X-Men (2013 3rd Series) #10.NOWBPublished Apr 2014 by Marvel
Limited 1 for 50 Variant Cover by John Cassaday
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Kris Anka
Near mint, 1st printing. Ships bagged and boarded. Non smoking home.
AN ALL-NEW SISTERHOOD!
The X-Men have taken down super villains, aliens and their own future selves…but never all at the same time! Lady Deathstrike has put together an all new Sisterhood, her own illuminati to take down the X-Men and take over the world. Recruiting the likes of Typhoid Mary and Enchantress, her cabal go on a global hunt for the most powerful of them all…an enemy who holds the X-Men responsible for her almost-destruction. Meanwhile, M settles in and Rachel comes to terms with her relationship with Sublime.
Featured Characters:
X-Men
M (Monet St. Croix)
Jubilee (Jubilation Lee)
Psylocke (Betsy Braddock)
Marvel Girl (Rachel Grey)
Storm (Ororo Munroe)
Karima Shapandar
Pixie (Megan Gwynn)
Kid Omega (Quentin Quire)
Beast (Hank McCoy)
Bling! (Roxy Washington)
Mercury (Cessily Kincaid)
Hellion (Julian Keller)
Cipher (Alisa Tager)
Rockslide (Santo Vaccarro)
Gabriel Shepherd
John Sublime
The Sisterhood
Ana Cortés
Lady Deathstrike (Yuriko Oyama) (Possesses Ana Cortés)
Enchantress (Amora)
Typhoid Mary
Arkea
Reiko (Possessed by Arkea)
Sentinels
Woods story picks up immediately where "X-Men" #9 left off, with the new Sisterhood of Evil Mutants leaving Monet passed out while Arkea continues to stir in multiple new bodies. Woods brings back a creation from his previous "X-Men" run to help get Monet out of the nasty cliffhanger shed been left in, while X-Men and Sisterhood members alike zip around the globe in search of different targets.
I like the basic idea of "X-Men" #10.NOW -- after Arkeas initial introduction at the start of this series, I feel like this storyline is finally starting to give us an idea of the real threat that she possesses -- but at the same time Arkea is also starting to feel like a character thats a little bit too all-encompassing. Restoring the Enchantresss powers, merging Typhoid Marys personalities... you name it, Arkea can do it. Mind you, thats also true of another character brought into the mix this month, which makes me wonder if eventually well see two pieces take each other off the board at once. But for the moment, it in some ways reduces the impact of "X-Men" with Arkea able to do just about anything. With no real weakness in sight, it makes any fighting Arkea and her Sisterhood feel a bit futile at best, and promising a deus ex machina solution at worst.
I will give Wood credit that Rachel Grey and John Sublimes strange relationship is continuing apace in the background here, in part because its nice to see someone doing something with Rachel, and in part because I think Wood is the only one who understands what these two characters see in one another. Its a romance that seemed to first happen off-panel, but whatever it is, hes determined to make it work. Also in the realm of characters where its nice to see them being used, Wood is trotting out a lot of the younger kids that were quietly pushed into the background once "Wolverine and the X-Men" brought in its own younger class. Every member of the X-Men has fans floating around out there (even Maggott, as it turns out), and I like that Woods making a lot of them very happy right now, even if their part of the story only kicks off in the last five pages that seem to be operating in their own little universe.
The closest "X-Men" #10.NOW really comes to being the start of a new storyline is that Kris Anka and Clay Mann take over as artists. Anka draws the first 15 pages, and his art works somewhat well as a transition from Terry and Rachel Dodsons art from the past few issues. Its from that same smooth school. Hes definitely at his best when drawing the new Lady Deathstrike, with her day of the dead face paint still looking iconic and eye-catching.
