This series has had a lot of highs and lows and is the first title leading up to the X-Termination crossover that will be ending this series that actually felt like it fit.
It’s a cross over event ending the multiverse with on hint at Nightcrawler being the one causing it all to end. In fact, it looks more like the evil Xavier’s having joined are going to be the end of things as we know it. We never knew how that was going to happen but after we see them drawing power through a nexus of realities in Egypt. We start to get a clue when the Sphinx has an Xavier head and there are slaves being sacrificed by what look to be actual Egyptian deities.
I do have to say for an Egyptian world they do an amazing job at rendering it all. I used to be a huge fan of Stargate so the entire thought of sand, pyramids, Egyptian Gods, etc sits well with me and visually they manage to pack it all in nicely.
The sacrifices are to beings of power. They are sharing their power with the mad Xaviers’ for the lives they are being fed though to what end we are left unsure. All I know is that when they walk through the portal near the end they kind of reminded me of Celestial outlines.
This is the issue in the series that finally shows Dazzler having come to terms with the situation to where she will do ‘whatever it takes’ to get the job done. It’s a clear turning point and we’ve seen a lot of evolution in a character who has long been a fan favorite and just as long has been underused. She’s come into her own in a way that she is now willing to take a life though she is thankfully still not willing to needlessly sacrifice one.
Thankfully that time of under-use is over and hopefully she won’t be a casualty of X-Termination because I’d hate to see Alison finally getting the time she deserves in print only to die. They already killed off her alternate self they don’t need to kill off the one from the 616 universe as well.
It’s clear that Nightcrawler wanting to enter the age of Apocalypse again is what is going to set a lot of things in motion though what has happened here makes it look like he may not be the true enemy that the X-men will be facing in this crossover event.
On the flip side he might be either what has summoned them or the one that ends up loosening them upon the world(s). The pieces are all finally on the board and the crossover is coming. I have a feeling this is leading up to a very bittersweet crossover that’ll end with the death or two of some of the characters covered by this series and Age of Apocalypse.
Writer: Greg Pak
