I would have bought the ACO variant cover if I had saw it in time to preorder it.
Issue opens with O*N*E* Agent, Abbie Bennett, wanting to take a splinter group of officers to attack the Alaskan X-Men’s base, while they are away. Doug killed her husband in issue 18, thanks Tom. This cell hates mutants. I do appreciate calling them a cell.
The Factory. Merle, Alaska. Xorn is listening to John Greycrow, who wants to be where the fight is. Just wait, bud.
The way Greycrow talks, one would think he’s on the X-Men, but he isn’t, so he doesn’t get a say in the missions. Kwannon asked him to stay behind, and she’s an executive officer of the X-Men, do they all have official titles? That’s what I’m interested in.
Then the power goes off in the Factory. The Cell has tampered with the Shi’ar stardrive.
Xorn properly gives us the stakes, if the stardrive isn’t returned in time, the reactor core will explode, taking the base, and Merle with it. Greycrow has his mission. Greycrow takes out two of the cell members. Then more, and more of them.
Xorn was on keeping Glob Herman save, so this before Infernal Hulk 7, I guess? Xorn has knocked out the cell members who came for Glob.
We get confirmation that Greycrow killed everyone who came for them, and Xorn picks up on his word choices, Greycrow wants on the X-Men.
Greycrow congratulates Xorn on his deadly approach, but he never made it to Medical. Ruh oh.
Then. Glob Herman woke up, and dealt with his assailants. Bennett went running into the snow. Glob killed all of these folks, and treated himself to a nap as the issue ends.
No Magik appearance, outside of the ACO variant cover.
I bought the Skottie Young variant cover, but would have loved to have preordered the Mahmud Asrar variant, that has Magik on the cover.
Juniper, Pennsylvania. The Trask Statue has released the Age of Revelation virus, not to the scale of the original plan, but a healthy dose of it. Well, not that healthy.
3K Airship, Command Bridge. Philadelphia Airspace. Cyclops is concerned for all of the people who died, and Chairman Beast doesn’t care as only the humans would die from the exposure. Grimm goes in for a punch, but Chairman Beast teleports away, so I guess he could have done that the entire time? He was trying to include 3K, as it is always better to work with others.
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Launch Bay. Juggernaut is battling Wyre.
I love Juggernaut asking about Magik, making sure she’s okay, and lovingly refers to her as the brat, and Scott knows exactly who he is talking about.
Wyre had a backup plan, an escalation, where the anti-grav thrusters would fail, and this entire airship will crash into Philadelphia.
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The Baxter Building, New York City. Magik teleports Grimm and herself to Reed, Sue and 70s Beast. Magik informs them that the airship is crashing, AND the virus has been released. Reed can’t do anything, as he’s about to shrink the Fantastic Four down to go inside of Magneto.
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Magik is simply there to make sure all of the eggheads work on the virus, the X-Men will work on saving Philly. She needs the mutant Ben. Not sure how his illusion powers will help here.
Ben is surprised Cyclops needs him, which is an odd reaction. He probably knows that he was on the 70s Beast team, as it was a do nothing job
I do love Magik interacting with the Fantastic Four, I feel like we haven’t seen this grouping before, or not often.
3K Airship. I love Cyclops having to call Commander Bohannan, of O*N*E* as this is a national emergency. Bohannan is still upset, and rightfully so, as his last conversation with Cyclops was Scott threatening Bohannan in his hope, with all of the X-Men present, so there is some tension there. Plus, Bohannan did attempt, and failed, to murder the X-Men.
Bohannan does point out that this is great news, for him, as he’s about to be in charge of this giant operation, having near complete control over the Eastern Seaboard.
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Magik teleports to Slim (I so love these two’s friendship), asking if he has any good news, and he can’t recall the last time he heard any. Magik also brought Ben here.
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Ben believes, as does Scott, that the airship is where Ben was made into a mutant. Scott believes Ben can help this situation, and just needs the proper motivation.
