The Good
Doctor Nemesis being called a "Science Bastard" and calling Cyclops "[Geordi] LaForge" definitely made me warm up to him. Also, Cyclops taking potshots at Wolverine's school reminds us of what exactly is going on in the"crossover". Creative use of captioning here kept this from being too overbearing.
If I could characterize Doctor Nemesis, it would be to say that he's Warren Ellis in comic form: blunt, sarcastic, egotistical and capable of backing up every word. I look forward to his role in this story, and the miniseries as a whole. To be honest, the X-Club seems pretty neutral in the whole East vs. West conflict, and I'm happy about that: I don't think intellectuals like them would succumb to problems based on ethics.
The Bad
However, besides that, we don't really get a clear picture of the rest of the team. Doctor Rao is kind of a chump, Madison... kind of builds things? Danger gets predictably corrupted, and gives us the major antagonist of the story. Readers who are coming into the X-Club without an intimate knowledge of the characters are going to be left wanting.
Union Jack being a horrible British stereotype ("Chap! By jove!") was hokey and unneeded. I know it was just a flashback, but man, I'd like to think we've moved beyond that.
While Cyclops is the face of the West Coast X-Men, his involvement in this book just prompted a series of cringes from me. Having him mug for the camera just seemed to undermine his stature as a war-weary leader, and he takes away attention from the supposed main characters of the book. I picked up this book because I wanted to see science, dammit.
Warpath pulling a Worf and getting smacked around by the new evil Danger is a bad continuation of a tired trope and didn't need to happen. Her speech afterward would have been much more poignant if she inspired fear through it alone, not with physical violence.
The Verdict
This book started out alright, but as the pages turned I felt more and more pessimistic about its ability to entertain in the long run. The characters and conflict weren't very well established, and their simple roles don't make me want to pick up this book any further. While it's note a horrible book by any means, it will need to go into major "science mode" in order to salvage any good impression.
I wanted to read this book to see something different: smart people solving smart problems. Instead, I got a lot of what I've been reading already: plot hooks that leave you just as clueless as when you started, and a narrative fails to live up to the ambition of the series' pitch.
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