Uncanny X-Men #364

Uncanny X-Men #364

Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: Lenil Francis Yu

What Went Down:  The Prime Cerebro unit is monitoring world events and notes that it is likely that Magneto will be surfacing soon. It orders a self-destruct sequence of its base, which includes the forms of the fake X-Men from Uncanny #360 to hide any evidence. 

At Alcatraz the X-Men and the Brotherhood are trying desperately to defeat the Beta Cerbrite.  Kitty tries to evacuate the Professor, but Post of the Brotherhood refuses to allow it.  The Cerebrite fires a beam at Toad, causing him to disappear, just as Storm did last issue. Nightcrawler and Mimic use Kurt’s teleportation powers to teleport the Cerebro robot away.

Blob and Post won’t let Kitty take the Professor because they see Xavier as their only hope. The X-Men fight the Brotherhood until Cerebro returns.  Exhausted from teleporting the Cerebrite, Nightcrawler returns to the Blackbird and radios the other team of X-Men for help. Of course, they’re busy with their own Cerebrite, so they don’t answer.  Kitty and Marrow try to rescue Xavier, but they manage to phase right where the battle is occurring.  The Cerebrite chases Kitty, and the robot shoots her, making her disappear as well.  It then takes out the remaining members of the Brotherhood.  Xavier explains that they’re not dead, just moved to the main Cerebro; Wolverine decides he and Marrow need to be captured to rescue their allies.  Nightcrawler sees everyone get shot as he brings the Blackbird in to rescue them.  He decides to take the plane to Russia to get reinforcements from the other team.

How It Was:   The opening of this issue feels like somebody remembered that the phantom X-Men from Uncanny #360 were tied to this Cerebro story at the last minute.  So those characters are all conveniently disposed of in three pages.  The rest of this issue is another big fight with a Cerebro robot.  Lenil Francis Yu replaces Bachalo, and boy…their styles couldn’t be farther apart if the editors tried.  Yu specializes in darker tones and more realistic proportions, which works for the most part.  He draws Post like a ghost made out of rocks, and his Marrow is a little too attractive, but overall it looks great.  I love the detail of Kitty, Toad, and Nightcrawler using Marrow’s bone shards to attack the robot since none of them have offensive powers. 

This fight is a lot less interesting, and I think it basically comes down to the fact that all the X-Men and most of the Brotherhood here just don’t have a big variety of offensive powers.  All of them pretty much just hit people, and that’s not as exciting too look at.  Plus the Brotherhood has to have an obligatory disagreement with the X-Men in the middle that makes no sense; if they care about Xavier, as a mentor or asset, why wouldn’t they want the crippled and powerless man out of the way of the huge battle?

Once again we have a Seagle book ending the same way the previous Kelly issue did, this time with the Cerebrite flying away triumphant with its quarry after soundly defeating the X-Men.  And once again the ending is diminished by the fact that we just saw this very thing happen last issue.  It’s a shame that Seagle has to follow up all the Kelly issues with the exact same structures, plus he’s been saddled by a weaker and less visually engaging team.  Even the addition of the Brotherhood can’t make this one stand out.

For X-Fans

Uncanny X-Men #363

Uncanny X-Men #363

Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: Chris Bachalo

What Went Down:  We open on what I think is a number of the creators of this very comic discussing chocolate at Ghiradelli Square when they are interrupted by falling debris from the sky.  It turns out to be another Cerebro unit—this one being the Beta unit.  At Alcatraz the Toad, who now speaks only in rhyme for some reason, takes an apple to a captive Charles Xavier. 

At the Golden Gate Park, the other four X-Men discuss how they are going to proceed.  Nightcrawler gets to show off the cloaking device he installed on the Blackbird.  Because the X-Men only own one portable Cerebro, this team is depending on Wolverine to track Xavier.  As the X-Men strategize, a local couple is attacked by the Beta Cerebrite, which overwhelms and “catalogs” them.

Despite having a futuristic space age cloaking device for their ship, the X-Men have neglected to bring normal clothes to walk the streets of San Francisco in.  Kitty is forced to take coats from a homeless vagrant, but she leaves some money for him. As they walk the streets, Nightcrawler finds a twenty in one of the pockets and buys a necklace for Kitty. 

Wolverine finds a building with Charles’ scent, but all they find is a smashed up wheelchair.  Marrow gets into a confrontation with a punk, but Logan diffuses it.  In a secret base called Area 52, another Cerebro robot sneaks in and retrieves some nanotechnology developed by Bastion.

