The Phalanx Covenant

[Kang]

A few things. First, I think that the start of the three storylines is more intertwined than is suggested by the chronologies for Steven Lang and Cameron Hodge. The reason I think this is XF 106 (20) shows Lang watching three screens simultaneously. One of the screens is Shinar absorbing a shepherd named Giuseppe Russo in Italy. The other two are Cyclops and Phoenix looking surprised, most likely just landed on Muir Island before they met Wolverine and Cable (probably between pages 4 and 5 of W2 85 being spied by a Phalanx there), and the other is a panel recreation of X2 36 (5) (probably from the cop Phalanx's POV). Before X2 (5) Hodge and Lang are trying to experiment on M. That should be before Lang appears in XF 106, and this is completely missing from Hodge's chronology. The only problem I see with this is that during XF 106 it is late night in the Italian Alps, twilight to night in St. Louis, and for some reason daytime on Muir Island. As such, while I'd like to place Cyclops and Phoenix as on Muir Island per implied authorial intent, I think this would have to be them on the jet (not sure how Lang has Phalanx eyes on them, but he was tipped off they would be coming to Muir Island in UX 316). I'm also not sure why they have those shocked expressions on their faces, but that isn't that big of a deal. Here are the proposed changes:

CYCLOPS II/SCOTT SUMMERS/"SLYM DAYSPRING"
...
X2 35
UX 316
XF 106 <-- ADD
W2 85
C 16
SMU 6
...

HODGE, CAMERON
...
UX 313
X2 36 <-- ADD
XF 106
W2 85
C 16
XFOR3 3
...

LANG, DR. STEVEN
...
UX 313
X2 36 (1 - 4:4) <-- ADD
XF 106
X2 36 --> CHANGE TO X2 36 (4:5 - 22)
W2 85
C 16
XFOR3 3
...

PHOENIX VI/JEAN GREY SUMMERS
From Marvel Girl
X2 35
UX 316
XF 106 <-- ADD
W2 85
C 16
XU 6
...

SYNCH/EVERETT THOMAS
XF 106 <-- ADD
X2 36 --> CHANGE TO {X2 36}
UX 317
X2 37
UX 318
...



The thing that really brought me here is Professor X. He is out of sync with Lang and Hodge for being BTS in W2 85. Based on all of the above, W2 85 entirely must happen in the daytime hours after XF 106. So the only reason you would try to position W2 85 before XF 106 is if you are attempting to place Professor X's BTS "appearance" as when he sent out the telepathic instructions to Wolverine and Cable. I don't think that is how BTS works, because that would imply a character could be BTS in an issue but not corresponding to any actual sequence of panels in that issue. Otherwise a BTS appearance would be something of an implicit flashback, and I don't think that is how it is intended to work. So I recommend this change:

PROFESSOR X/CHARLES FRANCIS XAVIER
...
XCAL 81
XF 106-FB
W2 85-BTS <-- MOVE FROM HERE
XF 106
W2 85-BTS <-- MOVE TO HERE
XFOR 38
UX 318
...



While we're looking at things being intertwined, XF 106-FB and UX 316 have some integration between the two of them. I think this makes the Beast Imposter interesting enough to get a listing (the rest can still stay unlisted unless you want them for consistency). In UX 316 (19) is when Banshee deals with "Gambit" and "Bishop" which causes "Beast" to go take care of a disturbance in the ready room in XF 106-FB. UX 316 (21 - 22) is when "Beast" and the others show up, and then the explosion happens which is depicted in XF 106-FB (6:7). So I think we want these changes:

BANSHEE II/SEAN CASSIDY
...
X@2 3/2
UX 316 --> CHANGE TO UX 316 (1 - 20)
XF 106-FB-BTS <-- ADD
UX 316 (21 - 22) <-- ADD
X2 36
UX 317
X2 37
UX 318
...

BEAST IMPOSTER [PHALANX] new
UX 316 (1 - 20)
XF 106-FB
UX 316 (21 - 22)

BEAST IMPOSTER --> CHANGE TO BEAST IMPOSTER II [SKRULL]
...



