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For the first time in CBCU I think the X-Men are getting three separate parts of a certain volume. There were just a ton of X-Books this time around. The way it was broken down was as follows, you have the Mini-Series and First Class title first (and if you haven’t read it yet, shame on you), then this part, which are ongoing X-Titles that didn’t tie into the third part, titles that included the Messiah CompleX storyline. It’s interesting that for all of these titles, I have actually read the conclusion of their respective stories in the regular TPL column, so there are no surprises, and now I am just reading them to see how we got from point A to point B.
Spoilers Ahead.
Catching Up – X-Men: Ongoing Titles
-Astonishing X-Men #24- So I already know what happens here because I read Giant-Size Astonishing #1, but this was good set-up for that issue, having the pieces go to the correct places, and Kitty being fired out in a giant missile as the X-Men and Agent Brand try to deal with the Breakworld. Good issue. 1/1.
-Cable & Deadpool #’s 48-50- This is the only thing I really didn’t know the end of, since C&D #50 was the last issue of the always fun title. Of course, half of the titular characters do not appear in this issue. #48 closes the whole Deadpool being sent by Strange to save the soul of his mortal enemy, to actually regain his soul. #49 sees Deadpool go to the Savage Land for a device and ending up fighting Ka-Zar (under the control of Brainchild). They stop Brainchild, but accidentally transport a whole bunch of dinosaurs to Manhattan, as they come into contact with the symbiote that the Avengers are transporting. This all concludes in #50, as Deadpool teams up with the Avengers and FF and finds the true hero in himself. He ends the series by sitting with the friends he has in his room, watching TV. There are some great letters written by those involved with the title, and this is one title I am sad to see go, as it was always funny, irreverent, and knew its place in the Marvel Universe. Nicieza did just an awesome job throughout the books too brief history. 3/3. (4/4 Total)
-Cable #’s 1-3- Cable actually sprung out of Messiah CompleX, which I haven’t actually finished yet, but basically a baby mutant has been born, and Cable has gone to the timestream to save him. These issue showcase Cable going to the future, to New York, 2043, where no heroes are left on the planet. Cable deals with the enforcers of the planet and finally comes into contact with Bishop, complete with new mechanic arm. In the second issue we see how he got to the Cable’s time, but he gets arrested and Cable escapes. Bishop breaks free and goes after Cable again, when Cable sees an old friend, Cannonball. The art is gorgeous, probably too good to be in a comic book, but I thought that the three issues here only really told two comics worth of material, if that makes sense. Gonna go 2/3 for this, with two strong opening issues, but a third that was short on the actual story-telling aspect. 2/3 (6/7 Total)
-Exiles #100- This is the Giant-Sized Final Issue, or we stop at 100 to make more money by debuting a new #1 two months later. Really this issue shows the Exiles chilling, then Sage thinking her friends are enemies and fighting them before going back to normal, and finally TJ, Proudstar and Blink deciding to take a vacation. They reprint the first ever issue of Exiles, tacking on an extra dollar to the cover price. It was a nice send-off, but it wasn’t really a send-off, as the title just restarted anew a second time. Sort of like what happened to Amazing Spider-Girl, but at least they didn’t close things up with #100 and think it was just the end. Well, see you in two months (is what I would write if this were in the monthly column). 0/1 (6/8 Total)
-Exiles: Days of Then and Now #1- This was a unique look at a new team of Exiles being formed that won’t appear in the monthly version, and begs the question, how many different exile teams are there? It wasn’t anything memorable, but for a look at how Exiles are formed, it was inoffensive storytelling. 1/1 (7/9 Total)
-New Exiles #’s 1-4- And we begin anew, with a new title (NEW Exiles) and the same team we saw in issue 100. So the Exiles go to a world where the FF went into space and got bombarded not only with cosmic rays but with meteorites, forever changing the world. Sue was saved by Namor (who is African American in this world), and they went on to have kids, including Gambit. The Exiles show up and are immediately attacked by vampires. Rogue is knocked out and saved by Gambit and Sabretooth and Psylocke fall under one of the vampires influence. This comes into effect when Black Panther shows up to attack Sue, Namor and the family. Only Sue and Psylocke can save an explosion and save the family. It ends anticlimactically when they leave Earth’s atmosphere and an unbreakable shell forms around it. Gambit joins the team of Exiles and we have our eighth member. The ending was kind of rushed, but as an introduction to the new team dynamic, and an interesting new universe we looked at, it did its job. 4/4. (11/13 Total).
-New Exiles #’s 5-6- This was a little weird. Regular penciler Tom Grummett is not on the book, and maybe it was sort of a fill-in? Anyway, it’s a spirited tale of Cat, Morph and Sage going to a world where a man falls in love with a dragon and them fighting for that love to continue. It was a silly fairy-tale pair of issues, much in the same vein as the Kitty Fairy Tale issue of Uncanny way back when. I can’t fault it, it was fun. 2/2. (13/15 Total).
-Young X-Men #1- This is just a Giant-Size X-Men #1 version of the Young X-Men, as Cyclops gathers a new team of young heroes to continue the good fight. There’s Blindfold (a precognitive who sees a future fighting Donald Pierce), Dust, Ink (a mutant who gets powers from tattoos he has), Wolfcub and Rockslide. They have their first mission, to take on the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, or as we know them, the original New Mutants. This was good enough for an opener in bringing these characters together. 1/1 (14/16 Total).
-Ultimate X-Men #’s 89-94- #89 is a fill-in, but a good one, where Storm faces off with the Shadow King, an old friend and lover of hers. Her mental struggle against him was well-done. #’s 90-93 were a really interesting look at Ultimate Apocalypse, as Sinister does his bidding by killing 10 innocent mutants in order to bring Apocalypse to the world. The whole Ultimate U gets involved but none can stop him. The previously thought deceased Professor X returns with Cable to take down Apocalypse but they fail, too. Only Phoenix’ emergence is enough to defeat the vaunted foe. Phoenix then pulls a little bit of ret-conning and making things like they were before Apocalypse, with only the X-Men remembering anything. The ending sucked, but the rest of the story was great. Finally, #94 is the start of Northstar getting stolen by Alpha Flight, Colossus getting pissed, getting even madder when Jean finds out he’s using the drug Banshee that increases his power, then leaves with Cyclops and a renegade band of X-Men to get his boyfriend back. Well, you get one crappy ending, but the rest is just gold. 5/6 (19/22 Total).
-X-Force #’s 1-4- This is one title I don’t really care for, as everything seems to be all over the place. Things are introduced every issue that aren’t really followed up in the next issue. Cyclops gathers a team to take out the Purifiers, Wolvie leads it against his best intentions, and is worried about X-23 and her role. Wolfsbane is kidnapped, the Purifiers are led by Bastion, who resurrects Warlock’s father, Magus, and uses it to revive hated mutant killers to join his side. I have to say this was very underwhelming. The pacing of the story is terrible, the story goes much too slow over the first four issues, and the fifth issue which I reviewed in TPL didn’t clear things up at all. I just don’t recommend this at all. 0/4 (19/26).
-The Bottom Line- If you take out the dreadful X-Force, this is a nice representation of the secondary X-titles, as it came in at 19/22. Like I said, X-Force really brought things down at the end, but I won’t let it sway my decision, this final CBCU featuring the secondary X-titles was really good.
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