Grant Morrison's run on this title reaches its penultimate issue, and I wish I could say that he was going out on a strong note. Though he's upholding a popular X-Men tradition with a new dystopian future storyline, neither the script nor the artwork tells the story as clearly as it should. As we've seen in some of Morrison's other super-hero writing, he crams in a lot of peripheral ideas that seem brilliant, but they're touched upon so lightly in passing that they end up creating confusion, distracting from the main plot. It's unfortunately, because there are a couple of really great moments in this story.
Sublime, once the mutant hero named Beast, has dispatched the newly emerged Phoenix entity to eradicate a mutant insectoid race called the Termids, which he considers to be an aberration. In the process, though, Phoenix encounters another special being that provides some rather important information. Meanwhile, Sublime launches a new, rather ambitious 'Crawler assault on the Institute, while the remaining X-Men rescue an ally and prepare their assault on Transatlantis, Sublime's base of operations and house of genetic horrors.
Silvestri offers up some strong visuals in this issue, as he has in the two prior. Rover, the Sentinel with a heart, manages to look organic and coldly mechanical all at once, and the Phoenix's conversation with a dead mutant is delightfully Shakespearean in its visual presentation. The colors really bring the Phoenix powers to life as well. Silvestri drops the ball as well, though. We never get a clear impression of Bumbleboy, nor does the nature of the 'Crawler invasion of the Institute really make itself known in the artwork.
The same can be said of its representation in the script, and not just the 'Crawler assault. The Termids are never fully explained, for example. Morrison hasn't provided the reader with nearly enough background on these future characters. The 'Crawlers are a fascinating idea, but they're presented as being so powerful and unending in numbers that the reader is left wondering Sublime hasn't already won his war against the X-Men and the Institute.
Despite the scattered, sparse and confusing qualities of the script, though, there are some moments in the story that pack a real punch. Mer-Max is a wonderful character. He has some real personality on the go, and I wish he was more than just a throwaway concept in this storyline. Furthermore, Rover's emotional demise is a scene that works incredibly well. It doesn't contribute much to this plot, but Tom and Rover's story could have made a great tale on its own.
