I don’t know how it happened, but Marvel has managed to put their four main X-Men books in one week: X-Men: Legacy, X-Factor, X-Force, and Uncanny X-Men. This last week, we, the readers, were given these three books and, as you would assume, each have their own style and feeling and each make me feel completely different about the X-Men. With writers Peter David (X-Factor), Mike Carey (Legacy), Christopher Yost and Craig Kyle (X-Force) and Matt Fraction (Uncanny) each book I read leaves me feeling excited, okay, blood-thirsty and strange–respectively.

I read all four of these books and have been for the last eight years or so (or however long they have been out–X-Factor, X-Force) and I’ve seen some changes, both good and bad and I think I’m going to make it my goal to comment on these four books every month from here on with a post like this–assuming they’ll keep coming out on the same week.  This month we were handed Uncanny X-Men #507, X-Force #13, X-Factor #41, and X-Men: Legacy #222…

Continue on after the break (spoilers).

All of these books tie together a few facts (SPOILERS): There are just around 198 mutants left, a new mutant was born which Cable took into the future, Kitty Pryde is long gone, a cure for this disappearance of the X-gene (Thanks to M-Day) is trying to be found, and now people are trying to kill mutants more than ever. With that said, this past month was a strange one with all four of these books.

Uncanny X-Men #507

Before we start with this one, I want to say that I like Matt Fraction. The Order was great and I absolutely love what he is doing with Invincible Iron Man but I’m not sure he can do the X-Men. I liked the vibe Fraction had in The Order with that team but in Uncanny X-Men it feels disjointed. The arc that just ended on this issue focused on Colossus overcoming his sadness with the loss of Kitty Pryde and as much as I liked it through the arc, I felt like I was just reading to get through the arc. This whole ordeal with Colossus seems forced at some spots with him losing his anger by fighting an old enemy from Russia, which was all summed up and fixed in the end. Then add the side-story with Beast trying to find a cure for the X-gene being gone by recruiting scientists, doctors and random people who I barely remember between issues it feels kind of redundant. I may be missing something, but again, it all feels forced. The whole ordeal Marvel did with the X-Men: Endangered Species thing happened a while ago and this is pretty much reliving the mini-story at the end of those issues, except this time it’s been half successful in recruiting people to help. If that was the point, it was a weak one. I’m just left saying “that was it?” at the end of each issue, but in the end I am happy with the story it’s just kind of a stale happy.

X-Force #13

I don’t know what it is, but I seem to be the only person in my social circle who seems to enjoy X-Force completely. Every month someone has some kind of complaint about the art or something with the Purifiers or Angel or whatever. I deal with it all and end up happy because you know what? it’s a damn good story. Christopher Yost and Craig Kyle are a seriously killer team. This last issue that ended up including three of the ‘New X-Men‘ that Yost and Kyle wrote back in the day which was simply brilliant with what they’re doing with the Leper Queen during this arc. Of course, they’re leading up to the cross-over with Cable with this ‘Messiah War’ thing that’s going to happen for a few issues, but for now, the story is simply great. I love the array of characters currently on the X-Force team (Archangel, Domino, Elixir, Vanisher, Warpath, Wolfsbane (who isn’t really in the story as of late), Wolverine, and X-23) and their dynamic is great which is what works. As for the inconsistencies with Angel… I don’t care. I get where people come from saying that him going back to Archangel makes no sense because how would he get his secondary ‘healing blood’ mutation if he still had the Apocalypse blood in him… honestly, I don’t know. Ask Yost and Kyle. Outside of that, Angel’s sudden change makes sense: once a horsemen of Apocalypse, always a horseman of Apocalypse. In the end, I still stick to my guns saying Yost and Kyle know how to write these characters. The current story arc is exactly what this group was put together to do: stop bad guys by any means necessary and that’s why it works.

X-Men: Legacy #222

What can I say about X-Men: Legacy? Mike Carey has been up and down, back and forth and everywhere inbetween with this series. For a while, I hated reading it because it felt so unnatural. Maybe it was my not wanting to read about characters and preferring the action packed X-titles like Cable and X-Force. Even still, I haven’t been to happy with this series… until X-Men: Original Sin. Somehow Carey has managed to kick things up a notch with Legacy in the last 8 issues or so, especially the last three (including #222). Call me a whore for Gambit, but somehow he manages to take the cake in every issue, even when he’s in small roles. The strangely workable duo of Professor X and Gambit shows that there is some hope for this series still. In pursuit of Rogue, these two have traveled to Australia–where the X-Men were based for a small while–and amidst the area they tracked Rogue to, there is some strangeness about: Danger, the sentient Danger Room from the former X-Mansion, has managed to find Rogue and is reliving her memories as Danger Room scenarios! (Thanks Joss Whedon!) So, without revealing much more than that, I will admit I like how this series is going. Rogue is actually tolerable–despite my loving of Gambit, I can’t stand Rogue–and, as I said, the Professor X and Gambit combo works incredible well. All in all though, this series is still just okay. I waiting for Carey to put this story in 5th gear and really punch us with some story.

X-Factor #41

I promise to hold true to Peter David’s ‘please don’t spoil’ policy here even though he didn’t ask it of us this month. Basically, X-Factor is rocking all of my shit. I can’t say it any more simple-minded or direct than that. The things with Jamie Madrox‘s dupes, the sudden jump back to saving the mutant population in the series is back–but I won’t say how!–and it’s just god damned incredible. Of course, as David said, these last three issues have been mind blowing and have been so damn crucial to the series and the entire X-universe… my jaw drops just thinking about it all. Of course, some things that Layla Miller predicted back in the day are starting to make some sense and I can’t wait for #42 to come out so I can get my effing X-Factor buzz on. It’s like crack. It is crack.

And there you have it. Hopefully I will see you all next month with another monster of a review/discussion. Please let me know what you think in the comments!