Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Carlos Pacheco
What Went Down:
After a time-honored newsfeed/exposition dump recaps the premise of
Operation Zero Tolerance, we see a celebration among the patients and
co-workers of Dr. Cecilia Reyes in a hospital lobby. A bleeding victim in need of immediate care
interrupts the impromptu celebration.
The patient dies, despite Reyes’ best efforts, but as everyone is
leaving the person gets up and transforms into a Prime Sentinel. Having hidden the fact that she is a mutant
from all of the hospital staff, Cecilia is less than thrilled.
The Sentinel tries to kill Cecilia, revealing that her
mutant power is a forcefield that absorbs just about anything, but causes her
physical pain as a result. An orderly is
revealed to be another Sentinel, who takes a hostage to convince the surgeon to
turn off her mutant power; however, she has no control over it.
Fortunately for Cecilia and the hostage, Iceman shows up to
save the day. Instead of thanking him,
Reyes attacks Iceman, blaming him for revealing her secret. It seems that Charles Xavier had previously
approached her about becoming an X-Man, but she declined. Now she is convinced that the X-Men are
somehow responsible for the Sentinels’ awareness of her. Speaking of Sentinels, more attack, so Iceman
encases the entire room in ice and shatters a hole through the floor to the
sewers. On the way down, he “drops”
Cecilia in order to test her reflexes.
Down in the sewers, Dr. Reyes breaks down over the loss of her normal
life. Iceman gives her a pep talk, and
convinces her to trust him…for now.
In the OZT Hulkbuster base, Bastion continues to taunt
Xavier over the acquisition of his belongings.
He thinks Xavier still has his telepathy, even though Xavier insists
that he lost it during Onslaught. To top
it off, Bastion shows Xavier the captured X-Men from X-Men #65.
How It Was:
Well, it’s been a while since the last actual issue of OZT. As a reluctant rereader of this series, I
have to admit that this issue exceeded my expectations. With all mutants under arrest, it’s only
natural for the X-Men to intercede on behalf of oppressed mutants
everywhere. For some reason though this
X-Men crossover story is organized so that there is only one X-Man, and he can
only rescue one mutant out of what must be hundred or thousands.
There’s no real reason why Cecilia should be the only one
chosen for protection, but plot holes aside, her interactions with Iceman are
fantastic. Or more accurately I should
say that this is the best Iceman we’ve seen in a while. As Lobdell’s last arc, this is as good a
place to go as any, since this is a natural conclusion for Iceman’s characterization
to go. And it’s nice to see that this is
a challenge that he’s nowhere near prepared for. Cecilia comes off as conceited and
egotistical, but the script balances it by showing that Iceman is just as
caught up in the role of his job—building on previous character points with his
ex-girlfriend Opal. And although Cecilia
is abrasive, her situation comes off as rather unique. Instead of just being a reluctant hero, she’s
played as completely unwilling, making for an interesting counter to Bobby’s
experience and optimism. It’s an
interesting direction that few writers have explored to this point. After all, everyone would be honored to be an
Avenger, but nobody wants to be an X-Man.
Some might be taken back by how much exposition is crammed in to explain
all of Cecilia’s history and background, but I can respect wanting to get it
all out of the way.
I like that we’re
finally seeing the repercussions of OZT, but I do wish that the story centered
more on the fact that the government is unlawfully seizing citizens as opposed
to making it solely about one doctor and how inconvenient this all is for her. But with only four issues to work with, I can
respect wanting to keep the scope small.
Pacheco’s art really helps out with the pacing; it makes what little
action there is livelier, and his Iceman looks pretty cool. As a franchise-wide crossover, this is probably
a bit underwhelming, but as a spotlight for Iceman, it’s fantastic. Putting him in a situation where he is
outnumbered, and pairing him with a self-hating novice who doesn’t trust him,
that’s just the stuff of drama. Not the
greatest thing ever, but enjoyable enough for a beginning.
B-
No comments:
Post a Comment