Writer Jeff Lemire

Penciler Humberto Ramos

Inker Victor Olazaba

Colorist Edgar Delgado

Letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna

Issue opens where the last one ended.  The Sinister created Cyclops (a mixed of Summers’ DNA and some unknown Inhuman DNA) stands before the X-Men.  Jean reads its mind and conforms that isn’t the real Cyclops.  That’s all Old Man Logan needed to hear, as he charges at NotCyclops, Notclops.

Notclops blasts Old Man Logan through the sewers and out onto the streets.  Sinister doesn’t want Notclops to be hurt, but the X-Men don’t care what Sinister wants.  Storm tells Iceman to deep freeze Notclops.

It doesn’t take long for the Inhuman DNA to take over and Notclops grows even more scales and loses control.  Sinister gets lost in this dramatic transformation and while he is distracted, Colossus straight punches him in the back.  Colossus does it so hard that we get to see a Gwen Stacy inspired “SNAP!”  So Sinister’s back is way broken.

Storm checks in on Jean.  Iceman gives chase after Notclyops.  Colossus has to stay behind to watch over Illyana.  Iceman tries to confine Notclops in a ice ring.

Jean can’t shut Notclops down, as it doesn’t have a brain.  Storm tells Jean to look after Old Man Logan.  Storm will take on Notclops and Iceman starts saving civilians.

Illyana is starting to wake up.  She directs her brother to turn around.  A body of Sinister picks up the head of the broken back Sinister and puts it into its neck.  This body is suppose to be more durable than the last one.  Colossus is ready for Round Two.

Jean checks in on Old Man Logan, I like how slow his healing factor is now.  That was one of the biggest issues with Present Day Wolverine.

Iceman saves a dude whose legs are stuck under a bus.  Iceman creates a giant Abominable Snowman to lift the bus.

Storm tries to talk Notclops down but he can only growl.  Old Man Logan gets a few slices in but gets blasted back.

Colossus keeps beating on Sinister.  Sinister makes the point that Colossus wrecks and he builds.  With that, Sinister slams Colossus into the ground.

Sinister’s experiments has revealed that mutants are dying (again).  Mutants are no long Homo Superior, they have become Inferior.

Meanwhile, Jean has been keeping Notclops’ body from exploding and is trying to raise it into the air to cut down on the blast radius.

Illyana has gotten into the fight, with the bold move of slicing Sinister’s head off.

Magik doesn’t think the X-Men are the last of their kind but the first.  I like the phase “Children of Xavier” it just rings true and I really dig Illyana making with a monologue.  She’s typically more of a doer than a talker.

Notclops explodes in the sky, so he isn’t coming back anytime soon.

a

Illyana looks to be drawn taller now, but I’m sure that’s just an artistic choice.

Poor Kurt, he has clearly been through some things but he does recognize one of his oldest friends, and her brother.

The X-Men are finally reunited, for the first time this series.  Jean wants to go home but Storm has a speech she wants to make.  She tells everybody in attendance, and the world around them (via the news crew) that the mutant race is dying.

The X-Men will no longer be hiding.  They will continue to protect and serve those who would fear and hate them.  They will also be gathering any mutants that are not already at X-Haven.  If anyone tries to hurt them, the X-Men will squash that fool.

Storm is still seeing Xavier’s ghost.

With a classic “to me, my X-Men” Storm asks Magik to send them home.

Cerebra likes Storm’s speech.  Forge informs Storm that Maria Hill wants to have a meeting, so that they can get on the same page.  Magik doesn’t trust SHIELD but Storm wants to give them a chance.

Magik notices that a fight occurred in Limbo, which I’m sure causes some conflict within her.  She’ll have to tell those demons to leave the mutants alone.

Issue ends with Old Man Logan not wanting to go into the school.  Jean thinks Glob Herman is a little cute and she tells Old Man Logan that there is a teenage Scott Summers, which doesn’t thrill him.

