X-Men: Schism, the latest X-Event to grace our eyes just ended. While I liked the direction this event has brought the X-Men, in general, I have quite a few qualms about it.
Let me begin with the prelude. Personally, I really enjoyed these issues because we are able to delve into the mind of Cyclops, as well as other prominent X-characters. While these issues were spent mostly talking and staring outside the window, I felt that the atmosphere (coloring) really put a sense of dread into the whole event that followed it. One of the better series of character development from all the X-Books I've read.
But moving on to the main event itself, I felt a bit divided in whether or not it was actually a good event or not. On one hand, we knew the direction this was going to take our beloved characters through the teasers that have been released and I was pretty excited about seeing how they were going to get there. On the other hand, it looks as if Marvel just took somewhat of a jump in itself.
It started out capturing the attention of the audience with Quentin Quire and his bust in of the United Nations to wreck havoc. Furthermore, we also got a look at a new villain, Kade Kilgore, who killed his father and subsequently became the leader of the Hellfire Club. There was a sort of novelty with this kid evil genius who wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. Without a doubt, the beginning got me really interested.
Then we got to the middle. Bring in more of these evil kids, then suddenly the novelty was gone, especially the way they were able to take down the best of the best X-Men, who had decades of experience under their belt, without breaking a sweat. Immediately, they felt kind of boring from there.
But enough about that, let us get to the focal point of this event. Cyclops versus Wolverine. I found it really interesting how they built up their argument with regards of whether or not to get the X-kids to fight. This was one of the better portions of the whole arc for me. That is before Jean Grey was brought up and it suddenly felt like they were just arguing for the sake of arguing and not because of their ideals.
However, I am thankful that they got the ship back in order in Schism #5 when Scott and Logan never mentioned a word about Jean and their differences were in full effect. The first part of the issue was more of a fan service, which was still cool, but what really made the issue good was the conversation at the resolution. While Scott seemingly was right based on the events of the closing issue, Wolverine also had a very valid argument on his side and this was a very believable cause for their eventual rift, causing Wolverine to leave Utopia.
Sadly, though, we did not get to see why certain X-Men, even just the more prominent ones, chose the side they chose. But, of course, I feel that all will be explained in ReGenesis.
All in all, I'm still divided with this event because of how the middle of it went. But in the end, I liked where it is taking the X-Men.
OVERALL RATING: 3 of 5
Quick Points
+ good character development
+ interesting Cyclops-Wolverine dynamic
+ opens new era for X-books
+ compelling character in Kade Kilgore
- reduced novelty of Kade Kilgore through other evil kids
- lack of story element that ties everything together
- lack of explanation in the end (i.e. why people joined Cyclops' or Wolverine's team)