Much like Spider-Man the X-Men have gotten a new start although in their case there was no deal with the devil and memory erasing, thank God. What the X-Men do have is a new home town and base of operations. So much for accessibility issues, take that Robert Kirkman 😉

Like in the previous issue we see the X-Men getting adjusted to their new situation in San Francisco, but this issue is not entirely set up for the new status quo, things are starting to pick up. Fraction starts us off right where one of the epilogues in issue 500 left us with Pixie leaving a concert while some thugs from the Hellfire Cult trail right behind her. We see some action here, but I think the best is yet to come from that situation especially after the light that was shed on the Hellfire Cult in this issue. Aside from the Pixie scene the issue is mostly dominated by quick light-hearted character moments which provide some laughs; each character also received a small introduction box and these also provided some laughs as well as useful information for new readers. The exception to the full on light-heartedness is a nicely done exchange between Emma and Scott which hints towards the possibility of some interesting developments in the future. I am grateful that Fraction and Brubaker are trying to make this title fun again and so far they have been successful. A far from perfect issue but I am confident that in time this book will be great.

Apparently a lot of people really hate Greg Land’s artwork, but I am not one of them. Even though I have always been more concerned with the writing bad art can still take some of the enjoyment out of a book for me. Land’s art does not come close to doing that.