Writer Simon Spurrier
Artist Khoi Pham
Color Artist Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer VC’s Cory Petit
David is still fighting the combination of Luca and the Gold Xavier Fiend. The fiend turns into a giant concrete monster and sets off all of these missiles. Actually, the fiend takes control of a near by battleship and then uses that to transform into a giant monster.
Apparently, David at some point called for reinforcements. Those who showed up – Pixie, Chamber, Lila Cheney, Agent Brand, Frenzy, Beast, Storm, Wolverine, Doop, Psylocke, Magneto, Sydren, Goldballs, Tempus, Triage, Emma, the Cockoos and Magik.
David is impressed that they are all heroes. The heroes start taking out missiles. I do enjoy seeing Cyclops’ current display of his optic blasts, with the circle flare at the base.
Once the missiles are taken care of, the fiend is all that is left. He is in the form of a man again. Both Wolverine and Cyclops come to David to know what to do next. David says “to me my X-Men” it is cool how it is broken over three panels.
There is a narly splash page of the heroes attacking something to the right. Was this suppose to be a double page spread? The narration captions of David are reflecting his quote of the year winner, I rule me.
The fiend is back to the battleship monster form.
Sydren detects a change in David, of course having to say it aloud. Brand is running at him and takes a blast. All that is left is a green glove or a hand in the glove. Could Spurrier really kill off Brand? I know she hasn’t been used as much, so she could be on an okay to kill off list. Nice touch having Beast nearby to witness her death. Were they still dating? I really like how Pham draws Beast as he takes in her death, he looks like a nice mixture of cat face and gorilla head.
Magneto tries to compliment David, and he quickly dismisses him – stating he is not his father, even though he quoted Xavier’s ‘to me my X-Men.’
Karasu Tengui was another hero who showed up, but I don’t know her. She is straight up smashed to death. David makes it a mantra that he is not his father. Even though he just sent a child to her death.
David asks Wolverine and Cyclops if they can work together. They hesitate, he takes it has a yes, and tells them to keep the monster busy. David is taking the fight inside his mind.
Chamber gets killed by a blast. Are these characters really dead, or is David going to bring them back once this story is over? I can see Chamber being allowed to be killed, Brand seems okay if it is done shockingly – which it was and I believe Spurrier created Karasu so he can kill her anytime.
The heroes destroy Luca’s monster body and he dies. Once he is dead, Blindfold is healed. She no longer is broken and has her full power for the first time.
The heroes catch their breath. Frenzy is sad over Chamber’s death. They were close during Age of X, which she was one of the few to keep those memories. That story turned out to be a Legion story. Nice touch, as that was a Mike Carey story so Spurrier didn’t have to reference that story.
Blindfold’s astra form appears at the battlefield. She explains what happened. Also, she takes off her blindfold, she has eyes now. Also, she is going to go by Destiny now, her mother’s name. She is on her way, she can project herself for the time being.
Inside David’s mind, he is fighting the Gold Xavier. He beats him to the point when he can’t maintain the Xavier appearance, now he looks like a gold goblin.
David comes back to the battlefield but turns into the World Worm, that the series has been building to. Ruth is going to have to deal with David, which has also been foretold.
Can only imagine I will get the next issue, as they have to still be at the scene so Magik should still be there.
. . .
My new Top Ten is for 2014 is :
1. X-Men Legacy 22
2. Uncanny X-Men 16
3. Savage Wolverine 13
4. All New X-Men 21
5. Wolverine 13
6. Cataclysm 3
I need to buy buy four more comics to make ten. I am slated to buy two comics, All New X-Men 22 and Marvel Knights X-Men 3.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 