Below Decks. Wyre wakes up Time Bomb. They need to make a hastily retreat. Wyre still wants to use this class of X-Men, I can only imagine he will change their name to something else. Cyclops has his own Hellions team, so not that name.
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Philadelphia. I love Cyclops giving Quentin Quire his kudos for taking care of Cassandra Nova, that’s good leadership there.
Quire and Psylocke are mass telepathically evacuating the people.
I also just adore that Illyana and Scott can have proper conversations about his choices. It comes from a respectful place, so Scott isn’t offended. Magik just wishes he had used a kinder approach.
We then see Cyclops’ approach, and now I’m completely on Magik’s side, which isn’t much of a shocker.
Cyclops chained Ben to a crashing ship, so results have to happen. This is just cruel, and also, a poor decision as Ben is going to resent this.
Ben does take a breath, and summons the alien horde that he originally thought was attacking him from issue 21. Thanks Tom.
It starts to work, and the aliens arrive.
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Magik is pretty impressed, and Cyclops is proud.
So, is Ben’s powers to manifest an alien attack? It works, they are solid constructs.
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I love seeing Magik being happy. Cyclops tells Magik to go save Ben.
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The airship gets righted, and the day is saved!
By Magneto! So the Fantastic Four tie in issues must all be taking place during this issue. Maybe? That is right, thanks again Tom, Fantastic Four issues 17 & 18 are that mission. So we don’t have to read 18, but you should still do that.
70s Beast asks Reed how it went, and Reed has this bizarre reaction of questioning if Beast is a friend, but hands over the data. We might be able to stop the X-Virus!
I would have bought the Geoff Shaw Fall Fantasies variant cover, if I had seen it by the time I had to submit my DCBS preorder.
We see the full conversation Chairman Beast and Magneto had, where Beast offers him a place on 3K. We are actually in Magneto’s dreamscape, so he is visited by Xavier. It is nice to get a bit of a recap of Resurrection of Magneto, with his wall of names he’s killed.
We get a different take on what could have happened on The Iron Night, where he just collapses, and dies, so this issue is pretty much Magneto’s It’s A Wonderful Life.
Without him living, 70s Beast continues his other experiments. Oya moved on from her Krakoa torment. Ben Liu didn’t have a mentor, so I guess Magneto has been doing more with them than we’ve been treated to.
We are reminded there was a Second Iron Night, when Myraid grew large and in charge, and attacked Merle. Was Magneto important to that fight? I can’t remember, he must have been.
Without Magneto, when Glob Herman was shot (apparently he will always be shot), Quentin Quire and Oya simply burn through Merle. Which brings missiles to Merle.
Xavier questions why Magneto was given the future virus, which I also have questioned, but figured we’ll find out eventually. Magneto suspects it is because he is the Master of Metal, and like metal, he must endure. I guess this is a reason?
Magneto wants to know if this was the real Xavier, but he plays it coy.
Variant Cover Skottie Young, I would have gone with the Dike Ruan or Tony S. Daniel variants that both have Magik on them, but they didn’t reveal those in time for my DCBS order to be submitted.
Issue opens with Agent Lundqvist hanging out in Juniper, looking at the Trask statue that Juggernaut spent an entire day not breaking.
I love it when characters speak in logo. Do you think it sounds differently?
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Juggernaut fights Galatea, who I’m glad we are name checking people. Cyclops tells them to switch, so now Magik is fighting Galatea.
Psylocke fights Psychovore.
The Baxter Building. New York City. Drs. Richards, 70s Beast, and Ben are still chatting about Magneto. Apparently no two mutants share that much DNA, because of their powers, which maybe makes sense? Magneto’s powers are making it so they can’t treat him properly, or remove the Age of Revelation virus code. Just like how Kate Pryde’s phasing power messed up her resurrection.
Reed needs Human Torch and Ben Grimm here to perform a radical operation. I imagine it is because he views all problems through a lens of how can the Fantastic Four solve this?
