Uncanny X-Men 23, X-Men 16

Uncanny X-Men 23
Bendis (w) and Anka (a and c) and Caramagna (l)

As the team recovers from the most recent attack of the future evil brotherhood, She-Hulk receives a startling package. While Cyclops tries to talk to Eva about whatever it is she's hiding and her suddenly faster aging and as Emma, Magik, and Magneto try to help Dazzler track down Mystique, She-Hulk heads to the Jean Grey School and calls together Storm, Beast, and Iceman, waiting only for Cyclops to turn up so that she can read the last will and testament of Charles Xavier.

The issue serves as both the start to a new arc and a bit of a rest issue after the last arc. It drags a little bit in its own way, combatted well by Bendis by jumping around the X-Universe a bit. As the team settles back in, welcoming recent overpowered hero Hijack back into their midst, Bendis sets up the new story which will, he promises, rattle the X-World to its core. That said, it comes as a big sort of GASP moment at the end when She-Hulk informs the three X-Men around her that they'll need to get Cyclops to hear the reading of the will, which would probably be more effective if the two rival teams didn't see each other every third book or so. For someone who has sort of been excommunicated by the X-Men, Cyclops has still made a number of appearances, met with varying degrees of anger and I think it's weakened the series and the death of Charles Xavier a bit. I'd have liked it more if they could have kept this Uncanny X-Men team from the X-Men team or the Wolverine and the X-Men team or whatever entirely, really giving a sense of isolation. Instead, Cyclops has appeared in every major X-Men story, it feels like, and Bendis has even gone so far as to send the O5 X-Men with Kitty Pryde to Cyclops' side. Hardly feels as dramatic. Anyway, the total score/review for this issue is only for this issue, not for the faults I'm expressing about the series as a whole. So...

Total Score: 4/5


X-Men 16
Wood (w) and Buffagni and Sandoval (a) and Mounts (c) and Eliopoulos and Caramagna (l)

The Future, thrown a bit by Kymera's appearance and actions, has altered his plan and captured Jubilee instead of killing her and trying to take Shogo himself. He retreats to a safehouse in the Adirondacks and waits for the X-Men's response. They prepare an assault, readying even the students for the fight, despite the notion that students should stay away from the fighting and acknowledging that the kidnapping of an X-Man and the brutal attacks on their home are more serious than most things they face. As they begin their attack, they learn that The Future has all manner of futuristic defenses, including a sort of bio-coded forest which would only allow entrance to people with the same DNA as The Future, stopping even the powerful Monet in her tracks. When The Future makes an offer of a trade, Jubilee for Shogo, to Storm, sure that she will give up the baby that he believes means nothing to her, she declares war.

Things are getting heated against The Future and I think that the only problem with the story as a whole is that The Future is still such a foreign entity. That isn't altogether bad; the idea that the X-Men don't really know who they're facing and that they've never faced him before opens the door for plenty of fear and poor decisions. However, it does make it kind of hard to see how much of a threat he is. Obviously Wood has done his part, showing The Future effortlessly attacking the Jean Grey School and incapacitating Psylocke (actually hard) and kidnapping Jubilee (ehhhhhh, not so hard once you're IN the school). Even with that, though, it's hard to get a read on this guy. This is where the continuity of comics hurts the current comics because the X-Men, appropriately, are treating this as one of the biggest threats they've faced but long-time X-Readers are undoubtedly thinking of all the other villains in the team's rogues gallery and wondering why The Future stacks up so high suddenly. Again, not necessarily Wood's fault or the fault of this book but it is a problem when reading this story. Still, strong issue overall, harkens back to Wood's ULTIMATE X-MEN with the sentient seed and the forest that fought on behalf of the mutants of Utopia, even if now a pseudo-sentient seed is fighting against the X-Men.

Total Score: 4/5

X-Men 14, Uncanny X-Men 21

X-Men 14
Wood (w) and C. Mann (p) and C. Mann and S. Mann (i) and Mounts (c) and Caramagna (l)

The Future has attacked two students, Primal and Sprite, and, in doing so, somehow broken past every defense that the X-Men have. Monet and Rachel tear off after Primal's shooter and track him to a train in an attempt to make a getaway. They manage to take him down before he can shoot himself, bringing him back to the school for questioning while Psylocke ups the mansion's defenses and Beast attempts to save the wounded. Storm calls everyone together to tell them that she's officially announced them as a team (AKA made it known to Wolverine) but her speech is interrupted when the Future strikes again shattering more defenses and breaking through where they were holding the original shooter. Storm's future daughter Kymera helps protect Shogo and trounces the shooter, who turns out to be a bomb, and the ensuing explosion complicates things further.

