The coolest things about writer Victor Gischler’s current X-Men story arc has been the great character moments we get with the X-Men’s team-up with The Future Foundation and the fact that this story has felt fresh and unlike any of the other X-books. Issue #18 gives us a few good character exchanges and a little bit of the cool and fresh world, but not enough to make this quite as enjoyable as the previous two issues. This isn’t a bad book and Gischler does move his story along. But as it unfolds and the focus moves more toward the alien races, I haven’t been able to stay connected to it. The Scorpius and their king don’t do a lot for me although their connection with Doom is pretty cool.

The art in this issue also fell off a bit. Pierfederici takes over for Molina and it’s quite noticable. The book lacks a visual consistency both in the environments and especially the characters. Costumes look different from one panel to the next and there are occasional issues with body proportions. Also I couldn’t help but notice Pierfererici’s weird version of Wolverine’s mask. But he does do well drawing both the Scorpius and Kaddak. I only wish the human interpretations were as consistent as the aliens.

It sounds like I’m really railing on this book when it’s actually a decent issue. The story still has some intrigue and if Gischler gets back to the fun character moments, this thing could finish well. But this issue just wasn’t as satisfying and it left me wanting more from it.