3K Mothership. Grimm and Johnny are fighting Joseph.
Chairman Beast knows that Cyclsop’ inside man is Schwarzschild, which I figured was the case last issue. He’s just not that much of an inside man, as he’s not on the mothership. Chairman Beast can’t launch the virus because of a computer error, so Wyre has to do it manually.
Psylocke defeats Psychovore with a poison thought, as she’s awesome.
Oya is fighting Juice, so we get to see a cool ice versus water battle. Cyclops helps in this fight.
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Constellation is down.
I like Magik giving Galatea one more chance to surrender, but she’s not one to ever surrender. She can do this all day.
Wyre shows up to manually release the virus, but Juggernaut has been wrecking the place.
I like Johnny making fun of the knock off versions of Magneto and Beast. He doesn’t know Astra, but is assured she is a knock off of somebody, which is very funny.
Chairman Beast does NOT find this funny, as she’s the original Beast.
I do like that Johnny takes the time to recognized that even he is a knock off of the Jim Hammond Human Torch. So, we’re just having lots of fun here.
Johnny performs the Clean Room Protocol and burns all of the oxygen in the room, which doesn’t hurt Grimm at all. I’ve read that he’s essentially immortal, which is very interesting, and sad, as he has quite the family.
Cyclops walks into the room to declare he has defeated 3K. I love these two chatting, this should be the event. Chairman Beast recognizes the weakness of 3K, and now wants the X-Men to help him.
Turns out Chairman Beast had a backup plan. He releases the virus through the Trask statue, which I knew they should have teleported it away when they had the chance. Or at the very least, put a dome around it.
I got the JeeHyng Lee variant, as it was the solo Magik (Darkchild) cover.
3K is preparing to unleash their version of the Revelation virus onto Philadelphia. We are seeing that there are clear cracks in this alliance.
Beast and Ben Liu are getting help from Reed Richards to help save Magneto. That cursed Richards! is hesitant in returning Magneto to his full powers, due to his history. Reed really is the worst.
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Cyclops has brought Magik and the rest of the Alaskan X-Men to Philly. They know 3K has to arrive eventually, and they are done reacting to them.
Scott mentions how he has an inside man, and I’m wondering if Schwarzchild was snuck back onto the team.
I really like Vicentini’s art here.
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I do like this use of Quinten Quire’s telepathy. He can’t sense 3K through their stealth technology, but there are a lot of birds dying – which I don’t love – so, he knows where their ship is. Would it have been nice if the birds were just being knocked aside? Yes.
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Such a cool team shot!
3K is so untrusting of each other, that they won’t even drink Chairmain Beast’s Heidsieck 1907.
I was wondering if we should read X-Men V6 37 first, or DNX 1 first, but I feel it plays better to read X-Men V6 37, as that issue takes place during this page.
Reed is trying to defend his harsh decision to not help Magneto, even knowing 3K has their own fully powered Magneto in Joseph.
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Inside 3K’s Airship. Alaskan X-Men are making their way through the ship. Psylocke is filling in as psychic support, though she doesn’t like it.
I do appreciate that Cyclops name checks Timebomb, as I just can’t keep the 3K X-Men’s names in my head. It is nice not to have to go back to the character recap page.
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Oya gives Timebomb the slip, and Magik makes her go to sleep. Cyclops is fully prepared to take down 3K.
Cyclops’ mentions Schwarzchild is gone, so I’m not sure who Scott’s inside man is now.
70s Beast is trying to still convince Reed to help Magneto. Dr. Sue Richards comes into the room, and since she’s the best, she tells Reed he wants to help, and introduces herself to Ben, which is nice of her.
Sue asks the right questions, and 70s Beast reveals what the X-Men are really up against. There will be a virus, a version of him, ten years from now, or X years from now, if you will, creates it, it was sent back to the present, and Magneto has that virus code in his blood. For some reason.