Next issue starts the Search and Rescue storyline, that Magik is involved in, so we’ll be definitely be buying it.

. . .

Top Ten List of 2016

1. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Four Issue 4
2. Extraordinary X-Men 5
3. Doctor Strange Volume Four Issue 4

That’s the year, thus far

Writer Jeff Lemire

Penciler Humberto Ramos

Inker Victor Olazaba

Colorist Edgar Delgado

Letterer VC’s Joe Caramanga

Issue opens with Colossus having a flashback to when he was a kid.  Except that Kurt is there and Colossus is looking for his sister.  Kurt hints that the Inhumans and Cyclops are ruining the mutant race.

Colossus wakes from that dream state, into a nightmare.  His precious sister is in one of those Inhumanity eggs.

Colossus gets terrified by the sight of an Inhuman-induced Illyana.  Luckily, she is still in her original form.  Well, her form since Belasco changed her course.

Colossus finally gets out of all of these dreams.  He’s hanging upside down in Mister Sinister’s lair.  Sinister is trying to make Home Superior, even more Superior.  He is currently experimenting on a purple version of Mammomax.

The new Marauders start getting name checked.  The old guy with the horns is Aries – which makes sense with the horns and all.

Sinister points to Kurt, who has lost his mind – only speaking in bible verses or with a biblical flair.

Sinister gives the elephant mutant a giant dose of Terrigen Mist.  I guess everyone has access to it now.  Typically, no one survives the process – mutant DNA and Inhuman DNA doesn’t mix well.

Sinister hints that Magik will be experimented on next, as she is made of sterner material.

X-Haven, Limbo.  Storm is happy to see Old Man Logan, he’s happy to be laying into demons.

Iceman saves Anole, who would like a moment to talk to Bobby, now that he has admitted to being gay.  Iceman starts trying to joke around with Old Man Logan.  Forge gets the shield ready to go but he wants the demons to be pushed back, so that none of them are inside the force field.  Jean starts pushing the demons back, with her mind.

Iceman and Old Man Logan are happy to see each other.

Cerebra reminds Storm that they should probably look for Illyana and Kurt.  She can’t track them but Old Man Logan offers to do that.  He refuses to work with Cerebra, which seems odd to me as this is the guy who killed all of the X-Men, so who is he to judge things.

Forge offers up Kurt’s tail, so that Old Man Logan can get the scent.

Manhattan.  The X-Men teleport in and this guy immediately overreacts to their presence.  He doesn’t want his children to be affected by M-Pox.  Old Man Logan and Jean exchange a few words.  Iceman tries to joke about them, but takes it too far.  He mocks them for having a grandfather – daughter relationship but hints at the original versions chemistry.

Chimera, the lady Marauder, wants to just kill Illyana.  Colossus protests that plan, but he is powerless to do anything about that.  Sinister has pumped Colossus with a lot of power-dampening serum.

Sinister believes Illyana is a threat, due to her magic – it separates her from the others.  That’s not the only thing that puts her out of everyone else’s league.

Before Sinister can do anything, he gets three claws through his back – which I love how the X-Men arriving, isn’t hinted at, at all.  It works so well as a next page turn.

Storm announces that the team should kick some aarse, which I like this take on Storm – she’s so much more fun now.

Old Man Logan skips the fight, as freeing Colossus is a higher priority.

Jean takes out Chimera, who has a black hole in her head.  So she’s like Xorn, I suppose.

Colossus frees Illyana.  She is still knocked out.

Old Man Logan and Iceman notice that Kurt is out of sorts.

Sinister is able to get back to his feet, he picks up where he left off.  All of his experiments have ended in failure, except for one.  The issue ends with the reveal that Cyclops is alive!  But with some form of Inhuman scales.  I’m sure it is only a clone of Cyclops but who knows.  This is the flagship title so this could be the real Cyclops.

For a Sinister story, this one isn’t horrible – thus far.

