The Set-Up
On its own, this issue isn't very special. Domino is still stalled when it comes to finding X-Force. She's supposedly been at this since issue 15. Ten months and a major story arc later, she's still no closer to fulfilling her promise to Cable. When viewed as one long arc, however, the Domino story is paced as it should be. With Cable returning to the series soon, it makes sense that she's taken so long to find the team. She should find them when Cable is actually around. Until that happens, we are strung along.
Some people may be happy to see Rusty and Skids back in the same pages as their New Mutants friends. Sadly, they are still brain-washed and there isn't much by way of a happy reunion. Bummer. As a matter of fact, the fight to free the two is so one-sided that it really ends the issue on a very low note. If this were the first issue I'd ever read I'd think that X-Force was too strong and didn't have much competition by way of enemies. We know this isn't the case, but the fight against humans was very anti-climatic.
Finally, not only was the fight too easy, but Cannonball really drags down the issue with his final thoughts of human and mutant relations. Having read this issue in the past, I recall thinking that it seemed like a lot of talk about X-Men philosophy. It didn't feel like it really went anywhere. Now knowing what comes up, the speech at the end makes perfect sense. The "where do mutants go if Earth is too small for mutants and humans" is the theme of the Fatal Attractions arc. Sadly, Nicieza isn't able to tie these two together very well, as the reader forgets this forgettable dialogue of Cannonball with Boomer while the arc is read.
All in all, the issue falls flat on its own but it does act as a workable set-up issue for the next events. Sometimes filler is good. Sometimes filler is bad. This issue is in the middle.