Uncanny X-Force 12, Ultimate X-Men 32

Uncanny X-Force 12
Humphries (w) and Alphona (a) and Sotomayor w/ Rosenberg (c)

We get a look at how Spiral's been passing the time with X-Force and Bishop dealing with Revenants and, as it happens, Spiral's been on the tail of the Revenant's too. She has been searching for Ginny relentlessly, holding her vicious nature in check as best she can to try to get information out of any sources. Two different sources, one woman who has lost a friend recently and another who was killed trying to save her daughter (reanimated by Spiral so she could relate the tale), point Spiral to a White Robe cult. Neither woman seems to know much about them except that neither has heard from the person they lost since they joined up with the cult. The killed woman manages to relate to Spiral where to find the White Robes and Spiral sets off their quickly, eventually (with a couple stops first) leading her to the base of the Revenants, where she finds out that the Owl Queen has taken over Ginny's body and that she's really Cassandra Nova, evil, seemingly immortal twin of Charles Xavier. Spiral relates all of this to X-Force, having realized she cannot do this alone.

Solid entry that both serves to clear up a few things about the Revenants (while also asking a few more questions) and to establish Spiral better for this series. We already know her connection to Ginny and we can trust, even more now, that it's particularly strong and meaningful to her. More importantly, though, we get the real, mostly unbiased look into her psyche as someone who has been broken and molded by Mojo into whatever it is she is now and who has stepped so far from her humanity that she's left with only the killer inside of her. We also see a little bit of her magical abilities with the reanimation of the killed woman, though she's quick to point out that her magic is far more limited these days. Finally, we get the reveal of Cassandra Nova as the big baddie and that has its own implications, especially in a world where, as she so immediately recognizes, Charles is dead. Interesting stuff and Spiral's short nature makes the book move pretty well, even with as much narration as we have. One of the better issues of this book so far, I'd say, even with just the fairly brief action sequences.

Ultimate X-Men 32
Wood (w) and A. Martinez and J. Lucas (a) and Sotomayor (c)

Jimmy Hudson is attacking Tian so, for all intents and purposes, it looks like Utopia is attacking Tian. Jimmy manages to take down a few people though he's brought down surprisingly quickly by the full might of Tian. Derek Morgan, one of the good mutants in Tian, tries to stop him from attacking and lift him out peacefully but doesn't have any luck with that, eventually ceding to a troll in the city. The incapacitated Jimmy is brought to Jean, who begins to psychically attempt to kill him. Liz Allen steps in, though, at the expense of being called a traitor to deem Jean a murderer. Meanwhile, on Utopia, Kitty has decided she is going to Tian with the help of new Utopia resident Pixie and talk with Jean, which will, one way or another, lead to the end of this fight. Either Jean listens and they sort things out in a more peaceful manner (unlikely) or Utopia prepares to bombard Tian. It's time to end things.

I've praised this series' ability to keep tension running just as high from issue to issue without really missing a beat and it pays off in issue's like this, where you see the beginnings of the end of the arc. All the tension that has built up over the course of this series and, more directly, this World War X storyline is bubbling now and is likely to dispel as we reach the end. How quickly it dispels is anyone's guess but it's a perfectly structured story with smart characters and writing. That's all it takes to make a series this reliably good. Brian Wood is one of the best in the business at this kind of pacing and at writing a complete story, beginning to end, without particularly slow beats. This issue is another great example of it and you can already see the framework for the next issue, or for however long the resolution of this storyline takes. Really solid book and another particularly good issue. If you like the X-Men, even if you're not terribly familiar with the Ultimate Universe, this is one to get into. Frankly, it's a good one to get into even if you don't love the X-Men and just want to get into a book with understandably and unmistakably high stakes, near-perfect pacing and story, and solid characters and writing. Good book all around.