The standard X-Men title is coming to a close this week before it’s relaunch on the all female X-Men comic in the Marvel NOW! campaign. So with an ongoing storyline, were they able to wrap up the current plotline? Did they do a good tribute to the series in general? How did the final issue of X-Men end up? Read on to find out my thoughts!
Previously on X-Men it went from being Cyclops’ main team which slowly turned into his security team (aka a less violent and more covert version of X-Force) to a Domino/Daredevil crossover and the last 2 issues were the current team of Angel, Chamber, Iceman, Pixie, and Storm attempting to keep a new mutant safe.
What it boils down to is the continuity of an actual team on this run has been abysmal at best and aside from a couple 7 issue runs they have not been able to have the same team together. Clearly this is a failing concept that has gone so bad that even Marvel agrees! (We all know the re-launch is really to just go with the new NOW story arc but it sounded good.)
Most recently as I was saying the team has been trying to keep a new mutant safe though. A young man was out with his girlfriend when all of a sudden his mutant power manifests. It’s one of those powers that just do not go over well as he accidentally kills a ton of civilians while destroying a lot of property.
Understandably no one is quite happy with him at this point.
Storm’s group of the X-Men shows up to attempt to take him to safety, both his, the military’s and the general populace’s. While they are able to take him into a controlled area, we’re given a cutscene showing off a black ops US special forces team that has been engineered to deal with mutants and super powers alike.
They are here to take the young man in. After what looks like a fight that will end in a stalemate he finally comes to and speaks out. He didn’t want any of this to happen. He wants to atone for what he has done and be able to help the United States government. As he goes off with the special forces team and we see Storm offer him a place at the mutant table at any point he chooses. We also see who is funding the special forces team and as it looks to be the Hellfire Club. I can guarantee this mutant will be back and not in a good way.
So that was it. That was how the X-Men series closed on issue 41. The only true tribute I can say worked for this was the great image that was used on the cover. Past that it felt like what it was. The end of a two issue story that had no major events go on. No explanation why the team would be reforming in this issue. No pop.
It’s a bad week for X fans.
Writer: Seth Peck
Cover Artist: Adam Kubert
