Credits: Written by Peter David, pencilled by Jae Lee, inked by Al Milgrom and edited by Kelly Corvese.
Plot: For a quick second, Bishop, Cable and Wolverine face one another and then it all hits the fan. Meanwhile in Arkansas, a combined X-Men/X-Factor and X-Force team (Havok, Polaris, Quicksilver, Rogue, Storm, Psylocke, Gambit, Archangel, Iceman, Boom Boom and Cannonball) are looking for the Mutant Liberation Front. Their genius plan is to go to each of the suspected towns and ask for the MLF, on the ninth town, they are faced with both the human foot soldiers and the powered members of the MLF. With the enemy out in the open, the X-group attack.
Elsewhere in Cable’s swiss safehouse, Apocalypse looks around. He recognises most of the technology as familiar to him or derived from technology as familiar. He wonders if one of the members of X-Factor is Cable, Back at Dept H, Cable, Bishop and Wolverine continue to brawl. In some unknown area Cyclops is in a dark room and blasting around it with his optic blasts, when the lights come on, he sees Jean injured on the floor along with many children. As he takes a second with the guilt of it all, Stryfe uses some device to knock him out, berate him for sometimes operating in the dark and hurting people and then asks if this bothers him.
Back at the MLF base, Archangel is trying to get rid of Forearm when he turns, not seeing another MLF member called Kamikaze flying right at him. Kamikaze flies into the razor sharp wings on Archangel’s back and his head is severed completely from his body, landing next to a disgusted Boom Boom. Archangel is also stunned by this turn of events. Back at Dept H, Cable realises that he’s unable to either beat both Bishop and Wolverine, or escape them, so changes tactics and surrenders. Wolverine isn’t 100% that Cable is guilty, so even when given the chance, doesn’t strike a killing blow. At the hospital, one of Multiple Man’s dupes is knocked out and several refugees from Genosha leave.
Back to the fight and Quicksilver is running back and forth dealing with Tempo, who slows him down before she is stunned by Gambit and Psylocke. When Gambit is himself felled by Wildside, Quicksilver enjoys putting Wildside on the ground, taking a second to gloat. That second is all it takes for Reaper to slice open his calf muscles and he prepares to use his scythe to take Quicksilver’s head.
Notes: One of the things that story does it bring in all of the disparate mutant factions of the time, Stryfe and the MLF, Sinister, Apocalypse, his Horsemen and Dark Riders, X-Force, X-Men and X-Factor. All of them get their own moments and their own stories, but the one group that feels out of place here is the MLF who were only ever pawns of Stryfe and his own personal agenda and without him become easily disposable antagonists to add some action to this story. That said, it was good action. It was fun and well paced, giving time to each of the running plotlines.
Verdict: Writing 3 out of 5: Solid writing, but not as good as you would normally get from Peter David, although there are plenty of one-liners and comedy moments in there. The idea that the 9th town was the success gives you the idea that they did the whole overt looking for the MLF in 8 other towns, which sounds awkwardly funny.
Art: 4 out of 5 – This was a better outing for Jae Lee, the action suits his style more than standing around moments and so we got a lot more of that. It’s still not my cup of tea, but I’ll be honest, I saw the quality here a lot more than I saw it before.
Overall: 7 out of 10 – We’re at the halfway point and I’m enjoying this a lot more than I was halfway through the Age of Apocalypse. I’m seeing that the ending has a lot more to do with the Scott and Jean stuff that the Charles stuff and can’t wait to see what’s next.
Next Time: More New Warriors
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