Bishop

Bishop 1-4

Bishop holds an extra special place in my heart.  The first comic in my collection was Uncanny X-Men 282, and that cover will always be burned into my memory.  I loved the mystery of his first appearance, the sweet character design, that red scarf, his take-no-prisoners attitude.  

Who could have known where this would lead me?

I’ve always found it sad that his writers never made good on his amazing potential, and that his initial story remains his best.  (I really can’t think of a memorable Bishop story after that one.) As far as my reading history goes, he’s always been a supporting character, used whenever something time-travel related needed a focal point.  (See Age of Apocalypse.)

This is a fine miniseries, written by John Ostrander and drawn by Carlos Pacheco.  It gives us more appearances for Shard, who also has a slick looks going for her.

The story’s okay.  Bishop fights one of the criminal refugees from his original timeline.  He’s forced to choose between the more brutal ethics of his XSE days and the compassion of the X-Men.  Is he going to kill Mountjoy at the end of the fourth issue? Blah blah no surprises. Still, it’s not the worst iteration of this tired trope.  And Pacheco’s art does a lot to grease the wheels.

I’m always going to picture Bishop as Michael Dorn.  He’s definitely got a lot of Worf in him.

Speaking of Star Trek, Bishop also had an ad for Star Trek: Generations.  So pretty.  And before it turned out to be an okay but not great movie.  (I was so hopeful.)

All the elements combine to take my breath away.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine