The X-Men have a PR problem and its name is Magneto. Magneto’s being on the island is a disaster
waiting to happen. So Kate Kildare, PR
extraordinaire, comes to the rescue. She
has a great talk with Magneto, trying to get him from wanting the humans to
fear and hate him to just fearing and not hating him. Which is a problem, considering everything he
has done. Meanwhile, the X-Men are going
after som former AIM agents who are able to predict in-coming earthquakes, but
pretend to the ones causing it. When an
earthquake threatens to destroy San Francisco, Magneto rises to the occasion
and saves the city.
Shortly after this, SWORD calls the X-Men in to help them
when a warship full of Breakworlders arrive.
In turns out, after the X-Men’s last adventure there, the whole world
went into chaos. Kuurn is back with
refugees seeking asylum on Earth. The X-Men let them stay on Utopia with
SWORD’s blessing. However, Kuurn is
after revenge and proceeds to attack certain X-Men, including Kitty. He evens uses “Hope” on them (though the
effects don’t last? Not explained). Eventually, Kuurn’s girlfriend uses magic to
turn Kitty solid again and Kuurn is eventually defeated and learns a
lesson. The Breakworlders migrate to a
rough part of San Francisco (?!) and live there.
After this adventure, Hope is captured by the Crimson
Commando. Wolverine goes after and saves
her. He reveals that the reason he’s
kept her arm slength is that everyone is convinced she could go Phoenix and
Wolverine is the only that can stop her.
She makes him promise he’ll be quick if he has to.
Overall, I liked this.
Kieron Gillan has a great voice for these characters and knows how to
write an entertaining yarn. The Magneto
and Hope/Wolverine stories are far better than the Breaking Point story. Breaking Point felt very messy and
convulted. So how did the X-Men get
their powers back? There’s a population
of aggressive aliens living in San Francisco, along with a fallen, bloodthirsty
ruler? What now?
Terry Dodson, Carlos Pacheco and Ibraim Roberson knock the
art outta the park, though. Each style
features each story well. Honestly, I
would have been happier if Gillian had done some shorter story stuff; single
issues, done-in-one stories. Oh well.