Chairman Beast figures out how Cyclops got the codes, but we’re not told how. I like Chairman Beast shouting about how they can’t trust each other. This entire plan rests on their trust for each other, and it is falling apart. In the meantime, he’s going to just drop the virus, rapid style.
Before he can do that, the issue ends with Human Torch and Ben Grimm crashing into 3K’s ship.
Variant Artist Rod Reis, I had to get the Magik cover.
Krakoa Beast, the 3K Chairman, wants Magneto on his side, and he can restore Magneto’s powers to sway him.
Meanwhile, Joseph, in Magneto’s purple boots, is leading the 3K X-Men – Timebomb, Psychovore, Juice, and Galatea.
The 3K X-Men do NOT care for Joseph.
Cyclops and the Alaskan X-Men (I’m going to try to be as clear as possible with this) are immediately ready for a fight.
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70s Beast and Magik are making their way back to the Factory.
I like how Chairman Beast fumbles his pitch with Magneto. Magneto is Right, we all know this. Magneto’s current state is because it is a message from the future.
Quintin Quire is taken out, so the X-Men have to fight old school.
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Constellation, I’m so happy Magik name checked this guy, as I wouldn’t have known.
I do love Cyclops fighting Joseph, and saying how the 3K X-Men are still unknown to them, but he’s fought Magneto for years.
This entire attack was a distraction as Chairman Beast only needed Magneto’s DNA, and no interference, and he gets what he wants.
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Magik tells her X-Men that she took Magneto to town, which Cyclops immediately knows what the goal was.
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Krakoa Beast has really went to town on Magneto!
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Epilogue. Scott is telling the X-Men how important it was that 3K didn’t get all of their objectives completed.
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Cyclops has a plan, they are going to data mine everything Schwarzchild knows.
Variant Cover Alexander Lozano, as soon as I saw that plush Lockheed, I had to have this 80s Magik variant cover.
This was such a great comic!
It looks gorgeous too, Daniel, Morales, and Hesli really brought it this issue.
I really appreciate that we got to see how Magik interacts with this 70s Beast, as I don’t feel like they have too much character history together. She hung out with Teen Beast during Brian Michael Bendis’ All New X-Men / Uncanny X-Men tenure. Nothing else really comes to mind.
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I really love Magik bringing Magneto to a temple in Merle, Alaska. That was very kind of her.
Maybe a reference to Kitty Pryde would have been too much to ask for?
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Magik is such a great character, that we can establish where everyone is with her portals, Such a clever use of her power, and we get a quick glimpse of how she interacts with her team, as she’s looking for 70s Beast.
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70s Beast is still unraveling his interaction with Krakoa Beast, the Chairman of 3K. He’s not used to seeing a personification of his inner darkness, so who else to ask but Magik, who has her own personal Darkchild.
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Is this Magik learning about Krakoa Beast’s involvement in 3K?
No, Cyclops must have told them when he updated them on the Age of Revelation.
But always good to reestablish plot points.
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Age of Revelation Darkchild did look cool, and I love that her and Juggernaut are Best Friends Forever.
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Apparently, Cyclops has kept the Krakoa Beast a secret, and only Beast, Animalia, and now Magik know who they are truly up against.
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70s Beast is so vulnerable here.
And I just love the softness of the colors here.
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Magik tells 70s Beast that seeing her darkness personified is a gift.
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It is interesting how living in a comic book universe, that one is treated to seeing what their worst selves look like. That must be such a trippy experience.
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Magik must give the best hugs. The absolute rarest of gifts is a hug from Magik.
The panel of her saying she’s a big softy, and just thinks spikes and swords are cool is a panel that will live on forever. It is a shame she’s not seen saying it inside the panel, but might as well include the hug and the quote when reposting it.
There, I did it for you. You are so welcome.
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Issue ends with an explosion at The Factory.
This probably is my favorite issue of this series thus far. It is so great!
I got the Marvel Snap Magik Beach variant cover, but resisted paying the $25 for the card in the game itself.
