Summary
Psylcoke is dead and Storm’s x-men have no time to grieve as they get cornered by the French Special Forces. Storm holds her ground while a woman they saves calms the Special Forces down. They treat Beast and Psylcoke gets thrown in a body bag, Neal weeps and the team goes in search of the man responsible. They have no luck however and sage jumpstarts Beasts evolution and they send him back to the mansion to recuperate. Sage also notes Vargas is neither truly human nor even mutant but something else entirely. While they can’t find Vargas he is busy keeping tabs on them vowing Psylocke will be just the first.
The Good
Laroca’s art! Gorgeous, Beautiful! My god this man is talented! Colors and art are seamlessly blended to give what I can easily say is the best works he’s done (that I’ve seen so far). It’s a pleasure just staring at the pages.
Characterization was spot on for Storm who maintains a statuesque beauty facade which hides a Panther in waiting. When this woman loses her temper things get bad and while she is remarkably contained the loss of Betsy cuts deep. Sage and rogue also got good panel time and the mystery of her defection from Sebastian continues to mount. Her bond with storm also continues to grow. Storm also maintains the “mother” persona as she ushers beast off for his own safety.
On another note in reality Beast was being given to Grant Morrison’s new
X-men since he was writing the “flagship’ book at the time so Claremont had to write him out of the book neatly and he does succeed in his quest as it’s almost seamless.
The Bad
Action junkies will cry fowl at the very brief bits of action spliced in. I was annoyed by the flashbacks though I did understand why they were in the mix.
The Ugly
An average read with great visuals. 2.5/5