him for saving her sister. The introduction of each of the heroes is also in a perfect style of the 90’s providing a brief bio of each character as well as giving them an opportunity to do some trash talking in the process.
Robert Kelly makes an appearance and has also obtained the title of Baron given by Doom. His purpose in this issue 
is to inform the reader of what has happened in Westchester over the past few years as well as inform the X-men of Clear Mountain. The brotherhood of Mutants make a return but not in the way that you would think. Baron Kelly reveals to the X-men that any evil mutant after the war was taken to a facility called Clear Mountain, where they would learn to adapt and basically re-educate themselves. This immediately raises suspicion so Xavier sends his X-men team to check out the facility. The X-men are greeted by Cassandra Nova. In the series we have never met the Cassandra Nova. In fact, she was first introduced in Grant Morrison’s “New X-Men ” in 2001. In that series, she is credited for commanding an army of Sentinels that massacred 16 million mutants on Genosha.
The X-Men tour the facility running into former members of the brotherhood. This includes Blob, Toad and a hilarious interaction between Wolverine and Sabretooth. Cassandra’s intentions are not entirely clear to the X-Men. In Clear Mountain they are introduced to a world where mutants of all views can interact without violence. Meanwhile, back at the X-Mansion, Xavier’s suspicion rises and through cerebro, he visits the Astral Plane only to discover it is a trap.
This has been one of the most anticipated series since the announcement of Secret Wars. “X-Men ’92” is an entertaining read for all, but If you grew up in the early 90’s watching those Saturday morning cartoons as I did, this is a nice dose of nostalgia. Sims and Bowers brilliantly capture the personalities of the mutants 90’s personas. Koblish and Milla provides a bold and energetic feel consistently throughout the issue. The masterminds behind this series have absolutely done the original show justice and even if you were to remove the animated series from the equation, this is an overall fun, quirky and entertaining issue. Highly recommend.
Now I leave you with the epic thing some from the ’92 series. I suggest listening to this prior to reading the issue.
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