X-Men

• Title: Uncanny X-Men #21
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
• Artist: Kris Anka

Cyclops and Magik showing up at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning turns out badly for everyone as some mysterious force forces both mutants to lose control of their powers, and Maria Hill and the fake Dazzler’s attempt to show up and take custody of Cyclops ends with S.H.I.E.L.D. losing control of the Hellicarrier and attacking a school of students – much to the glee of the mysterious figure who continues to watch from a distance and make his puppets dance.

The issue’s back-up story takes Magneto back to Madripoor (for unexplained reasons which only marginally really fit his current path in his own ongoing series). There the team’s former member discovers the true fate of Dazzler at the same time Beast makes a discovery concerning the identity of their unseen enemy. With those insights and Hill’s realization that someone has been forcibly maneuvering a war between the X-Men and S.H.I.E.L.D. should hopefully lead to a big reveal and some real answers beginning next month. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3,99]

• Title: All New X-Men #27
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
• Artist: Stuart Immonen

Picking up where the last issue left off, All-New X-Men #27 focuses on the attack of Cyclops‘ secret base by the Future Brotherhood of Mutants led by Xavier (the son of Charles Xavier and Mystique from an alternate future).

Offering flashbacks to Xavier’s birth, the first appearance of his powers, and seeking out his half-brother Raze, All-New X-Men #27 fills in some of the blanks for those of us not sure exactly who these characters are. That said, their motives are still a bit hard to understand (or why the older version of Jean Grey is continually masked when everyone knows who she is).

Smartly, the group attacks the team’s psychics taking down the Cuckoos and then turns its attention to Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Jean Grey (who Xavier psychically reaches out to at the end of the issue). Even with a full issue of action, there’s not much here in terms of advancing the story as the Brotherhood is only marginally more in control of their attack on the base than it is at the beginning. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

• Title: Magneto #3
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Cullen Bunn
• Artist: Gabriel Hernandez Walta

Magneto‘s wandering and search for the source of the new Sentinels leads him to an underground facility where several low-budget versions of the anti-mutant weapons are being created. However, the true purpose of the sentinels and the facility itself turns out to be something not dissimilar to the path Magneto himself walked not that long ago.

Comparing Magneto’s own attempts to create a safe haven for his people on Genosha, Magneto #3 showcases humans doing the same thing in an attempt to create a bubble safe from mutants and the outside world. Although the comic skirts the issue a bit, Magneto’s response to the facility (and his own attempts on Genosha) seem to admit a failure of his own long-held beliefs in favor of those of his recently-deceased frenemy Charles Xavier about an integrated world shared by humans and mutants.

With Cyclops‘ team also searching for the truth behind the new Sentinels it will be interesting to see if the two comics converge and what Magneto’s response from, and to, his old team might be. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]