Cataclysm - Ultimate X-Men 2, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 4

Cataclysm - Ultimate X-Men 2
Fialkov (w) and A. Martinez and J. Lucas (a) and Bellaire (c)

Rick Jones showed up in the nick of time to explain some things and Mach Two, with the help of Amp, was able to take the oncoming Gah Lak Tus swarm and crush them into a ball together. The group starts to move and goes into tunnels under the little island they're on. While they talk a bit about home and about the circumstances, the Gah Lak Tus swarm has been healing and upgrading to protect itself from Mach Two again. They swarm again and attack Jimmy, beginning to turn him while they try to escape. Rogue refuses to let him die and powers herself up to go fight with Jimmy to keep him in control. Pixie comes to help too, teleporting infected cells out of Jimmy's body. He seems saved, though somewhat weakened, and Pixie feels ready to get them home...until she's killed by the swarm, stranding them in this other dimension.

Tensions are ramping up here and it's putting these people, who are pretty much still kids, through more than they've been through in their lives, which is particularly impressive considering how much they've been through in their lives. It's nice to see what's up with the swarm while Galactus gets air time over in the main part of the Ultimate Universe. It's also good to explain where the bulk of the X-Men are while we're primed to see the other X-Men start to make appearances over in the main titles. There is good character stuff in here, which is a bonus because there wasn't a ton the last time out and I was afraid some of these characters would just get washed over with the volume of characters in this mini and the scale of the plot. There is still time for character stuff and Fialkov uses it well. Not a bad entry to CATACLYSM.

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 4
Hastings (w) and Camagni, Calderon-Zurita, and Pallot (a) and Milla (c)

Things are getting desperate as the fight to return things to normalcy rages on. Longshot escapes to try to join up with Spider-Man and Dr. Dipson but he's followed by the controlled Deadpool who isn't quipping and who is driven by his one objective: killing Longshot. Just as they get to Dipson's and as things reach their most dire for Longshot, Deadpool is distracted and brought out of his stupor by the taco truck outside of Dipson's. Dipson reveals that the teddy bear he's been tasked with protecting is actually part of the cosmic cube Longshot used to start everything. They rejoin the parts and return the universe to its normal state, which leaves Longshot facing down the In-Betweener, back as one being. Longshot prepares to face his own death, as this is what the In-Betweener was aiming for the whole time, but the In-Betweener decides that it was probably the broken cosmic cube causing the problems he'd assigned to Longshot and spares him.

Not a bad ending for the series which was a pleasant surprise of a series. I had my doubts, as did probably most people, when they announced a Longshot mini-series because, well, Longshot, you know? I was encouraged by the decision to use Christopher Hastings as the writer and it's one that clearly paid off as the fun in this series outweighed any sort of convoluted plots or anything of the like. The writing was solid, the characters were fairly solid, even the ones who appeared here and there like Captain America or Dr. Strange or the Superior Spider-Man (there's a nice scene in this issue where Dipson tells Spider-Man of the time he foiled Doc Ock and made him look stupid that Spider-Man has to grit his teeth at). Nice little series.

Deadpool 20, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 3, Indestructible Hulk Annual 1

Deadpool 20
Posehn and Duggan (w) and Koblish (a) and Staples (c)

It's another flashback issue for DEADPOOL as this time we find Deadpool visiting Wakanda in the 1960s only to find himself embroiled in a search across the map for four cosmic puzzle pieces. His search starts in Wakanda, leads him to the Savage Land and then to the Negative Zone and finally to Tibet, showing Deadpool making jokes and enemies in each place. He completes the puzzle and it calls forth a baby Watcher, sort of, and Deadpool inadvertently blows up the moon before meeting with Odin and getting on his good side, inevitably leading Odin to restore everything. It's...it's not particularly well-explained, though you get the sense we're not here for the story of this one, which is truly too bad because I don't know what else you'd be here for.

