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I enjoyed the issue. I do agree that a lot of stuff was introduced and nothing happened (except for the Magneto/High Evolutionary bit) but it seems like some interesting things are coming up. I'd be hesitant to recommend it but in the end I would just because it has potential.

Just a thought I had when I heard the new X-Men status quo...

Oppressed group, acceptance, San Francisco... Northstar?

It's great to see a situation where these characters may be able to live a life, but please, PLEASE let have a Northstar that doesn't act snarky, like he's putting up a protective wall against the world. We could actually see him have a relationship with someone, rather than be portrayed as alone.

It's good to see a new approach - real life is opposing fewer things nowadays...

From the review, it sounds downright Claremontian.

Thanks Brian. After the review on the front page, I was about to swear off CBR forever.

If I had any faith in Marvel Editorial a number of my problems wouldn't be there. But as history has shown that it's more likely that Brubaker's star power lets him ignore what's happening elsewhere, rather than setting up things for future exploration.

Such as:

The Blob. A month or so prior to this story, he was a mass of suicidal flesh who was part of a terrorist group in X-Factor.

Magneto. Boy he swallowed a whole bunch of crazy between his pretty rational style in X-Men Legacy just a bit ago.

Cannonball...isn't he busy doing something un-X-men like over in Young X-Men?

Speaking of which....We have Hellfire plots going in YXM *and* XML...yet we're supposed to be..surprised? of one showing up here now?

Didn't the X-Men just do the whole "Every mutant in the world can come to us for sanctuary" thing? Shouldn't someone..Wolverine maybe? mention that that didn't turn out so well?

(I have a problem with the story logic of someone getting "decommissioned Sentinels" as it breaks Disbelief...they're either weapons of a supervillain, in which case the Government would confiscate them, or they're Government tech, in which case anything functional wouldn't be handed out. When the Government "decomissions" battleships, they scuttle them, take out all the tech, and drop them into the ocean to form artificial reefs. But in the world of SHRA, they just hand out giant robots with weapon systems? You'd think Tony Stark, at least, would be concerned about such things. This is a continuity problem like the others but a "The world doesn't work this way" problem)

Why is Angel going on about how he can walk around with his wings out? How long ago was it that he hid his wings? Angel is a very public figure...a rich pretty playboy super hero. Shouldn't that whole scene have gone to, I dunno, Nightcrawler? (Who himself long ago decided not to hide who he is?).

On the story structure itself...X-Men just randomly appear in the story when they're needed. "Hey, we need someone teleported at this point." So Nightcrawler suddenly shows up in the story. It might have been intended to give a feel of the X-Men "gathering" but it felt more like just sloppy storytelling.

One final story issue...the new "Headquarters". Brubaker said that he thought it made no sense to keep rebuilding the school when everyone knows where the X-men are....so their "new secret base" is a large complex on the northside of the bay, that according to mapquest you get to by going across the Golden Gate Bridge...It supposedly overlooks the bay, so it really can't be that hidden. I mean, sure, all the workmen floating around can be trusted not to reveal the location (They're likely holo-workmen, which would explain why they were photoshoped in to the picture). But then they send a telepathic message to every mutant out there to come join them. So...Those, y'know Evil Mutants..who are the ones constantly blowing up the school they left cuz people knew where it was. Even ignoring X-Villains, I'm sure someone like Whirlwind might find some use for that knowledge, what with him being a member of the Masters of Evil.

But let's move away from the story and look at the "art"
I won't even talk about Land's cut and paste of porn models rather than drawing..that's passe. But the standard to aspire to is to have your backgrounds be photos you steal and run thru the Photoshop hi-pass filter a bit? And shouldn't in a scene where the writing says how they've shown all the parts of the new headquaters, they should...you know, show the new headquarters rather than an empty room with generic workmen? A third of a page is taken up with some guy in a baseball hat!!!

And if there's a story point, where a character talks about how great the view is....shouldn't, I don't know...YOU SHOW THE VIEW RATHER THAN THE WINDOW THEY'RE LOOKING OUT OF?!?

Why would Magneto start a fight with the x-men anyway. Wouldnt it be easier to just to tell them that Mags found a possible cure, but needs to get information from the celetial. Heck why even let them know..just sneak in and grab it. Also didnt the High Evolutionary already blow off Beast when he was looking for help

I agree with both Rob and Scavenger - this story made very little sense. Characters appeared and disappeared willy-nilly, with Nightcrawler appearing only to be punched (since when can magneto predict where Kurt is going to appear?) and then disappearing again, Cannonball appearing to clobber Magneto and then promptly vanishing, Magneto using Sentinels after having survived the destruction of Genosha by Sentinels (what's next, Magneto allying himself with Nazis?)... it was a confusing, jumbled mess.

I also raised an eyebrow at the notion that Magneto's gimmick made him MORE powerful than before. Huh, "before" he was able to manipulate the Earth's magnetic fields!! And now he gets utterly trashed by freakin' Cannonball?!?

And can somebody explain how Angel singlehandedly dismantled a Sentinel? Since when is Warren THAT competent/efficient?

I hope this will get better on later issues, because this issue was a huge disappointment.

