Rogue rescues Kurt from the good aliens. Ransom directs the Outliers. Deathdream makes it so we get Zombies vs Brood.
Gambit wants to be called, Wyvern. I like Jubilee immediately going with the new name.
Mutina needs a new agent, as her current one want her to fight the Brood.
Marlys and Deathdream have their first kiss. So cute.
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Ember is back!
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We also get Calitter confessing their love to each other, and I love them so much.
Wyvern is fully a creature now.
Vig isn’t dead. Makes sense if he’s a cockroach man.
Dang, Jubilee instructed Mutina to show the Brood their greatest fear, and for a few pages, I really wanted the page reveal to be Lockheed, their greatest enemy, but sure, Galactus is pretty intimidating.
We don’t get any drama with Wyvern turning back into his natural Remy state.
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Rogue rebrands the Outliers as The New Mutants! I do like these newish uniforms. Becca looks great.
Rogue gave them a new name, and costumes, as she’s leaving to get Gambit some help.
We get Deathdreams’ very tragic past. Deathdream is 15, nice to get an age to these kids.
Only Rogue and Remy are leaving, the rest of the Uncanny X-Men are sticking around, which makes sense as Monet is supposed to be leading this team now.
It has taken 32 issues, but we have finally reunited the Uncanny X-Men with the New Mutants! That’s pretty cool.
Issue opens up with Reginald James McNair III, which I like. Not enough of us IIIs around.
We first met him all the way back in issue 4. Famously, the issue where the students learn Kitty Pryde has murdered people, and also, Kitty was still not talking to Rogue.
Reggie can create portals, space and time portals. One might even call them, rifts, as he’s clearly Rift from Expatriate X-Men, as part of the Age of Revelation series.
Reggie can’t break the fourth wall.
Poor Reggie believes he killed Kitty Pryde, not that he knows who that is.
Not Too Far Away, we see the Students holding their own against omega mutant, Iceman.
Bronze gets the win as she tags Iceman.
Bobby is pitch hitting as Kitty stormed off last issue. Bobby calls Nina, they hung out in issue 4. It really was a big issue.
Bobby has a very awkward phone call with Nina, as why would he even bother calling someone if Kitty has only been missing an hour. I wonder if Bobby’s favorite umbrella is yellow?
Ironheart brings Reggie, through an open window, so it isn’t breaking and entering.
Melee is about to say Reggie is Bronze’s crush, but in a sweet recovery – she is an athlete after all, calls him Trista’s creative friend.
Reggie and Trista now have being mutants in common, along with theater.
Ironheart states that Kitty went through one of the rifts.
Emma, being a great mentor, immediately figures out how Reggie’s rift powers work. They even form around his forearms.
Emma prefers to address him as, Reginald, as she’s a classy dame.
Emma refers to his rifts as, swirls, and they’re space-time portals. His blackouts are minor bursts of time travel.
Iceman volunteers to go back in time to rescue Kitty, but Emma squashes that as Bobby and Emma are important to Kitty’s future. Which, I don’t think Bobby and Kitty have that much time spent together outside of the Ultimate Universe, and this series.
Well, besides when they briefly dated, but not real history before that, I’m trying to remember of any times before.
They were in the big battle in ROM 65. Young Iceman was involving in Excalibur : XX Crossing, present day Bobby never appears in Excalibur properly. He stands right next to Kitty during Illyana’s funeral in Uncanny X-Men 303. They’re around each other during Scott and Jean’s wedding in X-Men V2 30. So really, it was fun that they got romantically paired together. Which, I was a fan of the relationship as it gave Kitty a chance to have fun. Setting up Star Lord and Kitty’s relationship, now that I think of it.
Once it is established the students are going back in time, and to be fair, now that they fought Mister Sinister, they are officially X-Men, but it is easier to distinguish them as the students. Bronze runs off to grab early 80s clothes. She doesn’t grab any for Ironheart, who can’t go on the mission, but would have liked the invite.
Emma encourages Reggie to create a rift, and the students are going back in time after Bobby tries to warn them about changing time.
As soon as the students are gone, Sentinel Dogs barge through the wall, so that isn’t great for Priti’s dance studio, but hopefully she got mutant insurance.
