download aliens vs predator requiem dvdrip Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

With X-Men: Legacy promising to return to Carter Ryking and the Almagordo, I’m going to take this opportunity to review one of the comics I coincidentally picked up in Bristol – X-Men #12, which features the first appearance of Carter Ryking.

While I recently remarked that Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four was taking an impressive leap of faith by bringing back Lyja, a character who has been virtually ignored for literally 11 years since she was written out of the Fantastic Four’s supporting cast. Carey is going one better, bringing back plot elements that only occurred in two issues of X-Men almost 16 years ago (though Carter Ryking did appear in 2 issues of Gambit a mere decade ago!). I was 10 when X-Men #12 was published! And that’s why I love X-Men Legacy.

Still, we’re not here to talk about Carey. X-Men #12 opens with a panic at Carter Ryking’s containment facility. He’s having a seizure which involves a lot of electomagnetic energy being thrown around, brought on by news of his Father’s death. Back at the X-Mansion, we’re seeing some of that X-Men downtime that used to be so popular, including a brief nod to the current big soap opera storyline of Cyclops having guilty thoughts about everyone’s favourite nimbo, Psylocke. Meanwhile, the Professor is training Jubilee in the danger room when it’s dramatically interruped by Wolverine.

While dramatic, it does strike me as a hilarious moment – the idea that Wolverine snuck into the Danger Room to make his point, rather than go to the Professor in the control booth, but that’s the kind of 90s exxxtreme action that comics were about then. If it looked cool, it didn’t have to make sense. Wolverine started ranting about files he’s found that suggest Xavier has been keeping information about his past from him. His explanation for discovering the file is itself side-splitting – Wolverine says he was looking for access codes for “the computer work I’ve been doing.” Frankly, the idea of Wolverine doing computer work brings tears of laughter to my eyes. What was he doing, making a spreadsheet of Weapon X facilities? Wolverine at the office? Comedy gold.

Elsewhere, Carter Ryking escapes! And he’s upset. The Professor and Logan make up and discuss the information Wolvey found about Almagordo and Xavier’s father’s work there, and how it might relate to Weapon X. When Xavier sees news of the elder Ryking’s death on TV, they decide to go to the funeral and investigate. Xavier muses a little over Ryking’s death, and the funeral is then attacked by an insane Carter. Recognising Xavier from his childhood, he reveals that he was the one who sent the file that led to Almagordo, and Kidnaps Xavier. As the issue closes, the X-Men discuss the next step with Val Cooper, and my fanboy buttons are pushed when she offers to “scramble in X-Factor.” The X-Men decline, and say that they’re headed to Almagordo. Cliffhanger!

90s ridiculousness aside, this is the X-Men exactly how I remember it. Soap opera, intrigue and mutants upon mutants upon mutants. I always enjoyed Nicieza’s take on the team. While Ryking isn’t exactly the greatest character, this issue reads like an utter prototype for X-Men: Legacy, with Xavier taking the spotlight to investigate his past. Art Thibert gets the art credit, and since he’s best known for inking I’m unsure if he just did some very, very strong breakdowns over someone else’s pencils, or if he actually took the lead. In any case, it’s a bit of an indentikit Jim Lee/Andy Kubert mashup, as was the X-Men style at the time, and if I hadn’t checked I might even have suggested it was one of them.

At this point, X-Men was the industry’s biggest title, and deservedly so. Even with all the 90s-isms heaped upon it, this issue stands as a fairly good read when similar stuff from this era is complete, unmitigated toss. It’s a rare artifact indeed – a 90s superhero comic that you might actually benefit from re-reading.