Spoilers below:

Astonishing X-Men 46 by Greg Pak and Mike McKone really surprised me this week. I was reading it with some hesitation because there are so many alternate reality stories that just don’t click with me. Maybe they end up feeling like filler when the Reality 616 character returns home with no lasting effects. Then again, another immediate turn off was this tease of a cover launching the story: 

This issue, however won me over with the action and what I perceived as a slight nod to Cyclops’ current nature. Cyclops (along with the other characters) dons a Magneto helmet.

Our world’s Cyclops and the alternate Wolverine have an interesting conversation (I could not find a scan, so I really should insert one later).

Wolverine tries to shield Cyclops from violence saying, “In my world, you’re nineteen years old. And the only person you ever threatened to kill is me. And since that’s pretty much impossible, I don’t have to worry too much about it.”

Cyclops answers, “In my world…I’m a little different.” All well clearly wearing the Magneto helmet and standing with his shirt torn off to make him look a bit less like Cyclops, I believe, and to reveal the long claw scars Cyclops has on his back from Wolverine due to Schism. These details, along with Schism and other stories, really made me reconsider Cyclops’ character and his relationship to other mutants and really suggested a comparison between Cyclops and Magneto. When Messiah Complex was first announced I wondered if the title would refer to Cyclops overreaching as a self-appointed leader of mutants.  

Speaking of other stories, X-Men Legacy 261, by Christopher Gage and David Baldeon, also came out this past week and makes a nice companion to view Cyclops’ current state, but this time we get to see him through Rogue and Magneto’s eyes. Rogue is discussing the lack of communication she has had with Magneto since Schism with Rachel and says, “That’s the meat’a the problem. Me and Magneto, we disagree on how life oughta be. He looks at Cyclops and sees the heir to his legacy. Would follow him to the gates’a Hell. And Cyclops ain’t about to change course for nobody.” This time we have a more explicit Magneto and Cyclops comparison.

X-Men Legacy’s new creative team is wonderful and really carries on the cast and characterization that Mike Carey laid out. I love the legacy corner of the X-men universe and I am really happy to see the stories continue rather than the book being treated as just another X-title up for grabs by whatever creator or stories are convenient (see X-Men volume 3 which had no real purpose for existence or even a stable roster).

I have stopped pre-ordering Uncanny X-Men because I am really tired of Greg Land’s art. His chapters on Second Coming were extremely distracting and the women looked like they were in ecstasy when they were in danger. It’s getting worse all the time and I found a perfect tumblr account while trying to find image references. Please check out http://fuck-no-greg-land.tumblr.com/post/16228214619/everyone-meet-illyana-rasputin-the-younger

I also found a delightful article on him here: http://www.sequart.org/magazine/3339/on-feeling-compelled-to-boycott-greg-lands-uncanny-x-men/

That’s it for a first post. I can’t believe it was about Cyclops.