Writing: Joe Kelly
Art: Carlos Pacheco
What Went Down: This issue is narrated by Jean Grey. We open on Jean telekinetically meditating and trying to wipe the mansion of traumatizing telepathic residue, conveniently allowing her to recap the last couple of issues. Cyclops, newly operated on, yells out in pain, but when Jean recovers, Scott has fallen back asleep. Both of them are preparing for a vacation to Alaska to help Scott heal.
Downstairs, most of the X-Men are being repulsed by Marrow’s
bad manners at the breakfast table.
Beast and Cecilia Reyes analyze one of Marrow’s bone shards, and Cecilia
accidentally makes a comment that sounds like a pass at Beast. Marrow gets angry at the X-Men for judging
her and throws her food on the floor.
Jean walks in and Cannonball gets in a fight with Maggott over the
language he uses in front of the lady.
Outside, Wolverine helps Storm dig up her tiara and some
golden coins she has hidden for emergencies.
They discuss their guests, especially Marrow, whom neither of them trusts. Jean tries to sneak up on the pair, but Logan
still manages to detect her. Jean
observes that Logan doesn’t want her to leave, even though he’d never admit it.
Cannonball has decided to take Cecilia and Maggott to Westchester,
and Jean decides to join them. Marrow
interrupts, noting that she wasn’t invited because of her appearance. Maggott offers to stay with her, but she
rebukes him and storms off after arguing with Storm.
At the Hellfire Club, Sebastian Shaw is being served tea by
his servant Kiko and recalling the events of a recent Cable story. A mysterious shadowed figure appears, stops
time around them, and presents Shaw with a picture of a golden idol that
distresses Shaw. We also see what
appears to be crow or raven.
At the mansion, Beast says goodbye to Trish Tilby and Iceman
as they drive home together. Wolverine
has a man-to-man talk with Cyclops, expressing his concerns about the new
recruits. He tells Scott that if he
leaves, things will be done differently.
While in Westchester, everyone bickers until they notice a
news story announcing that the Avengers and the Fantastic Four have returned
after “dying” during Onslaught. Jean
allows herself to get lost in the feelings of hope from the crowd of people. In the attic, Wolverine and Storm discuss how
they are going to handle Marrow. In
Cairo, we get a quick set up scene of a man running a package to a mail pile
outside a plane. As soon as he puts the
package in, the man starts to bleed to death, but he tells Anansi that he has
beaten him. The package is addressed to
Storm.
Back in Westchester, the group seems more hopeful. We get another subplot setup of a homeless
man getting murdered while Cannonball asks Maggott where his slugs are. The next day Jean and Scott leave after
discussing the future of the team. In an
epilogue, Marrow is carving things in the wall of her room and complaining
about the X-Men. Wolverine appears and
tells her that she needs to be taught a lesson.
How It Was:
Even though the last story was kind of a wash, it was still supposed to
be a major crossover, meaning that this issue is a quiet, contemplative issue
that examines the new status quo.
Basically there are three new potential recruits, all of the X-Men’s
nice things are gone, and Cyclops and Jean Grey are taking a break from the
team. And although it’s not much, it’s a
solid direction for the book; certainly more than we ever got in the
post-Onslaught issues.
This is a great issue for Jean, who hasn’t had a lot to do
recently. She makes for the perfect
narrator since she knows the established characters inside and out, and Kelly’s
script really emphasizes this. From
Jean’s confusion over how Logan detected her downwind to her reaction to
Storm’s hidden trove, Kelly establishes that Jean is a lynchpin to the X-Men,
and he actually manages to make it feel like her leaving affects the team
significantly. In fact all of the
characters really come into their own under Kelly’s hand. Marrow’s rebellious attitude really shines as
she riles up everyone else in the group.
She remains sympathetic even though she is purposefully trying to
antagonize the team due to the fact that she’s had such a hard life and most of
her arguments are actually true. In
another interesting dynamic, it’s clear that Storm and Wolverine aren’t being
objective or open to Marrow at all, yet their view also has credence given recent
issues with Sabertooth and Onslaught.
Even the flirting between Beast and Cecilia is enjoyable.
The center of the story, the Marvel heroes returning, is
handled very nicely. In what could’ve
come off as an in-house ad for the Heroes Return line, Kelly puts the focus on
the X-Men’s reaction to learning that Onslaught did not kill the heroes. The moment of hope at the end makes for a
good juxtaposition to the frustration and melancholy that have led up to it
thus far.
So really this issue is just an exercise in great
characterization. Well, the conflict
between Cannonball and Maggott feels forced, but other than that everyone else
comes off perfectly. The only other
misfire with this issue is the Sebastian Shaw subplot that gets mentioned in a
couple of future issues before disappearing forever. It’s disappointing to see this problem
persist with a new creative team, but I guess it can’t be helped. Overall this is still a fantastic issue. There is absolutely no action at all, but the
characters and interactions are handled so well, you’ll hardly notice.
A
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