Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… Almost done this for this week, next up is ‘X-Men Forever’.  Hope you enjoy it.

X-Men Forever #8 (details | thread)
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Steve Scott
Inker: Al Vey

NOTE: Wolverine does not appear in this issue.

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP (previous issue’s review): The issue opens with an enormous Sentinel attacking the X-Men field team who leap into action. Kitty protects Fury while the rest evade the initial barrage. Then they begin to counterattack while Kitty goes for the Sentinel’s foot. Jean tosses Beast at the robot’s head and he puts out the Sentinel’s eyes. Rogue then finishes it off with a super punch.

Fury is able to briefly talk to Scott and get some telemetry from the battle. But due to the interference they would not be in a position to help for long. We also get a brief look into the headquarters of the mysterious organization that is controlling the robots, but they are not having any more luck communicating with their people on site.

Beast and Nightcrawler go and scout ahead and Jean sends Rogue to keep an eye on Hank. Kitty is pushing herself using her claw to clear the brush for Fury and Jean. She is obviously on edge and nearly attacks Kurt when he comes back to report that they had found a hidden facility.

Meanwhile ‘lil Ororo and Lockheed are wandering around the mansion and run into Gambit. She is feeling out of place but Remy helps to make her see she belongs with the X-Men.

The field team gets inside the facility and finds the place destroyed and evidence of a fight but no bodies. Eventually they stumble on a loan survivor. She is disoriented and claims to know nothing about what happened or anything outside of her genetic research area. Beast finds the same logo on some equipment  that was worn by the people that helped the fake Storm. Rogue does not trust the woman and Jean and Fury seem to agree but Kurt and Beast accept her story.

We briefly see another confrontation between Scott, Xavier and Sabretooth over the latter’s being forced to wear a bracelet so they can locate him. The talk is cut short by renewed contact with the field team. They have located a massive attack at a nearby village and everyone but Fury goes to check it out.

Fury gets jumped by the female survivor who points a gun at him and says her name is Doctor Zigfried Trask, Bolivar’s daughter. The X-Men have trouble of their own as the arrive at the village and find a whole hoard of the massive new Sentinels.

MY TAKE: This was a decent if unimpressive issue. While there was nothing wrong with the story or characterizations specifically, it just did not have much of a flare. We have seen the Sentinels so many times that it is hard to give them much credit as a villain even if they are bigger and more powerful then before. There was really no sense of threat from them.

There are some interesting side plots mostly with the mystery organization but having a new child of Trask has definite possibilities as well. I liked how it tied into the retro story from last month. But the main plot never felt very immersible to me. It is a tale that we have seen too many times before, the hidden base with the killer robots and the survivor who is not what she seems. I reacted more with a shrug then anything else.

I am also still getting used to some of the personality changes. While these are Claremont’s characters in a sense, it can be hard to let go some of the later developments. Even more than that, Kitty is so different that I wonder why she was included at all. It seemed like Claremont wanted to make her like his recent Exiles’ Kitty and that does not work very well. The same goes for Sabretooth, who is probably the most well rounded and grounded of any of them, but he is nothing like what was established. And Beast should not let a simple flattery turn his suspicion into trust. It is just not logical.

My biggest complaint is including Nick Fury on this mission at all. He just does not mesh well with the group and their constant need to protect him hurts their ability to function as a team. I would be all right with having him liaison between the X-Men and S.H.I.E.L.D. but I do not see the point of a human on a mutant combat team. He seems to only be carrying a pistol against giant robots and he does not even manage to get a shot off with it.

In the end this was not a bad issue but it was slow and failed to really engage my interest. The series has been running a bit hot and cold lately but then not every issue can be brilliant. So far there has not been a really bad story so I am happy enough with it over all. I just hope next issue picks up the pace a little bit and we get some bigger plot advances. I know Claremont loves his dialogue but here it seems to come at the expense of the story and that is never a good thing.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.