Writer Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler Chris Bachalo
Inkers Tim Townsend, Marc Deering, Mark Irwin, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Olazaba & Al Vey
Colorists Chris Bachalo & Jose Villarrubia
Letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna
The Hidden New Xavier School. Emma and the students are watching a mysterious plane about to land. Emma tells the Cuckoos that they should diamond up. Which I like that that power is being remembered. Did I enjoy Phoenix : Warsong and like the reveal that the Cuckoos were five of possibly millions of clones of Emma Frost? No, no I did not. But I like how Bendis knows that the Cuckoos have that power, though it is never used, and it was a nice touch.
In the plane, is Magneto and real Dazzler. Poor Dazzler, Magneto didn’t stop anywhere to get her a proper outfit so she is still in her hospital gown.
I like how Dazzler wants a Walkman, she needs something with noise so she can power up. Also, that her insticts is to ask for a Walkman and not an iPod. Are iPods even a thing anymore or do people just listen to music on their tablets? Instead of listening to music on a mp3 player, I just pull up the music video on YouTube via the KindleFire and that’s how I listen to music these days. Plus, my mp3 player does not work. Or I listen to music on my new fancy phone.
When I worked at Hastings, we could not sell mp3 players or iPods but they were also being still priced at a hundred dollars or so which seems silly now that phones play music and are still phones.
Westchester, New York. Now. Hijack steals a car and takes off. I like the small talk from the locals, as they know that the X-Men live in their city.
Jean Grey School. Maria Hill is losing even more control of the situation as multiple Hellicarriers are laying waste to the school. She starts calling for the Avengers to assist. She informs the White House of the situation as well. Like either are going to do anything for the X-Men.
The art on this page of all of the characters trying to do anything and the bombs falling, it is chaotic like a real battlefield.
Beast is in his lab and he for sure knows who is behind the attack.
Hill asks Dazzlique to help out and Mystique just walks away. Without missing a beat, Hill gives the order that if anyone sees Dazzler, to shoot her on sight. Seems a bit extreme to me.
The MysteriX is ready for the final bravo and presses a button. Now the SHIELD created Sentinels and their nuclear bombs are deployed.
Which I can’t believe even after the X-Men handily defeated the SHIELD Sentinels during Battle of the Atom, that SHIELD didn’t decommission these killer robots as all their creation accomplish was to annoy Cyclops and make him target SHIELD in the first place. Cyclops is not a man one wants to make an enemy of.
Right when things look like they couldn’t get worst, all of the Sentinels and the attacks from the Hellicarriers stop. MysteriX is shocked by this.
The best part of it is the interaction from Hill and the crew that is left on the Hellicarrier. A bit of a comedy routine with the one blonde saying, “something has taken control over the Hellicarrier from the thing that took the Hellicarriers.” Which then Hill responds with another way of phasing it. “You mean that who took over the Hellicarrier has now lost control over the Hellicarriers.” Its pretty funny.
Cyclops wakes up and wants to start taking control over the situation. Beast tells him that Cyclops needs to confront the actual threat and not the noise outside. Magik is ready for the fight.
I like how instantly Cyclops recognizes that his former student, Hijack, is the one who is saving the day. In this technologically advanced world, he really is one of the strongest mutants now.
Hijack gets a great line about how he was hoping to enroll into this school. He hopes saving the day gets him a scholarship.
Beast explains to Cyclops that the reason his powers don’t work as well anymore is that he has Nanotech Sentinels in his bloodstream. Which explains that little subplot from the first issue. Though how those nanoSentinels got in their bloodstreams, I bet, is never explained. It doesn’t take much to just assume that they breathed it in at one point and that’s how it happened. Though how Magneto’s powers were affected by them, is beyond me. Wouldn’t he have noticed foreign metal in his body?
Beast also tells Cyclops that the side effect to getting rid of the nanoSentinels is some diarrhea. ha cha cha
On Cyclops’ order, Magik goes to the New Xavier School – picks up Emma, Magneto and the gang and brings them back to the Jean Grey School. I like how Magneto says “I shall come with you” and Emma’s response is “yes, you shall.” Which feels like a real thing someone would say after hearing the word, shall, in this modern time. I do like how Magneto still uses the word, shall.
Magik doesn’t get time to ask why Dazzler is there and in a night gown but there are bigger issues at the moment.
Once back at the Jean Grey School – Magik next teleports herself, Beast and Cyclops to the location of MysteriX. The villain of the day starts talking and Cyclops optic blasts him.
I like how Beast, being likeable for the first time in possibly half a decade, comments on the fact that Cyclops was right. A Beast was responsible for fouling up everything, but it wasn’t him, but Dark Beast.
I also like Cyclops’ little joke / comment about how there are far too many alternate versions of themselves running about the place.
Another fun moment, I’m now realizing how much I liked this issue, is that Cyclops calls him “Dark Beast from the Age of Apocalypse” as I do wonder how the characters themselves refer to things that we ourselves in RL call them. Like, do the New Mutants really call themselves that? They do from time to time. Did the X-Treme X-Men call themselves by that name? Do the mutants even refer to that timeline as the Age of Apocalypse timeline? Now that several of them have gone back to it and have encounter people from there, we know that they do now.
Beast reveals that Dark Beast is dying, from all of the experiments he has performed onto himself. Which the last time I saw him, was during the Frozen storyline towards the end of Astonishing X-Men – also called the Dark Iceman Saga, to some. He was funny there.
Of course, Dark Beast had a plan in case he was defeated and there is a bomb set to explode in 18 seconds. Magik teleports Hijack there and he is able to turn off the bomb. He has evolve from having to say actual commands like, stop. He can now just point at things and get them to do what he wants.
Back at the Jean Grey School, we start wrapping up the issue. Hill starts shouting that there will be an investigation regarding how Dark Beast was able to take over the Hellicarriers. Hill shouts that they are going to decommission the Hellicarrier program after this. Which should have happened years ago with how often those things crash into the ground.
Also, she tries to blame Cyclops and he quickly turns it onto her and how if it wasn’t for her bombs and Sentinels and floating death machines, none of today’s actions could have happened.
Hill then sees Dazzler and wants her arrested. Magneto has to inform Hill of how on stop of everything else today, that Mystique has infiltrated SHIELD and has been posing as Dazzler since day five. Dazzler shouts at Hill that she was abducted on the Hellicarrier.
Hill refers to Dazzler as an Agent of SHIELD and Dazzler tells her that joining the organization was a huge mistake as she is an X-Man first and quits.
Next issue, the Uncanny X-Men tie in to Original Sin with the Last Will and Testament of Charles Xavier.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 