Story
The Future, despite his name, continues to be a frustratingly compelling villain, one who is able to inexplicably get past all of the mansion's many defenses and to remain hidden from even the talented psychics on the premises. Amid the fear of the Future is a story about the team forming and starting to work together as Storm begins to back down from her leadership position, allowing for more voices of dissent or more strategies and at least stalling the overthrow talk. Wood has always done a solid job at ramping up and balancing tensions and this issue is a prime example. 5/5

Character
There are a number of strong characters in this book and Wood should be praised for keeping their voices almost entirely distinct. It's the sort of book where you could focus on the words on the page and know who's speaking. The only time that that line gets a little muddied is with Rachel, who occasionally plays the side that's convenient to the advancing plot, though I'd also say that I'm not really sure I've read a really great Rachel Grey before and I'd say that I've read great versions of all of the other major characters elsewhere. 4/5

Writing
Wood bounces back and forth between locations and characters enough to make the book feel really fast-paced even when a lot of this issue is just fortifying defenses and reacting to last issue. It creates the sort of panicked and terrorized tone for the issue that allows the reader to begin to understand what the outlook is like at the school. Particularly effective with this is seeing Beast's full-on sadness at what's happening and his seeming inability to help the injured. 5/5

Art
Strong art from Clay Mann, as is typical. There's a nice panel as Ororo apologizes for her recent behavior and announces that they're officially a team where, though the camera is pulled back far enough that there's not much detail to the characters' faces, we get a good sense of the situation from the position and the posture of each character, with Storm fretting anxiously, Rachel listening o obediently, Monet with her arms-crossed, Psylocke with her hands on her hips, and Jubilee cradling Shogo. It's a nice characterization of all of them in the briefest of moments. 5/5

Miscellaneous
As in the last issue, the mini-story BROMO-SUPERIOR continues in this issue, again written by wood but with art from Phil Briones and colors from Matt Milla. It's fine, or whatever.

Total Score: 5/5


Uncanny X-Men 21
Bendis (w) and Bachalo (p) and Townsend, Irwin, Mendoza, Olazaba, and Vey (i) and Bachalo (c) and Caramagna (l)

Cyclops and Magik have lost control of their powers upon arriving at the Jean Grey School to question Beast on whether or not he's tracking their movements with Cerebro. The mutants at the mansion subdue the pair just as Dazzler arrives and demands to take Cyclops into custody. Beast fights her on it, convinced something is wrong with them and realizing he's best suited to understand what and who is attacking them. Maria Hill steps in and eventually sides with Beast, giving him an hour to study Cyclops. The mysterious entity behind the attacks sees his opportunity and uses the SHIELD helicarriers to attack the school while Beast begins to study Cyclops in his lab and realizes who is behind everything. Meanwhile, Magneto frees Dazzler in Madripoor and swears he'll help her find revenge.

Story
Though I thought that Cyclops' reason for coming to the Jean Grey School was kind of stupid and convoluted (the dude's just going to keep making excuses to go there apparently and the more he does it the less of a dramatic "OH NO, LOOK WHO'S HERE" sort of a moment it is. Soon we'll just assume he's a part-time professor), you can see here why Bendis chose to send them. Though the ends don't necessarily justify the means, we're here to examine this issue and not the last one and the at ion of this issue is compelling enough. I do have some problems with the fact that this book can't seem to go more than a few issues without pulling in the other mutants or SHIELD or anything else, but we are moving quickly to our mysterious adversary. The most compelling story of the issue, though, is Emma Frost's refusal to completely give up on Scott as a love interest. Just kidding, of course it's not that, I could not care less about that. I swear, every time I start to fight for this book, I'm reminded that I'm actually annoyed by it. No, it's Magneto. His determination to get Dazzler out and stop the MGH production is a nice arc for his character and it boosts this up from the 3/5 I was going to give this issue after remembering Emma Frost's contribution. 4/5

Character
Like last time, I'm going to fall back on Magneto's arc here because there's not a lot else to look at. There's Emma Frost and I continue not to care even a little bit about that relationship. Magneto's stuff is strong, I'm still not particularly into SHIELD's involvement though Maria Hill's agreement to let Beast check out Cyclops was both interesting and baffling. 3/5

Writing
Bendis reins in the back-and-forth dialogue here which I really appreciate since there's a lot of fighting and a lot of exploding in this issue and I really hate it in those moments. I think the tone of the book works pretty well but I'd have to put that to the colors as much as anything. Still, writing didn't hurt that and that's sometimes just as important as actively fostering it. 5/5

Art
As I said, I think the colors really helped the art in this one. Bachalo's art is typically impressive and it's extremely consistent. This issue loses a point in art for a weird gratuitous upskirt of one of the girls in the Jean Grey School (I'd call her Surge but I've not known Surge to wear a skirt and I'm unclear if she's there or not. Who knew I'd have to choose between blue-haired girls?). 4/5

Miscellaneous
I think this book has the ability to shine through some of the problems I've had with it but it keeps barely scratching that surface instead of leaping over it.

