This issue is beautiful. It doesn't make a lick of sense, but Yu really pulls out all the stops in showing the heroes turn against each others and the villains.
I don't even know where to start. I read a review of a previous issue where the reviewer commented that Remender isn't really putting much effort into trying to imagine what heroes would sound like if they suddenly became villains. Instead, they all just sound like super-villains from the '40s. I'm not really sure that I believe an inverted Medusa would say, "All of you whimpering mutant dogs will be transplanted by Inhuman superiority!" (Maybe the Front Office made Remender include it to prove that they really are trying supplant the X-Men with the Inhumans.) Other than Thor and his unique typeface, you could pretty much just switch any of the heroes for another one and the dialogue would match.
But, the problem isn't just the characterization. Whole segments just make little sense. Magneto warns Wanda that if she kills people it won't be because of some manipulation, it'll be her choosing. Really? I mean, the whole point of this event is manipulation. No one is acting the way that s/he's supposed to be acting because s/he was manipulated (by Doom and Wanda's spell). It's like Remender can't even remember the story that he's telling.
Then, we've got the Spider-Man problem. The last time we saw him, last issue, he was fighting Nightcrawler in the street after Apocalypse hurled him and Deadpool from the room where they were trying to diffuse the human-killing bomb. During said fight, Apocalypse ripped off Deadpool's head, with the X-Men surrounding him to share in his triumph. Apparently, they all then went and got a cup of coffee, because Spidey was able to waltz right back into the room where the bomb was to try again to diffuse it. Examining the art in that issue, it's possible that Kubert screwed up sequencing. Carnage at some point saves Spidey from Nightcrawler; we then see Nightcrawler and Spidey re-engaging, in the scene that I just described. If you invert that sequence, it sort of makes sense. Nightcrawler and Spidey spar, Carnage knocks out Nightcrawler, and then Spidey has the chance to disarm the bomb. The problem, of course, is that the CLOCK STRIKES ZERO at the end of issue #7, meaning that he wouldn't have the time. Having re-read issue #7, I can see where Remender could be moving us back in time at the start of this issue to just before the bomb exploded, but it took that re-reading to remember that. It's just an example of how chaotic the events in this series are, that it's hard to remember where we are from minute to minute. I have to invert fight sequences and re-read previous issue just for scenes to make sense. For example, I had no memory of the Enchantress and Loki being defeated, as they appear here (as they regain their consciousness). In re-reading issue #7, I discovered that Nightcrawler dispatches them (somewhat unbelievably) in the background action in one panel. Does Remender really expect us to pour over every issue that preceded the most recent one just to have some idea of what we're seeing?
I haven't even mentioned the magical resurrection of Doctor Voodoo. Doom made a "Faustian pact with a demigod" to resurrect him? If we're just willy-nilly ret-conning everything, couldn't he have just made a pact to undo his and Wanda's spell? Wouldn't it be easier to do that than resurrect someone?
I just don't know. I mean, I just don't know.
* (one of five stars)
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