The Good
One of the great things about the Secret Wars tie in books is the chance to revisit past storylines and versions of characters. From what I recall, I didn't absolutely love the original Inferno arc. What really intrigued me about this was the premise of this particular story.
Veering off from the original story, things didn't end in quite the same way. The demons actually won and Illyana Rasputin has been a prisoner of theirs for four years. Where Dennis Hopeless brings us in is a group of X-Men, consisting of Colossus, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Boom-Boom, Nightcrawler, Beast, and Psylocke are making their yearly attempt to try to rescue Illyana. There's something about seeing the X-Men on a more focused mission like this. You can feel there is more at stake and seeing a determined Colossus able to let go against the demons after trying to contain his anger throughout the year. And, as you would hope or expect, there are casualties. If the stakes are indeed higher than normal and this has been going on for four years, it shouldn't be a walk in the park for them.
Javier Garron does a good job capturing the despair of the transformed Manhattan. While I didn't really care for the design of the demon N'astirh, he and the others look as they were originally designed.
On a side note, it was really interesting reading this story with these X-Men right after reading the X-MEN 92 Infinite Comic.
The Bad
Perhaps it'll be explained but the idea of Colossus and a team of X-Men attempting to rescue his sister every year on the anniversary of her abduction bothered me. It could be possible that the demons may not pay attention or use the same human calendar to mark the passing of time, but you would think it'd be a bit of a giveaway after four failed attempts.
We do see some other X-Men but it kind of felt as if their numbers weren't as vast as they could be. If all of Manhattan had been overtaken by the demons, maybe more X-Men would be on hand to try to stop them?
The Verdict
The Secret Wars series are giving us a chance to revisit past story arcs and different versions of characters. We've seen some books continue with the main feel while others have taken a deep departure. Dennis Hopeless shows us a part of Battleworld where the X-Men were forced to retreat during their battle against the demons. Jumping to four years later, we get to see how they've changed and what their mission is. Javier Garron does a fine job capturing the atmosphere of the transformed city. As the action starts to heat up, we get a pretty interesting cliffhanger that will make you want to come back for the next issue. Things might be bad for the X-Men but it's good for those that want an intriguing story.
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