Total Score: 4/5

X-Men 13, Uncanny X-Men 20, X-Force 3

X-Men 13
Wood (w) and C. Mann (p) and C. Mann and S. Mann (i) and Mounts (c) and Caramagna (l)

With a moment to rest following Arkea's defeat, the team ponders where they've been and where they're going. Psylocke encourages Storm to officially make them a team and own up to being its leader, Rachel Grey tries to get over her crush on John Sublime (which may turn into a revenge on Sublime), Monet pushes herself harder to eliminate the weakness she found against the Sisterhood, and Jubilee tries to find her place in the school with Shogo. They're thrust into their new mission, though, as a professional bad guy (that may as well be his description) claiming to be Shogo's father begins to attack the school, promising that everyone will die unless he gets his hands on the boy.

Story
Though we're entering quickly into the new BLOODLINES storyline and this bad guy who goes by the name "The Future," this is meant to act more as a downtime issue. The action doesn't kick in until about halfway through as it's more important here to understand what the team is going through. It's a needed break in the action but, as with all serial media, it can't last. The Future is maybe a little weak so far in his actual background (he really does just seem like a generic really bad guy, though that may be developed further) but he does seem already to be an impressive adversary. 4/5

Character
With a break in the action, the character takes an important role and Wood does a good job taking advantage of it here. Psylocke wants Storm to be the Ororo that gets up in people's faces and that doesn't back down and they have an exchange that works really well. Still not totally sold on Rachel Grey in this book but I think Wood can use her as a good foil to Storm. Monet's determination is right on the money and Jubilee's restlessness towards not understanding her new role is solid. 4/5

Writing
Pretty solid writing throughout. The story comes across well and Wood does a good job switching between characters and even shifting the tone when the action starts to pick up. 5/5

Art
Clay Mann draws really impressive people and some pretty good action, though there's not a lot here. Still, the range from Ororo and Storm's talk to Monet and Rockslide's punching to Jubilee's dancing is a pretty wide range and Mann handles it well. 5/5

Miscellaneous
A first issue of a new arc is hard, particularly one following an arc that was so long. I think Wood and company gave just the right amount of downtime here before diving into the new story. Still not totally sold on the Future (also his name is the Future). This issue also has a little mini-story at the end by Wood and artist Phil Briones called BROMO-SUPERIOR where Hellion, Rockslide, Anole, and Broo go to train in the Danger Room on the heels of the Future's first attack on the Jean Grey School.

Total score: 4/5


Uncanny X-Men 20
Bendis (w) and Bachalo (p) and Townsend, Faucher, Holdredge, Mendoza, Olazaba, and Vey (i) and Bachalo (c) and Caramagna (l)

After the attack in Chicago, Scott decides to check in with Maria Hill personally, using the Stepfords to get into SHIELD unnoticed and ask his questions of her. They search her mind, to which she submits willingly, and find that she also believes that SHIELD could be behind the Sentinel attacks but knows little more (though she has an attraction to Scott because Bendis). Scott and the Stepfords leave and, back at base, realize that whoever is targeting them must be using Cerebro technology to do it. The list of people who can use Cerebro tech is very short and Scott narrows in on Hank McCoy. He and Magik pay Hank a visit at the Jean Grey School but are quickly found by SHIELD and attacked.

Story
Scott's war continues just as Mystique and Sabretooth continue their fight with SHIELD, Mystique still posing as Dazzler. It's hard to really get in the head of some of these characters because I'll likely never face the persecution and fear on these guys but I find it hard to buy that Scott would even feel the need to check on Hank. They weakly try to explain it all away by saying that it's probably not him but who knows, he certainly hates Scott these days, but it's hard to see even the most persecuted and feared man believing that Hank McCoy would employ Sentinels. Also, Maria Hill having a crush on Scott is INFURIATING. Bendis can't go two minutes without introducing another love interest for so many characters. 4/5

Character
Scott's character is so often in flux these days that it's hard to kind of pinpoint if he's in character or not. It's also hard to tell about Maria Hill because she's sometimes savvy and crafty and sometimes totally off-the-handle obsessed with one aspect of her job. I don't think these problems are this issue's, I think these are line problems at Marvel. Still, I'm going to lump the score for Maria Hill's crush on Scott into here so... 2/5

Writing
The tone works for this issue as things jump around pretty quickly to disorient the reader. In addition, it does feel like it's coming from a darker place right now, which is how things surrounding Scott should feel. The Maria Hill attraction thing (no, I'm not going to get over it and I HATE Maria Hill) feels a little out of place amidst all the serious Sentinel things going on. 4/5

Art
I like Chris Bachalo's art a lot and I think he does an interesting job matching tone here. There are times where I think that his art is almost too cartoony for how dark this tries to go but overall I think he manages to balance it out with a seriousness that matches Scott's concerns and the war designation Scott is so eager to give out. Also, I will admit that I'm still not really onboard with a lot of these costume designs. 4/5

Miscellaneous
I really don't think that my aversion to the Maria Hill-Scott Summers thing is out of place here. I think Hill is a stronger character if she's not obsessed with Summers based in part out of some schoolgirl crush on him. On top of that, it is one of my frequent complaints about Bendis that he tries to overload with love triangles and romances that I feel tend to bog things down. Don't get me wrong; there are romances and love triangles elsewhere throughout comics and every other sort of media, but we don't need it in every single comic.