Reggie closes the rift, but not before a Sentinel Dog goes through the portal.
Meanwhile. Somewhen else. And somewhere else. Deerfield, Illinois.
The Students land back in time, and not graciously.
Melee makes a great comment about how Kitty Pryde clearly came from some money, but yet doesn’t have access to that money now. Probably due to the questionable career choices. There’s just no money in being an X-Man.
They wonder how they’re going to find Kitty without the Internet, or just asking people. Bronze offers the phone book as an option, but Melee doesn’t know what that is.
Issue ends with Uncanny X-Men 129’s Kitty Pryde, in her all black outfit, and yellow sweater.
Our team found Kitty . . . the wrong Kitty.
Such a great issue!
Also, I got my tenth letter published in it, which is highly exciting for me.
Chris Wildrick and I had to write in to show our appreciation for Lockheed returning!
Though that’s two issues in a row now that we haven’t seen or heard mention of Lockheed.
This issue is going to be my comic of 2025, I can just tell. It makes me so happy.
In issue 9, Emma defeats Mister Sinister, but at a price. Not only did Emma defeat Sinister, but she also rescued Axo. Now Emma is trapped inside Sinister’s mind, where he’s having a Mad Hatter inspired tea party.
Federica Mancin draws these pages in a very fun decision. I really like the visual continuity of having Woodard do the coloring for both artists.
Emma reflects on her and Kitty’s origins, and we get a page from New Mutants V1 15.
Emma is still haunted by her Hellfire Club days, and her treatment of Kitty Pryde. Which, of course, makes me wonder if she is haunted by Firestar’s beloved horse, Butter Rum.
We catch up to the rest of the Exceptional X-Men team, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Melee, Bronze, and Axo. They are distraught by Emma still being unconscious. Axo tells them that Emma is very much still in danger, and has to go back in to rescue her.
I do like how all of the students are X-Men now. They took down a major X-Villain, so they have earned it. Let’s hope they survive the experience.
Kitty, to her credit, did not want them to be present for the confrontation, as she wasn’t raising child soldiers. Sinister sent a clone Iceman to get them, and bring them, but since they are here, they got into the fight.
We see in Sinister’s mindscape, that he’s ten, but not a cute ten year old, he’s Sinister but as a ten year old. He likes to perform dissections, and is generally a cruel child.
Axo returns to the mindscape, Emma doesn’t miss a beat that she sacrificed herself to free him, so this undoes all of that. Sort of like the climax of Top Gun : Maverick.
Meanwhile, the Exceptional X-Men having to fight Sabretooth sabretooth clones. As there is no end to what Sinister will do with Victor Creed’s DNA.
Axo finds a cute plush elephant of Sinister’s, which calms Sinister enough that Axo can force him to nap. Emma compliments Axo, and they are free!
Emma wakes up, which means Sinister wakes up.
in a very classic Claremont Care Bear stare, the united Exceptional X-Men team take down Sinister.
But was it the real Sinister? All we know is that, like the fake Axo clone, or how Dr. Stephanie Burt phased him, Faxo, he explodes in a goo.
But we have no time for that, as Kitty looks over, and sees . . .
LOCKHEED THE DRAGON!!!
. . .
it took ten issues, but we are here!
I keep fondly remembering this fun exchange I had with Carmen Carnero
Way back on April 9, 2025, and a took a while, but her dragon drawing skills are exceptional.
. . .
I can only imagine the only way to top this issue will be if we keep getting more and more Lockheed, but getting him back in monthly comics is all I’ve wanted for so long.
We’re no longer in a Lockheed-less era!
. . .
I do have a concern that Sinister made Sabretooth sabretooth clones, that this could be a Lockheed clone that he created to mess with Kitty Pryde, and all of our emotions, but maybe he was also just keeping him prisoner too?
One of my least favorite villains, and one of my top two favorite characters prisoner.
I’m really hoping that this is the genuine Lockheed, as I don’t want to be hurt again.
. . .
This also explains why we’ve seen him on the covers to Giant Size House of M and Giant Size X-Men 2 as
as Lockheed is back!
I can’t stop smiling 🙂
What a great day this as been, and came at the best time as the school district has decided to shut down the elementary school my wife teaches at, so this comic worked as a perfect distraction when I needed it most.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 