And So It Begins...
It took 4 prelude issues, 3 main issues and a tie-in, but its finally happened! The Schism has begun and with a vengeance! While my reviews are usually about the good the bad and the mutated ugly, this time there wasn't a whole lot of bad. I mean I have a few questionable thought about how they are going about this whole Schism thing, but there were no blatant epic fails in this one.
The Bad: One Word. Sentinels. There's something about giant killer robots that, to me, just get dull and played out. It doesn't help that everytime there's a new incarnation of the X-men in the last 15 years the primary adversaries are these killing machines (for example X-men the Animated Series and Ultimate X-men both opened up with battles against the Sentinels. They have tried for years to update and reinvigorate the metal monsters but when push comes to shove they are still just giant killer robots to me.
And Oya. What the hell are they doing to poor little Idie!? First of all let's not forget that she is supposed to be the youngest member of Generation Hope and suddenly (after killing 10 people) shes looking awfully tall and awfully developed for a young girl of 13 (and much more so then she seemed in the previous issues. Oh and did I mention THAT SHE KILLED 10 PEOPLE. What the hell was Cyclops thinking??? I am guessing that this will explain why she appears on Wolverine's side of the ReGenesis teaser pictures while the rest of Generation Hope is on Cyclops' side.
The Good: Now on the other hand, I DO think that the idea of all the international Sentinels forming together to make the big Mega-Sentinel was pretty innovative. The Sentinels were always supposed to represent humanity weapon against the mutants (as opposed to their other foes who were primarily other mutants) so by having the Sentinels of each country form into one large robot is the embodiment of the X-men vs the World. Classic, nice job Jason Arron.
And the most poignant, amazing moment in this issue: "She never loved you, you know. You always frightened her." That was something that Scott has wanted to say for years, and he is lucky that Wolverine didn't land the first punch and take his head off. And then it happened. With a bomb between them and a few sly jabs regarding Jean Grey, the battle royale of the decade began! Now admittedly, the 5 pages of fighting we were treated to were relatively tame, having only a handful of blows and skilled moves, but with Mega-Sentinel looming over them, blaster ready, and the two iconic X-men at each others throats (almost literally) the final issue of this landmark series promises to be amazing!
Final Result: The series took forever to happen, and was slow in starting, but I think that we are in for quite a ride in the final issue as we lead into X-men: ReGenesis. I am really glad we are seeing not just the dissolution of Cyclops and Wolverine's relationship but also how the pressure of the impending split is affecting other members (especially the Generation Hope group). I'm honestly less interested in the giant looming Sentinel about to blast them and more in watching this legendary battle so here's hoping that they blast it away in the first few pages and spend the rest of the last issue beating the snot out of each other.
