X-Men #4

Overall: While the X-Men try to come up with a battle plan to halt the vampire incursion into San Fransisco, Wolverine(who is now a vampire, thanks to Jubilee)is itching to get onto Utopia to attack his former teammates. Meanwhile, Xarus(the leader of the vampire horde)learns from his scientists that Wolverine's healing factor has been unable to fight off the vampire influence, and that for all intents and purposes, Wolverine is now a full-blown vampire. Cyclops decides to try to talk to Xarus in order to ascertain why he's decided to invade San Fransisco, so the two set up a video chat. Xarus explains that vampires and mutants are practically the same, feared and hated minorities, and that they should stick together. Cyclops says hogwash, well he doesn't actually say that, but that was the gist of what he said, so Xarus brings Wolverine into view of the camera. Wolverine tells Cyclops that he's made a mistake by denying Xarus his wishes, and that Wolverine himself would be coming to Utopia to say hello to all of his old friends. With that, the vampires hang up and Xarus decides to launch an all-out attack against the X-Men in order to enslave as many mutants as possible. This issue ends with Xarus telling a happy Wolverine to kill, not capture Cyclops.

This issue was kind of like the calm before the storm. It was setting up that Wolverine is a vampire now, and that his healing factor has been unable to fight off the vampire infection. The X-Men are beginning to realize how dire the threat is, and Dracula is missing in action. Next issue should be the big one, with Wolverine leading the vampire horde to Utopia, where you'd have to believe that the X-Men have a trap waiting. So this issue was pretty much your run of the mill set-up/placeholder issue. It was okay, it set up the next few issues, but it wasn't anything great.

Score: 7 out of 10.Vampire Wolverine sure is a drama queen.