Total score: 3/5


X-Force 3
Spurrier (w) and R. Kim (a) and Sabino (l)

X-FORCE needs to find Volga, their suspect for the bombing at Alexandria. Psylocke combs Cerebro to find Volga but settles for finding people who are thinking about Volga, honing in on one mutant in particular, a teleporter named Antonio Aggasiz who had escaped but was again captured by Volga and terrified of him. The team travels to Brazil only to find that many mutants are being held there because their home countries wanted them secreted away and punished for being mutants. With guards keeping an eye on Aggasiz, the other inmates ask to be let out of their cells to help take down the guards. Cable accepts their help but Psylocke refuses to let them become killers and puts everyone to sleep while she goes in and kills all the guards. She wakes the team but before they can get anything from Aggasiz, Volga himself appears in some sort of energy projection and kills the teleporter.

Story
The plot thickens as Volga seems to have some sort of powers though it had seemed for all intents and purposes previously that he was just a regular human. In addition, the look at the rendition of these mutants is as dark as anything else we've seen pertaining to these mutants and really helps illustrate the sort of conditions mutants live in more than fights with various supervillains could. 5/5

Character
Psylocke narrates this issue though her narration is far more sparse than the previous two issues from Cable and Marrow's perspectives. Instead, she puts her thoughts on her sleeve this time out, snapping at Marrow for calling her ability and methods into question and putting everyone to sleep before admitting to her team that she sought out X-Force, unlike the recruitment of the others, because she can't stand to be away from the killing. It's dark but it's really well done and we get a couple hints at more interesting developments down the road as she reveals she knows why everyone else joined up. Something interesting also happening with Marrow as her language centers do, as Psylocke threatened, seem to be on the fritz. 5/5

Writing
A really good comic book will more or less have this "writing" section covered based on the "story" and "character" sections because the plot, tone, and characters will mesh so well that I'll have nothing to add. Such seems to be the case here as Spurrier is showing us the world that Cable fears is out there already in this darker issue. 5/5

Art
I wasn't sure how I liked Rock-He Kim's art when the initial preview art for the series came out. Much like so many books with a steady artist, though, it's grown on me and come to match the tone so inextricably that I can't imagine another way it could be illustrated (though I saw preview pages recently for an issue done by another artist so I guess I find out). 5/5

Miscellaneous
The team is starting to come together here and the closer look at Psylocke really helps to establish some of the things Spurrier wants established. In this case, she shines a light on Marrow (who helps her own case by talking so much this issue) and on Fantomex (there's a great moment when she corrects his faux French and calls him a fraud but then later reveals that he's joined with the team because he needs help and won't ask for it). Even MeMe has a nice couple moments here. And her name is actually MeMe and not Meme. Who knew? Such is the flaw of writing in all capital letters all the time.

Total score: 5/5

X-Men 10

X-Men 10
Wood (w) and Anka and C. Mann (a) and Keith and Mounts (c)

Arkea and her new sisterhood have moved from Dubai and plan to continue their journey and to combat the X-Men with their newfound power and with a a couple more tricks up their sleeves. Their first obvious trick is that the original meteor that brought Arkea back to Earth broke apart in the ocean and managed to find itself some old Sentinels that had long since sunk and now Arkea controls them and can constantly repair and adapt them to the X-Men's attacks. The second trick is that Arkea wants to resurrect Madelyne Pryor (the horribly messed-up continuity former wife of Cyclops/Goblin Queen/mother to Cable/whatever else she may or may not be) and Selene Gallio (psychic vampire and former Black Queen of the Hellfire Club), to the chagrin of Lady Deathstrike. Meanwhile, the X-Men are trying to track and stop the spread of Arkea before it gets too out of hand. Their efforts aren't going particularly well (though Monet isn't dead after last issue so that's a win for them) and things are made more complicated by Rachel's feelings for and ultimate denial of John Sublime. A group of the X-Men students (or recent graduates or something, not ever quite sure of the way the school works) go to meet the Sentinels coming up on the beach and quickly discover the fight is going to be more of a challenge than it seemed.

