Lucas Bishop: The Last X-Man Appreciation 2022

[Marvell2100]

Well, Bishop and Deathbird was an alt-future, Deathbird and Vulcan was the present.

Here's what'll REALLY bake your noodle.... Who are Heather's parents?
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Heath...on_(Earth-616)
Her father is allegedly Miles Warbeck.(who died BEFORE Heather was seen in the comics) Her mother? Was apparently a Shi'ar of royal lineage.... Deathbird?

Such story, much confusing.

Bishop and Deathbird did have a 616 relationship after theX-Men went to help save the Shi'ar from the Phalanx.

[From The Shadows]

Bishop and Deathbird did have a 616 relationship after theX-Men went to help save the Shi'ar from the Phalanx.

Yep.



And an AU one if CC's X-Men: The End isnt canon. They had a daughter. Aliyah.

[marhawkman]

Yep.


And an AU one if CC's X-Men: The End isnt canon. They had a daughter. Aliyah.

Yeah, this is what I'm getting to. Bishop and Deathbird may have hooked up in the main timeline, but no kids. That was only a possible future. But now that I think about it... Marvel2100 wasn't talking about Aliyah, just that they had a fling.

[jwatson]

After a long day i'm diving into X-treme 20 and greeted with this gem. lol.

Bishop got some good art from Salvador.

lucasbishop.jpg

The original schism.

[anyajenkins]

Also know as the less stupid Schism. And was peak Larocca art there in X-treme.

[Marvell2100]

This version of Marauders has done a far better job with Bishop than he previous version. He actually has an important role on the team and comes off like the seasoned veteran that he is.

The art just needs to be better.

[K7P5V]

Tim Sale (R.I.P.)

[Pav]

Hello, fellow Bishop fans! As part of my summer reading, I recently read the entirety of Bishop: the Last X-Man!

I've been excited to read this series, as I read a few of the issues when they originally came out. Since then, Bishop has become one of my favorite X-Men: I loved District X, and a long-term goal is to slowly collect as many classic issues featuring Bishop -- and Shard! -- as I can. To that end: my purchase of his series as The Last X-Man!

Frankly? I think it's a forgotten masterpiece.

Joe Harris created an awesome adventure for Bishop, who must raise an army against the forces of Fitzroy, the Chronomancer; and Georges Jeanty's art is consistently gorgeous throughout the run. Bishop's look is very cool, and I appreciate seeing him without guns for the whole story. Bishop's closest followers -- Link, Jinx, and Scorch -- may be a little cliche/boring in terms of powers and personality, but the rest of the supporting cast is pretty intriguing, from the mysterious Witness and legitimately scary Fitzroy to the awesome races of Giants and Kith -- especially the lost boy, Michael, who tragically gets abandoned in that desolate future when Bishop is pulled back to Deathbird in the present of the X-Men. Michael's inclusion was a brilliant choice by Harris, and I liked that he wasn't a mutant (as far as we know); his inclusion really helped to hammer home the relentlessness of Bishop's sense of honor and duty.

While the action -- and tragedy! -- begins almost immediately in the series, it isn't really until about issues four or five that the world Bishop finds himself in gets really interesting. The Kith Trilogy presents such a fun race of creatures as well as a Twilight Zone, Lottery-esque situation for Bishop and his allies to traverse; the following two issues connect Bishop's new surroundings to his past with the X-Men and features a Sentinel that part of me likes to believe is an alt-Rover from Here Comes Tomorrow; a single issue presents a fun standoff with Tull, the Not Last Giant (and is maybe my favorite issue of the series); and we follow that with the appearance of some very fun Mountain Morlocks before the excellent climax to the series, Chronowar!

If there's anything unfortunate about this series (other than its lack of continuation after the Chronowar), it's the role that Shard plays as damsel in distress. Her capture and torture at the hands of Fitzroy is rough to watch; the manipulation she faces from Fitzroy demonstrates his twistedness more than anything he could do directly to Bishop, and so I understand using her as the bait -- especially given their past. And give credit to Harris, because Shard's Stockholm Syndrome / choice to become flesh felt emotionally true to the story and the character in that moment -- which is all the more sad for a reader like me who enjoyed her stories in the later issues of X-Factor. And to add insult to injury, when she sacrifices herself in order to take down the Chronomancer, Bishop misses with the Shard energy blast and fires her into the timestream!

Is this her last chronological appearance?

I wish this series could've gone on longer. I wonder where the story would've gone next, and how the Giants and the Kith might've played a role. Would Bishop become King? Would he try to find Shard? Would we discover how this world might relate to other times and places in continuity? Instead, Bishop just goes back to the present for the final two issues, the first of which does serve as a bit of an emotional epilogue due to having the same creative team. (And it's got Cadre K!) The issue after that is fun, and Bishop is still wearing his Last X-Man costume (which I think is his best) while fighting Sabretooth and Mystique -- plus he schools Wolverine on tactics! And Rogue has a cool set of powers! So it's a cool issue, but it has nothing to do with the rest of the run, is by a different creative team, and is connected to a crossover of which I've read no other issues.