After failing to find Professor X, Wolverine takes the team to Chinatown where they meet a wise Chinese person named Black Crane, who is from Logan’s past.  Black Crane is able to see that Professor X is at Alcatraz, but another is searching for him.  Outside Kurt gives Kitty the necklace he bought her.

Arriving at Alcatraz, the X-Men are attacked by the new Brotherhood of Mutants.  The X-Men are thrown off because the Brotherhood is utilizing teamwork and tactics that they normally do not display.  The fight is stopped by Professor X, who has been training the Brotherhood to combat Cerebro.  The Brotherhood is also responsible for breaking Xavier out of the Hulkbuster base.  The issue ends with the Beta Cerebro bursting through the wall and attacking. 

How It Was:  Note to publishers: maybe you shouldn’t spoil your one minor twist on the cover.  One could argue that this reveal is spoiled by the first scene with Toad and Xavier, but up to this point Charles is only revealed to be a prisoner.  Not that this is a huge spoiler, it’s just that after months of buildup, one would think that the discovery of Xavier might hold some type of surprise.  Either way it doesn’t really matter since the Xavier training the Brotherhood angle is dropped as quickly as it is introduced. 

As for the rest of the issue, it’s mostly more stretching out the hunt.  The first half of the issue has the X-Men doing such exciting things as shopping in downtown San Francisco, threatening hipsters, and meeting a stereotypically wise elderly Asian man who just tells the where to go.  Why didn’t they talk to this guy months ago? While Seagle is teasing a potential romance between Nightcrawler and Kitty, it’s really subtle and almost completely forgotten after this issue if I remember right.  Other than that, the characters really don’t have much to do except reiterate events of past issues leading up to this point and agonize over not having enough money to shop for jewelry.  This team is so terrible that they don’t even think to bring clothes to change into when they’re visiting downtown San Francisco!  The other team had enough time to put on coats and boots for the snowy mountains…it’s not hard.

After being told by Black Crane to get the story moving, the X-Men fight the Brotherhood for a couple of pages.  Bachalo’s art shows off the scope of the destruction and craziness quite well, but his superdeformed style makes some of the characters look odd.  His Wolverine looks more like Beast, his Blob changes sizes by the panel, and his Marrow has dreadlocks somehow. 

Of course if you read X-Men #82, you already know that the cliffhanger is once again going to be another Cerebro robot, and it’s pretty sad that a six part story has to use the same ending twice in a row.  Yes we’re supposed to glimpse the events from each team’s side, but this is a pretty unoriginal structure they’re using.  The X-Men issues at least had some novel uses of artwork to move the story, as well as the wonderful tension between Gambit and the rest of the team.  Here there is none of that, so all we get is an average story that ends with a very lackluster reunion with Xavier.

For Completists

X-Men -1

X-Men –1
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Carlos Pacheco

What Went Down: We are greeted initially by the last page of the preceding issue, followed by some exposition from Stan Lee in an exaggerated fantasy Marvel office.  He discusses how the X-Men have continuously multiplied from the original five, and points out Xavier as the foundation to it all. 

We find Xavier, prior to starting his school, floating in his pool and contemplating his place in the world.  His reverie is interrupted by Amelia Voght: the nurse who helped him after he was paralyzed and became his girlfriend.  Amelia joins him in the pool and tries to get him to see how futile his goal is.  Charles cannot stand to live in his mansion comfortably while knowing there are threats to humanity, both human and mutant. 

Up in space, Magneto is busy constructing his space station Asteroid M.  Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, founding members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants before both turned hero, observe him from inside the base.  Wanda is amazed that Magneto can hold the base together with the strength of his will.  Quicksilver dismisses him as mad, but Scarlet Witch worries if he is reacting in a sane manner to an insane world.  Magneto tells the twins to prepare to travel to Earth.  Pietro does not appreciate being ordered around, and Magneto essentially tells him that under his house, it is his rules. 

Xavier and Amelia wait for Magneto in the ruins of a Nazi concentration camp.  Magneto and the twins show up.  He and Xavier debate over whether humanity can be trusted and over the necessity of subjugating them.  Both men agree they should kill the other to ensure their goals, but neither one can.  Magneto reveals that he knows Amelia’s name and that he and Charles have been watching potential mutants for a long time.  Amelia tries to make Magneto realize how similar the two men are and how they should be working together. 

