Oh good. We need an 80-page “collectors item” #1 of another book about X-Men because there’s only about ten on the market every month already. At least it’s got some early Chris Bachalo art.
The concept of this series is to “fill gaps” and focus on specific members of the various X-books, since their casts are so massive. This issue, happily, begins with a plane crash–because we haven’t seen a crashing X-vehicle in a while.
Professor X, Storm and Cyclops are on their way home from a trip to visit Ka-Zar and Shanna and meet their new baby when their plane gets shot down. They land in a snowstorm.
Sienna Blaze, who debuted in this year’s Uncanny X-Men annual, is responsible for downing the plane. She’s one of the “upstarts,” a group of kids who are in a competition to kill as many mutants as they can during a Gamesmaster game.
The X-Men fight her until she runs away, and then they’re rescued by Psylocke and Bishop.
During the fight, Gamesmaster tells Sienna that there were four X-leaders on the plane, but we never see a fourth. I’ve read elsewhere that this was intended to signal the return of Magneto, but I can’t confirm that based on the comic so I’m not tagging him.
That’s a “story.” And for the mid-’90s, it’s actually not bad.
The issue is then filled out with some pin-ups.
For the complete history of the MU, year by year, go here.