Just once -- just once -- I would like the answer to a problem that someone created himself or herself in the Marvel Universe not to be time travel.
To make matters worse, we have twice the time travel here. We've got Illyana consulting her mentor, the past version of Dr. Strange, to find a way to control Matthew and we've got Eva traveling in the past to warn Prof. X that his attempt to build walls in Matthew's mind will ultimately fail. Moreover, we know that Eva's gambit works, since it's unlikely that the shock ending of this issue -- Cyclops', Magik's, and Matthew's deaths at the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. -- will stand.
So, we're left with the usual problem of time-travel stories, where the entire story that we've spent months following becomes irrelevant. We don't even really learn anything interesting about the characters. In theory, time-travel stories are supposed to give authors the ability to break the world and see how the characters react, knowing that they can reconstruct the world in the end. However, no one's back is really to the wall like "Days of Future Past" or "Age of Ultron" here: Matthew may become a threat, but he isn't really one here. It just feels sloppy, like the X-Men are going to start returning to the past to make sure that they drink all the milk before it expires.
I really hope that Bendis wraps up this story soon, because I can't say that I'm really all that interested. In an example of pet peeve #1, we were promised on the cover the possibility that we'd learn what Charles' will said, but we don't even get that. Instead, we're still wrapping up a story from two events ago. [Sigh.] I can't think of anything better to sum up the sorry state of affairs at Marvel lately.
** (two of five stars)
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