This is my first encounter with the writing of Brian Wood, and it appears to be very promising, as Wood has a distinct take on the X-Men mythos. This X-Book is spotlighting a four woman, one man team led by Storm. Quite frankly, I have never been much of a Storm fan. Her powers are not unique, and her character has always been underdeveloped. I think of her as the X-Man best known for exclaiming “Goddess!” whenever the going gets rough. Wood is taking her character in a direction where she has become an independent, calculating and perhaps cynical leader. Could it be that Ororo has changed and grown as a result of becoming queen of Wakanda? It might be interesting to see Storm involved in some Wakandan court politics. Colossus is the male on the team, and he no longer appears to be possessed by the Juggernaut. Perhaps this story takes place after AVX, and the Phoenix force has evicted the Juggernaut from Colossus’ psyche while simultaneously singeing off his hair? Thus far in the story arc, the team is investigating an ancient subspecies of mutant that is analogous to what Neanderthals are to Homo sapiens. At the end of the story, Psylocke exclaims that she “Knows where [the subspecies] comes from,” but that is a mystery left to be cleared up in future issues. The art in this comic is very nice. David Lopez draws women with realistic, soft, round faces. Rachelle Rosenberg’s coloring stands out in this issue, with lovely scenes over the ocean where the sky is a vivid orange. Ororo’s eyes are appropriately pale blue in her close ups. In a panel near the end of the book, Psylocke strikes a crouching martial arts pose that would make a great poster. I also like the abstract, collage covers contributed by Jorge Molina for this and the previous issue.