Marvel reset the X-Men franchise with a reboot they called Revolution. The new direction starts six months after the events of Powerless (Era #9, Part 15) in which the X-Men manage to stop the High Evolutionary and Mr. Sinister. This first set does a nice job of telling two separate stories (a problem that plagued the Alan Davis run).
In the X-Men, Colossus, Psylocke, Rogue, Shadowcat, and the newest member Thunderbird (whose origin is told in X-Men Unlimited #27) work to rebuild the High Evolutionary's space station to hand over to Dr. Peter Corbeau and NASA. A new threat emerges to sabotage their efforts. Another advanced branch of humanity was decimated by the High Evolutionary's energy pulse. They call themselves the Neo, and they plan to take their revenge on everybody.
The X-Men also follows Nightcrawler who left super-heroics behind to become a student priest, but he is nearly killed by a Neo ambush. He turns to Dr. Reyes for immediate medical attention. She again finds herself back into the world that she thought she had left behind. Archangel and Detective Charlotte Jones are dragged into the growing confrontation outside the Church of St. Michaels.
In the Uncanny X-Men, Beast, Cable, Phoenix, and Storm meet in Europe to reluctantly help Gambit pay back a Thieves Guild debt owed to Russian spymaster Colonel Alexei Vazhin. The trip brings the team face-to-face with Neo Shockwave Riders, the Neo Lost Souls, and a rogue Neo slave trader.
Chris Claremont creates an entirely new society that has been secretly living amongst us without anybody noticing. That is a tricky thing to pull off (even in comics), and it does not work here. We never really get an understanding of who the Neo are or what makes them different from humans and mutants. The most mind-boggling unanswered question to me: where have they been living this entire time? We get a glimpse of the tribal dynamics but there a lot of inconsistencies. For example, they appear both low or high tech. The only thing we know for sure is that they are in pain from what the High Evolutionary attempted to do, but that is about as deep as we get. I thought maybe the Neo would be an unfolding mystery over the next year, but that was not the case.
Claremont does a good job of getting into the characters. Nightcrawler left the X-Men for the priesthood. Kitty found love and looks to a future outside the X-Men. Pyslocke deals with her newfound power (and the loss of her primary abilities). His excellent handling of Dr. Cecelia Reyes really stands out and is reminiscent of his style with strong women. She never wanted to be an X-Men, but she is forced to learn new ways to use her powers to survive the Neo and to protect Nightcrawler. Claremont really captures her personality, and we see her dealing with a life she still dislikes under extreme circumstances. On the downside, Claremont introduces a new character with the confusing codename Thunderbird (did we really need another one?). He is an introductory character for us to see the new team from an outsider's point of view, but Thunderbird isn't explored as much as I would've expected in that role.
I am a huge fan of Leinel Francis Yu's and Adam Kubert's artwork, and I had enough faith in Chris Claremont to give this batch a read. It was almost there, but not quite.
[5-Stars] X-Men Unlimited (1993) #27
[6-Stars] X-Men (1991) #100
[6-Stars] X-Men (1991) #101
[6-Stars] X-Men (1991) #102
[5-Stars] Uncanny X-Men (1963) #381
[5-Stars] Uncanny X-Men (1963) #382
[5-Stars] Uncanny X-Men (1963) #383
[5-Stars] X-Men Unlimited (1993) #28
Collected in X-Men: Revolution by Chris Claremont
[5-Stars] X-Men Unlimited (1993) #28
Collected in X-Men: Revolution by Chris Claremont
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