X-Men '97 Annual # 1 1997 Not a Cloud in the Sky pg 29 by Steve Epting & Dan Green

X-Men '97 Annual # 1 1997
"Not a Cloud in the Sky" pg 29
Writer: John Francis Moore
Pencils: Steve Epting (Signed on back & Signed bottom right)
Inks: Dan Green

Uncomfortable feelings are set aside when Joseph, Rogue and Gambit confront a foe who will stop at nothing to end them!

Life is perfect for the X-Men. They are celebrated as heroes. Iceman is a heartthrob with dozens of girls after him. Rogue and Gambit are very much in love, and able to make physical contact without Rogue’s power causing any problems. The Beast has just discovered the cure for the Legacy Virus, Bastion has been captured, the Friends of Humanity have been shut down, and the US government has adopted a pro-mutant policy since Professor X was invited to Washington. Cyclops can control his optic power and does not need to wear a visor, and Wolverine is no longer a savage beast. Everything is perfect - except for one thing - Jean Grey has been erased from existence.

Joseph quickly realizes this, but when he tries to discuss it with the X-Men, none of them know who Jean Grey is. Joseph eventually convinces Rogue and Gambit to trust him that something is amiss, and using Cerebro in an unconventional manner, locates Jean’s mutant signature in Salem Center. Jean Grey wakes, and finds herself a prisoner on the Psychic Plane. Joseph, Rogue and Gambit arrive at a department store, and are kept at bay by some mind-controlled clerks. The X-Men evade the store clerks and find Jean, kept prisoner in a machine. Gambit and Rogue are taken out by the mysterious foe, who reveals himself on the Psychic Plane and on Earth - it is the Gamesmaster.

The Gamesmaster reveals his plan to give the X-Men the perfect reality, and explains that the cost of this reality is Jean Grey. Joseph became the target of the Gamesmaster’s plan, as the Gamesmaster reveals Magneto has always been immune to his psychic manipulations. The Gamesmaster tells the X-Men that if they reject his perfect reality, then everything will go back to how it was - only they would remember what they gave up. Joseph has his own plan on how to defeat the Gamesmaster, and sets that in motion, while on the Psychic Plane, Jean grows stronger, and when the Gamesmaster retreats from the earthly contact, Jean traps him. She tries to learn all she can about him, but he breaks free from her grasp. Jean returns to reality, and with her safe, everything has been restored to how it was.

The X-Men discuss the Gamesmaster, before traveling to his possible home - the location extracted from his mind by Jean. But they find the house abandoned, and Jean realizes it was a trick. They see a news report about mutant hate crime, and know for sure things are back to how it was before the Gamesmaster offered them his perfect reality.