Uncanny X-Periment # 166: Predators X

X-Men Legacy # 234, Uncanny X-Men # 520 – 522

Rogue takes the Cuckoos powers to help them look for the Phoenix, which had left them during the Utopia battle.  While she has this, she ends up doing the following: helps solves issues with Rockslide, loops Magneto’s attraction to her so much so that she kisses him, helps Indra, and projects her lustful thoughts of Remy to everyone.   In the end, they don’t find Phoenix.

Cyclops sends Wolverine, Psylocke, and Colossus to New York City to track down the Predator.  They find it – and Fantomex, who had been hired to kill it.  The X-Men trace it back to penthouse and fight some new villains, all of whom gained their powers from John Sublime.  The X-Men are nearly defeated, but Fantomex shows up and saves the day.

Meanwhile, after going behind Cyclops back and building a pillar with the Atlantians to support Utopia, Magneto is bound and determined to gain Scott’s trust.  To that end, he finds the bullet Kitty is riding and pulls it back to Earth.  He rips it open, brings Kitty out . . . but turns out she still phased.  And he goes into a coma.  It’s a victory, but a small one.

A small collection of comics, but good nonetheless.  Some good characters moments for Rogue and Magneto.  Fantomex kicked ass.  And hey, Kitty’s back.   For some reason, it doesn’t really impact me that much.  I don’t know why, but there’s just not a lot to it.

Greg Land still sucks.

Uncanny X-Periment # 165: Necrosha

New X-Men # 32, X-Force # 11, Necrosha: The Gathering, X-Necrosha # 1, X-Force # 21 – 25, New Mutants # 6-8, X-Men Legacy # 231-233

Selene gathers Wither, Blink, Senyaka, Mortis, Cypher, and Eli Bard for her final plan to rise up and become a god.  She raises an army of dead Mutants and has them attack Utopia.   If there’s a dead Mutant, they’re there, powered by Bard’s Techno-Organic Virus that he stole from Bastian.   The New Mutants manage to free Cypher from Selene’s influence and Rogue takes a team to Muir Island and they fight Proteus.

Selene raises an army of dead Mutants on Genosha, which she has renamed Necrosha.  She only needs the Soul Blade and sends her coven to retrieve it from Warpath.  Warpath is taken to Necrosha by Selene’s coven.  Thunderbird is there and explains how to defeat Selene, even though it means having to kill him.  Jimmy does and when X-Force arrives, things get serious.  Selene completes her ritual and rises to godhood, but Warpath stabs her with the Soul Blade and she dies. 

This is really and truly the reader’s digest version of things.   For that, I apologize.  There’s a lot of fun stuff here.   Seeing all of the old, dead Mutants is a blast.  It leaves a nice door open for some old favorites to return.  The art is stellar and there’s no real part of this that I didn’t like.

I’ve never been a Selene fan.  I’ve often found her an odd fit for the X-Men.  But here, we get a well-rounded look at her character and background.  The way her plans come together is well-realized and to finally see her dead, well, that made my day.

Uncanny X-Periment # 164: Nation X

Dark Reign – The List: X-Men, X-Men Legacy Annual 2009, X-Men Legacy # 228 – 230, Uncanny X-Men # 515 – 519

Norman Osborn has unleashed a mutated, animalistic, mindless version of Namor’s wife, Marrina upon the ocean as revenge.  It gobbles up some Atlanteans and Namor, without anyone else to turn to, goes to the X-Men for help.  They lure Marrina to Utopia, where Namor is forced to kill her.  Namor then shows just how far he’ll go to stop Norman should their paths cross again.

Afterwards, Emplate returns.  He attacks the X-Men, searching for Penance.  He doesn’t find her, but instead, finds Bling (aka Roxy) and determines that she similar enough to sup from.  He backs away, but then returns and captures her.   Trance figures out a way into Emplate’s realm, but Cyclops tells her ‘no’ and instead, Rogue takes her power and goes on a rescue mission.  Some madcap wild chases later and Rogue dumps Emplate off to some moon in his Nowhere dimension and then returns home with Bling.   She then accepts a job as mentor to the Young X-Men.

Cyclops then has to deal with the ramifications to having Utopia exist.  He approaches mayor, who explains that he has not yet committed any real crimes and he has her support.  About this same time, Doctor Takiguchi passes away and the X-Men cremate him.   Magneto, in his typical funeral-crashing manner, arrives and swears loyalty to Cyclops and praises him for uniting and saving Mutantkind.  Charles is skeptical and Beast doesn’t like it, but Scott agrees to let Magneto in.

A new group of weirdo’s calls up Scalphunter and has him deliver some five Predators to Utopia.  Namor, Magneto, and the X-Men manages to defeat all but one.  Scalphunter then turns himself and enters Danger’s new sim-prison.  As the X-Club tries to figure out how to keep Utopia from sinking, they discover that the Predators released nannites into the air.

Meanwhile, Professor X and Psylocke assist Cyclops in removing the Void from Emma.   However, by entering her mind, Scott accidently lets the Void into his mind.  Using techniques taught to him by Jean, he traps the Void in his own mind and walks away.  Emma and Scott are saved . . . just in time for Beast to tell them he’s quitting.

I enjoyed this batch more than others in recent memory and I’m glad it’s improved over time. I still don’t feel like Matt Fraction is the perfect match for the X-Men, but this is far and away, much better than “Sisterhood.”  Greg Land’s art is still pretty bad, Fraction has gotten better.   I like the arrival and inclusion of Magneto; he adds a lot to the team and brings along a great foil for Scott and the Professor.  But it bothered me that Professor X was so aggressive towards Magneto; it’s like Fraction never bothered to read “X-Men: Legacy.”

 I liked Beast’s giving up on Scott and the others.   It was kinda sad, but I remember reading this comic at that time and totally agreeing with Hank. 

The use of Marrina was actually fairly depressing.

I loved the return of Emplate.  He was one of those characters that has been on the sidelines for far too long.  We actually saw what happened to him at the end, too.   Nice to know he’s not just sleeping the Generation X basement anymore.

My biggest beef is actually the move itself.  We spent all that time moving the X-Men San Francisco and Graymalkin Industries . . . and then, “well, let’s just move them onto an island.”  Really.