It's a dark, dark world.
Once again, it's another week and another issue of Adjectiveless X-Men written by the wonderful Brian Wood and illustrated by the splendid David Lopez, though, this time Roland Boschi took the art duties, and although he doesn't quite match up to Lopez, he did an extremely good job.
First couple of pages see the sample being passed about between dealers until it reaches some sort of cult...freaky much ?
Following from Blank Generation, we're greeted by Scott telling Storm off for not letting him know about the PM (Proto-Mutant) samples. Sabra guest stars again which should appeal to the fans of the character that she's more or less a supporting character of this series, and lets the team know of just what has happened to the samples that was stolen from Dr. Hunter and the Mutantes Sans Frontier. As shown on that gorgeous cover, Domino, Psylocke and Pixie take to the skies upon getting the coordinates, but Pixie, being the novice of the team, is needed to come back to base. So, like Psylocke described it, the Security Team for that particular mission consisted of "just Neena and Betsy", and it all gets darker from there.
This issue flows along the lines of paranormal intrigue and downright insane. We're dealing with The Heavenly Path, as discovered by Domino who admits to spending too much time on the net, who are lead by a bigot attempting to "perfect" the human race, by any means necassary. It also looks like Domino's "luck" ability isn't lost, she gives it a nice "chucky" explanation to a member of the cult before she goes off looking for Betsy. All in all, this was a great issue. It was a little disconcerting to not see David Lopez on art duties, and i won't lie, Boschi is not the best of artists but he did a good job this time around and it fit the story, some panels do a little dysfunctional but that doesn't exactly detract from the spot-on Domino/Betsy banter we get through the issue, it's nice, they're both well-known X-Characters and their paths have had them to somehow not be on the same teams, last issue i got a sisterly feel from them, a twin-sisterly feel, both have the sort of personality trait that would compliment the other in missions such as these, Psylocke being the more opinionated and serious one, while Domino likes to joke about but knows when to be ruthless if needed.
The Good
A lot of things. First of all, it was good to see the Cyclops/Storm conversation be brought to light, he's obviously not happy about the way she's been handling things. This issue also connotes that Storm's got her eye on Colossus, though, they're not exactly highlighted, which is nice, as it's good to see the spot-light on other members for a change, something that Wood handles perfectly. I loved Domino's definition of "luck", to say the least. The pairing of Domino and Psylocke was also spot-on, would of liked if Pixie stayed, but, eh, we'll probably see more of her next issue. The art somewhat fit the style of the issue, but i'll further that "somewhat" in the next section. Pacing was brill', i like that Psylocke is taking the lead in yet another action X-title, she's a great character. Oh, and, SABRA appears again!
The Bad
Nothing, really. Other than the art, like i made clear above, not having Lopez here underwhelmed me a bit as he helped forge this title into the critically acclaimed bestseller that i believe it to be. Also, i think it's the fact that i'm now addicted to the Colossus/Storm conflict/argument/make-up thing, so i didn't like they only appeared in the first pages focusing on the team. Still, all is good.
Then again, i had to give the issue a four because of the art.
Verdict
Overall it was a well-written issue with glitches of the artistic calibre. Wood is now proceeding into the second arc of his more than memorable arc on X-Men and he's doing wonders month in and month out, it needs to continue, come what may. 4/5.
Pick. It. Up.
