Written By: Chris Claremont
Cover/Art By: Andy Park
Inks: Jon Sibal
This is the first part of what appears to be the return of the Hellfire Club as the first scene opens with four X-Men (Nightcrawler, Storm, Bishop, and Marvel Girl) outside the HQ of one of the richest and oldest enemies the X-Men have ever encountered~The Hellfire Club~.
The place is run down and people are obviously scared of it (i.e. haunted house). The four are commenting on how the place looks when Wolverine comes out of the sewers (suprise, suprise). He alerts the group that the only ways in and out have been blocked, as he was following Sage's sent right into a wall, so seemingly the place is well sealed, Logan comments on how they should just leace it alone, then all of a sudden the ex-White Queen herself comes up behind them. Coincedince? Think not, but lets see how this pans out (I thought she was busy in Astonishing, but oh well). She tells the team that this place is the exclusive province of the Black Queen and that she is imprisioned in the catacombs. She also lets on that she knows the secret entrance is, then being interrupted by Rachel (apparantly her attitude to Emma is resentful, since she is dating her dad) and Storm intervines before a fight can break out. Can I hear a Cat fight from someone? Although this little fued is pointless, you gotta love red heads, even Rachel (We miss you Jean!.)
Emma and Rachel get seperated from the tean and fall into a nicely furnished room, of course Emma didnt have time for luxury as Rachel knocked her into the pool. Now comes the telepathic duel. Although Rachel has raw power, Emma has the experince which takes the upper hand. A few pages of intersting fighting, Rachel turned into a baby, Emma turning EXTREMELY old, shackles, swords, all kinds of things for any telepathic guru to love and enjoy. Emma wins and tells Rachel she isnt her enemy and can learn a lot from her. The girls return to the physical plain and leave the building. Ok im fine with this up until they leave from there to go to Hong Kong, where Emma was invited to attend a private auction.
1.Where did the invatation come from?
2. Didnt they wonder where the team went?
3.I know they have thier differences, but i didnt think Rachel would warm up to going to Hong Kong with Emma...at least not this quickly
They get there and are dressed in the "white" attire, since Emma will reprise her role as the Queen for the night. Turns out this "private" auction is the selling of mutants (oh joy). Emma shows Rachel how to be invisible, then Emma goes to seat herslef when a woman has already taken the seat (looks so much like Emma, i would call her a clone...or distant cousin....the resemblance is uncanny *pardon the pun*). Rachel sneaks down the hallway and meets up with Sage saying "Through you, Selene will be born. Now we cut to the team apparantly waking up in a sewer, Bishop knows exactly where he is (how?) Wolverine yells to Nightcrawler to teleport them out right before Bishop goes on a shooting spree...on the X-Men! That ends this issue, Next: Royal Flush
Story: 2
Although it was well written, it seemed as if there were pieces missing of this issue. First off where did the X-Men go? Why did Rachel one second want to kill Emma, then the next travel across the world with her? Why did the X-Men land in the sewers of Paris? Whats the deal with Bishop going 'gun-ho' on everyone? This leaves a few more questions than answers, i give this a 2, I love Claremont's work, so im gonna have faith that this gets better...
Art: 3
Although I am not very Familiar with his work, Andy does a great job of drawing the X-Men with great detail, I am digging this kind of art for Uncanny, keep up the good work
Cover: 2
Great art like I said before, but...it has no relevance for this issue...For instance...Sage, yeah they are looking for her, but why have her on the cover? You see her in a maximum of ONE, thats right count it, ONE panel. I can see why Marvel Girl would be on the cover but Storm? She is in more than one panel, but half the book she is gone, mysteriously waking up in a Paris sewer (too much to drink Ororo?) The only thing saving this cover is Park, whose work im starting to enjoy more and more
Overall: 2
'Nuff Said bout this, too much bits and pieces missing, maybe Claremont has a plan next month in store for us, the man has done this for 30+ years, so I'll keep the faith that this is going somewhere good
