Astonishing X-Men 61
Lapham, Liu, and Pak (s) and Liu (w), Arlem, deMoura, Buffagni, Valdes, and Cuevas (a) and Loughridge and Sotomayor w/ Mossa (c)
The X-Termination event winds its way down with its penultimate issue here. The gaps in the story are being filled in as we know actually know what the monsters are and what their goal is (though we pretty much already knew that). Sage connects with the black box of the Celestials and pieces the story together. The Celestials, in their creation of the universe, created the monsters as an answer to life, a force of death. However, the monsters turned on them and needed to be imprisoned, which the Celestials managed to do by creating the multiverse and sticking the monsters in one of the universes. The evil Xaviers broke down the barrier between the monsters' universe and the multiverse and now they'll come flooding out to fulfill their purpose. The Celestials also created the Death Seed as a sort of second attempt at a force of death, one that was a bit easier to regulate. So Jean, who has just taken on the Death Seed and become Apocalypse, fights the monsters and is doing pretty well against them but Prophet knows that eventually she'll be overcome. The only thing left to do then is to seal them in a universe again. With no time left and all of the monsters (there are tons of them) making their way into the Age of Apocalypse universe, Prophet decides that the AoA shall be their new prison. It will mean the almost guaranteed destruction of that universe, but it will save the multiverse. The only thing left to do is get everyone back out and seal the portal, which AoA Nightcrawler says he can do.
The action continues here and the story is an intriguing one. This continues to be a pretty great event with long-lasting consequences (assuming you care about the Age of Apocalypse) and solid action and character moments throughout. Jean is being corrupted by the Death Seed and will likely die a monster. Nightcrawler is still striving to redeem himself and his newly empowered by the death of little Kurt Waggoner. Prophet is prepared to sacrifice himself and his universe for the continued existence of the multiverse. The final issue, coming next week with X-Termination 2, will wrap everything up (including both Age of Apocalypse and X-Treme X-Men, as both books have been
cancelled) and will show us the final death tally and if there was any sort of deus ex machina to save the AoA. It will certainly be interesting and it's one no one should miss, if they care at all about any part of these three teams.
X-Men Legacy 9
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)
I'm a sucker for the "can you blame someone for a crime they might commit" kind of question. It drove the start of Remender's X-Force book and it plays a role in a lot of science fiction, particularly anything with time travel or mind-reading. It's actually kind of interesting that it hasn't really played a huge role in Age of Ultron, made more interesting by the fact that Hank Pym has done plenty of good in his life along with the creation of Ultron. It was mentioned briefly in AU5, but pretty quickly passed over. Now David Haller has to ask himself about it as he sees visions of an incredibly powerful being called Aarkus (we'll get to him in a minute) who lives on the moon by himself, visiting Earth occasionally to read books. With no one to correct these books, he ends up believing everything he reads, including plenty of anti-mutant material. He decides that mutants are a threat to humanity and he takes it upon himself to destroy them, attacking and destroying a bunch of mutants in his first attempt. The X-Men show up at his door to take him down but he annihilates them just as easily. Eventually, Aarkus would wipe out mutants. David knows he's no match for Aarkus in his normal state, but with the power of self-control that being with Ruth grants him he feels that he can shut Aarkus down before any of this starts. Ruth refuses to condone it, even though he shows her his visions, unable to give David permission or encouragement to kill someone who hasn't done anything wrong yet. David, though, has already done it, powered by the hope that Ruth would give approval. He's shut down Aarkus' mind, leaving him in a coma and unable to awaken. Ruth is furious and demands to be brought home (they're on the moon through all of this). David brings Ruth and Aarkus back to the X-Mansion, telling Ruth that she can deliver him to them.
It's a great issue that asks more interesting questions about the morality of David's chosen war. Instead of the reactive X-Men, his idea to snuff out problems before they escalate puts him in a different scope of morality. The X-Men, for all of their failings in David's eyes, are typically pretty firmly in the right, reacting to an attack that has already happened. David reacts to visions he sees in his head of the future, which are quite possibly accurate but can never be fully guaranteed. It's a pretty great idea and leads to a lot of great stories, as this series has shown. We also delve into Ruth and David's relationship here, which is pretty fascinating in and of itself. They both have the ability to see bits of the future and David needs her to feel his best and to be the most in control. However, she's not just going to sycophantically follow him around and power him up, as it were. She has real concerns and real questions about everything that will no doubt make things interesting going forth. Last little note, Aarkus is the Vision of the Golden Age. He's not particularly like the Vision we know today except in look (not color though) and a kind of detached love for humanity. He most recently appeared in Invaders Now, a mini-series from a couple years ago by Christos Gage that featured all the Invaders teaming up to take care of some business from the past. I think it's a great play by Spurrier, integrating other lost corners of the Marvel Universe into this story. Fascinating characterization of him too and with no real need nor desire to explain who he is beyond some of his powers. Also a couple of references to David as sort of Dr. Manhattan of Watchmen fame, shown as the human so powerful he forgets what it's like to be human. Another great issue.
X-Factor 254
David (w) and Kirk and Leisten (a) and Milla (c)
The Hell-Lords storyline is proceeding for what seems like a very long time for a monthly book. My normal problems with it kind of remain which, again, are I think borne out of my own biases. I don't really care about Rahne nor Tier so having Tier narrate and be a focal point of the story kind of makes me tune out a bit. However, other interesting things are happening around the story, including Mephisto kind of dominating the Hell-Lord battle including taking down other frontrunner Hela. Jezebel and Guido return with demon-possessed Jamie to New York to meet up with X-Factor, where they promptly all get into a fight (owing in no small part to both Monet and Guido's past and the demon-headed Jamie multiplying). Tier doesn't want to have to kill the hell lords even though he's the only one capable of doing it. Rahne demands they listen to him and find another way and X-Factor is split on the issue. Jezebel cannot understand his hesitation and ends up frying Rahne for a bit before descending on Tier again, only to be stopped by Layla. That battle, as well as one between Guido and Monet, will likely be picked up in the next issue.
There are a few interesting things going on here but, again, I'm finding this story a little dragged out and a little too focused on Tier and Rahne for my own personal liking. I am intrigued to see what happens with Jamie and with Guido and Monet's fight, as well as with most other members of the team, and I was happy to see a couple of character defining moments in this issue, including Polaris' insistence that Tier step up and do what needs to be done. There's plenty to look forward to as we move forward (hopefully a little faster than we have been moving) but by and large, I feel like the most interesting stories are happening on the sidelines. I want to know what Mephisto's doing and what his plans are, I want to know what Jezebel's rebellion is all about, I want to know what's happening with people like Jamie and Darwin, etc. There are questions here that I want answered and that I'm sure will be answered but I can't help feeling like we're moving a little slowly to those answers. I would be curious to know if some of these books were altered and maybe even slowed a bit by Peter David's health concerns or if the series hasn't been changed because of it. I don't want to put that onus on the book, though, so just know that this will probably end up being a good arc, all told, at the end of it and certainly a fun one to go back and re-read, but it's dragging a bit in the present.
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