Written by: Ed Brisson
Art by: Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia, and VC’s Joe Sabino
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 19, 2018

I can’t say I was looking forward to this mini when it first came out mainly because I knew nothing about it. We had just started the podcast and I wasn’t exactly an X-Men scholar by any stretch. However, as the months went on, I started expanding my knowledge and this book was one of the reasons I did and because of that, started liking it even more. It’s one of the most positive self-fulfilling prophecies of all-time! Well, it’s all ending in this issue and I have my fingers crossed that I like this even more than the four issues leading up to now.

The issue starts with the reveal that the last issue’s cliffhanger was a ruse. Yea, Cyclops is not dead or even hurt, but I can’t say the same for Mimic who took Ahab’s shot for him. There is no time to mourn, however, and a barechested Scott puts on the googles and is ready to kick some pirate ass!

While this is going on, the Twins are still turning anyone they can get their hands on into Hounds and it’s really turning into a Who’s Who on the battlefield. Pepe Larraz’s art really gets to shine with all the characters involved in the fight and he makes all the chaos look so good.

The only one who seems to realize they can’t win this fight is Kid Cable and he finally convinces the young X-Men that the only way to win the war is to run from it. We get some quick moments as the young team says goodbye to their older selves and then it’s body sliding time back to… well, not the past they were expecting.

With Ahab on their tail, Cable took the team back to when the Twins first arrived at the Institute and while Jean goes and talks to them, Kid Cable and Scott destroy Ahab’s ship so he can’t follow them on their final jump back. The big thing, however, is Jean learned how to stop the Twins…

The book ends with the young X-Men going back to their time, setting things straight, but also realigning the memories of past and present X-Men which is a great thing for Bobby (I was worried there), but at this point in time, a very important thing for Jean. Yep, she now remembers her younger self talking to the Twins and now knows how to end the fight. Ed Brisson does a really good job here since this timey-whimey stuff can really go wonky fast, but this felt earned and it felt right.

We then get to the end with some funerals, a couple of milkshakes (seem the X-Men make theirs milkshakes as well!!!) and a cliffhanger that had to make every X-Men fan out there smile and maybe even pump their fist and yell.

I loved this issue. I liked the young X-Men so it was a bit more bittersweet for me than a lot of people I’ve talked to but that’s the trick that Brisson pulled…no matter your feelings about the team, this issue can be enjoyed on different levels. I already talked about the art, but again, Pepe Larraz kicks ass here and as an entire package, this was really satisfying.

Final Thoughts:

An great ending to a really enjoyable mini-series. Ed Brisson and Pepe Larraz put the X pieces back into place and they also made me an X-Fan along the way. I know that the first part is way more important, but I hope they realize how important the second part was to me.

9.3/10