Outside Asteroid M, Magneto struggles with the decisions he will have to make.  Stan Lee ends the issue, talking over a sleeping Carlos Pacheco on a drawing table.

How It Was:  Poor Scott Lobdell had to do a bunch of these flashback issues: this one, one for Uncanny, and I think one for Generation X.  Since most of the X-Men are just normal kids before the school is opened, Lobdell makes the wise choice to focus on Xavier and Magneto and the forming of their dreams.  This also gives Lobdell a chance to fill in some info on his retcon of creating the character of Amelia Voght and tying her to Xavier personally after the loss of his legs; previously we had only really seen it in the Uncanny #309 flashback.  Their dynamic works well; Lobdell makes the characters playful, but only as a means of diffusing the tensions looming over them, and all the while Xavier’s passion can’t help but surface.  Magneto and the Brotherhood’s scenes are okay; mostly they just “foreshadow” events that happen later in continuity.  While Quicksilver is, as usual, a one-dimensional hot-head, I like Wanda’s sympathy for Magneto as she successfully figures out what drives him.

Since this whole issue is devoid of any action, its success rests on the debate the two characters have.  Surprisingly, Lobdell manages to pull it off, even though it is a discussion we’ve seen these two characters have dozens and dozens of times.  Yes the setting of a concentration camp is a bit of an emotional grab, but it doesn’t come off as too indelicate because both characters are able to use it to support their sides; Magneto for the inevitability of man’s fall and Xavier for the need to proactively go after such ignorance before it breeds this type of hate.  Somehow Lobdell manages to make it feel like the first time these characters have had this talk, post-Israel anyways. 

Honestly, Pacheco’s art here looks like his art in a normal issue, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  The colorist’s use of brighter colors does sell the throwback illusion a little, but nobody would ever mistake this for coming from the sixties.  What really matters in an issue like this is the expressions of the characters and the way they conduct themselves, since there is absolutely no action; Pacheco succeeds on that front.  Overall, this is a great issue that doesn’t really do anything new, but works because the characters’ voices are so thoughtful and true to the characters.

A

Amazing X-Men #2

Amazing X-Men #2
Writing: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Andy Kubert

What Went Down: The young boy abducted by Abyss last issue, whose name is Jeremy Graves, is being tormented by the mutant. Meanwhile, the X-Men are confronting a force of Apocalypse’s Brotherhood and reprogrammed Sentinels. Exodus mentions that he was experimented on by the Madri and can never forget the horrors he experienced. While most of the X-Men protect the humans, Quicksilver chases after Vanessa and one of the Madri. He finds his deceased sister Wanda, but really it is Carlyle using her powers to fool him; she is about to kill Quicksilver when Dazzler stops her. A Sentinel attacks Dazzler, preventing her from capturing the villain. Exodus is about to attack the Sentinels when Storm shows up and uses her powers to scramble the Sentinels.

In the air, Banshee is searching for the Madri and contemplating his decision to return to this life after retiring. He finds the Madri’s body, and Abyss appears, telling Banshee that he is the one that killed the Madri for failing in his mission. Abyss shows Banshee the captive child and tells him to go get the son of Magneto, Quicksilver. Banshee delivers the message, and Quicksilver decides to risk his life to save the child. Storm goes with him, and Exodus tells them not to worry because Storm and Banshee’s powers have apparently made it possible to reprogram the Sentinels again.

During the journey, Storm comes to realize that she is in love with Quicksilver. The two mutants find the boy, but Abyss attacks them. Quicksilver defeats Abyss by punching him and then shoving Abyss’ body into itself; because his body is a dimensional portal, Abyss becomes tangled in himself. Storm and Quicksilver take Jeremy back to his family, and the once-again reprogrammed Sentinels begin taking the humans to New Eurasia. In New York, we find out that Sebastian Shaw has captured Angel’s assistant Karma, and he is torturing her for information. Apocalypse announces that they are wasting time, and he is ready to attack Magneto’s base.

How It Was: Well, this issue is a pretty big letdown. Last issue teased a battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood with the Sentinels on the Brotherhood’s side. Somehow, all of these conflicts manage to just resolve themselves, so it leads me to ask why any of the Brotherhood mutants bothered to show up in this book. Half of them disappear and aren’t seen this entire issue, while the others get chased for a few pages before getting away. I do like the way Copycat uses her powers to trick Quicksilver by turning into Wanda, but other than that moment, the entire battle with the Brotherhood consists of one energy blast from Exodus.

