Age of X-Man: X-Tremists #3: I officially have no idea what's happening in this series. First, everyone speaks in some sort of literary tense; it's like reading 18th century French literature written in the passé simple. Moreover, everyone seems to have their own delusions. For example, we have Moneta believing in an Emmanuel Goldstein-esque Resistance and Blob somehow not realizing people hated Department X. (Yes, Blob, they all loved you for erasing their memories of the people they loved.) Betsy tells Blob about how happy she is that they put the "old ways" behind them, because she used to have an eating disorder and hated her body. (I guess she doesn't hate it now that she doesn't love anyone?) Also, everyone apparently no longer believes in the mission except Moneta, but no one actually says that. Again, like Fred, they seem not entirely clear on what their mission is? Honestly, I have no idea.
War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men #1: This issue is truly excellent, definitely the best issue of "War of the Realms" to date. Rosenberg does a number of clever things here. First, he follows the formula of all good tie-in issues by not completely ignoring the team's existing storyline. When Dani gets Odin's call to assist the Valkyries (as seen in "War of the Realms" #2), she and the X-Men are fighting Nanny and the Orphan-Maker. Moreover, the team's banter and challenges are even more on display here than they usually are in the main title. Alex is the annoying little brother challenging his older brother, the New Mutants are a separate unit more dedicated to each other than the larger team, and Madrox is...Madrox. Finally, Rosenberg wisely puts the X-Men on the sidelines of the action. When they arrive in New York, it has already fallen: Dr. Strange has evacuated the city's population, and Frost Giants and dark elves are just wandering the streets. Rather than trying to insert the X-Men between panels of the main series, Rosenberg uses the team to show us the aftermath of the Battle of New York. He really leans into the banter and challenges here as he has everything descend further into chaos: Wolfsbane and one of Jamie's dupes fall down a hole, and Magik answers Cyclops' call to get reinforcements but can only find a full-snark Hope and a still-dead Banshee. The remaining members of the party unwisely split -- Hope takes Chamber to find Wolfsbane and the dupe while Scott and company find a devastated Dani looking at the bodies of her fellow Valkyries. Something about the nature of a tie-in issue really let Rosenberg spread his wings, and I look forward to seeing where the story goes.
The Wild Storm #22: My concern at this point is that Ellis has done such an amazing job throughout this series of keeping all the plates spinning in the air that we're approaching the moment when they're all just fall to the floor. He focuses simply on two stories in this issue, which seems unbelievable given how many threats we have out there.
First, Marc Slayton attempts to kill Jackie, but the "Battalion Device" that she swiped from IO protects her, disintegrating Slayton. Jackie exposits that Angie was right: the device is both scary and completely invisible to scanners, a point Elis and Davis-Hunt emphasized by opening the issue with Jackie getting scanned without incident while exiting the building.
But, we quickly move to the empty village in the middle of Utah, where Apollo and Midnight are awaiting the Skywatch ships after their shenanigans last issue. Jenny and company arrive after the Doctor felt the ships "drop" toward the planet; Angie was able to see into Jenny's mind and triangulate the ships' destination. Midnighter is understandably suspicious that they're Skywatch, given their use of teleportation. Jack introduces himself as a scrambled Skywatch experiment, but Midnight isn't convinced. Jenny then pledges to help them to prove their worth. When Apollo asks why, she rather convincingly responds that they've all lost or escaped people who know what Earth is really like and that they're the last people left to save the Earth. The combined team makes pretty quick work of the impressive-looking Skywatch ships, mostly due to Apollo and Jenny, who turn into a gigantic energy-being of some sort.
It's all totally fine. But, with only two issues left, I find myself wondering about Voodoo, who we saw in the background of the first few issues but haven't seen since. We also haven't seen Zealot or Marlowe and the Wild C.A.T.s in a long time. It's starting to feel like Ellis' careful planning wasn't so careful. Then again, I also know the 24-issues framework is a lie, as two mini-series follow this one. In other words, I can be patient, but I also hope that patience is rewarded and this series maintains the high level of excellence we've enjoyed so far.
Also Read: Amazing Spider-Man #20; Detective Comics #1,002; Mr. and Mrs. X #10; Star Wars: Vader - Dark Visions #3
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