Magik is part of the cast list, so I can just relax and enjoy the comic.
Greg Land doing interior art, feels like forever since he did an X-Men comic.
This is the Juggernaut issue.
Juniper, Pennsylvania. Someone jerks put up a Bolivar Trask statue. So gross.
O*N*E Agent Lundqvist is back! Possibly not by popular demand, but I like what he brings out of Cyclops.
Juggernaut is also there, in a very nice brown suit. He definitely shops at a Big & Tall store.
I like Juggernaut not missing a step to comment on how Lundqvist used to be on the big X-Men assignment, and now he’s watching a statue. I mean, it makes sense, he wasn’t very good at the X-Men issue, getting Cyclops’ to reveal his Hellions team, and wrecking several Sentinel factories.
Juggernaut tells Lundqvist that he can go home early today, as he’s going to wreck the statue, except . . . he can’t. It is being protected somehow.
Two hours later, it is still not wrecked. I would have stopped after the second attempt. Not only are there cameras seeing Juggernaut be literally stopped from his mission, but also, two hours is such a long time to fail at one activity.
I sort of wished this entire issue was just Juggernaut and Lundqvist chatting, as what were they talking about during the last two hours. They are getting real here. Lundqvist knows he’s at a transition in his career, but is confident he’ll get his career back on track. Juggernaut recognizes, sadly, that he can’t trust his judgment anymore, and is just trusting Cyclops to make all of the right decisions for him.
Three more hours later. This is just getting silly, as Juggernaut keeps trying to wreck the statue. This is hard to watch. Not entertaining like the end to Tin Cup. I love that movie.
Chris Coleman, a human who wants the statue down, is now Juggernaut’s pal to chat with. Juggernaut is the human ally who is also on the X-Men, which is good to point out for new readers who may think the Juggernaut is a mutant. Sometimes he is in other media.
It is around now, that I’m wondering when Magik is going to be seen, or even mentioned.
Juggernaut promised Cyclops he’ll handle the statue, and he’s not happy with himself.
Juggernaut can wobble the statue, so shouldn’t he just lift the thing and take it somewhere else?
Coleman lets us in on the fact that Trask lived in Juniper, so he’s unfortunately their local celebrity.
Two more hours later, so five total from the beginning of this awkwardness. Angela Harmon, the free speech advocate is now Juggernaut’s pal. So now we have to “both sides” the issue.
Angie, as she prefers over Trask fan, gets to say, “Magneto was right.” Which is always nice to hear.
Aw, Juggernaut mentioning how he eats dinner with Magneto, that’s cute. Imagine Magneto, Juggeranut, and Magik all sharing a meal? I want to see that page.
Dang, Angela, we’re no longer friends, calls Juggernaut out. Magneto is a dog, and Juggernaut is the X-Men’s pet sapien.
Juggernaut as since removed his helmet, so any telepath could be giving him better direction at this point.
He doesn’t care for Angela’s “points”. She has a real them vs us, and he’s one of us.
One hour later. This is getting beyond sad. Now the statue is talking to Juggernaut.
I apparently can’t spell Juggernaut, I keep swapping the “a” and the “n”.
The statue claims it is actually a mirror, reflecting Coleman’s shame, Harmon’s fear, and Marko’s weakness. It goes on to claim it is the Mark of Cain (get it?), the Stain of Sin, all sins.
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His best bud, Magik, finally checks in with him, and has brought Cyclops along as well.
I love so much that she’s quick to try to comfort him.
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Juggernaut is muttering to himself how much of a failure he is.
I appreciate so much Cyclops calling him an X-Man. That’s nice, especially after the nonsense he’s had to hear.
Cyclops thought it was a simple mission, but turns out, it is a puzzle. Magik says they’ll figure it out together. I really like these three together.
Magik makes a Godzilla in Ginza reference, which is odd, as she’s battled Godzilla. Did they make a Godzilla attacks Ginza, a district of Tokyo, after Godzilla attempted to destroy the Marvel Universe? That must be it.