Getting to finally read this whole series from beginning to end cemented for me how fun its more unique aspects are. I still hope for the return of Nom the Giant, Kinlan Karth Kith, and Michael in future issues of X-Men comics. Maybe someday a writer who fondly remembers that series will see fit to bring them back.

-Pav, who thinks they'd serve brilliantly in a new version of the eXiles...

[Steroid]

Hello, fellow Bishop fans! As part of my summer reading, I recently read the entirety of Bishop: the Last X-Man!

I've been excited to read this series, as I read a few of the issues when they originally came out. Since then, Bishop has become one of my favorite X-Men: I loved District X, and a long-term goal is to slowly collect as many classic issues featuring Bishop -- and Shard! -- as I can. To that end: my purchase of his series as The Last X-Man!

Frankly? I think it's a forgotten masterpiece.

Joe Harris created an awesome adventure for Bishop, who must raise an army against the forces of Fitzroy, the Chronomancer; and Georges Jeanty's art is consistently gorgeous throughout the run. Bishop's look is very cool, and I appreciate seeing him without guns for the whole story. Bishop's closest followers -- Link, Jinx, and Scorch -- may be a little cliche/boring in terms of powers and personality, but the rest of the supporting cast is pretty intriguing, from the mysterious Witness and legitimately scary Fitzroy to the awesome races of Giants and Kith -- especially the lost boy, Michael, who tragically gets abandoned in that desolate future when Bishop is pulled back to Deathbird in the present of the X-Men. Michael's inclusion was a brilliant choice by Harris, and I liked that he wasn't a mutant (as far as we know); his inclusion really helped to hammer home the relentlessness of Bishop's sense of honor and duty.

While the action -- and tragedy! -- begins almost immediately in the series, it isn't really until about issues four or five that the world Bishop finds himself in gets really interesting. The Kith Trilogy presents such a fun race of creatures as well as a Twilight Zone, Lottery-esque situation for Bishop and his allies to traverse; the following two issues connect Bishop's new surroundings to his past with the X-Men and features a Sentinel that part of me likes to believe is an alt-Rover from Here Comes Tomorrow; a single issue presents a fun standoff with Tull, the Not Last Giant (and is maybe my favorite issue of the series); and we follow that with the appearance of some very fun Mountain Morlocks before the excellent climax to the series, Chronowar!

If there's anything unfortunate about this series (other than its lack of continuation after the Chronowar), it's the role that Shard plays as damsel in distress. Her capture and torture at the hands of Fitzroy is rough to watch; the manipulation she faces from Fitzroy demonstrates his twistedness more than anything he could do directly to Bishop, and so I understand using her as the bait -- especially given their past. And give credit to Harris, because Shard's Stockholm Syndrome / choice to become flesh felt emotionally true to the story and the character in that moment -- which is all the more sad for a reader like me who enjoyed her stories in the later issues of X-Factor. And to add insult to injury, when she sacrifices herself in order to take down the Chronomancer, Bishop misses with the Shard energy blast and fires her into the timestream!

Is this her last chronological appearance?

I wish this series could've gone on longer. I wonder where the story would've gone next, and how the Giants and the Kith might've played a role. Would Bishop become King? Would he try to find Shard? Would we discover how this world might relate to other times and places in continuity? Instead, Bishop just goes back to the present for the final two issues, the first of which does serve as a bit of an emotional epilogue due to having the same creative team. (And it's got Cadre K!) The issue after that is fun, and Bishop is still wearing his Last X-Man costume (which I think is his best) while fighting Sabretooth and Mystique -- plus he schools Wolverine on tactics! And Rogue has a cool set of powers! So it's a cool issue, but it has nothing to do with the rest of the run, is by a different creative team, and is connected to a crossover of which I've read no other issues.

Getting to finally read this whole series from beginning to end cemented for me how fun its more unique aspects are. I still hope for the return of Nom the Giant, Kinlan Karth Kith, and Michael in future issues of X-Men comics. Maybe someday a writer who fondly remembers that series will see fit to bring them back.

-Pav, who thinks they'd serve brilliantly in a new version of the eXiles...

I absolutely loved that series and miss the days when Bishop was treated with respect and like the badass he truly is meant to be.

[dkrook]

I absolutely loved that series and miss the days when Bishop was treated with respect and like the badass he truly is meant to be.

Agreed, its bittersweet to know there was a time when there were X-office writers that knew his potential and built a world around him. It would take a Ewing to blend all his history together in a good way now.

[Steroid]

Agreed, its bittersweet to know there was a time when there were X-office writers that knew his potential and built a world around him. It would take a Ewing to blend all his history together in a good way now.

I definitely feel you bro. I'd give anything for Ewing to take over the creative for Bishop. In the meantime I'm just looking forward to the X-Treme X-Men mini coming out in November so some respect can get put on my man's name.

