Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Andy Kubert
What Went Down: Part 11 of the X-Cutioner’s Song. This issue opens up with a really amazing fight between Bishop, Cable, and Wolverine and a bunch of cannon fodder soldiers plus the Dark Riders. Lots of shooting and stabbing ensues. Just when it appears that the good guys are about to be overwhelmed the rest of the X-Men’s forces show up to bail them out.
As the fight continues, Stryfe and his silent android servant Zero observe a hologram of it. Stryfe admires the ferocity and bravery of the X-Men, and then laughs at the fact that he has been able to “manufacture” his own past. He strolls to another room, grabs Cyclops and Jean, and drags them outside the walls, encased in a telekinetic bubble.
Down at the mansion, the Beast is cataloguing Xavier’s recovery.
After the X-Men defeat all of the soldiers, they split off into different strike teams to find Scott and Jean, as well as keep the villains from escaping. Apocalypse goes off by himself.
Wolverine, Storm, and Psylocke track the prisoners to a room in the base; Psylocke insists that they are beyond the door, and when they open it they are all almost sucked out into space.
Apocalypse encounters the Dark Riders, who now work for Stryfe since he beat up their previous master. So Apocalypse attacks them all.
Cable, Cannonball, Polaris, and Havok use Apocalypse’s spacecraft to track Stryfe to a big energy tower thing.
Xavier wakes up screaming after having had a nightmare. He claims that Cable, Stryfe, Cyclops, and Jean are all connected, which all of the readers pretty much knew at this point.
Havok’s crew put on space suits and venture out to the tower. They pass through a force field that knocks out Polaris and Cannonball, yet lets Havok and Cable through (because they’re both part of the Summers’ bloodline). A very nice splash page ends the issue featuring the main villain, the prisoners, and a bunch of flashback scenes that have absolutely nothing to do with this story. Stryfe calls Cable his failed brother and beckons the group to continue.
How It Was: A fantastic issue filled to the brim with action. Penultimate issues usually have the blessing of being able to pull off a fast pace in order to set up the final confrontation. This issue is no exception. So the remaining uninjured X-Characters finally confront the Dark Riders, and everything starts to fall into place.
There isn’t really a lot going on here storywise, so the art definitely carries this issue. Which is fine, since we haven’t really had a full out action issue for a while. Nicieza also throws in some nice little character moments, such as Sam’s anger at Cable for keeping X-Force in the dark, or the banter between Wolverine and his squad at the beginning of the issue. Even Apocalypse gets a rather exciting last stand against his former minions, the Dark Riders. Really, this issue just continues the trend of giving each character one or two very solid moments while focusing mostly on the animosity between Cable and Stryfe.
B+
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