By and large, the DEADPOOL flashback issues have been interesting, whether for a story or an interaction or a change in the art style or whatever it might be. This one is an exception, which reverts DEADPOOL back to a mess of references and jokes without punchlines. It kind of reminds me of a recent article on Cracked.com (which is relatively more swear-filled and what not than I am here so, you know, if you're against that sort of thing, use your own judgment on clicking that link) that talked about the "comedy" of the new Grand Theft Auto game and pretty much summed up my thoughts on it. I'd say this is a step above that but it's not exactly a leap and it's the problem I have with humor that simply references things and expects you to laugh. In this case, I think it wasn't a bad idea to move to a flashback issue because Deadpool's in a pretty dark place and probably many readers aren't picking up DEADPOOL because they're looking for a brooding anti-hero. So we break up his story by looking back in something a little lighter but I think it went overly light for this. It's reminiscent of the first arc which I hate enormously so I'm hoping this spins back to where it was soon.

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 3
Hastings (w) and Camagni, Calderon-Zurita, and Pallot (a) and Milla w/ Campbell (c)

Chaos watches in delight as the helicarrier falls from the sky, though he's saddened to find that either Longshot's luck powers or Dazzler's competence stops it from all-out crashing. Bitter, he starts to pull chaotic beings from time and space, including an old Magneto, a werewolf Captain America, and two vampire lords in Dracula and vampire Wolverine. The real Captain America shows up to help Longshot and together they manage to take everyone down, only to have Chaos call more in. This back-and-forth continues until Order shows up and the two fight. Longshot realizes that his luck powers have also been having unintended consequences; for all the good luck it's provided him, it's been followed by equally bad luck for someone else where it normally just results in good luck if his aims are altruistic. Meanwhile, Superior Spider-Man brings the woman and girl Longshot had been protecting to Dr. Dipson, the scientist from the first issue! It's all coming together!

Really fun book now that Hastings has had some time to develop what he needed to develop and to explore the world he's created, one based around Longshot's interaction with the cosmic cube. The plot is certainly compelling enough to keep readers interested but the fun comes from all of the interesting ideas and the duel between Chaos and Order. Cap's appearance in here is great, pitting him against his werewolf self (from the past; he claims that he remembers a version of himself shooting himself as a werewolf with a single-use chronodisplacer gun and has been carrying it around ever since, ready to fill his role) and against a pair of vampires, among others. There's a shot of Venom-Punisher and Carnage-Silver Surfer and all sorts of fun tidbits like that but it's really the quick and fun writing that ties it all together. A series of ideas in a book is still just a series of ideas until someone ties them together effectively and Hastings has done that very well with fun dialogue and pretty good characterization. Looking forward to the next issue.

Indestructible Hulk Annual 1
J. Parker (w) and M. Asrar (a) and N. Daniel (c)

Annual season pushes on as INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK gets its first, giving us a little bit of time with the Science Bros, Banner and Stark, as they track down a former mentor of theirs on a secluded island where he's doing a bit of Dr. Moreau work, but on the island as a whole, not on the people or anything like that. So maybe Dr. Moreau isn't the best comparison but I'll not be changing it. Anyway, Hulk and Iron Man have to work together to stop Doctor Zadian, who has practically weaponized the entire island with his research and who has measures in place to stop both Iron Man (whose armor nearly entirely breaks down on him when he interacts with the sand) and Hulk (who cannot stay Hulk for any more than a few seconds at a time on the island). The two heroes talk and trek across the island to find Zadian and discuss their past and a little bit of their motivations while they search before ultimately finding Zadian's base and, with a bit of a fight (and Iron Man resorting to tormenting Banner enough to keep him Hulked), manage to bring him down.