This isn't a bad issue to jump in on if you're a new reader looking for a solid way into this series. What I will say is that the somewhat extensive recap that this one gives is somewhat lacking in describing Arkea's endgame, what her plot is actually meant to achieve beyond destroying the X-Men. I believe she's looking for world domination still but there is a sense that maybe she should have a little more drive. Still, the plot is fairly well-explained in a way that should be engaging to new readers and which isn't too exposition-heavy. There are a few mistakes in this issue that kind of take people out of the issue a little bit, even if only for the moment (at one point, an empty helicopter is given speech bubbles meant to be directed off-panel to Arkea and one of her sisterhood. Also, Selene Gallio is referred to as Selene Gallo, which seems like a small error but made it difficult for me to look her up. THAT'S RIGHT, I need references sometimes you guys). While I don't know much about Gallio so I can't really speak to adding her to the story, I don't love the idea of adding Madelyne Pryor (as savvy readers may have gleaned from the first paragraph) as I think her continuity is so totally in shambles and I don't find her interesting enough to justify attempting to unravel that history. Maybe Wood has a great idea and a plan to disentangle some of that but we'll have to see. The art stands out in this issue as Kris Anka does pretty solid work on the first fifteen pages or so before Clay Mann (I assume it's Clay and not Seth but the book doesn't give much indication on that) takes over (Mann's stuff is good too but I prefer Anka's). Either way, decent issue with a good jumping-on point and a little bit of a better look at our opposing factions.



Sorry about the solo review post; I tend to avoid those unless I have something I think is worth saying beyond my norms. In this case, it was simply a hard week in which to break up the posts, with four new series launching and every other book worthy of somewhat early-week examination. Dedicating a full post to X-MEN 10 was the smartest way, it seemed, to keep with my self-assigned themes and still get X-MEN reviewed before Saturday. Little look behind the curtain there.

All-New X-Men 22, X-Men 9, Marvel Knights X-Men 3

All-New X-Men 22
Bendis (w) and S. Immonen and von Grawbadger (a) and Gracia (c)

The ANXM team is back from their meeting with the Purifiers and everyone's relaxing their own way. For Scott and Jean (and, inadvertently, Warren), that means arguing about her knowing the future and being upset and Scott being upset and drama and so on and so forth. The fight ends as Jean storms off and is promptly kidnapped by suddenly attacking aliens who, according to Kitty, seem to be Shi'ar. They put everyone attacking them in bubble forcefields and take Jean away in one without a giant fight. As soon as they've left, the Guardians of the Galaxy pop by and realize that they're too late.

Right off the bat the pacing feels a little strange in this one. Things move pretty well for the second half of the book but the first half is largely made up of Scott and Jean fighting across a cafeteria table (and across Warren for comic relief). Though the back-and-forth dialogue is pretty prevalent in this scene, I actually think that it works here because they're meant to be kind of quickly shouting at one another and it doesn't often step into strange asides and quips. Instead, it feels like a real fight. So my problem, then, isn't with the writing of this scene, it's with the length of it. Maybe halfway through it I think it's safe to say it could have ended. There's even an out there that could have still sent Jean walking away and the issue progressing from there. It might be an attempt by Bendis at trying to give just a little more characterization to the three characters present in whatever way he can but it feels like it just overstayed its welcome, causing readers to have to push through the end of a fight they already fully understand and, worse still, to which they know the ending. Still, it's not one of the weaker issues of the series for that, as the pacing almost immediately picks up (though again, I'd say there's a bit of waste in the second half insofar as how often people explain what's happening in the fight, but that's pretty petty, even by my own admission) and the ending paves the way for the now started TRIAL OF JEAN GREY. Solid Immonen artwork on this one but, then again, it's always solid Immonen artwork.

X-Men 9
Wood (w) and T. Dodson and R. Dodson (a) and Keith, Woodard, and Mossa (c)

Lady Deathstrike has moved her operation, along with Enchantress and Typhoid Mary, to a new office in Dubai where she hopes to power her small team up and hopes to bring Arkea to life. The X-Men are trying to track them but not finding much until Jubilee and Karima find a Cortes jet landing in Dubai. Monet is ready to strike and aimed at the top seven floors of the building, all of which are owned by Cortes and seem empty, aside from the villains. Monet blasts through but it's just too late; Arkea has already been revived, taking the body of Cortes' assistant Reiko, and amped up the powers of the other three. Enchantress, her powers fully restored, manages to grab and hold Monet until she loses consciousness while Mary and Arkea escape. Mary and Arkea talk about the X-Men, whose databases Arkea still retains from her first appearance, and it gives Arkea an idea: she begins to take over other entities all over the world (including, possibly, Karima again) and plans to attack the X-Men on every home base she knows.

The stakes are pretty quickly rising here as Arkea comes back online. There's still plenty of intrigue and questions as Sublime returns to the X-Men to help for one reason or another but it's largely out in the open now as the audience is privy to Arkea's rebirth and her plan going forward. The team building and characterization is mostly in the actions of characters as everyone has her role and takes to it immediately, with Jubilee and Karima trying to track Arkea, Storm and Psylocke meeting with Arab superhero and peacekeeper Sabra to ensure their fight with Arkea keeps from starting a war, Monet as the strike force, and Rachel probing Sublime for information and directing the others. Everyone has an individual voice, even as some of our characters have fewer lines and are maybe a little out of focus. Meanwhile, the plot is running full tilt now and our players are largely accounted for, though there are hints that Arkea might be picking up new enemies for her sisterhood, as Enchantress deems it. As X-MEN moves firmly out of the event it was wrapped up in, it's progressing extremely well with Brian Wood doing his "raising all the stakes" thing perfectly as expected. Good stuff, excited to see what comes of it.

