Title Page
Not one of my favorite issues, but it still had some good stuff. I liked that it was told from Bishop's POV, especially considering that this is his last app in the book for quite a while. His relationship with Deathbird is very strange. I can't figure it out: Is it a love/hate relationship? I thought he was bluffing last issue, and I'm sure he thought so too, but it looked like Bish does have feelings for D-bird. I guess we'll see in December's Team X 2000, whatever that means. I am kind of surprised she stayed behind for him: maybe her feelings are genuine, as well (although she had kind of a funny way of showing it, keeping him restrained for all that time). As for the interlude, I think it's sad that Scott and Jean can't live normal lives, but I'm glad to see that they've accepted who they are. And anyway, in Giant-Size X-Men #1 Professor X was asked by Nightcrawler if he could make him normal. Xavier referred to the mob that had just tried to kill Kurt, and replied something to the effect of "After seeing the way 'normal' people can behave, do you really want to be normal?" Kurt replied that he supposed not, but if Xavier could teach him to be the best Kurt Wagner he could be, then he would join the X-Men. That's what they're all about: not being normal, but being the best they can be, WITH their mutations and all the hardships their powers can bring. To bring light to the world, even in the face of ever-present darkness, fear, and hatred. That's what the X-Men do, and I hope that the First Five, ever the core of the team, continue to do just that. We should all remember that we are the "normals" that the writers talk about. All the prejudices that we see in the comics are only reflections of the way we act, so we should take note and try to improve our relationships with each other, as the X-Men have done for the past 35 years.