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I was going to put all the main X-titles here in one volume but I decided to separate it into two volumes for two reasons. First is I wanted to just finish the Endangered Species storyline running through the core title and secondly that if I did all 16 or so titles, I wouldn’t be able to finish it before starting the next edition of TPL. So, you have the rest of Endangered Species here.
Oh yeah, Spoilers Ahead.
Catching Up – X-Men: Endangered Species:
-Uncanny X-Men #’s 490-491- The Uncanny X-Men are still in the Morlocks tunnel and Masque is still engineering a mutant attack on the public. We learn of a sage that lived with the Morlocks who wrote a book foretelling the future (sort of like the mutant Bible). There are fights, the X-Men lose at the end of 490 and Storm is trapped. In 491 the X-Men engineer their escape and defeat Masque. The bible is in the hands of the government and SHIELD. Magneto comes into play here as he is given the book! The book also reveals he’s a mutant! What!!! The ending was incredibly interesting and will definitely lead to great things. The Morlocks saga was just, eh. I will give it a 1/2.
-X-Factor #’s 23-24- Layla Miller is saved by Quicksilver as Madrox, Rictor, Strong Man and Rahne find out the real truth of Mr. Huber. He is a villainous mutant who has the powers of Colossus, Nightcrawler, and can mentally nudge people in the ways he wants. He convinces all mutants to participate in a march on Washington and he plans to wipe them all out. X-Factor learns of this so Huber teleports them all away to the snowy middle of nowhere! Rictor is the only one who is against Huber’s telepathy, possibly because of the terrigen mist crystals. The conclusion sees X-Factor returning because of Rictor, Monet showing up to help things out and a nice tidy ending to the whole Huber saga. Huber just wanted get rid of all mutants so he could be quiet. I think this was definitely rushed to coincide with Messiah CompleX but if it got time to breathe I think it would’ve been worthwhile. Let’s go 1/2.
-New X-Men #’s 42-43- Like the other titles, this is just wrapping up loose ends before Messiah CompleX begins. Only Issue 42 is an Endangered Species title (I guess #43 was late) and its really terribly uninteresting, to be honest, which is a surprise based on Kyle and Yost’s great run on the title. #42 features a lot of talking between the members, with Josh becoming more distant and isolated, Julian practicing with his power, Beast testing Rockslide’s power, and the gang trying to figure out who the youngest mutant alive is now. At the end some monster named Predator X is following the trail of Dust. #4 features more of the same as #42. Predator X finds the mansion, then leaves at the end. The Cuckoo’s tell David they can fix his mind so he can remember all the powers and skills he used to have. At the end the kids get the training X-Men costumes and I guess it’s all tied up in a nice little bow for Messiah CompleX. I wasn’t too blown away by these, but I gotta go just half for the titles, and again, having to rush the endings of certain running storylines kind of hurts the overall quality. 1/2.
-X-Men #’s 203-204- The X-Men are still wiped out after recent attacks by Mr. Sinister and his gang of evil mutants. The only hope to stop Sinister from getting this book of destiny that he wants is Cannonball and Iceman, who must battle Sinister and all his forces at once. They are soundly defeated after they lead the evil mutants to the book’s safeplace but Cannonball sacrifices himself to destroy the book! Sinister repays him by wiping out his mind. Iceman is also injured but Mystique spares his life. #204, as I have repeated many times this edition, ties up the loose ends. Rogue wakes up in Sinister’s care and remembers her past, but collapses again due to the Hetacomb. Cannonball miraculously survives and wakes up, talking to Iceman. Cyclops basically disbands Rogue’s team and Iceman is pretty pissed about this. Blindfold wakes up at the end of the issue and has dire news for the gang after the power surge. I liked the X-Men getting whipped around for a change and this was my favorite of the core titles this time around. 2/2.
-Endangered Species Chapters 10-17- The conclusion of Endangered Species sees a distraught and hopeless Beast trying everything he can to try and get more mutant births. He first goes to District X to buy some MGH but learns all the vials have become inactive after M-Day. Next he sees Forge and wants to see if any distant futures have mutant births but Forge’s devices tell him there’s nothing in the future. Beast lashes out at him then heads to the Guthrie’s home to get a gene sample but she doesn’t want to give it, she doesn’t want the mutant problem anymore. Of course, Dark Beast is there, does a test on one of the Guthrie kids, and the Beast has to defeat Dark Beast then cure the kid (which is never shown). Beast is really down in the dumps now and goes to routes he never would have thought of, like going to Dr. Strange for help. Doc gives him some unsettling news, when Wanda changed the world, she also changed the entire magic landscape and it is irreversible. Strange also shows Beast many alternate versions of himself where the outcome is always the same. Finally, Beast meets Wanda herself to try get everything changed, but she doesn’t remember anything of this event. Beast realizes there is nothing he can do so he goes back to the mutant testing facility he went to earlier and starts burying the dead. Overall, it was a decent back-up story but it kind of fell apart at the end, with the delays of New X-Men and it seemed a bit rushed over the last four chapters with some things not being shown. I will give it a 1/1, though.
-The Bottom Line- I was pretty unimpressed with these titles this time around. Most of the titles rushed into a conclusion all for the upcoming mega-event and it really showed. The rush to the finish line caused for things being overlooked and a very loose story. All in all, it tallied up to a 6/9, or 67%, but it could’ve been a whole lot better. Like I said, it was rushed and it showed.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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