This book has a wow factor from page one.  GORGEOUS pencils from Valentine De Landro.  And David continues to be one of the best writers in the X-Universe.  But, while this issue is very very good, it’s not without its flaws.  David’s humor gets a little wearing by the end.  There are a few real clunkers by the end.  And DeLandro’s art, while mostly gorgeous, suffers from his lack of background faces.  If you’re going to go to all the trouble pencil in Scott’s whiskers in the close up, why are you going to make Layla and Madrox look like Clayface when they’re standing behind him?  It’s off-putting.

But those are small gripes.  David’s sense of his characters is so far beyond anyone else writing an X-book, it’s astonishing.  And his portrayal of Rictor and Shatterstar is nicely three-dimensional.  He writes gay characters the way Judd Winick THINKS he writes gay characters.  And, while De Landro’s sense of negative space is occasionally a bit much for me, it’s not without its charms.