Grant Morrison's tenure as the guiding force over Marvel's mutants has come to an end, and the publisher has thrown the reins over, at least temporarily, to its go-to writer, the guy it turns to, apparently, when it needs a script turned around in a hurry. Chuck Austen is far from new to the world of the X-Men, but the complexity of plot and character that dominated Morrison's run on the book is lost, and what we get in their place are characters who ignore what's come before, who ignore themselves. The art seems a little rushed as well, though the computer colors are rich and bring an incredible array of detail to the book.
The X-Mansion lies in ruins. Professor X has left it all behind and travelled to Genosha, apparently turning his back on his dream of the peaceful co-existence of humans and mutants. All remaining are Scott Summers, Emma Frost and Hank McCoy. Despite their growing attraction to one another, Scott and Emma have a fundamental difference of opinion regarding the future of and need for a school for mutants. A short distance away, a riot breaks out, fueled by fear and hatred, while beneath the X-Mansion, Magneto's rampage has unleashed a forgotten threat.
This issue doesn't represent Larroca's finest work by any stretch of the imagination. The action sequences do not flow clearly at all, and the talking-heads bits are far too static when it comes to the art. The figures are occasionally sketchy; it really seems as though Larroca sped through this assignment. Fortunately, the colors are alive and richly detailed. They bring depth to the settings and characters.
One of the key elements in this issue is the development of the Scott/Emma relationship. There's a problem,m though: Emma is portrayed as such an incredibly insensitive bitch that one can't imagine why Scott wants to be with her. She behaves more like a villain here than an ally. Morrison was able to walk that fine line when it came to the character, but Austen's script approaches her far more conventionally and clumsily. The sudden plot development of a race riot in a nearby town is a lot to swallow as well. Teaming Emma with her scornful students so soon after their acrimonious split reinforces the impression that Austen is trying to undo elements of the preivous run rather than building upon it.
Perhaps the most irksome aspect of this script is something that goes unsaid. For decades, the X-Men have been presented as thoroughly principled individuals dedicated to eliminating hatred. We've seen those principles spread among a legion of characters, yet here, we're left with only one or two who seem to have any interest in Xavier's dream. Austen tries to write about the X-Men without the cause that defines them.
