All-New X-Men 20, X-Men 8, Uncanny X-Force 15

All-New X-Men 20
Bendis (w) and Asrar and Peterson (a) and Silva w/ Gracia (c)

X-23 wakes up in the Uncanny X-Men base, the abandoned Weapon X facility (which, I don't think I covered this, I don't really know how it's abandoned still, you guys) and, of course, it doesn't go very well. She eventually believes the ANXM are who they say they are but still runs out of the facility. Young Cyclops goes after her and talks to her there while the others watch from the door of the facility. Jean reveals to the team that Scott has already taken a bit of a liking to X-23 and starts to reveal what's happened to X-23 but Kitty tells her to stop and that there are minds you shouldn't read (because I guess we've entirely given up on telling Jean not to do things). X-23 wants to go after the Purifiers so they all do. My comic reader will not allow me to get past too many double page spreads, though, and so freezes up every time with about three pages left so I don't know how this one ends. A Christmas miracle, you guys.

Guys, I continue to truly hate this book. The entire conceit remains awful to me (who is letting these kids stay in the present? I know I harp on that every single review but it remains terrible every single issue). Kitty has proven a somewhat ineffectual leader, which is too bad because I like her so much every where else she appears in the MU, going along for the ride rather than actually teaching things. Occasionally she'll tell them something about how to fight or will, clearly the only reason she's really there, tell them who they're up against, but by and large she seems just there to say something or other about what they shouldn't do, which they then proceed to do almost immediately. Jean Grey is the single most obnoxious character in this entire universe right now which would be an interesting debate of nature vs. nurture if it didn't just come off as the way Bendis writes every single character. Even X-23, whose entire history and personality and reputation is based off the fact that she doesn't really know how to fit into human society, immediately begins talking in teenage terms. Guys. I hate this book. Also, I involuntarily roll my eyes every single time I see this cover.

X-Men 8
Wood (w) and T. Dodson, Kesel, Kitson, Hanna, and Pallot (a) and Keith (c)

Typhoid Mary has broken into the school and stolen the box Lady Deathstrike/Ana Cortez wants before being noticed by security. Psylocke chases her through the school and then, with a psychic tag on her, follows her down to Cortez's hideout where Cortez is working with none other than John Sublime. Sublime knows that Cortez has gone after Arkea and warns her not to try to use Arkea as he's still convinced Arkea will destroy the world. Of course, Cortez isn't stopped by this and reveals that Mary has stolen a piece of Arkea. She opens it (it's basically a hard drive) but Sublime realizes that it's a dead piece. Arkea, news to Sublime, can be killed. Cortez realizes that Sublime suspects there may be more Arkea pieces out there and has Mary pull the information from his mind before they leave him there. Psylocke picks him up and brings him back to the X-Men while Cortez and Mary travel to Norway to enlist the help of the exiled Enchantress. The three form a sisterhood bent on finding and freeing Arkea and benefiting from the powers she holds.

More interesting story though bringing Arkea back in seems a little over-complicating. However, she seemed a pretty worthy adversary who was trumped a little too quickly so I guess it makes sense and it could absolutely work to the advantage of the story. I hate to draw too many comparisons between this and FEARLESS DEFENDERS because it just seems too easy to draw comparisons between the only two major Marvel all-female team-up books and it seems to cheapen the idea but this book seems more comfortable just to be a comic. FEARLESS DEFENDERS never really felt like it knew what it wanted to do; the tone alternated between serious threats and wacky characters with no real need to be wacky. By the same token, the team-ups seemed arbitrary at best and there was this underlying feeling of "do you get it, it's all women!" which may have stemmed more from the fact that we were digging into serious B-listers than from a show-boating kind of way. This book very clearly does not care that it's all women, it simply is all women. Again, that might just be a result of the book starring A-list heroes including Storm, Psylocke, and Rachel Grey (at least A-list among X-Men). However, between the good characters and the "no wasted words" mentality, this book is hitting pretty well right now. I'm excited to see it continue to build steam as the issues pour out.

Uncanny X-Force 15
Humphries (w) and Briones and Talajic (a) and Curiel (c)

Psylocke and Puck are in the shadow world and need to find themselves a way out before they're overrun by the Revenants and before Cassandra Nova completes her plan to move the Revenants fully into the real world. Psylocke tries to call out to the Demon Bear to break Cassandra's spell over him but it doesn't have any effect until Storm, leading Spiral and Bishop into the battle, strikes lightning down on Nova and the Demon Bear and breaks the spell. Demon Bear rushes to Psylocke's aid and gets them out, sacrificing himself and staying behind to get them out. Spiral uses Bishop's special Envenom loaded weapons to cut Nova out of Ginny and instantly teleports the saved Ginny away. Nova latches on to the Psylocke Revenant (British form Betsy) nearby and begins to take up the fight again. Psylocke turns up though and kills her, officially sacrificing a psychic to stop the invasion (still seems arbitrary) and stopping Nova while also ending her chance at getting back into her original body. Bishop, meanwhile, has discovered that Storm is keeping his memories from him and is not so happy about it.

This whole series has seemed more than a little bogged down through its entirety. This is one of the series that I constantly have to refresh myself on or risk not remembering anything that's happening because, in truth, it just doesn't seem that memorable. I think the Revenants are a sort of interesting idea and a sort of interesting villain but it also seems like a fight that's gone on forever and that is completely weighed down by these weird and arbitrary things. Need to kill a psychic to stop the Revenants. Cassandra Nova brought a psychic Revenant into her house despite taking all other precautions to keep psychics out. Demon Bear is under a spell until he's not. Puck continues to have little to no role in the book. I don't know, maybe it's just not for me, which is too bad since I was so looking forward to this series when it started. Also, keep an eye out in this issue for appearances of Fantomex, who is on the cover (SPOILERS: none of the Fantomexes appear even a once). This series crosses over with CABLE AND X-FORCE for the "Vendetta" storyline which promises to be a fun one next before both cede to Si Spurrier's likely incredible X-FORCE next year.