Argh, I really screwed up with the italics on my previous post. Sorry bout that.

I used to love the X-Men, but I haven't read anything except Astonishing in years and I just dropped UXM. Brubaker's ceaseless dumping on Daredevil, following Bendis' ceaseless nutpunching of DD, drove me off that book. But I love "Criminal," so maaaybe I'll give this book a chance. Maybe. Probably not. But maybe.

Aside from one or two niggles, I rather liked it. It certainly had a Clairmontian vibe to it. It was nice to see all surviving "All New" X-Men together again, and the fact that Brubaker/Fraction seem happy to allow the characters to smile occasionally is also a welcome development. Unremitting misery tends to get a bit tiring after a while. It was also good to see Mags getting back into the supervillainy game: nothing like a good old-fashioned supervillain team-up. I'd give it a B+

I'd give this issue a B-. Still, it does haver a bit of promise for the future, so I'm willing to see where this is all going. A lot of the criticisms mentioned above do hold (yeah, given what happened in Genosha, Magneto using Sentinels does seem a bit strange), and it does knock the issue down a bit. And here's hoping the X-office gets it's act together, as I'm trying to figure out where this issue fits in with Young X-men and the recent issue of X-force (haven't read it yet, but from what I've heard and read, it does affect Warren quite a bit).

Still, between this and Astonishing, it does seem like the books at least have *some* sort of direction now...

Compared to X-Men #200, this issue was dismal. Comparisons aside, this issue was just profoundly uninteresting on every level for me. The story felt completely out of step with the tone of AXM, Legacy, or X-Force, and the plotting seemed generally lazy for most of it. Then again, Land's art was so absolutely atrocious that it killed whatever few positives this issue had going for it and whatever affection I had for the title from Brubaker's previous arc with Choi.

None of the plot threads Brubaker and Fraction introduced in this issue were remotely compelling for me, especially not enough to put up with art this bad. Maybe I'll check out the next arc once Dodson comes on board, but for now, I'll stick to Legacy, X-Force and Astonishing for my monthly mutant fix.

If I may make a suggestion, I'd add X-factor to your list, Dave. It's consistently one of the best X-books each month, and certainly the one I've been enjoying the most for a while now.

wwk5d, I have also enjoyed X-Factor a lot since the reboot... but I've really liked it a lot less since Messiah Complex. Maybe it's the lack of Rahne and Layla, or maybe it's something else. The horrid art in last week's issue (#33, I believe) certainly didn't help. I'm still on board for now, but my enthusiasm has waned.

And if there’s a story point, where a character talks about how great the view is….shouldn’t, I don’t know…YOU SHOW THE VIEW RATHER THAN THE WINDOW THEY’RE LOOKING OUT OF?!?

Agreed. I really expected a splash page or something to show off the view when it was mentioned. Didn't cause any sort of ALL-CAPS rage or anything, but it was surprising.

I want more info on The Blob as well. He sure did get rid of all that excess skin in a hurry. I'd guess that story is coming.

"The artwork, meanwhile, was not great. Greg Land’s characters were generally weak, especially the way they changed looks from page to page."

Hey, you can't always find appropriate pictures of the same model to trace, you know.

(Speaking of which: Mission Impossible 2 Tom Cruise = unmasked Cyclops, right? I'm not crazy for thinking that was the source?)

wwk5d, I've been reading X-Factor on and off for a while, actually, and while I'm really liking some of what David is doing with the title, it's been fairly hit-or-miss for me in the period immediately before and after Messiah CompleX. Right now the main hits against it are Stroman's art, the fact that I don't want to have to start buying She-Hulk so I can understand the entire SI tie-in they're doing, and the absence of Layla and Pietro, who were my two favorite characters anyway.

I'll probably pick up the Layla Miller one shot when it comes out, though, and I'll be far more likely to pick up X-Factor once Layla or Pietro return. But for right now, I'm trying to save money, so adding a new series on doesn't really make sense for me.

"Since when can magneto predict where Kurt is going to appear?"

As I recall, he does it in their first or second fight, back in the late seventies, as I recall. Something about sensing the disturbance in the magnetic field, or some such.

Christ almighty, between the SF as a haven for gays/mutants allegory shoved down our throats to the insipid green commentary, it was a total snoozer. For a 3.99 centennial?

Screw that. Miss Sinister in Legacy was infinitely cooler than Cyke yelling "Suck it!"

Um, ok, Bruction. The dialogue really blows.

This issue was retarded....Why is Storm here if she's introduced to the X-men again in Astonishing 25...which takes place AFTER this...but in a base in a sewer system? wtf? Where is the continuity?!

What's with Angel if he's going the the archangel stuff in X-force...before this? So I guess we know how that ends

If Legacy is about Prof X and Gambit right now, and all the x-men are in Uncanny...why is Astonishing still running? It features..some of the cast of Uncanny but in the same time and place..

Whoever is editing this shit needs to be fired

oh and why the hell is Gambit, Rogue and others on my cover if they all have nothing to do with this issue?

oh and why the hell is Gambit, Rogue and others on my cover if they all have nothing to do with this issue?

Because it's #500.