Writer Jed MacKay

Penciler Tony Daniel

Inker Mark Morales

Colorist Fer Sifuentes -Sujo

Letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles

Variant Cover Luciano Vecchio

Back up feature Artist Agustin Alessio

So rare for a modern comic to reach issue 25!  Though Uncanny will be doing it with its next issue.  Just to get it out of the way, here is your Fenris trigger warning.  I treated myself to the Luciano Vecchio variant cover.  We weren’t given this theme cover for Exceptional X-Men, which I would have gladly bough the Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost, and Melee covers.  Actually, I probably would have gotten all of them, as I do love the format.  Maybe with X-Men United we’ll finally get them?  I’m still waiting for the Russell Dauterman Kitty Pryde costume gallery cover. 

Issue opens with Cyclops telling the team about the Age of Revelation.  I do like the idea that you can just skip AoR, and what you really need to know, you’ll be told through X-MEN dialogue.  Future bad because of Doug Ramsey, and 3K (more about them later). 

Scott’s new goal in life?  Fix the Present, Save the Future.  Such a good team shot here.

Arizona, three miles from Rio Verde. Which is three and a half hours away from Yuma.  When I was growing up, there was a popular blue shirt that had, “Yuma, four hours from everywhere else” that is burned into my mind.

We catch up to Fenris, who are eternally gross.  Now, they’re super prideful of being white mutants, so they have a new lower level to their grossness.

I do love how out Jed MacKay is with calling the Strucker twins and Fenris (the name of their hate group) Nazis.  Why hide behind code words?  Also a good time to mention I was wrong about 3K being a clever way of not writing KKK, which makes sense now that we know Krakoa Beast is the Chairman of the Board. 

Then.  Cyclops really needs to find Doug. 

Now.  Cyclops sends Magik and Psylocke to join the fight.  Once we’re done with the Psylocke retro series (which apparently is selling quite well), I would love to get a Magik & Psylocke miniseries. 

These two are great together!

Then.  I love the X-Men sharing a meal together, this team is very close.

Cyclops reveals that AoR had never heard of R-LDS.  70s Beast let’s out a “retrocausality” which sounds very fun to say aloud.  I wonder what that would have looked like as a Mortal Kombat finisher?

Magik telling Psylocke that her sword is sharper, and Kwannon calling Magik a brat.  These two are the best.

Again, I just love Juggernaut and Magik being besties.  This series has been great with showing Illyana being actual friends with people.  I love to see it.

Juggernaut throws a car at Fenris, he’s so upset that they blasted Magik.  Taking her out of the fight for the rest of the issue, which one has to do as she can end a fight rather easily. 

Psylocke fights Andreas, and Oya fights Andrea. 

Quenten Quire, who also can end a fight easily, has been holding back, as he really doesn’t want to enter a white supremacist’s mind – completely understandable. 

Juggernaut helping Magik up, they’re the best!

We finally learn who the mutant is who is in charge of O*N*E* . . . The Crimson Commando, who I barely remember.  He’s on the cover of Uncanny X-Men 215, with Stonewall and Super Sabre.  I mostly only remember Stonewall because of the historical event, and the cool flight helmet.  He’s a WWII veteran, with the mutant power of peach physical health.  I own his first appearance, so that’s cool.  He is a Claremont / Davis creation.

The Crimson Commando arrived with a crew, and a press conference, announcing O*N*E*, and Cyclops’ X-Men are working together, then immediately has them stop recording, so mutants everywhere should have some distrust of Cyclops now.  Which seems silly, as all it’ll take is for him to reach out to Rogue and Emma, and clear the whole thing up – he’ll probably do that in-between issues. 

Cyclops references how the last time he fight Crimson Commando, he died, in Uncanny X-Men 529.  Which was the issue Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost with Fantomex were searching for Sebastian Shaw, so I only remember that plot from the issue, but I owned his first and last appearance (until this issue, which I also own, so that’s nice). 

We do get a reference to how Cyclops hadn’t realized Crimson Commando was resurrected on Krakoa, so that’s nice that era exists so any mutant can be brought back with ease.  As long as they didn’t die in Fall of X (or Rise of X). 

Crimson Commando leaves, knowing he’ll win the long battle.

We get a back up where 70s Beast chats with Animalia, who likes the codename, another legacy of AoR. 

70s Beast figures out 3K is actually 3000, otherwise written in Latin, MMM, Make More Mutants, and learns the Chairman of 3K is . . . Krakoa Beast!  So, everyone knows what they are up against. 

Pretty great anniversary issue!