Finally, Wolverine's continuity is a bit ambiguous with C 16 and W2 86. Albert does two scans in W2 86. In the first scan, he is unable to detect Wolverine and is unsure if he is on Earth or not. I don't think that means Wolverine is behind the scenes at this part. Then at the end of the story Albert detects Wolverine along with "numerous mutants radiating psi-energy along the entire *bzt* wavelength halfway around the *bzt* world in Tibet." Based on that description, I think he is detecting the combined psi attack which takes down the Phalanx Psi-Net from Phoenix, Cable, and Psylocke on C 16 (30). So maybe do this here:

CABLE/NATHAN SUMMERS
...
C 15
W2 85
C 16 --> CHANGE TO C 16 (1 - 30)
W2 86-BTS <-- ADD
C 16 (31 - 36) <-- ADD
XFOR 39
C 17
...

PHOENIX VI/JEAN GREY SUMMERS
...
W2 85
C 16 --> CHANGE TO C 16 (1 - 30)
W2 86-BTS <-- ADD
C 16 (31 - 36) <-- ADD
XU 6
C 17
...

PSYLOCKE/ELIZABETH BRADDOCK II
...
X2 34
W2 85
C 16 --> CHANGE TO C 16 (1 - 30)
W2 86-BTS <-- ADD
C 16 (31 - 36) <-- ADD
XCAL@ 2
BSHP 4
...

WOLVERINE/"LOGAN"/JAMES HOWLETT
...
W2 84
W2 85
C 16 --> CHANGE TO C 16 (1 - 30)
W2 86-BTS
C 16 --> CHANGE TO C 16 (31 - 36)
GR3 57
GR/W/P:DD
...

[ShadZ]

Finally, Wolverine's continuity is a bit ambiguous with C 16 and W2 86. Albert does two scans in W2 86. In the first scan, he is unable to detect Wolverine and is unsure if he is on Earth or not. I don't think that means Wolverine is behind the scenes at this part.

I agree. The point is that Albert (and the reader by proxy) doesn't know where Wolverine is or what he is doing. It's the opposite of BTS!

[Leoparis]

Not the first time this happened: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15819

[Kang]

Not the first time this happened: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15819

Heh, interesting. Yeah, in this case there wasn't a problem in the existence of the BTS entry...just the listing there was very ambiguous, and in trying to remove that ambiguity I had to come to an understanding that the earlier part was a red herring. But if the first scan was the only one, then it would have been the same situation!

Anyway, a few other things:
I just recalled that in the early 90s, X-Factor used to come out a week before X-Men. So while above I allowed X2 36 to remain marked as Sync's first appearance, I think maybe his cameo in XF 106 is actually his first appearance (and X2 36 would be his first "full" appearance). I looked for the on-sale date on comics.org, but only X-Factor had the date. If somebody knows that info for certain, I can modify his entry above to not add the curly braces.

I was looking at the flashbacks in XF 106, and there was a flashback explaining when the X-Men fought the earliest Phalanx prototypes in UX 305, and that they were "ones created whole cloth from Lang's tortured mind." So that should put Lang BTS in UX 305. Additionally, the hologram of Rogue with her hand shifting to techno-organic goo is newish. It is meant to be a rehashback to UX 305, but rather than recreating a specific panel it instead is partially recreating the cover. The scene of her hand changing first never actually was shown in the issue. It is the wrong hand due to this (Rogue's left hand was affected on the cover, but she took off her right glove to touch the Phalanx assassin in the actual issue), but I think that isn't a big deal. As the affected arm still looks normal in silhouette at the end of page 13, and she's fully covered on page 14, I think it goes between the two. Lang's changes below are going to look a little weird because those pages are unusual. We could maybe get away with just putting XF 106 (27&28)-FB for his flashback, but he is explicitly not in the same flashback as Rogue in the third panel, so I think it needs to be this specific:

LANG, DR. STEVEN
...
IH@ 7-BTS
UX 291
XF 106-FB --> CHANGE TO XF 106 (27&28:1d - 27&28:3a)-FB
UX 305-BTS <-- ADD
XF 106 (30:1)-FB <-- ADD
UX 311-BTS
UX 312-BTS
...

ROGUE/ANNA MARIE
...
GAM 3
GAM 4
UX 305 --> CHANGE TO UX 305 (1 - 13)
XF 106-FB <-- ADD
UX 305 (14 - 22) <-- ADD
X2 25 (1 - 37:1)
XG /5
...

Edit: Also, since XF 106 says that the Phalanx assassins were from Steven Lang alone, is there any reason Hodge should still be BTS in UX 305? Was he just listed because it was presumed he sent the assassins?