Writer Jeff Lemire

Penciler Humberto Ramos

Inker Victor Olazaba

Colorist Edgar Delgado

Letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna

I had to add Clay Mann’s variant to my Wishlist.

Magik doesn’t appear in this issue, hopefully the last time that happens – but she’s mentioned twice.

Neepawwa, Monitoba, Canada.  Jean sees the sad trailer that Old Man Logan has been living in.  They both share their mutual awkward timelineness.  She’s from the past, he’s from the future – she’s supposed to be from the real past and he’s from a future that isn’t this current universe’s future.  They know this as Wolverine didn’t die via Professor Cornelius’s plotting.

X-Haven, Limbo.  Iceman really wants Magik to come back, as they are not doing well against the demons.  Why the demons are not just listening to Illyana’s demand to just hang back, I’m not sure.  Maybe they know she is missing, only because of the X-Men.

Storm checks in with Forge, Illyana’s radio silence hasn’t broken yet.  Storm really should have sent a B-Team, at the end of this issue.  She’s the leader of the X-Men, by default instead of earning her current position.  I do like how no one needs Colossus.

Storm wants the backup security system to go online but Forge believes it is a week out still.  Forge is going to try to get it online, now.  He can’t work miracles as they are in hell.  Cebebra corrects him, the dumb robot that she is – and states that Limbo isn’t Hell, it is a different realm.  Forge sends her to die the demons, and possibly, be destroyed out there.

Anole and Glob Herman are trying their best against demons.  Iceman tells them to chill out, and is disappointed that no one laughed.  It isn’t funny and Iceman is the worst.

Iceman, has gone back to what Jason Aaron tried to established in the original Wolverine and the X-Men series.  He has been working on a Cold Locker, an Iceman army.  He has to sit and concentrate – to control them – so he’s still working on that aspect.

Canada.  Jean confirms that Cyclops is dead, this is the first that Old Man Logan has heard of the news.  Sounds like the whole Terrigen Mist business is new to him, as well.  We learned that Cyclops died, during a fight with the Inhumans.  She keeps the bad news coming with how the mists have sterilized mutants.

Old Man Logan doesn’t want to rejoin the X-Men, as he is afraid of his future coming true.  Jean is so horrible, that’ she’s cool that Old Man Logan killed all of the X-Men.  Jean forces more future memories out of Old Man Logan.  She sees that the Hulk’s grandchildren killed Old Man Logan’s family.  She seems more upset about the villains winning and his family being slaughtered – instead of the man before her, killing all of her friends and colleagues.

I like how Old Man Logan doesn’t see this as a new start – he is still haunted by his past and what Mysterio tricked him into doing.

Limbo.  The demons are clearly winning.  Forge’s security system is a mere shield.  Iceman is running out of resources.

Storm calls Anole and Glob, X-Men, and this motivates them to fight harder.

Iceman needs a second to recharge, which sickens Storm.

Cerebra, scoring points with me – is concern that Ms. Rasputin may not be doing well.

Sapna, from the first issue, is protecting her family.  Sapna, apparently, can speak and control the demons.  This comes as a surprise to her.

Canada.  The two time-displaced mutants, talk about destiny – which is pretty nice.  Jean hadn’t thought about destinies.  Old Man Logan worries about killing the X-Men, like how she should be worried about how she should be starting to die and be reborn – in a constant cycle.  This angers Jean, as she is going to make sure she never dies, she is going to break the cycle.

Jean promises to watch over Old Man Logan – to make sure he doesn’t kill any of the X-Men.  Since this is Jean, Old Man Logan can’t deny what she wants.  She knows where the X-Men are, and calls them to get them to pick the two up.

Sapna is doing a great job of calming the demons.  Iceman wonders if this is why Illyana sought her out.  Glob saves Iceman, as he was distracted.  Glob is all sorts of motivated, now that Storm considers him an X-Man.

