Written by: Mathew Rosenberg
Art by: Carlos Villa, Carlos Gomez, Guru-eFX, and Bob Quinn
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 5, 2019

With learning that Mystique is working with Emma Frost, hopefully this issue gives us what is going on! As well as in fact that the run will be rebooted in 3 more issues, hopefully we see some wacky stuff. We saw Wolverine leave as well as seeing couple of the team members killed off. If Rosenberg wants to treat this book like a Suicide Squad type book up until the series gets rebooted and everyone is brought back, then I am fully on board. That last issue’s ending really got me interested more in the book. Let’s dig in and see what we have here…

We found out last issue that Emma is up to something bad, so now lets see where it all started from and what her reasons are! As the issue opens up in a flashback months ago, we see Emma at a Hellfire meeting as the X-Men battle Sentinels down the street. But soon her meeting turned upside down, when it was crashed by some of her former teammates who at first looked like robots, but the team are brainwashed. The fight scene looked eh okay. Not the worse but not one I would adore. They successfully take down Emma and bring her to their superior.

Turns out that it looks like General Robert Callahan is the man running the plan here. Who he plans to break her down and turn on her team. He leaves her in her cell with lights blasted on her for few days and apparently that does the trick. Because right before he is about to leave, she mentions he serum to cure mutants and future mutants. At least we know where this leads to, from the first 10 issues of this Uncanny run.

Next thing she remembers, she is in a bed and Callahan barges in with guards to informing her that the cure is going as like plan and now with the X-Men dead, no one can stop him. She doesn’t believe him until he shows her a newspaper, showing her what happened after X-Man did his damage. If news can’t get any worse, he informs her that she has a device in her head that if she uses her powers she will die. Maybe this is going to be an X-Suicide Squad book after all.

Callahan lets her go due to fact he doesn’t have any use out of her, she tries to rebuild the Hellfire club back up. She does use her powers on a worker at a clothing store and everything seems fine. Which felt odd due to fact Callahan told her there will be consequences if she uses her powers again. But then as they leave the store to get back with their fellow teammates, Callahan and his men show up with guns ablaze, telling her she should have came when he called which felt odd because as far as the reader knows, he didn’t call her. Emma however did use her powers to make the general to put his gun to his head, at that point Callahan made his threat real as he somehow killed Vanisher. Which felt odd because we don’t get to know how he did that and with what.

Later on, Emma learns that Scott is actually alive, and somewhat visits him, through the mind in a way. All to say what she is doing will hopefully bring them back together, as she leaves to visit another X-men, Wolverine. This time she actually has a conversation with him unlike Scott. She tells Wolverine that Scott is back, but seems like he doesn’t care. Knowing that he could careless, she implanted something in his mind for Logan to track down Scott. Which she could have done that in a quick panel or so, both of those scenes felt a bit wasted, and could have been used for something else. But she does somewhat get busted as Callahan tosses Marrow across the floor, due to fact he knows that Scott is alive, he assumed she saw him. Emma uses her wits to let the general know, they could trick him into working for them secretly.

As we now see what is happening in the present, as Mr. Sinister and Captain America (aka Mystique) are in a parking garage and who we can assume are the new members of the Hellfire club. Of course can’t have an ending without a great cliffhanger, as Wolverine shows up claws a blazing. Unfortunately everything in that scene but Wolverine showing up felt poorly executed and a bit of a waste.

Final thoughts:

At first I thought this was the penultimate issue, glad we still have three more issues. Otherwise would have hated it! We get a nice history of how things got here, unfortunately it could have been better. Had some scenes that felt pointless or could have been cut down while some scenes could have been bit more to explain. The art however was great and the action scenes were great to view!

7.5/10