I tend not to be the biggest fan of Annuals; I tend to think they're not great stories and that we don't get the best characterization out of them on the whole because there simply isn't much time to let a story develop these days when given just one issue. However, I've been really impressed by Marvel's batch this year, from (admittedly) Fraction's fantastic HAWKEYE ANNUAL tothe fun and chaos of DEADPOOL ANNUAL to this week's really high-spirited AVENGERS ANNUAL and now INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK ANNUAL, I think Marvel has really dedicated itself to providing a good story and good creative teams to work on their books. As I said, HAWKEYE was still helmed by Fraction so there was a guaranteed unified feel for that Annual compared to the series but the rest have featured teams that, each time out, have made me really excited for the book, starting with Acker and Blacker on DEADPOOL, moving to the much-missed Kathryn Immonen on AVENGERS and now Jeff Parker (from old favorites RED SHE-HULK and DARK AVENGERS, notably for this blog) on INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK. I couldn't be happier with the teams or the results. Parker here explores the trend we've seen with Banner as someone who can't quite keep his jealousy in check and who realizes how much of his life has been spent on Hulk whereas people like Tony got to spend so much of his life with science and bettering the world with what they do. There's also a lot of characterization for Tony, who is secretly just as envious of Banner's intelligence but refuses to let it show nearly as much as Banner does. Really sharp writing, lots of fun, and a really nice character study for the two of them. I've heard Parker's been killing it on BATMAN '66 for DC and he's just taken over, I believe, as writer on AQUAMAN but I haven't had the time to check either out. I'd love to at some point as Jeff Parker has yet to disappoint me in any capacity. This year has made me less reluctant to review Annuals and more willing to actually be excited for them. Thanks Marvel!

Wolverine MAX 13, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 2

Wolverine MAX 13
Starr (w) and Ruiz w/ Mogorron (a) and D. Brown (c)

Wolverine is back at Sean’s house and unsure of the events of the last few hours which have ended with the man whose picture he found in his pocket dead and blood all over his hands. Wolverine has very few recollections of the past couple of hours, bar a couple flashes here and there that seem like they might point out his guilt. Sean reveals that Suzie’s gone, which he links to the crime as well and worries him immensely. Sean reluctantly tells Wolverine that Suzie, Mother Night, has been hypnotizing him and this all must be her doing; the man Wolverine killed was her husband and now she’s going to be rich and they’ll be framed for the crime. They drive out to a more remote area where Wolverine, still confused and doubtful of all of this, shoots himself in the head with a shotgun. He wakes up a little while later and Mother Night’s hold over him is gone. Everything falls into place and Wolverine leaves to hunt Suzie down. He finds her and brutally kills her before meeting up with Sean again and killing him too (he was suspicious of him the whole time). After the two deaths, Wolverine gives himself up to pursuers who he assumes to be cops but, instead, he’s met by a man in a suit coming out of a limo who seems to know him.

This book continues to be slow and extremely deliberate without any real sense of a payoff. Wolverine spends most of this issue being confused and saying over and over again, both out loud and in his narration, that he doesn’t believe what’s happening but he can’t remember anything about it so who’s to say? This is another one of those books where the writer seems to think maybe we can’t keep up with a pretty straightforward comic book plot and that he should therefore probably explain it to us about a million times. This is the wrong way to approach a book that’s already a little boring because, GUYS, it makes it a lot more boring. I continue to be perplexed by the very existence of this book, with two other solely Wolverine books (WOLVERINE and SAVAGE WOLVERINE) and another coming next month (WOLVERINE ORIGINS II), all of which are better (or are going to be better, thanks Kieron Gillen) than this one and one of which is just about as brutal without, perhaps, the same amount of swears (SAVAGE WOLVERINE). Even WOLVERINE, which I’ve been pretty non-plussed by, has at least moments of interesting plot and character moments to buoy the sometimes boring parts of the book.

