Before I start, I have to say that Magik's suggestion that the Brotherhood should take advantage of the time-frozen Avengers by going to Avengers Tower and clogging up all the toilets and switching their underwear drawers made me LOL. Scott's response ("Tempting.") made me LOL all the harder. It is one of the most unexpectedly funny moments that I think I've ever read in a comic book. Something about the way that Bendis just inserts it in the middle of a serious conversation, while maintaining the same rhythm and beat of the conversation, made it really work. Sure, it's a return to Bendis' usual brand of humor, but he seems to be keeping it under wraps, learning when to use it and when not. Rather than using everyone as comic relief (and making you wonder when exactly Wolverine became a stand-up comedian), he seems to be focusing on bat-shit crazy Illyana as the funny man with Scott playing the Dean Martin role as her straight man. So far, it works and hopefully Bendis can continue to restrain himself. Fingers crossed.
Also? Damn, Scott Summers is FINE in this issue. Emma is a lucky girl.
Regarding the issue itself, Bendis does what he's been doing the best here, making the Brotherhood seem downright reasonable. Why aren't the Avengers doing more to make sure that local authorities don't assault mutant children the minute that their powers manifest themselves? Don't we have sensitivity training any more? Shouldn't Cap be, like, filming PSAs with Havok to tell people not to fear mutants? As Scott highlights here, trotting out Havok as the Avengers' token-mutant leader seems a little weak, particularly if the U.S. government is secretly running a Sentinel program. (More on that later.) Plus, why isn't Tony Stark on the hook for the devastation caused by the Phoenix Five, given that he's the one that created them in the first place? Sure, Emma's argument that they weren't in control of their actions seems like something that you'd see on "Judge Judy," but she does make a compelling argument that they were, after all, possessed by a "deadly cosmic force" because of Tony Stark. Moreover, it seems pretty reasonable for them to resist arrest, since it's pretty unlikely that they're going to get the sort of fair trial that would let me make these arguments in a court of law. Damn, Bendis. Making the Brotherhood seem reasonable.
But, Bendis doesn't totally let the Brotherhood off the hook. Emma dodges when one of the students asked if Scott killed Xavier. Plus, Scott never takes responsibility for the fact that they are, by and large, assaulting local authorities every time they appear, contributing to the very atmosphere of fear that they claim to be trying to prevent. Here, we most clearly see Cyclops' megalomania and I'm glad that Bendis hasn't forgotten about Scott's amazing ability not to see the repercussions of his actions.
But, the best part of this issue may be the revelation at the end that Magneto is double-crossing S.H.I.E.L.D. As Emma said, it's a brilliant strategy, "giving" S.H.I.E.L.D. the location of the Brotherhood in order to build trust so that he can get more information about the new Sentinel program. In retrospect, it seems pretty obvious that Magneto probably didn't see Cyclops as a crazed monster, but the fact that Bendis initially sold me on that is a tribute to the way that he's making this series sing. But, Bendis goes even one better, using the incident (and Erik not telling Scott about his plan) as a way to set up a brewing leadership confrontation between the two. Old Magneto seems to be back and I couldn't be happier.
Finally, Bendis is also doing a great job with the kids. Sure, you've got the two goofballs (the corn-stick boy and the guy who thinks he has a shot with Illyana), but Eva has some real potential as a character for this next generation. She doesn't come at the issue with the years of personal history with discrimination that Emma and Scott feel, but she does know that she was attacked by the authorities the minute that her powers manifested and that her mom wishes that she could pray away the mutant. Plus, she seems unlikely to accept some of the more extreme impulses of the Brotherhood's adult leadership, setting up an interesting conflict later.
In other words? Bendis is killing it, month after month.
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