While the title hasn't really worked for me in some time, most issues of Chuck Austen's run have featured some intriguing ideas that just don't seem to click in the execution or aren't sufficiently explored. Here, though, there's nothing like that to hook me on the story at all. The strongest moments in this script are derivative and familiar, and the weaker ones and non-sensical or crude in their simplicity. Tan's confused and inconsistent artwork doesn't help matters much either.
An X-Men team led by Angel and Havok have tracked their AWOL teammate, Nightcrawler, to a Caribbean island known as Isla des Demonas, where they discover a strange ritual is already underway, one in which Nightcrawler is intimately involved and from which he cannot be pulled away. Unknown to the X-Men, though, is the young stowaway who's along for the trip. Meanwhile, Professor X and Annie delve into the mind of Polaris to try and uncover what it was that transformed from a heroine into an unstable personality prone to violence.
I really don't know what to make of Philip Tan's artwork here. At times, it's dark and gritty, reminding me of Tom (Creeps) Mandrake's work, and at others, a strong, wide-eyed manga influence is at play. I also see some Sam (Zero Girl) Kieth influence in his work at times here. Overall though, his stuff is inconsistent, and in a key scene at the end of the book, it appears rushed and fails to convey what's going on in the scene.
The one visual element of Tan's in this book that is striking and memorable is his depiction of Juggernaut on the cover. He captures the character's power and ferocity quite well. It's a shame that the character appears nowhere in this issue, though.
The Polaris/Annie conflict is officially getting old. Annie's involvement in Polaris's rehabilitation doesn't really make any sense, and why some of the characters continue to see her as a bigot through and through makes even less sense. Yes, her fear of mutants persists, but she has a mutant son and a mutant lover. It's never clear why Professor X brings her along on his psychic quest. Annie's an interesting character, but she's being defined as Polaris's arch-nemesis rather than as a fearful human trying to live her life among those she fears.
This issue doesn't dwell too much on the demonic theme that Austen has come up with for the Draco characters, thank Heaven for that. But the action sequence at the end of this book is awkwardly paced, and the characters seem to make huge assumptions just so the problem isn't easily solved. Pulling Nightcrawler from the ritual might kill him? How? Why? It makes no sense, and the only purpose being served here is to draw the story out.
