New Comics! (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Avengers:  The Children's Crusade #6:  OK, so I read this issue in my office at work and cheered loudly enough that I hope I don't get fired!  Ant-Man is back!  Wanda is the boys' mom!  Rictor is re-powered!  Hurrah!  Much to discuss.

I started off the issue a little confused (one of the consequences of the bi-monthly format Marvel has decided to use for this series) because I couldn't remember if we were still in the "Avengers Disassembled" past or in the present.  (I had to re-read issue #5 to be sure.)  Eventually, Heinberg confirms that we're in the present, which also confirms that Cassie's dad, Scott Lang, is back.  Hurrah!  I always liked Scott and thought his death in "Avengers Disassembled" was cheap.  (I mean, didn't Wanda have bigger fish to fry than a newbie Avenger?)  Heinberg keeps the hits coming, given that we also almost immediately get the second big revelation of the issue:  Wanda confirms that she is, in fact, Billy and Tommy's "mother."  That said, I though Tommy's argument about why he didn't care about the revelation (since she was just going to be taken from them again to atone for her crimes) was particularly well made, given that Billy seemingly hadn't fully appreciated the consequences of Wanda's return.  Heinberg adroitly uses this argument to keep the plot moving, with Beast proposing that everyone would be a lot easier on Wanda if she could undo M-Day.  As such, the group brings in X-Factor, which (as Jessica Jones exposits) originally got its start under Madrox by investigating why the mutants who lost their powers during M-Day did so.  The gang assumed that X-Factor could put them in touch with these mutants to see if the Scarlet Witch could successfully return their powers to them.  Madrox refuses, but Rictor volunteers as a test subject.

To be honest, throughout this series, I've been waiting for this moment, since Rictor (more so even than Moonstar from the "New Mutants") has been the poster boy for de-powered mutants who want to regain their powers.  I wasn't sure exactly how it would happen (or if it would happen), but when I realized where Heinberg was going, I was ecstatic.  (By the way, Heinberg writes a great X-Factor, from his portrayal of Madrox's anger at the Scarlet Witch to Shatterstar's concern over Rictor.  If David ever leaves the series, I vote Heinberg take the reins.)

However, we have three more issues left, so these three developments aren't going to be the end.  At some point, I'm guessing we're going to have to see some sort of negative consequence to the Young Avengers' (and Scarlet Witch's) actions here.  If this mini-series is going to be something other than a blatant ret-con exercise, we're going to have to see something balance out the positive developments.  It doesn't have to be a death or a de-powering or anything, but Wanda has to atone for her sins and the Young Avengers do have to face some sort of reckoning for the disruptions they've caused (invading Latveria, changing history, etc).  Beast, Hawkeye, and Jessica Jones essentially defy Iron Man's warnings and help the kids anyway, but, eventually, the Avengers are going to appear and aren't going to be as amenable to helping...kind of like the X-Men who appear outside Avengers Mansion at the end of this issue.  It's these questions that keep me waiting for the next three issues, because I'm really hoping that -- at least in terms of Scott, Wanda, and Julio -- we get to keep the wins we got in this issue, even though I doubt it.