Era #6, Part 1: Mutant Genesis

Grade: A

The new X-Men title (which I will be calling X-Men (v2)) opens with a memorable bang! I mean Guinness World Record for Best Selling Comic big. I won't disagree that this run helped fuel the speculation market, but that doesn't mean the stories weren't good. OK, maybe not the best stories, but I really like them. Jim Lee sets a colorful, beautifully-drawn and action-packed tone with these to first two arcs.

[4-Stars] 1 - "Rubicon" Magneto comes out of hiding to save religious zealots calling themselves the Acolytes (first appearance). They have have been seeking the Master of Magnetism to protect them and all persecuted mutants. The sudden revelation of Asteroid M above Russia has created international unrest made worse by the Acolytes subsequent attack on Genosha. Cyclop's Blue Team must try to defuse the situation before it gets worse, but they are unable to prevent Magneto from reclaiming the nuclear warheads left aboard the Soviet submarine Leningrad he sunk years earlier.

[4-Stars] 2 - "Firestorm" Magneto abducts Professor X and Moria MacTaggert after learning that she altered his DNA when he was a child in her care. With Magneto's possession of the nuclear warheads, his position above Russia and the damage to Genosha, the United Nations reluctantly agrees to initiate the Magneto Protocols. It is a powerful weapon that will destroy Asteroid M and everybody on it.

[4-Stars] 3 - "Fallout!" Storm must lead the Gold Team to Asteroid M to stop Magneto and save their friends and teammates before the Magneto Protocols is executed. Their task is made much more difficult after Magneto forced Moria MacTaggert to alter the Blue Team's DNA to make want to join Magneto and the Acolytes.

[4-Stars] 4 - "The Resurrection and the Flesh" Matsuo Tsurahaba is back, and he is using the resources of the Hand and Fenris to resurrect Omega Red (first appearance), an icon of the collapsing Soviet Union. Their plan relies on capturing Wolverine, so Matsuo sends his assassins on a stealth attack against the unsuspecting X-Men.

[4-Stars] 5 - "Blowback" Wolverine was once part of a black ops team that he no longer remembers. Matsuo and Fenris are scouring the X-Man's repressed memories for the location of the Carbonadium Synthesizer he hid over 30 years ago while on a mission. Another member of that team, Maverick (first appearance), secretly helps the badly wounded Wolverine while the X-Men arrive to find their missing teammate.

[4-Stars] 6 - "Farther Still" Sabretooth is the third member of the black ops team, and he has arrived to help Matsuo Tsurahaba and Fenris. Psylocke is back under Matsuo's influence (remember her origin in Acts of Vengeance?) and is instructed to join Sabretooth in a hunt to find Wolverine and his benefactor, Maverick.

[4-Stars] 7 - "Inside...Out!" It in the story ender, we learn more about the black ops team's team (Wolverine, Sabretooth and Maverick) and their final mission to procure the Carbonadium Synthesizer. The final battle pits Marverick and the X-Men against Matsuo, Fenris, Sabretooth and the Hand.