Storm has most of the refugees inside the school but Forge hasn’t raised the shields yet.  A demon knocks Storm down and the ghost of Xavier gets her to stand back on her feet.  With a giant lightning bolt, the demons stand back.  Storm gets to say the classic “to me, my X-Men” which must feel great – every single time.

Storm tries to motivate Forge, but he isn’t the mutant inventor that his reputation would have everyone believe.  Forge tries to trick her into remembering the good old days.  Which I imagine he thinks about, a bunch – when Storm and him were lovers.  Though, wasn’t that just for a handful of issues?  It wasn’t like a multi-years relationship.

Jean calls into Forge, and he knows how much Storm needs Jean and Old Man Logan – so he sends Cerebra to gather them.  Cerebra teleports to Canada, and back to Limbo – in no time at all.

Great last page – these are the X-Men!  (minus Magik, Nightcrawler and Colossus – but add Supna).  Even Anole and Glob made the group shot.  That is a pretty great mixture of teams and classes.

I can’t wait for the official first group shot of everyone together!

Next issue has the team, shown as a reflection in Mister Sinister’s head gem thing.

Writer Jeff Lemire

Penciler Humberto Ramos

Inker Victor Olazaba

Colorist Edgar Delgado

Letter VC’s Joe Caramagna

I had to add Kevin Wada’s variant cover to my Wishlist.

Amsterdam.  Cerebra confirmed that this is where the Rasputins can find Nightcrawler.  I like their fun banter, also the explanation of why Illyana never teleports people to the exact location (or makes a second teleport, once they know where they need to be).  They see a puddle of blood and knock the door down.

Is that really Kurt’s tail on the ground!?!  Can he grow another one of those?  That’s a major physical change!

Neepawa, Manitoba, Canada.  Storm and Iceman confront Old Man Logan.  Bobby doesn’t waste any time asking about how Wolverine got so old.  Before he will answer that question, he wants to know why these two knuckleheads are flying around in a Sentinel.  Storm explains that Forge created Cerebra (inside a Sentinel, for some unexplained reason).  Storm hints that the mutant race’s downsizing.  Cerebra apparently can talk and has a personality, this could be interesting.

Old Man Logan explains that he was in a few places, before coming here – the only hint of Secret Wars 2015, I imagine we are going to get, for a while.  We see flashbacks of dead Storm and Iceman, from Wolverine 70, that made me reread that issue.  I was resisting the review for that issue, as I figured it would be the basis of the third Wolverine film but it is now time to review the issue.  That’ll come in a few days.

Storm is wearing a classic 80s costume, which is what made me reread Wolverine 70, as I wasn’t sure if she was in that outfit.  She’s in something like resembles a one piece black bathing suit, so Ramos got that right, from the very brief glimpse we see of Storm.

We get a pretty decent summary of the original Millar / McNiven Old Man Logan storyline – the villains rose up, took over and left the world a Wasteland.  At least, the aspect of the series that I was interested in.

Iceman’s flippant “of course this involves time travel” is pretty funny.  We have the Original Five X-Men, from the past, and now, an Old Man Logan, from the future.  Are we heading towards another Battle of the Atom?  Let’s hope not!

We see a dead Iceman, in a flashforward, who I couldn’t identify in issue 70 of Wolverine.  Old Man Logan has never heard of the Terrigen Mist or M-Pox.

Old Man Logan turns down Storm’s offer for help.  She states, in no uncertain terms, that Cyclops is dead.  Which, is like solving a mystery with another giant mystery.

I completely get Old Man Logan not wanting to explain to these youngsters, why he doesn’t want to stand around them.

Brooklyn.  Jean is dating this guy, Chris.  She makes light about how Hank and Scott, didn’t work out.  She goes as far as to say that kissing Hank was like kissing her brother.  Which seems super awkward, as Bendis was setting up the whole Jean and Hank relationship in Uncanny X-Men 600.  I suppose it is an easy way to show the passage of time, having the couple break up.  Jean likes kissing Chris.  They start walking out of the restaurant when Jean hears a psychic yell for help.

