(link to original review page)

At Times Flawed, At Times Exciting

After the Sentinels Saga, a story arc that was a great idea that dragged on too long, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby bounce back with this issue. With Beast and Iceman recovering from their injuries in a hospital, one of the X-Men's old foes decides to strike!

The issue does have a few notable editorial blunders. In the very same panel that Professor Xavier mentally tells Beast not to reveal his true identity, he calls him 'McCoy' out loud in front of an attending physician. Later Professor X and Cyclops rush back to Xavier's School - a trip that takes them an hour by speeding car - but later, Beast and Marvel Girl make the same trip by "leaping, climbing and teleporting" (teleporting?) in much less time. I suppose they could have done this by teleporting if they really had a means of doing so - but this must be a goof as Jean is shown levitating by telekinesis, not teleporting.

The villain also seems to be able to install a lot of traps in the mansion in a pretty short amount of time - something that really stretches credibility.

But on the upside we have some of the best Jack Kirby art we've seen in the X-Men in many an issue. Keeping the villain's identity a secret for most of the issue also really helps to move the story along at a fast pace; and putting the parents of one of the X-Men in danger makes a good threat we haven't seen used in The X-Men yet.

This title is clearly getting better - it's just not completely there yet.