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 2
Hastings (w) and Camagni (a) and Milla (c)

Longshot’s moment with a cosmic cube has altered the universe by, apparently, splitting his split-faced foe into his two component parts and unleashing him on the world. One of those parts has taken over at SHIELD and is attempting to contain or destroy everyone with magic-based powers as they are too unpredictable and unstable. He finds Longshot and a little girl who has a demon or something of the like hiding in her teddy bear and he attacks both of them. They’re narrowly rescued by the intervention of Doctor Strange, who freezes time and brings them back to his Sanctum Sanctorum. He identifies, with some help from Longshot, the foe as the In-Betweener, someone split between Chaos and Order. His two parts have separated and it’s Order who is trying to take the magic out of the game and who intends to eventually take mutants and other super-powered entities off the board as well. Strange summons a handful of other magic-based fugitives (Ghost Rider, Scarlet Witch, and Deadpool, who had recently stolen a magic wand) and enlists their help in trying to stop Order and free Chaos from the helicarrier. They pick up Dazzler, who is working for SHIELD, along the way as she realizes Order’s plan for mutants and others. The strike is going relatively well until one of the SHIELD agents takes down Strange, who was shielding all of them. Longshot abandons ship as Order twists the minds of Strange, Ghost Rider, Scarlet Witch, and Deadpool to act as his agents. On the plus side, Chaos has been freed. Now it’s just a matter of reuniting the two…and not getting crushed by the falling helicarrier.

I don’t know if it’s a matter of having adapted to the tone of this book or if it’s because we have more of an explained plot but this issue works a little better than the first. The plot is starting to take some shape, giving us a better sense of what Longshot is up against and of his (and others’) personality and powers. There are a lot of fun bits in here, often highlighted by Longshot’s endlessly upbeat attitude, even against countless foes, and his trust in his unpredictable powers. There’s a nice beat where Longshot helps Ghost Rider with his chain by hooking it on jets and hoping for the best, which he gets when Wanda makes the jets light enough to trail behind them before being unhooked and making them heavy enough to come crashing down again. Perhaps an even better moment than that is when, near the end of the issue, Longshot throws himself off the helicarrier saying “I know what will work!” before, as he free-falls, adding “Probably!” and landing in the arms of a passing-by Thor, who releases him gently onto a padded awning and, consequently, the ground. Lots of fun stuff, a really fun attitude, and a compelling enough story make for an altogether entertaining read.

Amazing X-Men 1, X-Men Legacy 19, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 1

Amazing X-Men 1
Aaron (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

Nightcrawler is still around in some capacity (whether or not to say he's technically alive, as it were) and has been peering down on his old life from what, for all intents and purposes, is Heaven. As much as he longed to qualify for Heaven as a religious man when he was alive, he finds himself unfulfilled there, wishing he was still back with his friends as an X-Man. We seem to have peeked in on him at the right time, though, as he suddenly finds himself embroiled in a siege on Heaven led by none other than Nightcrawler's father, the demon Azazel. Meanwhile, back at the Jean Grey School, new teacher Firestar is having some problems getting adjusted to the fast-paced style of the school. On her first day, she helps Hank McCoy follow a couple of bamfs to a portal they've built deep within the recesses of the school. They call the rest of the staff down and worry about what the portal is and what it can do when a bunch of red bamfs (Azazel's crew, apparently) jump out of it, trying to keep the X-Men from entering. Eventually, though, the portal pulls a couple in and Wolverine and Northstar find themselves in Heaven, watching Azazel's pirate ship attack and hearing tell of a blue elf.

I wondered what kind of tone Aaron was going to bring to this book. Right now he's writing two major ongoing books at Marvel, THOR: GOD OF THUNDER and WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. The two are entirely different books starring entirely different casts of characters (BREAKING NEWS FROM THE MARVELS BLOG: Thor and the X-Men are different!) and, thus, have entirely different tones. I appreciate the difference in tone; if the two books featured entirely different characters and plots but had the same tone, it would seem incredibly incongruous. However, that doesn't guarantee that both tones will fit both books. I have often pointed out that I don't particularly like the tone of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN and that it feels more goofy and less serious. I think there's a place for that in comics, a medium birthed from that sort of thing (not with, say, the golden age stuff, just with comics in general, hence the name), but it permeates and leaves a sort of disconnect between characters from one book to another. Again, I think there's a place for it and I think there are ways to make it work even within these titles, but it doesn't work for me as the ongoing feel. This is my roundabout way of saying that that's the feeling I'm getting right from the start from AMAZING X-MEN. I was a little on edge waiting for this book, wondering what approach Aaron was going to take; the seriousness and weight of THOR or the zaniness and comedy of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. It seems the latter and I'm a little put-off already. McGuinness' art is solid though I most recently saw him in NOVA and I can't help but see Nova's face on just about every front-facing character, particularly tricky to see when that face is someone like Azazel. We'll have to see how this one shapes up.

