X-Men: Raid on Graymalkin

1407 Graymalkin Lane used to be the home of the X-Men.  Now it’s the site of Graymalkin Prison, a facility run by the ruthless Corina Ellis and used to house problematic mutants – or whoever she’s able to grab off the street.  That includes Beast, Jubilee, and new recruit Calico.  Cyclops isn’t going to take this lying down and he’s already got a plan to go in, cause a lot of damage, and get these mutants out without killing any humans.  The problem is that Rogue also isn’t going to sit this out and she’s headed in along with Gambit, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and the new kids she’s recruited to get their people out as well.  Even if this is meant to be a prison for mutants, it seems unlikely that Graymalkin is going to survive two teams of X-Men butting heads within it.

This crossover, the first of the new era, was set up pretty well at the end of the first volumes of “X-Men” and “Uncanny” and even showcases some impressive moments of inter-title coordination between co-writers Jed MacKay and Gail Simone.  It winds up fizzling out in the end, unfortunately, as a lot of what goes on here feels like it’s being forced to set up future storylines whether or not it’s consistent with the characters or continuity.  Things like having two X-teams butting heads isn’t new and it feels played up for the sake of extra drama here.  Then you’ve got moments like Cyclops criticizing Rogue for bringing kids into the field, when he was perfectly willing to do that during the “Schism” era.  There’s also the stuff with Professor X, which feels like it should be setting up “X-Manhunt,” but really falls flat here as his big return doesn’t add anything to the plot, nor does it really go anywhere.

The crossover does have decent art throughout, even though regular artists Ryan Stegman and David Marquez only contribute two issues between them.  Fortunately Netho Diaz, Javier Garron, and Federico Vicetini are here to pick up the slack.  Diaz handles the final issue well, which isn’t really part of the crossover and feels more like a regular issue of “X-Men” as Cyclops faces off against Agent Lundqvist of O*N*E again after the raid.  It’s a tense issue that shows the veteran X-Man displaying a more focused and effective version of the ruthlessness he displayed before and after “Avengers vs. X-Men.”  That makes me more hopeful for what’s coming down in future volumes of that series, even as this crossover doesn’t make me anticipate future events like it.