Marvel Knights X-Men 3
Revel (w and a) and Peter (c)

As the X-Men onsite begin to see their memories come to life as a result of Darla, powered up by Krystal's drugs, things start to break down pretty rapidly. Tons of old X-Men villains and horrors descend on the town and tensions immediately start running high, particularly from Wolverine, who has apparently gone crazy and is set on killing Darla for what he saw in her memories and what's happening all around them. As he and Rogue fight pretty brutally over it, Kitty tries to get Krystal to safety. Meanwhile, a mysterious group practically running the town and creating the drug that everyone in the town has been using, a mutant drug born of a mutant who arrived in the town some time ago, is ready to jump into the fight and do so by killing the sheriff of the town, Krystal's uncle Jasper. As Kitty and Krystal try to get away, an entity that Krystal refers to as Jasper appears in the car and attacks Kitty from behind, forcing her to phase through the moving vehicle and stranding her on the road in front of a mob of angry townspeople.

The chaos of this book is really ramping up and it's easy to lose track if you miss a single panel. In that respect, the interesting and rather gorgeous art is almost a hindrance to the book as you kind of want to skip the writing just to look at the artwork. It's the sort of book that might take a couple read-throughs to really comprehend (and even then I'm not sure I've got it all) and to really see it. I'm not the type to start complaining about pretty and experimental art in a book. The plot is maybe a little convoluted but this is the sort of story that I'd like to see the results before I officially condemn the plot. I think that it's something that could wrap up really nicely or could go entirely south depending on how Revel moves from here. This serves, then, as a very interesting midway point for the limited series and continues to set itself apart from a lot of the other books on the shelves with its action, its intimate team, and its artwork. Pretty neat issue, looking forward to how this one wraps.

Uncanny X-Men 14, X-Men 7

Uncanny X-Men 14

Bendis (w) and Bachalo, Townsend, Mendoza, Vey, Irwin, and Olazaba (a) and Bachalo (c)

The new X-Men team Cyclops has assembled isn't exactly up to spec yet and Cyclops wants to make sure they're ready when the true tests come. That means extra training for everyone, both using and not using powers. Perhaps the most disillusioned is Benjamin Deeds, the new X-Man who can change his appearance (or at least people's perceptions of him) to match what others want to see. He believes he is not of much use to the X-Men and Cyclops doesn't really help that feeling. Emma Frost, though, sees his power as perhaps the most impressive of the bunch and takes it upon herself to train him a little more, bringing him to Atlantic City and running him through a couple of tests to get him used to using his powers. After he's worked a bit with it, she sends him on a mission, delivering a letter to one Timothy Dugan (who readers will recognize as Dum Dum Dugan) in a disguised SHIELD facility. Deeds manages to make his way through successfully, deliver the message, and leave. The message, unfortunately for Deeds, informs Dugan that SHIELD is using Sentinels and that they need to discontinue or it will spark a war and is signed by Cyclops. Men surround Deeds as he's trying to leave, though Illyana and Emma break him out in time. They return to base and find an impressed but not surprised Cyclops waiting.

I think this would be the right move for this book for the next set of issues, a series of what basically amount to one-shots focused on each new character individually. I think the team moments of this book have been bogged down by Bendis' need to back-and-forth every bit of dialogue and to make everyone quip in the background of tense moments and what have you. Changing the focus from team to individuals to help establish who these characters are would go a long way to legitimizing the X-Men team as a whole. We've had this team for 14 issues now and I feel like I have very little sense of who these guys are as individuals and even by their powers. The best way to right that ship would be to allow each of them some one-on-one time with a professor or something, giving them their own story to establish them, as this issue did. As a result, I liked this issue more than I've liked a lot of the others. I think giving us a sense of character would help a lot in terms of making the book feel more like an X-Men book and would, perhaps, make some of the back-and-forth banter parts more tolerable (less optimistic on that front).

X-Men 7

Wood (w) and T. Dodson and R. Dodson (a) and Keith (c)

Lady Deathstrike is returning to the Marvel Universe in the form of a shared body after dying some time ago. The body she's sharing is that of 18-year-old Ana Cortes, billionaire heiress to her recently deceased father's Colombian empire. Cortes wanted to team with Lady Deathstrike and upgraded herself to accept her consciousness and powers (kind of ill-defined on the how she did that, as yet, or REALLY the why). Her target now is Karima Shapandar, newly out of her coma, hoping that she can get her hands on the Omega Level Sentinel tech inside of her. Armed with a set of henchmen and dossiers on the everyone at the school, Cortes arrives at Westchester, hoping to access Karima. It's easier than she thought to reach Karima as Karima and new school resident Monet, formerly of X-Factor and currently taking some time and laying low, are out for a run. Cortes' men manage to get a shot on Karima, hitting her in the arm, before Monet, not documented on Cortes' intel, absolutely destroys the henchmen and their weapons. Cortes leaves but not before Monet identifies her as Lady Deathstrike. As both teams regroup, the X-Men realize what they're up against and Deathstrike finds a new target and a new assistant; her new target, based on recent gathered information, is the immensely powerful Arkea, and her new assistant is Daredevil villain Typhoid Mary.

