Writer Mike Carey

Artist Salvador Larroca

Color Artists Justin Ponsor with Matt Milla, Jeromy Cox and Guru-eFX

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

This is billed as the first Original Graphic Novel since X-Men Gods Love Man Kills – but is that accurate?  Wouldn’t Dazzler the Movie be the last one?

I know I’ve stated this with Larroca before but his work, with the right colorists, is amazing and he got four of the best right here!

Issue opens with Autolycus Corporation being invaded by a little girl.  She gets locked up and starts taunting the security staff.  They claim their building can’t get breached, to which she makes the awesome comment that she breached it and super easy as they just let her in.  The locked door makes her laugh.

We learn that this day is March 8, and that the girl has future knowledge.  Which makes sense as she shifts into … Raze!  Mystique and Wolverine’s son from Battle of the Atom!

Over at the Jean Grey School.  An empty 747 begins to fall towards the school.  The X-Men faculty go out and try to stop the plane’s descent.  Once they get it to land safely, they discover that the plane is empty.

Rachel turns on Cerebra and confirms that there are No More Humans.

Wolverine takes the faculty to New York City’s Times Square.  They confirm that there is No More Humans.

Just then, Cyclops’ Uncanny X-Men and Kitty’s All New X-Men teleport feet away.  It is an awesome splash page.  I wish there was a third Cyclops side, Blue Team, title so we can get more of this combined team.

In what I can only imagine is a perfect metaphor to the differences between Blue and Gold – Cyclops reveals that they have already been to several world capitals and confirm that there are No More Humans.

The metaphor being that Cyclops works on a global scale, whereas Wolverine deals with, largely, threats at home – a very narrow scale.

Now is as decent as any time to comment on the time period of this Original Graphic Novel.  Nightcrawler is alive and at the school.  Also alive, are Rogue and Scarlet Witch.  So this takes place, at least, after Amazing X-Men 6 and whenever Rick Remender’s current Uncanny Avengers storyline ends.   As clearly it ends with a major time reset, leaving both Rogue and Scarlet Witch alive and most likely Wonder Man being the only dead Avenger – again.

Kitty being part of the splash page is the extent of her contribution to this hardcover.

Magik, though, is featured throughout.

Wolverine believes Cyclops is responsible for the missing human race.  They start bickering like the exes that we have seen them to be portrayed as for the past couple years.

Magneto shows up and tells them to stop.  He brought with him, the twins – Wanda and Quicksilver.  Quicksilver is wearing his All New X-Factor uniform, which is awkward.  So Magneto approached All New X-Factor, grabbed his son but left his other daughter, Polaris, behind?  Ooof, she isn’t going to like that.

Her name is Polaris and she is bipolar, get it?  Seems to obvious to me.

Magneto, his children, and all of the X-Men go back to the Jean Grey School to figure their next step.  Magneto believes that they are done, the human problem has finally been solved and now Earth is ready for the mutants to inherit.

Old Beast makes a fun comment regarding Cerebra being a machine that is built to locate needles in haystacks.  He sets Cerebra to locate humans, and finds only one – in Texas.

The mutants pick a squad to represent the X-Men this day, consisting of – Wolverine, Beast, Jean, Stoem, Emma, Cyclops and Magneto.

Once there, they discover a dying Mr. Sale, tied to a stake.  Emma, with Jean’s help, pulls the image of Raza from Sale’s mind.  Then a machine appears and a fup later, this field team is gone.

Over at the Jean Grey School.  For some reason, the students (of both schools) are dressd like Grant Morrison era X-Men.  Which isn’t uncommon for the New Xavier School students.

The students want to play a game of baseball, which I would be all for another game of baseball.  Just then, odd looking muants show up at the door.  They don’t want a fight.  Instead, they want sanctuary.

Somwhere else entirely.  The field team are in a sort of other-universe.  Beast aids Magneto to reverse the machine to get them back home.  They get back and Sale is dead.  Rachel beckons them back home.

Turns out that these new mutants are from alternate timelines and such.  Since this planet is nearly empty, this is the perfect time.

Nightcrawler is chosen to go investigate in Elliot Bay, Seattle.  Once there, he meets his half brother, Raze, and it is actually pretty cool.

Kurt is taken hostage.  Magik teleports a group of X-Men there to rescue him.

Raze takes this opportunity to reveal his master plan.

The X-Men take Kurt back, and Raze takes this as a victory.  The X-Men can’t do anything at this moment.

There is a scene with Raze and Mystique.  It isn’t until now that I notice their mutual character designs.  Both wear mainly white, both wear white belts with skulls, they have red hair and blue skin.

There is a moment when Mystique wonders if Raze really is her son.  Is he just using his shape shifting abilities to appear like Mystique.

Tempus overhears Raze tell his mother that the humans may not be dead.  He isn’t that familiar with the technology that he used to send the humans away.

The X-Men retrieve Tempus and learn there is a chance the human race can be saved.  Magneto doesn’t like that idea and leaves.

Cyclops convinces Triage to heal the dead Mr. Sale.  He is hesitant at first but agrees.  Doing so makes Sale a zombie.

Back in Seattle.  Mystique and Magneto are talking.  This feels like a special scene to me as I’m not sure if these two have ever spoken to each other before.  It feels unique.

The X-Men show up.  They fight Raze’s Brotherhood.  They do so, so that they can get inside and make the machine bring back the humans.

The two Doctor McCoys are working on the machine.

Mystique and Iceman go a round together.

There are pages of pages of the Phoenix from an alternate timeline and young Jean that goes on.  I guess that Carey and Larocca really wanted to use the Phoenix Force.

The Hanks reverse the machine so all mutants are teleported to that empty quasi-universe.  They left the zombie Sale behind.  It is up to the zombie to bring everyone back.

Once humans and mutants are returned, the Alter-Phoenix makes it so that all the other alternate timeline mutants can live in that weird purple universe.

Story ends with Cyclops telling Jean she did good.  The final page is Beast being an idiot and being worried about dumb things.

. . .

Also, anyone keeping track – today is July 2, so if you are going to watch the film, Independence Day, today is the first of the three days to do so.  I’m going to try my best to squeeze it in but my parents are in town for the next few days and if they don’t want to do the marathon, then I may have to miss it this year.

But don’t worry, I have some posts prepared so feel free to come on coming back.