Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Carlos Pacheco
What Went Down: Our story now takes us to Israel, where Israeli super soldier Sabra is infiltrating…somewhere…to find information on Operation Zero Tolerance. Some security guards find her just as she finishes the download, asking her to come with them. Escorted into a car, the three agents Sabra meets turn out to be Prime Sentinels, and they demand she give up the information she just stole. Sabra defeats them, and her thoughts explain that she is motivated by the loss of her son Jacob.
In Manhattan, Cecilia and Iceman have made their way to
Archangel’s penthouse apartment. Iceman
tries to explain Archangel’s history, but Cecilia doesn’t really care, and both
of them are anxious about running into disguised Prime Sentinels. Marrow observes them as they walk by the
sewer. Inside the apartment, Iceman
accidentally attacks Angie Quail, who says she is Candy Southern’s old roommate
that is housesitting for Warren.
In New Mexico, Bastion continues to taunt Professor X. Xavier comes to the conclusion that Bastion
wants Xavier to be lying about his power loss because Bastion secretly wants to
be stopped. Bastion insists he is saving
humanity.
In New York, Iceman tries to call the X-Men’s allies on a cellphone
while Angie tries to get Cecilia to open up about the things that are bothering
her. Iceman’s powers konk out because
Angie is actually a Prime Sentinel nullifying them. Cecilia saves Iceman, and the Sentinel is
defeated by a gunshot from behind, courtesy of Charlotte Jones—Archangel’s
former girlfriend, a cop, and an X-Men ally.
Charlotte takes the two mutants to the police station for
protection. Cecilia doesn’t trust her,
but Bobby insists that Charlotte is a friend. In another room, we see Charlotte talking to
the two bodyguards from Uncanny #346 (the one’s that are really
Sentinels). Operation Zero Tolerance has
kidnapped Charlotte’s son, forcing Charlotte to lead her friends into a trap. On the other side of the two-way mirror, we
see that a number of the police officers are also Prime Sentinels. Just as they are about to attack, the power
goes out. This is thanks to Marrow, who
is trying to help our heroes.
How It Was:
More new players and more to like about already-established ones. I’m still really digging Cecilia and Iceman’s
relationship at this point. While
Cecilia still complains a lot, she is far more sympathetic here as it slowly
becomes clearer and clearer that Iceman has absolutely no idea what he is
doing. And that’s a really fun direction
to see this odd couple in. Their banter
back and forth tells the whole story; their frustration, fear, and growing
admiration all come across really well.
What I’m not too crazy about is the formulaic pattern this
story is stuck in: Cecilia and Iceman go someplace to hide, Prime Sentinels
ambush them, Cecilia holds them off with her forcefield, an outside force saves
them, repeat. It’s only issue two of
this story, and this has already happened two or three times, and it’s not
going to stop. As for the attempt of a
misdirect with Angie the housesitter, it probably would have worked better if
we’d seen this character once or twice before.
I like the idea of a Mossad trained Israeli Captain America,
so it’s too bad that Sabra is little more than a plot device in this
story. She does get a nice scene where
she takes out some Sentinels though. And
then Charlotte Jones appears out of nowhere; last time I remember seeing her is
the beginning of the Legacy Virus story around Uncanny #298. The abduction of her son would probably mean
a lot more if she appeared in this series with any regularity. Still, it’s an interesting enough quandary to
put our heroes in. All in all it’s a
decent issue. If you’re not sick of
Prime Sentinels yet, the desperation and tension from the protagonists is
enough to keep the story captivating.
B
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