X-Men Legacy 19
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

The Xavier that was in David's head is loose and wreaking havoc on an unprepared world while David himself is contained at the Peak, the base of SWORD operations, by Abigail Brand. The weight of the situation is expressed to him by one-time foe Aarkus the Aetheric, the original Vision who went a little crazy in his solitude on the moon and decided mutants were a threat that needed to be purged (way back in X-MEN LEGACY 9, true believers). Aarkus has seen the errors of his way and snapped out of it in time to try to help the world defeat the evil Xavier. He explains to a power-suppressed David that Xavier is essentially a manifestation of David's hate and it's spreading that hate all around the world, powered up by its new body. David, though, is doing his best not to listen as he tries to wrangle the powers in his brain, even with his powers being suppressed by SWORD. He manages to take down old standby Tyrannix the Abomanoid and start hunting through Aarkus' head. He can't help but hear the state of the situation from Aarkus as he tries to ignore it and push forward, trying to get any sort of idea of where this is all heading from Aarkus' mind, where he finds Aarkus thinking about "the weapon," something vague and undefined to David but that is clearly the next part of the plan. He eventually pushes his luck and asks Aarkus about it, realizing too late that the weapon is meant to be tested on David before being set loose on evil Xavier. That weapon? Aarkus explains that it is the clutch-mate, rescued by a younger Aarkus himself, of a more powerful bird in the Marvel Universe. It's the shadow of the Phoenix.

More really cool stuff here and my feelings on this book are pretty well-documented. That's why it pains me to say that it seems like this series is officially ending with issue 24, as documented by Si Spurrier both from his own Tumblr and on the X-Men Legacy Tumblr. Okay, I actually want to rephrase that. Nothing is official, first and foremost, and certainly not about the series itself. However, it does seem as if Si Spurrier's run on the book will end with issue 24 and I have to imagine they won't put David on anyone else either. If the book continues past that, I'd expect it to focus on another character or another couple of characters. I could be wrong but that's the feeling I'm getting from Spurrier's responses and just from the conceit of the character on the whole. No one has done more for a severely complicated character than Spurrier has for David, even if it meant complicating him more. This is another stellar issue with David forced to face the consequences of his actions which certainly seem a little less than noble when seen from an outside perspective, as Aarkus displays them here. It's been a phenomenal book and I'm really sad to see that it's ending, though we all kind of knew this was coming and I'd rather have Spurrier leave it on the top of its game instead of letting it stagnate. And it just makes me all the more excited for Spurrier's X-Force.

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 1
Hastings (w) and Camagni (a) and Milla (c)

Longshot, the luck-based superhero born from the Mojoverse and most recently a member of X-Factor, gets his own improbable mini-series helmed by Dr. McNinja writer Christopher Hastings. We get a bit of a look into the day-to-day life of Longshot, who doesn't totally understand the workings of his own luck powers but understands enough to know how to make them work for him. He can use the power to help others and be pure of heart or else he risks the luck turning sour. For example, he considers using his powers to get money to buy a taco (or to be given a taco) and, as his powers begin to activate, an explosion occurs in the house behind him as criminals bust into a safe, a series of events that Longshot claims were put into action by his eventual decision to luck his way into some tacos. Longshot enters the apartment to help the people inside, a woman and her scientist father, who he feels responsible for putting in harm's way. Meanwhile, a strange new villain searches the streets of New York for Longshot, going on a killing spree of people who happened to have good luck any given moment. This does not include an incredibly unlucky Reed Richards and Tony Stark, who have discovered something in their lab and are trying now to get rid of it in a safe way. Eventually, all the storylines converge as the villain tracks Longshot to the apartment and Reed and Tony end up detoured by at the same time. The scientist Longshot saved attacks the villain with his own cosmic radiation gun but the shot goes through him, hitting Reed and causing him to lose control of his shape-shifting and destroying the truck he and Tony were traveling in. A briefcase flies to Longshot's side and reveals a cosmic cube inside, which Longshot inadvertently uses to tell the villain to "get lost." The world reorganizes on the moment and we see a reimagined day where the woman Longshot saved thwarts the explosion in her apartment before it starts, Tony and Reed don't discover anything, and SHIELD has laws in place against unregistered sorcerers that allows a hit squad to attack Longshot.

