X-Men: Liberators #3

X-Men: Liberators #3

Writing: Joe Harris

Art: Phil Jimenez

What Went Down:  This issue opens with a flashback of a Hide and Seek game played on the mansion grounds around the eighties era.  Colossus manages to sneak up on Wolverine.  At Provence 13 in the present, Wolverine is “dying” from his exposure to the mutant Nikolas as scientists are examining him. On a mountain, Colossus has found a cave where he and the old woman are hiding.  He brings firewood for the woman, whose name is Ariana.  She explains how she is Nikolas’ mother and how he was taken away from her as a baby because his touch killed everyone except her.  Nikolas was taken by Sergei, and Ariana resents the Rasputins because they were normal looking mutants able to hide from the government. 

At night Nightcrawler sneaks onto the base after following the soldiers.  He discovers the children taken from their families by the government.  Sergei’s superior Alexei explains that the government is shutting down Sergei’s base. 

Nightcrawler tries to speak with the children, but he doesn’t know Russian.  He is able to communicate telepathically with the girl Nanya, who can translate for her friends.  Nightcrawler vows to rescue the children.  In the woods, Omega Red is hunting Nikolas, and comes across a wrecked cabin with two dead adults and an abandoned child.

Omega Red manages to find the cave with Ariana in it, so he and Colossus battle.  Their fight is interrupted by Nikolas, Ariana’s son.  Omega Red throws a rock, and both Colossus and Nikolas go over the cliff.

Wolverine “dies” and is left alone by the scientists.  Nightcrawler finds him dead, and takes his uniform with him.  Colossus unburies himself and sees that Nikolas has fled.  Nightcrawler escapes, but we see that Wolverine’s body has been buried, and he has healed enough to rise. 

How It Was:  We finally get to see where Colossus’ arc is going this series; he is given Ariana’s tragic story to compare with his own tragedies to realize how much worse his life could’ve been.  That’s as good a conclusion as any for Colossus to come to after a decade of having family death after family death; he learns to appreciate time he did have with his family. 

Meanwhile, Wolverine sits on a slab for a whole issue, and Nightcrawler has nothing to do except wander around Province 13 and meet some kids.  The art is great as he sneaks around and teleports stealthily, but it doesn’t hide the fact that he has nothing to do; he’s searching for Wolverine, but after Kurt finds him, Wolverine just gets dumped outside again by the soldiers making for a total waste of an issue.

Then there’s the glaring fact that Omega Red has no purpose in this story.  The narration claims that he’s working for the government after being freed from exile, but there’s no motivation for him to be hunting Nikolas.  He’s here because the X-Men are in Russia, and heaven forbid they fight any other super villain in Russia other than Omega Red. 

Besides the interplay between Colossus and Ariana, there is really nothing here to catch your attention.  There’s a three page fight that ends abruptly, and that’s about it.  The art is really nice and gives Colossus and Nightcrawler a nice range of emotion and movement, but that still doesn’t change the fact that they’re not saying or doing anything memorable.

Completists Only