A lot of cool stuff here as our cast of characters grows a little bit with the addition of Karima, Monet, and (kind of) Bling. Bling has a moment in here where we find out she's been talking to Jubilee about her love-life and things aren't going particularly well, as her unrequited feelings for Mercury led to Mercury punching her, apparently. She tells Jubilee that it's okay though, as she has her eyes set on someone else now (HINT: smart money's on Jubilee), meaning we're not likely to see the last of her just yet. ANYWAY, the story I spent the whole paragraph above describing. The re-emergence of Lady Deathstrike is an interesting choice and one that I think I'll be a little more interested by when we get a little more information. I had to re-read most of the comic before reviewing it and still ended up deleting a lot of my first attempts at sentences, as they mostly kept saying things like "Cortes wanted to team with Lady Deathstrike because...oh, we don't really know that. Cortes upgraded herself by...I don't know. I mean, the slot in her neck, right? And like, a USB drive? Um. Okay." Still, the characterization is solid with a nice amount of time spent on new resident Monet and on Karima, as well as brief flashes of Storm and Rachel's continued power struggle and Jubilee's situation. There's a story forming here and it seems like it could be a good one, but I'd like to get a little more information out of it first.

X-Men Legacy 15, X-Factor 261

X-Men Legacy 15
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

Pete Wisdom set up a meeting for David with his rather estranged mother Gabrielle Haller and it instantly starts on a pretty hostile note as David brings Gabrielle to Muir Island, the place where David was at his craziest and abandoned to Moira MacTaggert's experiments. There's an emotional core to the issue that's really solid as David tries to get to the center of his abandonment issues and why Moira MacTaggert was a bigger role in his life than his own mother. There are some really great resolves here for David and his own issues (including Gabrielle going into David's mind and identifying the demon that's been in there as specifically not Charles Xavier, which is rather a weight off of David). It's good that these resolves come, of course, because Gabrielle is promptly shot after David's issues are lessened. He immediately, in a remarkably cool moment in his brain, harnesses new powers and destroys the attackers (an attack organized by the newly unseated President Abdi) before teleporting himself to the Jean Grey School where he can sit in front of the statue of his father (unbothered after he telepathically suggests to everyone around that he's not there) with Blindfold. The two talk for a bit and it leads to David's revelation that he ought to maybe dispatch some "filial justice" in honor of his father, dead at the hands of Cyclops.

Exciting times for the book and, really, what this whole thing boils down to as ever, is that I really love this book you guys. It's just...it's the best book and I don't get why you're not reading it. If you are reading it, ignore that because you totally know how awesome it is already and I don't need to tell you (I will anyway). There's a great emotional core to this book, as I mentioned above, and it really strikes home for David and for the readers that care about David. There's a lot of resolution to hope for and certainly not enough that could ever be given (David was given up by his mother to Charles and Moira when he developed his powers, where he inevitably went a bit crazy and was ultimately sedated and tested on relentlessly, so yeah, there's a bit to come back from) but David gets enough to satisfy and to make more of a weight for Gabrielle's death. I talked in a Fearless Defenders review in the last couple months about "fridging" a character, creating them just to kill them off for an emotional resonance, but this isn't exactly that. Gabrielle is an established character in the Marvel Universe and her death, even though she's been off the pages for a while, still has a real impact to it. She's big in that world (head of the Israeli Embassy) and she's big in the mutant community. Most importantly right now, she was somehow big to David, even if he didn't grow up with her around. So it's not exactly fridging, it's bigger than that and the weight it holds can't be ignored. Some more great stuff with David in his own mind and hey you guys, I really love this book.

X-Factor 261
David (w) and N. Edwards and Leisten (a) and Milla (c)

We're on the penultimate issue of this iteration of X-Factor (it's very likely it will be rebooted shortly after it ends but no official word yet) which means we're still trying to figure out what's become of the team since the events of the Hell on Earth arc. Today's team members: Darwin and Monet. Darwin, sick of being a lackey for Hela, is trying to hunt the Norse goddess down and work some things out with her when he runs into Monet. He questions how she came back from the dead (it happens) and isn't totally satisfied with her response. Like Guido before her, Monet has come back not feeling much of anything and hoping to fix that but can't find the team and has no real outlet so she's shooting in the dark. She and Darwin talk for a bit and he reveals that he's in love with her, that he always has been, leading the two of them into a brief entanglement that ends when Hela appears the next morning and Darwin shoos her off, deciding he's happy the way he is. Awwwwww.

