I liked the preview, so I decided to read this issue, despite how much I can't stand what Kirkman has done on this title, (Date Night, Magician, Cablerine and Crazy Kurt,) I really liked this issue. I seriously hope that this means the stories will improve.
Unfortunately you're right airjavier31, death is nothing more then a shock tactic. I mean, everyone wants death to stay permanent, but I can't see that ever happening, because a new writer will always see unexplored possibilities with a character.
If Marvel ever tries another Ultimate like line, I'd really like to see a rule that major characters can't die unless you have a reasonable resurrection story in place that adds to the characters development (i.e. Jean Grey/Phoenix.) This would be much, much better then stupid deaths and convoluted resurrections.
And to me, Beast's resurrection, (which was really more of a retcon,) did just that. It brought to light the legacy virus, and showed more of Fury's and Xavier's dark sides.
Anyway, since there was a lot in this book, I'll review by sections:
Sinister's death: This could be absolutely awesome, or terrible, but I choose to believe it will be the former. This has got to be faked somehow, and now that he's out of their prison, he can kill those six more mutants, (he might need to do seven, since Marrow might still be alive,) and we can get Ult. Apocalypse
Mastermind-Mystique swap: Very cool. Mystique's much more interesting then Mastermind, IMO. Also, ever since I read Magnetic North, I was hoping Magneto had some way to get her out, since they seem to be very close. And I love that we're touching on Magneto's plans again. I just hope that they will truly be something new, like he said, and we don't get another world domination plan or whatever else.
The school. Also, very cool. I'm very interested to see where this will go. Plus, putting Toad in there is great. Adding depth to characters that have little in 616 is exactly what Ult. Line should be doing, imo, rather then just sticking them in there or using them as some throw away cameo, (you and I both know that Ult. Hula Hoop Guy could have been awesome.)
Shinobi Shaw. Again, awesome. We now know who Gerald was calling in "Phoenix?" and some hints that Emma Frost might be involved… Or not, who knows?
Nightcrawler. The one thing that was un-awesome in this issue. Oh sure, he didn't do anything here, but it reminded me of why I can't/hopefully couldn't stand Kirkman on this title. Crazy Kurt. Ugh.
Beast's resurrection. Definitely the best they could have been pulled off, considering it's a resurrection/retcon. It adds something to the characters of Xavier, Fury and Beast, and gives us the Legacy virus. Plus, Ult. Beast is cooler without blue fur, (it's funny, I feel the opposite about 616 Beast, though I really don't like Cat Beast.) So, he's not only back, but he's looking fabulous!
Admiral Stryker. I'm confused on this one, when did what Fury's referring to happen? Is this William Stryker? Was this the guy in the New Mutants arc, or something else that I missed? Ah, the downside to skipping whole writers on a comic book.
A reference to Grant Morrison's New X-Men through Ugly John. Made of awesome. Also, am I just being hopeful, or did that Sentinel look a lot smaller then the ones we've seen before? Probably just the angle, but I'm still hoping for smaller Sentinels.
Shadow King. I'm very interested to see where this goes, and what connection he has to Storm. Kinda wish he showed up in his monster form in her dream instead of having Brood…
Bishop and his X-Men. I'm not sure whether I'll like this or not. Hopefully there won't be two X-Men teams at one time, but I also hope that the book will balance between Cyclops' school and the X-Men. I don't know if that can happen without Cyclops and co. being the X-Men in everything but name, though…
So, even though I've been terrible disappointed with Kirkman and started this issue knowing I was going to hate it, I loved it :shock:
Hopefully, the next storylines will be as good… Aw, shoot, it's Crazy Kurt, never mind.
