The New X-Men have been engaging in ongoing battles with The Purifiers, a group of paramilitary mutant haters who have killed many young mutants affiliated with the school. In this story, they’re able to get a hold of a Predator X, which are basically mutated hunting dogs, and they sic it on Dust. The story is paced such that the Predator X’s attack looms in the background, but it never actually attacks. At the last minute and on the last pages of issue #43, Predator X veers off course. Its Purifier handlers see this as an omen.
There’s also a prophecy that the youngest mutant will die, so they all try to figure out which of them was born last…
And it’s Indra.
The best parts of these issues, as always, are these quieter moments, like senior X-Men training the younger ones, the kids relating to each other and getting to know their own abilities, and the like.
Wolverine works with new team leader Purge, whose powers make Logan and Kitty hallucinate unicorns. Pixie adjusts to what happened to her soul during the last story’s war against Belasco. Hellion’s telekinesis recently got a power-up and he’s learning to deal with it. They all get bulletproof costumes. Etc.
It’s these kinds of scenes that continue to make this an eminently readable book. This is especially true now that Skottie Young is illustrating. His style is very cartoony and lends itself well to humor, but can be distracting during the more dramatic scenes. Fortunately, the promised “big battle” against Predator X never actually happens.
Note that issue #42 devotes half of its page count to a chapter in the Endangered Species storyline, which is located here.
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