The Good
The X-Men find themselves in a pocket dimension with Rick Jones. The Gah Lak Tus swarm is after them. Will they escape?
Rick Jones is back! I seriously love what writer Joshua Fialkov is doing with this character. He's a bit immature and doesn't take any of this too seriously, probably because he has an immense amount of power, and in the opening of the issue, he thought he got rid of Galactus. The whole issue opens up with Rick asking if anyone brought burgers with them. He's a bit of a laugh, especially later on when he becomes a bit smitten with one of the X-Men. He's by far the best part of this issue.
I really like the choice of characters for this book. For the most part, minus Beak, all these character's powers come in handy and they all play off each other very well in this crisis. Mach 2, Amp, and Pixie are the real stand outs in this issue. It's nice to see all these characters working together and becoming a team again after over a year of in-fighting, as Mach 2 was trying to take over the X-Men. For me, I've always been a Strong Guy fan (I have no clue why), and he's a great character to have on this team, since there are some bots that need smashing throughout the issue.
On the art side of things, I'm really enjoying what colorist Jordie Bellaire does with her colors here. It's most flat colors, with a bit of shading here and there, and it really gives this book a cool, definitive style. I especially love what she does with the lighting in close-up shots. She really nails it on this issue.
The Bad
While Alraro Martinez provides some solid art throughout the issue, there's quite a few moments where it looks awkward. Faces at a certain angle look pretty weird because it looks like there's no depth on the faces. Bellaire's colors do their best to help, but it's not enough.
As far as the story goes, this issue doesn't move forward too much. It's really a whole "on the run" issue. It's not bad at all, but I keep asking myself "how will this tie-in with everything else, aside from the swarm?"
The Verdict
Overall, this is a pretty good issue. I'm really enjoying what's going on here, even though this particular issue didn't move forward too much. The team dynamic is kicked up a notch and they're really work well together here. Fialkov has these guys working like a unit, which is really the first time we've all seen the X-Men get along in over a year. This is probably the weakest of the Cataclysm issues, but it's still easily a fun read. I highly recommend this issue.
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