[thjan]

Agreed, its bittersweet to know there was a time when there were X-office writers that knew his potential and built a world around him. It would take a Ewing to blend all his history together in a good way now.

Yep, I am rereading the 90s X-Men comics right now and it is so great seeing Bishop and Gambit actually getting respect and being important members of the X-Men.

I definitely feel you bro. I'd give anything for Ewing to take over the creative for Bishop.

For sure! I think everyone would like their favorites to be written by Ewing.

In the meantime I'm just looking forward to the X-Treme X-Men mini coming out in November so some respect can get put on my man's name.

Yep, I have high hopes for X-Treme X-Men. Really looking forward to it.

[BobbysWorld]

I remember the Last X-Man series and loved it too! Link, Jinx and Scorch were a fun squad of 'junior trainees' for Bishop to mentor, and I'm with you on pretty much my only gripe being how Shard was used in the story, and that it was basically the last time we saw her.

Sidenote.....I think whether or not they intended it that way, Orlando's Marauders and Ewing's X-Men Red both opened up a viable way of bringing back Shard and other time travelers from their future timeline. Shard, Malcolm, Randall, the various criminals from the future that they and Bishop were here to take out, even the three X.S.E. members that came to back-up Shard in X-Factor (Fixx, Archer and Greystone)....they all registered on Cerebro, well after it would've begun working as a back-up for mutant consciousnesses. So even without the Waiting Room, all of the mutants who originally came from Bishop's timeline SHOULD be backed up in the resurrection queue somewhere. The only actual issue is whether or not Sinister got DNA samples from them once they arrived in the 'modern' time period....and in Shard's case, the fact that she only came to this time period as a consciousness tethered to a hologram program, just as Fixx, Archer and Greystone had their consciousnesses super-imposed on three brain-dead mutants from this time period.

But Xandra's death in Marauders resulted in Ewing establishing that a telepath of her caliber is apparently able to 'read' her own DNA and telepathically send an image of her genetic code to someone else. And as Sinister's database is stored as holographic renditions of every individual mutant's genetic code.....he was apparently able to use this psychic screencap of Xandra's DNA to build an identical holographic rendition of it....which I assume he then just gave to the Five and Elixir copied to turn one of Fabio's eggs into a husk grown from Xandra's DNA.

Meaning all anyone has to do in order to bring back Shard, Archer, Greystone and Fixx in their original bodies (though Fixx is still alive somewhere, I vaguely remember).....is pair a telepath with a psychometric or some other mutant who reads/views DNA, I can think of a couple who can do that just by looking at a mutant....and have them make a circuit to go into Bishop's memories, use him as a medium to get a glimpse of their original bodies' genetic codes and take a psychic screencap.....and then that can be used as the template Elixir builds their new bodies from......download their back-ups from Cerebro, and voila. We've got Shard back.

And even if we assume Sinister never got an opportunity to grab DNA samples from Malcolm, Randall or any of the other time travelers from their era.....same process works just as well for them.

You could staff Bishop's much-talked-about War College with his original colleagues, the people already trained the same as him in all the same tactics, strategies and approaches he'd likely instill in Krakoan students.

Bishop, Shard, Malcolm, Randall, Fixx, Archer, Greystone, throw in one or two characters said to be from the pool of criminals they were originally hunting, but now claiming they want to turn their lives around and make the most of Krakoa's opportunities, and thus technically allies, but ones the X.S.E. personnel won't trust any time soon but see as their responsibility to keep an eye on, thus creating lots of opportunities for tension, betrayals, grudging respect for former enemies and bonding over their problems relating to mutants born in the modern era.....and bam.

You've got a book staffed with veteran soldiers who are a close-knit group united in being timeline refugees all starting over in a brand-new era that's wildly different from the dystopia they all grew up in. With their memories of that dystopian future and what it was like for mutants like them being the perfect recipe for this particular staff of teachers to be downright CUTTHROAT about protecting Krakoa and its citizens at all costs. Willing to do anything to prevent their adopted mutant nation and home from ever being lost and potentially leading to a future like the one they came from. Who better to teach young Krakoans how to best weaponize their mutant powers and prepare for scenarios in which they're imprisoned, have their powers suppressed, etc.....than a group of mutants who spent their entire lives living through those experiences, even from early childhood?

[K7P5V]

Yep, I am rereading the 90s X-Men comics right now and it is so great seeing Bishop and Gambit actually getting respect and being important members of the X-Men.

Agreed. With the exception of Logan, almost everyone in the X-Universe got some highly-regarded/proper treatment during the '90s (IMHO):

[Marvell2100]

I absolutely loved that series and miss the days when Bishop was treated with respect and like the badass he truly is meant to be.

Agreed, its bittersweet to know there was a time when there were X-office writers that knew his potential and built a world around him. It would take a Ewing to blend all his history together in a good way now.

I agree. The best portrayal by Bishop by far. It showed him as a leader, mentor and a father figure.

Does anyone know if his series was ever collected?