The “Raid on Graymalkin” crossover established a clear canyon that exists between the X-Men and Uncanny X-Men teams. The ramifications of the latest X-crossover may be over but the impact of what happened will continue to be felt. Especially as we are a little over a month away from the X-Manhunt crossover that will take over the franchise in March. How will the march to the next crossover go? Let’s find out with X-Men #10.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Jed MacKay
Artist: Netho Diaz
Inker: Sean Parsons
Colorist: Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
X-MEN #10 SOLICITATION
“In the wake of the raid on Graymalkin, the X-Men are fugitives — and ONE knows exactly where to find them. Heavily armed Shrike squads are en route to the Factory to serve warrants and lock up the X-Men, and it won’t be long until the X-Men find themselves right back in Graymalkin. Unless…” – Marvel Comics
REVIEW
After the big crossover involving multiple X-Men teams Jed MacKay along with artist Netho Diaz narrows the focus to tell a character spotlight story. In X-Men #10’s case, the character spotlight is given to the team’s leader Cyclops. In the process we get one of the best stories focusing on Scott Summers there has been.
Showing that the “Raid on Graymalkin” has larger ramifications, just like Uncanny X-Men #9 did last week, is a great and easy way to show the importance of the crossover. It isn’t something where once the conflict is dealt with that the team can move on from. The X-Men as a whole are in a delicate spot where every move is being monitored by all. And with them making such a public move in rescuing Beast and others, there are consequences to those actions.
That is where Cyclops gets to really showcase himself as the best leader around. Even if you had doubt about his leadership status with Magneto around X-Men #10 quickly establishes you shouldn’t be. Right when Magneto looks to get ready risk making his condition worse in order to defend the team’s Alaskan base Cyclops and the rest of the X-Men arrive just in time. There is no time wasted as Cyclops quickly assess the situation and has the team ready to deal with things.
What really showcased Cyclops expert leadership was the fact he was ready for ONE* to strike. He knew going into the raid on Graymalkin that their enemies in the government would seize on the opportunity to go after them. Cyclops hiring the Hellions as a strike team in case this happened was well done.
Which all worked well with how Cyclops completely owned the meeting with Agent Lundqvist. Having this back-up plan in place with the Hellions also showed how much Cyclops has grown. His time as a General of Krakoa showed him other ways of handling things that aren’t just deploying the X-Men to defeat their enemies. He knew that people like Agent Lundqvist would not be able to handle an immediate monetary cost being brought up.
This plan gave even greater weight to Cyclops words that Agent Lundqvist could not handle whatsoever. That is something Cyclops clearly saw as he added to the weight by reminding Lundqvist what would happen if he tried to kill him, including bringing up the Phoenix. It was the ultimate power move that further established how Cyclops is using all his experience to be a better X-Men leader.
With the intensity of the story Netho Diaz made sure the power of Cyclops words had an intensity through the way Scott was expressing himself. It wasn’t just simply what he was saying it but how. You can’t blame Lundqvist for sweating in this exchange as Cyclops held all the power. Even Lundqvist attempt to assert some authority was just a weak attempt that Cyclops immediately picked up on. The way Diaz framed it all made this dialogue heavy issue feel like a lot of action was going down through a war of words.
FINAL THOUGHTS
X-Men #10 is one of the best showcases of Cyclops as a leader. Cyclops wasted no time showing that everything he and the X-Men do is done with great thought. Even as their enemies try to seize on an opportunity Scott Summers had a plan in place to deal with the situation. In process their some intriguing developments that could have larger ramifications for the franchise.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10
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