I've mostly been happy with the wrapping up of individual arcs as the book winds down and I think Peter David's taken great care to make sure his characters, the ones he's been writing for years and years pretty much untouched now are in good shape as their book concludes. It's especially nice for X-Factor fans because there's a good chance we won't see much from these characters in the immediate future, particularly if they don't end up on the newest iteration of the team. Sure, some will probably find their way into X-Men books here and there but by and large these characters are ones that are likely to drift into the background of the universe. Truly sad, sure, but kind of expected. The fact we had them in this book for as long as we did is nice (except Rahne, who I still don't care for). But BOY, he better resolve the Madrox thing in the final issue or I'm going to be so angry. I love Madrox. He better not be a goat-headed demon for the rest of his life. I'll be so mad, you guys.

Thunderbolts 4, X-Factor 251

Thunderbolts 4
Way (w) and Dillon (a) and Guru eFX (c)

The details of the mission that the Thunderbolts are on has become both clearer and foggier. On the one hand, we now know that the dictator of Kata Jaya was in the pocket of America at the start of his regime, though that didn't make him a good person. Then America left him, feeling they'd stabilized the region they way they'd wanted, and now the dictator has gone rogue and gotten his own mercenary in the form of Madman. Thunderbolt Ross led the team down in order to take out the dictator and stop his gamma-charged army. However, the indication that America was involved in the dictator's placement and the fact that Ross' plan involved the Leader in some capacity seems to have muddled the rest of the team's drive a bit. Punisher ended last issue by shooting the Leader in the head and this issue picks up with Red Hulk leaping off to try to save him (pouring lots of radiation on him because THAT'S just science).

Meanwhile, the dictator gives his whole backstory to Elektra before killing himself in front of her just as Venom shows up to save her. Punisher tapes a landmine to his chest and dives on to Madman as Deadpool distracts him. Exciting bits of action and intrigue in this issue, but it's hard to say where we'll end up and the plot is a little bogged down in itself. It could clear up pretty quickly, especially if we could ever figure out Ross' motives. All said, though, most of this issue was taken up with the dictator explaining the state of Kata Jaya and shooting himself, so not a lot to analyze in terms of team dynamic (which is particularly broken right now, as there is no trust in Ross and he's gone anyway). I imagine next issue we'll get something more intrinsic in terms of team building (if the team sticks together) or plot smoothing. Not much to say. I'm not a particular fan of Dillon's drawings, largely when he goes to faces. I think the bodies are fine and someone like, say, Deadpool is fine because there's a mask, but I've never liked the way he does faces. It's distracting. Also, he seems of the opinion that Punisher ought to be Sly Stallone and that makes me read Punisher as Sly Stallone and I hate myself for doing that.

X-Factor 251
David (w) and Kirk (a) and Milla (c)

There were some interesting developments in this issue but I'm still largely held down by my lack of affection for Wolfsbane. I just don't really care what happens to her and, while her son is innocent enough, I've certainly tied the two together. Overall, the plot is important because it involves hell-lords coming to Earth to destroy Tier and claim dominion over the other hells which could have reaching effects. The more interesting development to me, though, was that Darwin apparently discovered that, unbeknownst to most of the team, Monet is dying. We don't know what's happening with her and it seems clear that she is unaware, but Darwin brings it up with Layla who ALSO knows. So there's some intrigue for you. Also, Polaris doesn't want to go to the Avengers for help because she doesn't want to have to go to Havok. Worth noting.

Anyway, the hell lords have a deal in place that says whoever kills the seven billionth person born on Earth gets to be the hell overlord. Everyone still has their own hell but they kind of report to the winner. That's really what this is about. At first, I was reading it saying "geez, really? That's what this is? And the seven billionth person on Earth is the son of a super-powered person?" That last bit still holds true in disbelief but whatever, coincidence stretches far enough. After I thought about the "seven billionth person" deal, it made an amount of sense to me. At first I had said "that's not a great reason," but after some pondering I realized...well, it's still not a great reason. But it's not a great reason for a pretty decent reason. Some sort of higher being, a god-figure, seemed to hand this deal down to the hell-lords, who agreed to it. It's exactly the sort of deal someone based on, per se, the Christian God would have made. It's the whole idea of "hey devil, I bet that this dude Job stays true to me NO MATTER what you throw at him" or "I'm mad that humans are being jerks down there, I know, I'll flood the Earth!" It's very old-testament, this deal. So I forgive it. I'm still skeptical that it boils down to the son of a superhero but whatever, I'll live with it. If you get by that part of the story, it's a pretty good issue. Though I'm bored by Wolfsbane, I still think this team dynamic is one of the best in comics today. They function like a family, even after the last couple months have shaken their roster up a bit, and it's worth reading just for that.