If you were to ask someone what the best part of X-Men ’97 Season 2 has been, they’d more than likely point to its second episode, “A Force To Be Reckoned With.” That episode introduced Cable and his X-Force, which consists of Psylocke, Archangel, and new recruits Jubilee and Sunspot (aka two of the remaining X-Men who weren’t hurled through time.) Cable doesn’t waste any time, sending X-Force on the hunt for a mutant “Hound” who can track down Apocalypse’s former Horseman, War. The only problem? The “Hound” they’re hunting is the Morlock known as Caliban!
Steve Foxe not only manages to touch on the previous events of X-Men: The Animated Series by bringing back Caliban, who Jubilee helped save from Apocalypse, but also sum up the differences between X-Force and the X-Men in a few panels. While Jubilee is against the team’s more hardline methods, Cable is determined to end Apocalypse’s reign by any means necessary. It’s what made “A Force To Be Reckoned With” so intriguing; in a world where Charles Xavier and Magneto are absent, what path does mutantkind take?
That train of thought grows to include Exodus and the Acolytes, who have embraced Magneto’s ideology that mutantkind deserves to rule over mankind. It’s not hard to see why most mutants would embrace that line of thinking after X-Men ’97 Season 1 saw Genosha razed by a massive Sentinel. When you have your own nation and humanity still views you as a threat, it won’t be long before you throw up your hands and say, “I might as well give them something to fear.” Foxe is smart to give all these differing viewpoints a stage, showcasing why certain characters hold their beliefs.
Marvel
The artwork by Steve Espin has also become increasingly refined, to the point where it feels like I’m sifting through production artwork for X-Men ’97 rather than reading a well-done comic. Not only do we get to see Jubilee and Sunspot in their X-Force uniforms, but we also briefly return to the year 3690 to show what made Nathan Summers the hardened warrior he is today (and to touch base with Cyclops and Jean Grey). Espin’s artwork sings thanks to Matt Milla, who brings more of the bright, vibrant colors you’d expect from the ’90s. That same vibrancy lends itself well to certain mutant powers, whether it’s Cyclops’s bright red optic blasts or the violet “butterfly effect” of Psylocke’s telepathy.
Perhaps Espin’s best moments begin on the very first page, which perfectly captures the “Previously…on X-Men” recap that precedes episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men ’97. Not only does he manage to capture the events of the first issue and X-Men ’97 in four panels, but it’s also a perfect way to get readers up to speed. It’s rare that a prequel to an animated series or movie feels like essential reading, but that’s definitely the case with X-Men ’97: Season 2 #2 – it builds on the events of the show it’s based on and gives X-Force a much needed spotlight.
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