X-Men: Liberators #4

X-Men: Liberators #4

Writing: Joe Harris

Art: Phil Jimenez

What Went Down:  No flashback for the opening.  Instead Omega Red bursts into Province 13 and threatens General Sergei.  Sergei says their transaction is complete, but Red wants to know why the X-Men are involved.  Nightcrawler is busy digging up graves in the cold wilderness, searching for Wolverine.  Colossus surprises him, and they are both set upon by a naked Wolverine asking for his clothes. 

At Province 13 the guards are on high alert, and the students are being evacuated.  Ariana is being used as bait to draw out Nikolas.  Nanya and her friend return to the classroom and meet Nightcrawler, while Omega Red confronts Wolverine.  As Kurt talks to the two young girls, the Wolverine/Omega Red fight spills through a window.  Omega threatens the young girls, while Colossus goes to rescue Ariana. 

Sergei sets fire to his office, while we see signs that Nikolas has accepted the bait.  Kurt and Logan rescue the girls just in time for Nikolas to appear.  Nikolas fights the villain, with Red fleeing as his body starts to shut down.  Ariana confronts her son, and sets him free from his hard existence with a shard of broken glass.  At the same time, Colossus takes Nanya from General Sergei just before he kills himself.  In the epilogue, we see that Ariana has adopted Nanya and is taking care of her. 

The issue ends with a continuation of the flashback from issue #1; Colossus holds a pneumatic press up while his friends are rescued.  The story ends with the three X-Men being greeted by the rest of the team in the present.

How It Was:  The issue opens with a compelling sequence of Nightcrawler desperately digging through snowy graves to find Wolverine; it would’ve been rather engaging if we didn’t see Wolverine dig himself out last issue. 

So after three issues revolving around the fate of Nikolas, the last issue tries to squeeze some tension out of putting the little girls in danger that we hardly know or care about.  Moreover, Omega Red is the one that threatens them, and for no other reason than because he’s a huge jerk.  His purpose in the story is so non-existent that after a one panel confrontation with Nikolas, Omega Red realizes there’s no reason for him to be there and leaves.

There’s weak attempt to humanize General Sergei at the end that doesn’t quite work, but I will admit that Harris does squeeze some tragedy out of Ariana and Nikolas’ reunion.  Having both characters agonize over not being with each other for two issues, only to have Nikolas killed by the only being that can touch him… well it’s pretty sad.  Colossus learns to be happier by appreciating what he has, which is a fine enough way to end his journey after the grimness he’s been through.

The art is fantastic, only flawed by some pretty major coloring mistakes on the final page for most of the X-Men.  Even though all the fights consist of nothing but Omega Red grabbing and throwing people, it still looks really great.  I can’t really understand the aversion to fighting in this series; the few fights we do see feel very dull and hurried.  The final, climactic battle between Nikolas and Omega Red consists of them staring angrily at each other before Omega runs off complaining about pain.

This is a pretty disappointing series all told.  I’m not so much bothered by how generic the plot and villains are; it’s just that the entire execution feels rushed, although competent.  All the X-Men are in character, but they don’t feel like they have much to do or say in this story.  It takes Colossus all of one page to deal with his family’s death, and although Nightcrawler and Wolverine are there for moral support, they have absolutely nothing to add.  Nikolas unfortunately has no voice or personality, so although we can feel bad for him as readers, we can’t connect with him or find anything redeemable in his presence.  Everyone else just serves as mouth pieces to push the story around, with Omega Red in the middle to make the story authentically Russian, I guess.  I don’t think you’d miss a thing if you avoided this series because it is never mentioned ever again.

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