Uncanny X-Men #540 & X-23 #12

Two X-books, one yet ANOTHER Fear Itself tie-in, the other the latest issue of X-23. I didn't really enjoy the last issue of both series, but I'm at least cautiously optimistic that both series pick up here...

Uncanny X-Men #540(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: This issue begins with the Serpent possessed Juggernaut landing just outside San Fransisco. He bumps into some guy and proceeds to possess him... What?! From there we learn that Lord Summers is meeting with the mayor of San Francisco, discussing why none of the Fear Itself related carnage has come to San Fran, while Colossus meets with his sister Magik, who had been locked up under Crazy Mutie Island for being too crazy... You know, it's really bad if you're too crazy for a place named CRAZY Mutie Island! Namor stops by the bedroom of She Who Shall Not Be Named's bedroom and wants to sleep with Her... UGH! Have the events of Fear Itself driven Namor completely insane!? Think about the diseases, Namor!! Anyway, Her turns Namor down and he leaves to deal with the Fear Itself stuff happening in Atlantis. By this time Juggernaut has arrived in San Fran and has amassed a bunch followers. Lord Summers, who sees this on the TV in the mayor's office, realizes that it'll be up to the X-Men to stop an opponent who has become more powerful than ever before.

Thoughts: Okay, I'm just going to say it... When the hell did Juggy gain the ability to possess people?! I mean I've read like 98% of the Fear Itself comics, and I'm confident I've read every single Fear Itself comic Juggy has appeared in. I've seen him march across the country, from New York to Chicago, from Missouri to Las Vegas, finally ending up in San Fransisco. Never once in those travels has Juggernaut shown the ability to possess somebody! Never!! I don't even know what else to say here... This issue featured characters I either don't like(Her, Shadowcat), characters I'm indifferent towards(Colossus, Lord Summers), or characters who should have remained dead(Magik)... So yeah, once again, as usual with something written by Kieron Gillen, I didn't enjoy this issue. The art was quite good, but it was done by Greg Land, so no surprise there. The story though? Meh.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Man is that armor disturbingly tight...


X-23 #12:

Summary: Wolverine and Gambit arrive in the French subway system to stop X-23 from killing Vampire Jubilee. It seems X-23 has gotten a whiff of that trigger scent that makes her go crazy, explaining her rash actions. Anyway, Wolvie keeps hold of X-23 until the trigger scent wears off, at which time the mutants realize that somebody was pumping an experimental version of the trigger scent into the subway, a version of the scent that would send anybody into a homicidal rampage. X-23, Gambit and Wolvie don gas masks(where they got them, I have NO idea!), while Vampire Jubes doesn't need a mask because of her vampire physiology. The people in the subway go crazy, and begin attacking everything in sight, and X-23 rapidly realizes that they couldn't allow the crazed mob to reach the the streets above. To that end, X-23 dashes out of the subway to corral the few people who escaped the subway already, while Jubes positions herself at the top of the stairs and presumably shoves people down them to keep them from getting out. Outside the subway, X-23 tackles a crazed woman and her baby, and is relieved to see that the trigger scent was rapidly leaving their system. A strange cloaked woman approaches X-23 and speaks cryptically to her before running off. X-23 pursues the woman, but loses her up an alley, instead finding an envelope with a note and some money. By this point, Gambit, Jubes and Wolvie emerge from the subway since the threat was over, meeting up with a perplexed X-23. Upon arriving at their apartment, X-23 shows the rest of the group the note, which tells her to track down somebody she had been ordered to kill a while back, but had managed to disobey her conditioning and leave this person alive. From there, we get some bonding between Wolvie and Gambit as well as Vampire Jubes and X-23, and this one ends.

Thoughts: Meh. I can't say I enjoyed this issue at all. Maybe I was setting my hopes too high, but with Wolvie and Vampire Jubes guest starring these past few issues, I was hoping for something a bit more exciting. Instead we got a shopping trip, some crazies in a French subway, and that's about it. I like the mystery with the woman in the cloak, the dialogue and art was good, but the story just didn't do it for me. Oh well, here's hoping things pick back up again next month.

Score: 5 out of 10.That is definitely not a good sight!