X-Men: Regenesis #1:
Summary: Okay, this issue is exactly what you'd probably expect it to be... Wolverine and Lord Summers wander around talking to various X-characters to try to coax/convince/beg them to join up with their side. Wolvie's first pick is Iceman(?!?), who is happy to leave Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia). Next Wolvie tries to convince Psylocke to go with him, but she balks at returning to a school since she saw that as moving backwards. She does tell Wolvie that she'd continue serving on X-Force, and after Wolvie leaves hints that she may serve as a spy for Wolvie as well. Jugger-Colossus decides to stay on Crazy Mutie Island since he was crazy himself now(and bald) and didn't want to be around children(except for the kids staying on Crazy Mutie Island I guess...). Shadowcat on the other hand is going to go with Wolverine, since she had fond memories of the school. Surprisingly Jugger-Colossus and Shadowcat split amicably. Wolvie e-mails an ecstatic Beast about the reopening of the school, who is glad to see that other mutants were finally seeing Lord Summers as the power hungry nutjob Beast had seen months back. Rogue decides to go with Wolvie, while Magneto laughs at the prospect of Wolvie allowing him to go to the school. Next up Wolverine meets with Havok and Polaris and pretty much offers them a slot on X-Factor... Um, how the hell does THAT work?! Our Lord and Savior Hope, after some arm twisting, allows Idie to go with Wolverine, while she(and the rest of her brainwashed cronies) stay with Lord Summers. Cannonball and Husk decide to go with Wolverine and Moonstar and the rest of the New Mutants(including Nate Grey) stay on Crazy Mutie Island. Lord Summers manages to convince Dazzler to stay in San Fransisco to teach some of the younger X-Men how to “be stars” whatever the hell THAT means. The students split up with most of them, led by Hellion, going with Wolvie, but a few of them, led by Prodigy, decide to stay on the Island. Namor, Danger, Doctor Nemesis, Magik, the Stepford Cuckoos and Avalanche all all staying either on Crazy Mutie Island or on the West Coast while Rachel Summers, Quentin Quire(not by choice), X-23, Frenzy, Gambit and Toad are going with Wolvie. Storm is prepared to leave since she doesn't like the direction Lord Summers had been taking the X-Men, but Lord Summers literally begs her to stay. After some more groveling, Storm takes pity on Lord Summers and decides to stay. Finally Lord Summers is surprised to find Emma Frost contemplating leaving, since her true passion was teaching. In the end she reveals that she was just messing with him and informs him she was staying. With that the lines have been formed and the Schism is complete.
Thoughts: With the exception of the stupid caveman junk(don't ask) I really liked this issue. Yeah, some of the choices were weird, why the hell wouldn't Rachel Summers be staying on Crazy Mutie Island? How can Wolverine place people on Jamie Madrox's team? Why is Jugger-Colossus STILL bald?! But for the most part this was an enjoyable read... I am still seriously undecided on whether or not I'm picking up Uncanny X-Men come the renumbering, but right now I'm leaning towards yes, especially since it looks like we're finally getting vintage Mr. Sinister back. Both sides have characters I detest, and Lord Summers side is practically full of villains, but I think I'll give all of the X-titles a try come this November... Well except for X-Men Legacy... I won't be picking that series up until Mike Carey is FINALLY off of it, which is in another couple of months. Overall though, Schism has gotten me the most excited in the X-books as I've been since before M-Day, so Marvel is doing something right here.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Damn, why not get on your knees and sob while you're at it, Scott?
