Summary
Bishop is awoken by an officer while he hallucinates about a similar situation in the future. He catches up to mountjoy only to end up falling off a building and having another flashback. He manages to get away only to be jumped by some street punks. His mind drifts to the future again before he’s saved by some cops. Mountjoy attacks killing on of the officers and injuring another. Bishop is about to kill him when he has another flashback and finds himself unable to pull the trigger. The injured officer shoots him unable to tell villain from hero. Mountjoy tries to flee and bishop gives chase. In the subway Bishop is distracted by memories and mountjoy finally gains control of him. He now vows to break Bishop’s spirit by killing the X-men.
The Good
The most poignant thing in this issue was how traumatic the experience of being dropped into the past has affected Bishop. The loss is completely unbearable and he finds himself slipping back and forth into memories Unsure if he’s gone mad in the past or his future/present. All this is made even more so after his time spent with the holographic Shard, Bishop has flashes of being in the X.S.E, tales of the Summer’s rebellion life on the street and how he clawed his way up and eventually failed his sister. It’s very clear that Bishop had few purposes in his life before except his life as an officer and taking care of his sister. Having failed with his sister and being thrown into the past mountjoy represents his future yet to come and all it’s trappings….the failure and guilt that Bishop must confront and defeat in order to make a new life for himself here in the past with the x-men. We also see his belief in killing faltering as he faced with his very idols telling him it’s wrong the dishonor he will bring to them by killing this criminal prevents him from making the decisions necessary to wrap things up. Instead he is literally led on a chase down memory lane and is taken “over”.
It was great having Bishop’s past revealed, and mountjoy proves a very interesting and entertaining villain to read. He is deliciously evil.
The Bad
Shard seems to have literally disappeared into thin air with no explanation making her appearance last issue just a convenient means of getting Bishop into the police station. All the flashbacks may be jarring for some readers.
The Ugly
3.5/5