After the extremely weak Generation Hope trade, I was considering dropping the X-books and only getting Uncanny from the library. Fortunately, the average nature of that story is cleansed pretty quickly with this fun, self-contained arc. Plenty of action, an odd new team, and a timely idea make this a strong bounce-back for Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen.
With all the flu-fears of the last couple years, having a mutant-only virus is a great idea, especially with so much of the Marvel mutant population all living on the same island. I don’t often consider how miserable it would be packed onto the island like that, but it really would get old. I can’t imagine each X-person gets more than a small apartment right? In those conditions, every single mutant on the island quickly gets sick. (Seeing Wolverine and Namor get sick is funny and spooky at the same time.)
But that widespread illness gives the creators a chance to put together a great new lineup for the “new” X-Men. Just cause most of the X-Men need a sick day doesn’t mean that their villains will give them the day off. The Collective Man shows up in a story that Wolverine really should have dealt with, but unfortunately, he has to call in sick. Leave it to the substitute team of Angel, Storm, Northstar, Dazzler, and Pixie, to clean up the mess. What a great, unique team! It really shows the potential of mixing and matching these characters. The subs do a nice job against Lobe and the Sublime Corps’ intriguing mutant gene-drug, too.
I hate to say I’m happy to see Greg Land’s pr0n-inspird work, but after Whilce Portacio’s sketchy art in the last trade, it’s nice seeing the art looking tighter. I do like the design on the fake X-Men, their costumes are all similar to the original X-Men, but different enough to have a nice modern spin. Lobe seems pretty happy too, it’s rare to see a villain relishing his role, but Land’s art really makes him seem like a content guy!
Good
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