Originally Published January 2000

We begin with the middle-aged fury of Scott Summers as he thinks about how close he was to getting out of the X-Men life before being pulled back into the Xavier Vortex.

This includes reflecting on the recent revelation that Wolverine had been replaced by a Skrull, and an attempt at explaining why Scott and Scott alone should dress up as Lorna Dane and trick the Skrulls.

Jean comes to offer some words of comfort — perhaps now that this Skrull plot has been uncovered and the real Wolverine found — albeit in the service of one of their oldest foes — the happy couple can take off and leave things to the presiding X-Men, whoever they happen to be.

Meanwhile, as the millennium approaches, those ever-timely modern day Ancient Egyptians celebrate the return of their master.

At the mansion, Rogue and Gambit have a little quiet time, and it appears these two on-again-off-again lovers are about to be off again after a long period of being out of focus since Gambit’s return.

The convo is interrupted as Xavier summons everyone present, including for some reason Jubilee but not Banshee who had arrived with her previously for the Wolverine autopsy party. He’s prepared to debrief the assembled mutants about Destiny’s Diaries, The Twelve and all that when he is interrupted by…

A Skrull Attack! This lone invander seems to have made his way into the mansion and demonstrated powers that appear to be beyond your typical Skrull shapeshifting.

Luckily, Kitty, who speaks Skrull ever since their little adventure in the past, is here to clear things up.

Fiz here is a good Skrull, in fact a mutant Skrull — it seems that hatred and fear is not just for mutants on Earth as mutant Skrulls are typically killed at birth (!!) but ever since they’ve proven themselves useful in replicating Earth heroes’ powers, they’ve become a valuable resource.

While they go to hear Fiz out, Colossus checks on his brother, who is recuperating and now 100% demon free.

Fiz proves to be frustratingly short on details, telling us nothing we haven’t already gleaned about there bieng some kind of interconnection between the Skrulls, their mysterious Ally, and The Twelve, who must not, for reasons unknown to Fiz, be harmed.

Polaris in particular wants to know what the Skrulls wanted with Havok’s costume, and when Fiz can’t explain that one, she has a fitting reaction.

Cyclops follows after to gaslight her into believing Alex’s costume is just a worthless piece of cloth, but she calls him out for not reading the old Neal Adams issues and knowing it all has to do with the cosmic energy he absorbs and his connection to the Living Monolith. Duh!!

And indeed, the Living Monolith has returned, ready to run roughshod over those who say that living like an Ancient Egyptian is weird.

But ah-ah-ah not so fast! Because Some Guy in a Fez shows up to bring Liv Mono down to size. It turns out he’s not all that — he’s just some jabroni who managed to get himself a piece of Alex’s power, thanks to Sinister (because of course Sinister has to be involved — we’re talking Summers DNA after all.)

Yes, it turns out that the real power behind the throne is… Some Guy!

Meanwhile back in New York, unaware they will soon be facing down the fearsome might of Some Guy, the X-Men circle up to examine the one hard piece of data they do have from Destiny’s Diaries: A specific roster of The Twelve. (How’d Kitty miss that one?)

Ignorant of what’s going on in the subplot, everyone is really confused how an obscurity like the Living Monolith got into the starting lineup. But as we all know, in 1999 X-Men fans were champing at the bit for a return of a former foe from thirty years earlier. Monolith = Money Baybee.

Also not present is Iceman, who remains absent for reasons not explained, and previous to this meeting, not minded.

As the meeting disperses, Scott and Jean stay behind to complain to Charles that now they’re caught up in this whole The Twelve caper, when they really just want to retire to Alaska already. Charles tells them It Is What It Is, then points out, for those readers who may not have noticed, he only named eleven members of The Twelve.

You’ll never, ever, ever guess who our dozenth member is.

Further Thoughts:

I know Roger Cruz is mainly thought of by X-Men fans as being simply “Not Joe Madureira” but it’s nice to see him back drawing the mutants. Although this is an action-lite issue (hell, it’s a content-lite issue) it benefits from his mid-90’s vibe, at least as far as I’m concerned. 

With a title like “Filling in the Gaps,” can you blame an issue for mostly being exposition and the slow grind of narrative gears? It’s not my favourite thing in the world to read a comic that consists entirely of characters saying what they know (especially when it turns out they don’t know much) but sometimes that’s just how it be. As far as The Twelve go… look, you’re either in or out, and I’ve firmly established that I’m in for the long haul so let’s cook already.