X-Men: Onslaught Revelation #1 by Simon Spurrier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, apparently Way Of X was a five issue mini series. Who knew? Certainly not me. And this? This is essentially Way Of X #6, serving to do little more than wrap up the story begun in Way Of X. And, while there’s nothing wrong with that, it does feel a little disappointing, and a little rushed. Way Of X was superb, the best new X-book since the new line began, and now it’s over, and everything has been neatly wrapped up. Onslaught is defeated and Krakoa can move on like nothing ever happened.

This is disappointing because it felt like it was setting up what was wrong with Krakoa. It’s long been clear that something is rotten at the heart of Krakoa. Something, for example, is very wrong with Beast. But, I guess, with Inferno starting this week, things need to be wrapped up more quickly. And, well, that’s a shame, because I would much rather have had them take their time to explore this stuff.

Still, what’s done is done, and this is still great. I just wanted more.

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X-Men #3 by Gerry Duggan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia can make anything look epic, but Duggan hands them a script which is pretty epic anyways, so, you know, epicness abounds!

The High Evolutionary is a big bag of d***s, and the X-Men have no choice but to turn down his helpful offer to wipe out the human race for them. Which, you know, is probably for the best. It turns out the Rogue has beef with his daughter too, and it’s nice to see Rogue finally getting some attention after all this time. She never felt like a good fit in Excalibur and her presence makes a lot more sense here.

The art is really the main attraction here though, and Larraz and Garcia could make the opening of an envelope look cool.

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X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #2 by Leah Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Confused? You will be. But that’s entirely the point this issue, as the plot doesn’t so much thicken as become elastic and twisted.

I said in my review of #1 that I don’t believe that Magneto killed Wanda and I don’t believe she’s actually dead. I’m still convinced of both of these things…and not because Wanda appears to be alive at the end of this issue, because I’m not convinced that’s Wanda at all. And, also, yes…despite Magneto’s confession of guilt, I don’t think he did it. There’s a lot going on in this issue that’s happening just to distract the Avengers from the truth. That truth may well be that Wanda’s body is missing and they don’t know why.

What’s also curious is the clear and growing rift between the Five and the Quiet Council. The Five clearly seem to be of the opinion that they and they alone should decide who and who doesn’t get to be resurrected, and they’re willing to defy the Quiet Council’s decision regarding that. We’ve seen that in the pages of New Mutants and we are, perhaps, also seeing that here.

Also, if that is Wanda at the end, and no someone else pretending to be her, might she have been resurrected using an older back up? Not only from before M-Day but before she split up with The Vision? Beast was recently musing about this is the pages of X-Force, that if he died his friends might choose to resurrect an earlier Beast, a happier Beast…a less dark Beast…

Excellently written and beautifully illustrated, this series continues to draw me in, and I’m really looking forward to seeing where it goes.

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