New X-Men #28

Written by Craig Kyle & Chris Yost

Pencils & Cover by Paco Medina

 

Don’t let the story arc numbering confuse you, this is really issue 9 of a 12 part series. Rev. William Stryker is finally put to rest as his control of Nimrod is discovered to be tenuous at best. Did that rhyme? Anyway, now Stryker is dead and his Purifiers are destroyed. This is just as well, the Purifiers as militant-Christian mutant haters is nothing new and seems to be a perennial villain archetype. This group was at least given an attempt at fleshing them out, but the theme is a bit worn by this point.

 

Here we have the aftermath of even more death and loss among the New X-Men. We’ve gone from a happy-go-lucky teen drama with emphasis on decompression to a melancholy and sorrowful teen drama with emphasis on decompression. If all Marvel wanted was more sadness in the comic then I really can’t see why Weir and DeFilippis couldn’t of delivered it. The latest deaths are Jay, who’d lost his powers shortly before that, Max Jordan (Quill) and Elixir who didn’t die but in the act of reversing his power to kill Stryker turned all black and is now in a perpetual state of pain. God, how could things get any more dismal?

 

To top off the list of rare moments when being in continuity may be a hindrance, we have Iron Man and Ms. Marvel showing up at the mansion in the aftermath of the killings to discuss the ongoing Civil War. Having investigated Stryker’s now decimated base, because Nimrod killed everyone and escaped, Ms. Marvel decides now’s the time to convince the X-Men to join the Pro-Registration side. This isn’t even billed as a Civil War tie-in even though it easily could have been.

 

Not that it’s really that important, but be warned that this comic is supposed to take place AFTER Civil War #3. Ms. Marvel is promptly rebuffed here by Emma who asks the very obvious question of where were the Avengers when all the mutant kids were being killed. It’s a creative way to make all the death and gloom relative to the larger picture in the universe and explain why a bus of kids getting blown up is given no attention by the other books.

 

Kyle and Yost are shown to be adept at teen drama and comedic relief when they take the time to do so, but the main cast is pushed aside for the Civil War tie-in. The big picture here is clear: they are whittling down the cast through death and mayhem to create a core group of characters that had previously hated each other but through hardship comes together as a team naturally. You can see signs of the kid’s bonding as they all gather around X-23 as she uses her advanced hearing to eavesdrop on the X-Men talking with Ms. Marvel and Iron Man. I can’t argue with the concept of team building organically, but the sheer quantity of characters killed has become daunting.

 

The only real complaint with the character’s actions is the portrayal of Colonel Reyes as almost anti-mutant here. The O.N.E. are some of the most inconsistent characters across the X-Books. Considering they have become a semi-permanent fixture of the X-Books, you’d expect the editors to better coordinate their attitudes and personalities. It’s a small nitpick for what is otherwise turning out to be a wonderfully creative series. I can’t say I saw the need for the change in tone, but at least Kyle and Yost are making it work.

The book ends with Nimrod going to Forge, FINALLY showing the reason for his countless page cameo’s off in Dallas. Nimrod too is given a creative means of persuading Forge to do his bidding. And it drags this book into the upcoming Storm and Black Panther marriage—as if this book needed more comic creators to ignore the continuity going on here. It looks like the task of showing Forge’s (true) feelings about the marriage is up to Kyle and Yost in the New X-Men, of all places.

 

Rating - 6