The X-Men's plans to stop the Juggernaut are enacted with little success; how far is one mutant willing to go in order to match power with a demi-god?
The Good
Oh, man, do I have good things to say about this issue.
The past few issues of Uncanny X-Men have been setting up this idea that while the X-Men are facing the "Unstoppable" Juggernaut, they have a number of contingencies in place to try if their initial assault fails. Cyclops oh-so-eloquently states something to the effect that the reason they don't have a plan "B" is because they have more than 26 in total.
In this issue, we get to see these plans in action, montage-style. Since each "plan" happens in the span of one panel (narrated by a caption), it gave off the feel of a sequence in a comedy where, try as they may, the characters just can't find something that works.
"Serious" plans (like teleporting him to the sun) contrast with more over-the-top ideas (like Magneto throwing an aircraft carrier at him) and provide a little bit of light-heartedness to the whole thing. Seeing a Juggernaut whose blood has been immolated (and in turn makes everything he touches burst into flame) actually made me laugh out loud. It was a great "Crap! Crap! Crap! Abort!" moment.
I always enjoy seeing "old" mutants back in action, so seeing Avalanche lace up the boots again really made me smile. He also filled in a tricky bingo square, so woo! Also, Adam X The X-Treme makes an appearance: this may trigger nostalgia or revulsion.
Seeing Colossus' new "role" is interesting, but I know it'll be impermanent. I'm looking forward to the next issue greatly.
The Bad
I've never been a big fan of Greg land's art, and I have to continue my criticism that his art of certain characters (Illyana in particular) is horribly off-character. She looks more like a porn star/model than the (semi) sweet Russian girl I have come to be annoyed by.
I wish they would stop dancing around the "What is Emma going to do about her visions of Phoenix?" story-line and just take it somewhere. She's been getting two-three pages an issue to dither about, and it's getting a bit droning.
Colossus is slowly going turning from my favourite mutant to one that annoys me with each appearance. Whenever he is tied to Illyana, he turns into a whimpering, impotent, over-protective baby; this isn't the big galoot I know and love. Bring him back to Astonishing X-Men levels (sensitive, but bad-ass) and we'll talk.
The Verdict
I can really sum this up as a great issue, and it was set up amazingly in previous books. It's building up to something big, and with Fear Itself winding down, I look forward to see the X-Men's conflict tie up, as well. This has genuinely been one of the most entertaining tie-ins I've seen to the crossover. It would receieve a rare five stars from me if the art weren't a little tiring to look at. Buy it anyway.
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