X-men #20 Review

Summary

Domino is tracking a sentinel sale to the nation of Puternicstan which borders both Latveria and Symkaria. On Utopia Cyclops summons Storm to marshal a team to Investigate when a new set of players enters the fray. Jubilee, Warpath, Psylocke, Colossus are the team assembled. They run into War Machine/Iron Man 2.0 who wants them to back off since the situation is expected to escalate into an international incident very soon. Storm backs down and takes another route to get into the city undetected. Domino is discovered and sends a distress call to her teammates. Storm dispatches Psylocke, Jubilee and Warpath to save Domino but they are interrupted by War Machine who attacks them because he doesn’t want them escalating the mounting tensions in the area. As they fight Domino is about to be finished by the Sentinel.

The Good

Cover– Cool illustration of Storm Vs War Machine though it doesn’t exactly happen inside by Andy Granov.

Characterization– Storm leads; Psylocke is our telepath and line of communication, Colossus empowered by Cytorak may well turn out to be our wild card. Everyone else was support.

Art- Will Conrad’s art provides solid artwork that illustrates this tale well, particularly the action sequences which thankfully transition from panel to panel great. Another added touch is that the art conveys that this book will be “darker” than the other x-men books. This is after all the stealth team though colossus is along for the ride 🙂

Story-Victor Gischler draws on recent history “Schism” and the re-emergence of the mutant hunting sentinels to tell this tale of border skirmishes, international incidence, UN intervention and clash of heroes. Loving every second of it!

Team- I like this team allot! Storm back in charge after years of being a token member of a team she once lead. Jubilee former x-man and Generation-X member now vampire, Warpath Native American founding of X-force member, former student of Cable and Emma Frost and Wolverine’s murderous X-force. Psylocke British telepath in a Japanese ninja body one of storm’s closest friends who served on the classic Australian team with her, Colossus another old friend of Storm’s who joined the team with her, he also served on the Outback team now possessed of the added power of the demon Cytorak as the new juggernaut. They are joined by Domino former X-force member and all around badass and lady luck.

Action- For a first issue this one packed quite a bit of action. Between Domino’s dog fight and Storm and Colossus taking on war machine this issue will keep action junkies happy.

The Bad

Cliché- its fun to watch but Hero versus Hero tales have been done to death!

Australian years- While looking at storm’s team I couldn’t help but miss the X-men who eloped with Wolverine…particularly those on Storm’s Outback team…Rogue, dazzler, longshot and yup even the ole can knuckle head himself. Someone needs to reunite this classic team one day, Boundless potential still in there dynamics.

The Ugly

A solid Start to hopefully a long lived and well written book with Storm’s return to leadership! 4/5