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Dang, Juggernaut is still taking the “lost” hard.
Cyclops is such a great leader, the mission wasn’t a failure, the parameters were changed. Juggernaut gave more than anyone can expect, which is why Cyclops’ can count on him, that’s what makes him an X-Man.
But also, punching it the fifth time, clearly, nothing was going to happen, he wasn’t weakening the force field. He did waste six hours, but also, waste it instead of doing what? I guess enjoying himself, but if he wanted to spend six hours doing this, sure. His manager clearly was okay with it.
Next issue is a Beast spotlight, which I feel like we just got with the Science arc, but also, we have to now set up DNX, as we compare and contrast the Tale of Two Beasts.
Pages 9-10, 19-20, 33 Jed MacKay, Tony S. Daniel & Mark Morales
Pages 14-15, 26-27, 48 Eve L. Ewing & Federica Mancin
Pages 18, 21-25, 28-32 Saladin Ahmed & Federica Mancin
Pages 36-46, 49 Saladin Ahmed, Cory Smith & Oren Junior
I got the RB Silva variant cover, as Kitty is spotlighted on it.
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Sebastian Shaw is attempting to take back the Hellfire Gala name, and is going to do it in high fashion with a masquerade ball.
I was hoping we’ll get a final page with all of the characters with their new costumes, and their names above their heads.
I don’t think Magik attended this, or I completely missed her.
Rogue takes time to chat with Cyclops.
Oya wasn’t supposed to be here, she just happened to be in town.
Mister Sinister, dressed as an angel, is bored with Shaw, who is dressed as a king. #NoKings
Angel, dressed as a devil, is also there. The mansion’s AI programmed everyone’s costumes, besides Shaw’s.
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We get to see Storm for a panel, and establish Kitty Pryde’s Cat outfit. She looks great here.
Hellion gets a moment.
Cyclops and Psylocke get a dance, and they are very flirty. The dialogue implies she’s going to cheat on Greycrow, but actually, they have a devious other plan. To murder either 3K member, Astra or Joseph, or ideally, both.
These two have intense chemistry though. Does remind me of the Jim Lee X-MEN run, where Betsy, in Kwannon’s body, was flirty with Scott, but he was able to resist, oil licking good as Betsy was. So I like the idea that now that Kwannon is in her proper body, he’s actually attracted to the right mind in the right body.
I also love that it was Emma who insisted on Scott learning to dance. Scemma was truly the best.
Oya and Ransom find each other, and I really like these two. I wish they were not separated by 4,371 miles.
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Page 13, the Kitty & Martinique dance, which is by Saladin Ahmed & Joelle Jones.
The Kitty Pryde subreddit spoiled these images, so I sort of know to expect this, and knowing there was an illusionist, that maybe Shaw wasn’t actually murdered. I kept waiting for a reveal.
I like how Kitty doesn’t recognize Martinique, she recognized everyone else, but it makes sense she wouldn’t know Martinique.
I wouldn’t want Kitty to cheat on Nina, please break up with someone before you cheat on them, that’s just gross.
I would have said I was always more of a Regan Wyngarde / Lady Mastermind fan, of the two sisters, as she’s just pure fun, and Regan is the more serious of the two, which is usually the one I’m more drawn to, but Regan has more page time, and been in more stories that I’ve read. BUT! Martinique Wyngarde having crazy chemistry with Kitty, well now, I have a great reason to love Martinique. You best know that I’m going to be listening to that Cerebro episode again with Alex Abad-Santos.
Cross referencing my League of Comic Geeks with Travis Starnes’ Complete Marvel Reading Order, I’m only missing Emprye X-Men issues 2 & 3 of the issues she’s in that I want for my collection. For whatever reason, I own issue 4, but not issue 1 either, so I should try to buy those first three issues once I’m back in the back issue buying game.
Emma Frost and Namor meet up, and talk about the Seven Virtues and Sins. These two are always a joy.