Wow, that summary went on WAY longer than I expected it to. There are books that do that sometimes, for better or worse, and leave me with a better understanding of what happened or leave me confused as to why it took so long to explain it. I've tried on occasion to tone my summaries down and inevitably end up with long summaries again, maybe after a week or so of doing relatively well with shorter ones. Infinity hasn't helped that, with double long books regularly requiring extra explanation and therefore skewing all of my summaries in general longer. Clever readers might notice that currently I'm stalling for time as I try to think more about my opinions on this book. Here's the thing: it's not a bad book. It's fun enough, there are nice character moments, there are neat little ideas peppered throughout. It just feels...odd. I can't put my finger on it. Part of it might have to do with the wordiness of it; for all of its fun atmosphere and dialogue and characters, it's one of those books where you reach halfway through it and go "geez, there's HOW MUCH more of this left?" Unfortunately for Hastings, I think that's inherent to a book like this, which features a character readers don't know too much about and who hasn't really headlined his own book, even strange mini-series, in a couple decades. Still, the book is fun and the art fits it really well. I'm hoping that the next issue, which will certainly need to explain more of this current plot, will be able to kind of solidify its tone and will have to dedicate less time to simply explaining who Longshot is.

Cable and X-Force 11, Uncanny X-Force 7, X-Factor 259

Cable and X-Force 11
Hopeless (w) and Larroca (a) and D'Armata (c)

Cable's been taken prisoner by the Uncanny Avengers but it's okay, this issue isn't about that anyway. Before he went down, he divided up his team to accomplish goals to prevent visions he'd had. Domino and Boom Boom are first on the docket and need to kidnap a child from a hospital before his mutation kicks in, which Cable has foreseen will liquify the hospital, killing a bunch of people. The two have to audible a few times as, in true Cable and X-Force fashion, things don't go according to plan. Meanwhile, Hope wakes up in a possible future the Blaquesmith has brought her to so that she can understand why Cable's going through what he's going through.

This book continues to be strong in that it's one of Marvel's best at characterizing its team. Not only has it already set that precent by really hammering home what I talked about in my Avengers Assemble review this week: the team acts like a team and everyone has a voice. That's been true throughout the series and now, as we focus on just two members of the team (outside of the Hope storyline, who is characterized in her own way there) and, to boot, two members of the team who have a longstanding relationship. The two talk naturally (though they do pretty thoroughly fail the Bechdel Test) and with the confidence that a real relationship brings while executing the mission in their very different ways. It leads their talk to a lot of different places, including the subject of Domino's relationship with Colossus (which is all Boom Boom wants to talk about) and examinations of who the two characters are through the way they handle adversity. We get a little of their past and a little of their present mixed with their reactions to situations and to one another. It's a solid look into these two all with the backdrop of a nice X-Force story. Really looking forward to the others in this arc if they're going to be structured in a similar way.

