This is a long space epic written by one of the best comic writers of all time and it’s … Not bad.
Picking up where Deadly Genesis left off, Gabriel “Vulcan” Summers has released Darwin and fled the planet to get vengeance on the Shi’Ar royal family, specifically a character named D’Ken, who killed Gabriel’s mother (who was also Cyclops and Havok’s mother).
The X-Men saddle up to take Vulcan on.
Vulcan’s pretty badass. On his way to the Shi’ar Throneworld, he destroys multiple military craft and kills members of the Imperial Guard before Gladiator stops him and puts him in prison.
But a revolutionary faction frees him, and Vulcan aligns with Deathbird. He also aligns with D’Ken, ironically, and together they overthrow Empress Lilandra. D’Ken is Deathbird’s brother, and Vulcan’s love for her distracts him from his goal of killing D’Ken.
Then Vulcan and Deathbird actually marry.
But then the X-Men crash the wedding. There’s a big battle here where Vulcan kills Corsair.
He also kills D’Ken, getting the revenge he craved.
The upshot of the battle is that the X-Men lose. Vulcan becomes emperor. Professor X is sent back to Earth, with most of the X-Men, by Lilandra–to ensure his safety.
Havok stays behind with Polaris, Jean Grey and the surviving members of the Starjammers–determined to take the Empire back from Vulcan.
It takes a year to tell this story, which is actually nice. It’s not rushed, Philip Tan’s art is terrific, and I really like that the cast is relatively small. There are less than a dozen X-Men involved. That said, Vulcan’s motivations aren’t always clear and the Shi’Ar are never super-interesting to me so…I rate this as above average overall, with some strong moments throughout and obvious long-term continuity implications.
There’s also some nice development of Warpath, who is a major player in this story but a character who hasn’t gotten much attention up to now.
English (US) · 