Logan and Jubilee are the stars of the issue, as they investigate the murder. The Murder of Sebastian Shaw, dun dun DUN!
Shaw was killed by a nerve gas.
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With Shaw’s death, the mansion’s black market security kicks in, and Kitty helps stop some of the defenses.
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So silly having Kitty be the one to say “X-Men aren’t murders.” Frank Bohannan, Director of O*N*E*, is very quick to point out that Kitty herself has killed people.
Toad points to Emma as a prime suspect, as she’s always willing to kill Shaw.
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Kitty and the mutants finally get to see Shaw’s dead body, so we know he’s actually dead. I still, at this point, think this is all an illusion, and Shaw is grinning somewhere.
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I love so much Kitty shipping Emma and Namor. They need a ship name, but I can’t think of one immediately. White Fish, Imperial Frost, something.
Emma doesn’t want Katherine to be crass. I love these two together.
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Emma is already looking forward to never having to think about Shaw ever again.
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So silly Doop up in the sky with his costume. I wish we got a look at his front.
Shaw murdered Kitty, way back in Marauders V1 11, so naturally, she is also a prime suspect, but she was dancing with someone extremely hot wearing a lily mask.
Shame Lockheed wasn’t in this issue, as he was left to drown by Shaw.
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Hellion is quick to accuse 3K’s Astra and Joseph of killing Shaw. Astra mentioned the black market security system, which gives Logan a lead. He tells Jubilee she’s on her own to maintain control of the room.
I hope I captured all of Kitty’s scenes, as I look for her in every panel.
I like that we get a moment with Cyclops, he cancels the mission to kill Astra and Joseph, as the attention is on them, and Shaw is dead, and he doesn’t care about his death, he was scum.
Rogue and Gambit are cute this issue, and maybe bored with the plot? Gambit offers to make her soup or gumbo. Either sounds good to me.
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I love Rogue taking the time to make an Ember reference, as he is a ghost horse.
Logan follows his nose, to Toad, but he assures us, that it isn’t what it looks like. “Jubilee” who looks like what she looks like, but isn’t her, shots Logan.
Turns out we have a new grouping of mutants . . . The Hellfire Brotherhood!
Mystique, who still has some facial scarring, so that’s nice continuity. Destiny, always looking great. Toad. Empath, who is the absolute worst. And . . . Mastermind herself, Martinque! Wha?!
Kitty would work so well in this group.
Mystique explains everything. She was aware of the mansion defenses. She convinced it that she was the real Shaw, and the mansion killed Shaw with the defense nerve gas. He was going to rally the mutants, and the ones who wouldn’t work with him, he was going to use Forge’s perma mutant power gun / technology, and remove any mutants who wouldn’t work with Shaw.
Poor Forge, that gun is his true legacy.
And being one of Storm’s exes.
I was really really hoping Martinque would have interjected with some comment about how she was dancing with a real hottie, and found out who Kitty was. As we don’t ever get them learning about the other. Which is a real shame.
Also, Shaw is super dead.
The mansion defenses finally stop, and the doors open. The room suspects 3K was behind Shaw’s murder.
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Emma and Namor leave as friends.
I like Emma telepathically calling for Rift to get her and Katherine out of here.
Rogue has a nice chat with Oya, telling her that Ransom isn’t as tough as he looks, so please don’t hurt him. Oya was going to have the same conversation with Rogue, which seems odd, she was going to ask Rogue to not have Ransom hurt her? But sure, dialogue is complicated, and I fumble more times than I’m proud of.
I’m really liking this silly new trend of putting the credit page at the end, so that we can have a legit post credit scene.
Turns out, Emma DID kill Shaw, she just overloaded his brain, which would have had the same signs as a nerve gas, so she got lucky there. Logan will keep this a secret, just like how he kept the Hellfire Brotherhood a secret from Jubilee.
This was a lot of fun, and Kitty actually got to do stuff in this issue, so I love that.