Uncanny X-Force 7
Humphries (w) and Alphona and Talajić (a) and Sotomayor and Loughridge (c)

Psylocke and Cluster have been taken captive by Weapon XIII in the hopes that he will be able to woo Betsy into loving him the way he loves her and the way she loved Fantomex (when the three brains were in one body). We get a bit more of the past as we find out how the rift developed between then and now, when she was so happy with Cluster (again failing the Bechdel Test) and when things broke apart, and we hear Weapon XIII's version of the story, which involves him telling her that he loves her more than Fantomex and Cluster ever could, that he loves and respects her as an equal, not as a prize to be held, and so on. We also get a better look at XIII's powers as his misdirect is hugely amplified now that he's free of the nanites that kept their powers in some sort of check (those nanites went to Fantomex; I'd love to see a list of what abilities went to whom, get that out of the way). Psylocke has the opportunity to stop Weapon XIII, or either of the other Fantomexes for that matter. Will she take it?

I like aspects of this story and I'm interested in a lot of it. I'm not an expert on Psylocke's long and complicated past; I'm most familiar with her in the last few years, as a member of X-Force and the X-Men. However, this new Psylocke is a strange one to get a grasp on. In the time I've seen her, she's been pretty independent and strayed pretty far from games. Here, though, she's being toyed with in the very least by someone and it seems like she's allowing everyone in turn to bend her to what they want her to be, which is a little disconcerting for her character. I really would like a list of the powers and personalities that went to the other Fantomexes because it feels like everything was divided up but it's a bit uneven at this point and I'd like to just know, especially as it feels like it's not going to be clearly revealed for some time, at least. It also feels like the Fantomexes are, as right now, fairly one dimensional, which was never true in the other X-Force book. Maybe that's a result of their three brains splitting into three people but, if that is the case, it makes each individual less interesting, which is depressing. Also, I get that Weapon XIII is in love with Betsy, but isn't that brain the one that's programmed to hunt mutants? I was always under the impression that the other two brains had to keep that one massively in check when they were in one body but maybe it's easier than it seems. Who knows. I wish I did.

X-Factor 259
David (w) and someone (a) and Milla (c)

First, a major complaint. Who is working on this book? The cover shows that Leonard Kirk is the illustrator, the cover page of the book says it's Carmen Carnero and Jay Leisten and my new comic list shows it as Neil Edwards and David Yardin. So I have no idea who drew this book. I probably could do a little more research, see their styles or whatever, or even google around, but I'm not going to. I don't like to come off as more professional than whoever assembled the book. Just madder than them. Anyway, let's talk about this book that was definitely written by Peter David and probably colored by Matt Milla. Rictor and Shatterstar had been blasted somewhere by Mephisto in the Hell on Earth storyline's conclusion and now we get to find out where. They've apparently been blasted to the Mojoverse, but that's not all. Rictor's been fighting for Mojo's broadcasts and trying to wait for a way out. Finally one's presented as an opponent of his ends up being Shatterstar, devoid of his memory of Rictor, and as Longshot, also not remembering Rictor, appears with some rebels to rescue Star, taking Rictor along with them. Yes, it's confusing. But it gets more confusing as we realize that we're not only displaced in space but also in time. We finally get the origin of both Shatterstar and Longshot and boy is it weird and involves a good deal of time travel and strange parentage. The issue itself doesn't really leave us with a great impression of what's going to become of Rictor and Shatterstar (and Longshot but he's not really our time's Longshot anyway) but it's possible they'll get where they need to be off-camera.

Outside of the book's confusion on the artist, the story itself is fairly interesting and finally clears up something that X-Factor fans have likely been wondering about for some time now (I wasn't because, honestly, I jumped onboard to the series in the last couple years and kind of just fell into the idea that I didn't actually know Longshot or Shatterstar's past beyond the basics and that I didn't totally need it; they were still fully fleshed out characters and their past was kind of irrelevant to what I had learned of their personalities). Still, it certainly must clear up a lot of questions that it likely asks several more and boy, there's nothing more confusing than talking about the lineage of time travelers, is there? Maybe this was a poor time to start tightening up my summaries. The end of the issue was a bit of a let-down as nothing really feels resolved the story feels kind of over anyway. Next time it looks like we'll focus on what's going on with Polaris as she has some sort of interaction with half-brother Quicksilver. Should be interesting as Polaris has been kind of the dark-horse of the family lately and her relationship with Magneto has gotten weirder in recent issues.