Then there’s the conflict with the Sentinels, which also sounds promising; the X-Men have to protect the humans from them while not damaging them too much so that they can still be used as transport later. Instead of a tense battle, we get Storm’s power stopping all of the Sentinels quite easily, and then all of them get fixed off panel. All of this comes off as very rushed and inconsequential; it’s really disconcerting to see the majority of the threats to the X-Men solve themselves so easily. And Banshee’s powers include harmonics now, which is some kind of sound that allows him to reprogram robots? This definitely reeks of plot convenience and laziness.

It doesn’t help that most of the X-Men don’t have a lot to do this issue; Exodus, Dazzler, and Iceman literally contribute nothing to the issue except fixing the Sentinels off panel. All Banshee really gets to do is deliver Abyss’ message to Quicksilver.

As for Abyss, he’s a mess of a character. His powers include his tendrils that he ties people up with, limited telepathy, his body is some kind of portal or something, and I think that he might suck the life force out of people…maybe? A lot of these powers seem unnecessary, especially the portal that ends up being his undoing this issue. Plus he comes off as more of a bully than one of Apocalypse’s elite Horseman; he spends the issue picking on a little kid, and then gets beat by Quicksilver in all of one page. Pathetic! Compare that to Holocaust chasing after humans and cutting Sabretooth’s throat…now that’s a bad guy.

At least Abyss looks really cool because the art is awesome as ever. It’s a shame that all of these unnecessary elements are even in this comic. Nicieza has too many characters and not enough room/ideas to make them work, leading to a decidedly unsatisfying resolution.

D+

Amazing X-Men #1

Amazing X-Men #1
Writing: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Andy Kubert

What Went Down: We start off with a prologue following a group of vagabond humans in Maine. They are traveling to a meeting where they are hoping to be transported to Eurasia, since Apocalypse has taken over the United States. A hooded figure is talking with a family about the trek. Afterwards, the stranger walks off into the woods and reveals herself to be the shapeshifter Vanessa Carlyle—Copycat in the standard universe. Vanessa informs other agents of Apocalypse—this universe’s version of the Brotherhood—about the humans’ hope to escape.

At the mansion in New York, Bishop watches while a team of X-Men performs a training exercise. This team includes leader Quicksilver, second in command Banshee, Dazzler, Iceman, Storm, and Exodus. The goal of the exercise is to get a control disk inside the Sentinel to reprogram it to recognize the X-Men as friends. The team completes the exercise, but Quicksilver’s time is a tenth of a second too slow. In actuality, the team is preparing for a real life mission where they will have to accomplish the same goal, using Dazzler’s hard-light holograms as a pseudo-Danger Room. Magneto shows up to caution his team about neglecting a fallen opponent; many members of the team show concern about the fact that Bishop is holding Magneto’s son, Charles.

Magneto takes the time to explain what is happening in all of the other AoA books, and tells the team that they need to leave. Iceman offers to invert their molecules through moisture, but there is concern that this will leave the X-Men weakened. Instead, Magneto tells Exodus to teleport the team to Maine, even though this is his first time using that power.

In the humans’ camp, the young boy and girl from the family earlier are chasing each other; the boy bumps into Quicksilver and apologizes. Out over the ocean, Storm flies through Apocalypse’s defense field to disable its sensors with electricity. Just when the tower is about to detect her, Sentinels burst through and destroy the tower. Fortunately Storm is cloaked with her electricity powers.

The next day as the group of people continues their journey, the young boy runs ahead, but he is captured by one of Apocalypse’s Horsemen named Abyss. The people reach the rendezvous point, and the Sentinels arrive to transport them to Europe. The X-Men install the disk in one of the Sentinels to reprogram all of them, but unfortunately the alternate version of Madison Jeffries has used his powers to reprogram the disk to target humans and X-Men as enemies. Iceman is blasted apart, but everyone notes that he will be able to pull himself together. A member of the Madri, Apocalypse’s cult-like soldiers, leads the AoA Brotherhood to attack the X-Men for the cliffhanger.