Variant Cover German Peralta, drawing Magik for a cover? Yes, please.
Nice to see Sean Parsons as an Inker. In this age of digital art, inkers are hard to fine, and I worry about the professional inks of the world.
Danger’s Room. Maxime Danger is congratulating everyone for how easy they killed the X-Men. Be nice if Colton C. Colton would do his part to get Quintin Quire and Oya to kill the flatscans of Merle, Alaska, but he’s sure that’ll be happening. Soon.
I just love the Psylocke butterfly effect that we see, things are not going to go well for Danger.
The Factory. Merle, Alaska.
Magneto is talking to Ben and Animalia, he needs a ride to town. Oh, how far the mighty have fallen. She can’t drive a stick, so Ben has to take them.
Quintin is simply losing it, as he can’t find any trace of the Glob Herman’s shooter. One would think he’ll figure it out, but instead of not finding the shooter, he wants to hurt everyone who is hiding the shooter.
Deep in the Gulf of Alska.
Nice to see how tangled Magik and the X-Men are.
We enter 70s Beast cyber mind scape. If the AI was looking to feed on data, he has all of the data it needs.
Magneto has enter Quintin’s mind scape. We all learn a very valuable lesson that if we look at an entire group of people and declare them fit for punishment, that isn’t right.
Quintin finally calms down.
70s Beast teaches the AI the values of life – dignity, freedom, safety, and respect. You know, the classic Teach AI about Humanity plot.
Diaz finds a clever way to draw Weapon X for a panel, so this page should resell nicely.
Oya isn’t thrilled with Magneto’s interference. He’s a nazi hunter, so they need to still hunt for the shooter. He’s all for hunting the right person.
A bit of a cop out that Quintin has erased everyone’s memory of him running through the city’s minds and memories, but honestly, what would that story follow up be with this? Quintin publicly apologizing? Actually, maybe that would have been nice for a page.
Just in case us readers are concern the X-Men are losing a full day to this exercise, it is most likely only minutes that are passing.
70s Beast poses an exam question, is this AI a weapon or a person?
Danger’s Room. I love Maxime referencing her own psych file, she doesn’t handle disappointment well. Before she can kill Colton, Psylocke, Xorn, and Greycrow enter the room.
I love Greycrow stating the room’s guns like him more than Maxime, so the room’s auto defenses are not going to work.
Like a boss, Maxime teleports away, this exercise was a real waste.
Which is what I always say, if you are a villain, and you must know the X-Men are going to win in the end, the best you can do is try to hurt them real badly, OR, get all of your personal goals done by mid plot, as once the X-Men come together, they clean up pretty quickly after that.
Psylocke is going to teach Maxime’s goons a real lesson in empathy. The hard way.
The AI ship comes to the surface. I love Magik stretching out. She’s so real, and was very cramped.
Scott is such a delight here. The Tantum Twins is such a silly name for Magik and Juggernaut, who I simply adore together as besties.
70s Beast should know Cyclops always has a plan, but he missed out on the Utopia era (an era I like), and Cyclops doesn’t just have 26 plans, he has all of the plans.
Xorn is taking care of Glob.
I love so much seeing Illyana eat, and taking care of herself. Juggernaut and her are eating the biggest sandwiches of all time.
Poor Animalia, she isn’t getting far with 70s Beast. Unless those are bedroom eyes, but they look more sad to me.
Epilogue. Military Housing. Location REDACTED. (Such a good visual gag).
The Residence of Frank Bohannan. Director of O*N*E.
Such a cool image of the field team confronting Bohannan.
Cyclops tells Bohannan that he knows he put Maxime up to this, but Bohannan has full deniability.
This is his final warning, Psylocke will end him next time. This is a threat.
Magik teleports the team away at issue’s end.
Next arc, the Science Team investigates a Cerebro alert. The Science Team consists of 70s Beast, Animalia, Magneto, Xorn, and Ben. A nice little arc before we ramp up to DNX.
