I've read this issue before. But it's such a Christmas classic that when I finally located an issue, I immediately put it in my read pile to read it again.
The main story is that while members of the Xavier School are out for a holiday field trip, they come across a hostage situation. Readings indicate that there is a mutant involved somehow and it's believed that the disfigured lad holding his teacher and classmates is what is causing sensors to go wild. However, in a twist, it's not the boy, though mutated he may look, that is the dangerous mutant on the scene. Instead, it's a character nobody really suspected and I'm not sure very many readers even know who the foe is. New costume notwithstanding...
Indicating that humans with deformities might make them looked upon as freaks in the eyes of society, but it doesn't make them mutants, is a poignant addition to X-Men lore. It had been, and still is debated, that birth defects should make humans into mutants in the Marvel Universe. Yet, this issue clearly states that those humans who might look different from the rest of society, while are not mutants, are classified as such and it's a tragedy that they get lost in the cracks. Mutants have groups like the X-Men to turn to for protection. Who do those with Dome Syndrome or Multiple Sclerosis have?
While this 1995 issue is indeed thought provoking, it's not the writing of this story, by Marvel mutant veteran, Scott Lobdell, that makes this issue a classic. It's the artwork by Chris Bachalo. Almost every page oozes Christmas. There's an elf narrator throughout the book. His words are presented like scrolls of lost holiday lore. Panels of jingle bells and other holiday icons fill the borders between panels and pages. Not a single inch of space is wasted. It's like a classic TV Christmas special that I don't want to end.
Many, including myself, erroneously think that the title of this book is the 'Generation X Holiday Spectacular' and that this is the 4th edition. I've wasted several hours trying to find issues 1-3 to no success. No, this is 4th issue of the 1st volume of Generation X, which ran from 1994-2001. Adding to the confusion if you're trying to compete the run of this series, Generation X would be temporarily cancelled to make way for Generation NeXt, a 4-issue miniseries tie-in to the 'Age of Apocalypse' storyline that saw a changed mutant society after someone went back in time and assassinated Charles Xavier.
I gotta say that this is a great issue and if the quality of this lone tale is any indication of the rest of the Scott Lobdell/Chris Bachalo run, then I want it!!! I already own Generation NeXt 1-4, so I should be able to collect them without much further annoyance. I just wish that the storyline of the troubled young man wasn't left so wide open. Did he get the help he so craved? Did he wind up incarcerated? Do we ever see this guy again. Too many questions prevent this from being a happy ending.
Worth Consuming.