These three dumb flatscans are kicking this dude who looks like that Flower Dress gal from Agents of SHIELD, once she was exposed to the mists.

Jean yells at them to get away, but one of the jerks states that he is afraid of his little girl may get the M-Pox disease.

Chris makes the huge mistake of using the “mutie” term and Jean reveals that she is a mutant – in a big way.  She knocks the three jerks to the ground and away some distance.

Chris is disgusted that he kissed her, he may get the disease now.  In a very great twist, the mutant stands up, also freaked out, as he is an Inhuman and runs away scared.  What an interesting take on an old plot.  Also, a great way to show that one rather be an Inhuman than a mutant.

X-Haven.  The Workshop.  We get our first glimpse of X-Haven, at least, Forge’s workshop.  He confirms to Illyana, that Nightcrawler should be right below them.  He does warn that there are other mutant signatures.

Manhattan.  Illyana sends Kurt’s tail to Forge, so that explains how that will be corrected.

In, what I hope continues to be a running gag, Colossus is dismayed as the sewer entrance is too small for him.  The big Russian is starting to have size issues.

For once, an X-Man complains about being in the sewers!  The smell and the water, must be gross to deal with.

They are attacked by green ghost dragon thingies.

X-Haven.  Storm, Iceman and Cerebra return.  Storm doesn’t like how Magik hasn’t returned yet.  Bobby hints that where they are, it isn’t good for Magik to not be there, for long.  Storm’s instincts really should have kicked in and they should have gone right to Manhattan and checked in on the siblings.

Bobby really is the comic relief that this title needs.  He notices Kurt’s tail, another signed that clearly what is happening in Manhattan, isn’t ideal.  Bobby freezes Kurt’s tail.

Forge checks in on Cerebra, whose feelings are hurt by Old Man Logan’s comment to her, to “zip it.”  Forge is also told that there is a Logan, around, there is no time to explain further.  So from Forge’s point of view, Storm failed two different recruiting agendas.

Magik can tell the dragons are not real.  Colossus and her are doing well against the two mysterious villains, from the last issue.

We get a narration box sequence of Storm talking about how Xavier’s dream may be dead (again).

We see who the mysterious boss of the three sewer peeps . . . Mister Sinister!  Who is willing to set aside his obsession with the Summers blood, to experiment with the Rasputin bloodline.

Am I excited to be reading another Sinister storyline?  Not really but maybe this will be the time where I find him to be interesting.

I was thinking this may be the first time that Magik has seen Sinister but Gillen’s entire Uncanny run (the second volume) he had fought the Phoenix Five, so she definitely should have shared at least, one panel together.  Though I am getting the sense memory of her being outside the castle, so she didn’t actually fight him.  It is funny, that, the two of them had major storylines in Inferno, but didn’t crossover in that, er, crossover.

Sinister, the jerk that he is, throws Magik’s flippin’ head into a wall!  Causing her to be knocked out.

X-Haven, not coincidentally,starts to shakes.  This is, because . . . X-Haven is in Limbo, ya’ll!  So in the eight months, Illyana removed Limbo from within herself and have placed the mutants there.  Since Magik isn’t keeping the demons at bay, they start hording onto X-Haven.

Manitoba, Canada.  Old Man Logan is trying to forget his woes, via drinking and supporting a small business.  Jean starts chatting with him, telepathically.

She knows his secret, as of course she would read his mind – without his permission.  So Lemire definitely has her character down – she is the worst.

Jean is in front of his trailer, and wants him – as it is cold outside.  Old Man Logan is glad that she was already dead, as that meant he didn’t kill her.  Our Wolverine, did end up killing our Jean, a couple times – during Morrison’s run, but that was knowing she would come right back from the dead.

A pretty great second issue!