How It Was: All right, now we get to the adjective-less X-Men replacement. Actually, this issue follows the formula of Astonishing #1 pretty closely. Magneto shows up to explain the plot, the main players, the plots of the rest of the tie-in series, and the mission for the individual squad. Too bad this series isn’t quite as good as Astonishing, mostly due to the roster choice. Yes there are some interesting inclusions like Dazzler and Exodus, but nothing much is done with any of these characters. Exodus is still a zealot who will do anything Magneto wants, and the big twist on Dazzler’s character is that…um she smokes and acts cranky. Really that’s the only significant difference for most of the X-Men in this series; they’re the same characters, only angrier. As for the plotline of the series, the human exodus isn’t really that exciting, but that plot finishes up with issue two and then the really good action gets going.

Apocalypse’s Brotherhood also fails to inspire awe; who can say that they’d get really excited at the thought of a battle with Yeti, Copycat, Spyne, or Arclight? Nicieza is really scraping the bottom of the Marvel Universe Handbook with this book. Of course Abyss is the real antagonist, but whereas Holocaust wanted to murder hundreds of humans in Chicago, Abyss kidnaps a little boy to lure the X-Men into a trap. He’s not quite as menacing as most of the other villains in the AoA, which is a shame because to my knowledge he is one of the few original characters in this series.

There are a few good moments. I like how everyone mistrusts Bishop, and starts to question Magneto by association. Quicksilver is a much more likable character as a leader, and it’s neat to see Iceman demonstrate his full potential powers-wise. Regrettably, most of the characters don’t get a lot of room to develop, and a lot of ideas and plot points that get setup are pushed to the side or end up being forgotten about. Storm mentions that she is in love with Quicksilver, but nothing comes of it. The Sentinel redesigns look very cool, but they don’t get to do a lot either. The first half of this series does feel like a stall until we can get to the stuff with Apocalypse.

Well, the art is phenomenal with all of the redesigned costumes looking really great, except for Exodus’, which I always found kind of ordinary. Still, all the other costumes do a great job reflecting the characters' past selves while managing to maintain the darker tone. Kubert does some great work with what he’s given; the scenes with Storm and the Sentinels attacking the tower are particularly exciting. My only complaint is that Dazzler’s light blasts are rainbow-colored in this dimension, which always looked kind of silly to me. This is not a particularly gripping issue, but this book does improve over the course of the run.

C+

X-Men Annual #2

X-Men Annual #2
Writing: Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell
Art: Aron Wiensenfeld and Ian Churchill

What Went Down: On an island fortress, two shadowy figures arise from the water. Despite the cliché 90s battle armor appearance, these two characters are in fact the Crimson Commando and Avalanche, formerly of the Freedom Force. These two are still working for the US government after the rest of the team was captured in the Middle East during a back-up strip in all the 1991 X-Annuals. Anyways, the two run into the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, consisting of Toad, Phantazia, and former Freedom Force members Pyro and the Blob. Both groups are about to fight until they are interrupted by a man in a robe with dragons on it.

At Xavier’s school, Professor X, Beast, Banshee, and Moira are tracking new cases of the Legacy Virus. Beast is still giving Charles crap for not involving him in the initial case with Illyana Rasputin, and everyone is very serious about how serious the Legacy Virus is. In the Danger Room, Revanche is facing off against Jubilee, Gambit, and Rogue. She takes Jubilee out easily, causing the young girl to question when she is going to get better at fighting. Rogue then tackles Revanche, ending the session.

Up in the control booth, Cyclops, Psylocke, and Jean are discussing whether Jean should enter Betsy’s mind to confirm her identity and mental state, even though she absolutely refused to in X-Men #21. Betsy is more willing now because she feels guilty about almost breaking up Scott and Jean, blaming it on different aspects of the two personalities in her surfacing. Inside Psylocke’s head, we see a depiction of Betsy killing her brother Brian when they were children, demonstrating the savage influence of Kwannon’s mind on Betsy Braddock. Jean comes to the conclusion that the two personalities are now fused permanently.

Back on the island, called Empyrean, former friends Pyro and Avalanche are discussing what has happened since they last saw each other. After being captured, Blob and Pyro were forced to work as bodyguards for the commander that defeated them until the Toad got them out. Inside, the rest of the Brotherhood observes the pair. The man in the robe chastises the Blob for an inappropriate outburst and uses his power to keep him in line. Unbeknownst to the group, they are also being observed by Henry Peter Gyrich, who is searching for two missing scientists that allegedly now work for the mystery man named Jonathan Chambers.

