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Catch Up With Other X-Men

X-Men: Manifest Destiny contains different stories on different mutants.  As much as I may not want another X-title, this seems necessary.  There are simply too many good characters that don't get the spotlight due to other ongoing stories.  If certain characters aren't presently on one of the team, they get shuffled off to comic book limbo.  In some cases that's fine but there are other characters that most of us would like to see again.

There are three 8-page stories.  First off is the return of Iceman.  Finally.  We haven't seen him since Messiah Complex.  Iceman's story will continue throughout the series.  What's great is we also see the return of Opal Tanaka, Iceman's on-again, off-again girlfriend.  I thought it was a nice touch to bring her back in.  Question is, how long will she be around this time?   It's cool (no pun intended) to see some focus on Iceman.  He deserves it.

The second story is a self-contained one featuring Meltdown or Boom-Boom (she's not sure which name she wants to use).  With her, I'm surprised she hasn't been seen much lately.  She was around a bit in X-Force and such but hasn't really been seen too often.  She's never been one of my favorite characters but writer James Asmus does a good job capturing who she is.

The third self-contained story features Karma.  She is a complex character and I think readers and writers often forget that.

I do think this mini-series is showing promise.  Like I said, I'm not crazy about another title to pick up but it is important since there are so many good characters that deserve to have their stories told.  Trying to shove them into a regular book wouldn't work and they may not need an actually mini-series of their own.  Another great thing in this issue is (finally) someone shows some mourning over the loss of Kitty Pryde.

Here's a preview for each story courtesy of Marvel:

Witness the biggest shake-up in X-Men history. With the mansion in Westchester destroyed, the X-Men are moving to San Francisco. But it's not just a change in the zip code. Come see what the momentous change in status quo means to the X-Men. In every issue of MANIFEST DESTINY Mike Carey (X-MEN, ENDANGERED SPECIES) brings you an installment of a story featuring one the first X-Men--Iceman. Also in this first issue are stories by C.B. Cebulski (X-MEN:DIVIDED WE STAND, LONERS) and Skottie Young (X-MEN:DIVIDED WE STAND, NEW X-MEN).