In one of those wacky coincidences that only happen in comics, the X-Men’s Blue Team just happens to have also taken an interest in Jonathan Chambers. Chambers is a scientist and author of a book calling for unity between humans and mutants, and the X-Men want to investigate the sincerity of his claims. There are some doubts about Chambers since his father died at thirty-eight, but looking twice his age, and he has been seen with the Brotherhood on his island. One half of the team meets Chambers at his front door, while the other half sneaks in through the basement.

The sneaking squad includes Psylocke and Revanche, who argue the entire time until they discover the Brotherhood. Meanwhile Beast and the rest of his team have a polite discussion with Chambers. There is a big fight between the X-Men and the Brotherhood until Chambers stops both teams with his powers.

Time for some revelations. First Pyro reveals that he is suffering from the Legacy Virus. Then Beast explains that Chambers, or Empyrean, is an “energy vampire” as he absorbs ambient energies around Legacy sufferers like Pyro; however, this process also relieves the pain that the ailing patients feel, and allows him to conduct experiments to possibly find a cure. It also shortens the victims’ lives. As for the scientists, they have joined Empyrean freely. Finally, Revanche reveals that she is infected with the Legacy Virus as well. She encourages Cyclops to leave Empyrean alone since it is up to every infected person to choose his or her own path.

Gyrich shows up because he believes that illegal activities might be occurring, but Cyclops tells him that there is no evidence of anything illegal. Chambers threatens to expose Gyrich to the media if he does not leave. Then the X-Men leave the island peacefully.


What Else Went Down: The Beast starts this back-up strip falling down an elevator shaft that he has been thrown into. After stopping his fall and sabotaging an elevator full of security guards to protect them, Beast goes back up to save his girlfriend Trish Tilby and a scientist named Dr. Cahill. Trish has sprained her ankle and it appears that a giant muscle-bound creature named Malvin is assaulting her and the scientist. The Beast fights Malvin until he explains that Dr. Cahill is responsible for turning him into a monster. During the fight, Trish goes through the Doctor’s files and discovers proof of this.

The Beast, Malvin, and Dr. Cahill are all flung out the window. Beast holds each character in one of his hands before pulling them both up. Trish is surprised until Beast explains that he can bench three thousand pounds. The security guards burst in, automatically assuming that the Beast and Malvin are the villains, but Cahill admits his guilt. The story ends with one of those clichéd narrations about one person being a man in the body of a beast and the other being a beast in the body of a man.

How It Was: Another sixty-four pages of story; man I’m getting worn out from all of these double-sized comics. Once again, this year features another annual written by the regular writer, so actual plot points are addressed and furthered in this issue. We’re still focusing on the Legacy Virus, and at this point it still seems like the book is going somewhere with the plot. Overall it’s a pretty good issue, with the main problem being that the Chambers plotline never appears in these books ever again. There is an interesting conflict about the potential exploitation of mutants by Chambers, as well as tension created by the fact that we never learn if his intentions are sincere or not, and unfortunately we never get a resolution for any of these points. The concept of exploitation by a character of unknown sincerity is revisited soon in X-Men with Threnody and Mr. Sinister, so it is possible that Nicieza just didn’t feel like returning to the same theme.

Another dropped idea is this incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which I always thought had some potential, minus the horrible straight out of the ‘90s armor revamped costumes. Between the ‘91 annuals and this issue, it at least seemed like the Toad had some kind of agenda going, but this particular team disappears after this issue. At least we get some closure from the previous Freedom Force story.

As for the X-Men, well their arc in this issue makes for more of a mixed bag. Once again we have an annual begin with a Danger Room sequence since the writer needs an unnecessary action sequence to take up a few pages. The fight scenes are all pretty good, if brief; it’s the first time the X-Men have fought a decent super-villain team in a long time. As for the major revelations of Legacy infected, they definitely felt significant at the time. Revanche feels more monumentous because if you’re like me, you’re excited that her storyline is about to end. Pyro’s struggle with the disease gets strung out for a great many years; the poor guy is on death’s door in every future appearance, until he finally dies in 2001. This issue is, once again, a nice opening issue to a story that never resonated. Could have been better if it went anywhere interesting.

The back-up strip is just terrible. Out of ten pages, the story takes five of them to show Beast escaping from an elevator shaft. The depiction of Malvin is ridiculous with so many muscles awkwardly sticking out everywhere. Plus Trish Tilby comes off as a knockoff Lois Lane, and the resolution centers on all of the characters underestimating the central character.

B