There aren’t many moral dilemmas in comics. Well, let me adjust that statement: there are thousands upon thousands of moral dilemmas in comics; there aren’t many moral dilemmas in buying comics. When you decide to purchase this or that character confronting this or that moral dilemma you base your decision primarily on your personal preference, which is a perfectly fine guide for dictating your actions. If I like it, I get more of it. That’s how it should work, and that’s exactly the opposite of how X-Men Forever works. X-Men forever is not good. By any objective aesthetic standard, it’s kind of awful. The only thing more absurd than the ongoing plot is the dialogue, each line of which is inevitably spiked with apparently random boldings and endless, ubiquitous exclamation points. What a TERRIBLE way to WRITE comics! The art, in some contrast, has been consistently average (unless you compare it with the Jim Lee or, yes, Paul Smith work it assays to echo—in which case it falls so far behind it needs a few more exclamation points just to be heard.) This particular issue focused on smaller character moments as various X-folk (Kitty, Jean, Storm) fretted about their latest position in the melodrama until being comforted by a person with blue skin (Nightcrawler, Beast, and Lockheed—respectively). As you’d expect from a comic 20 years ago, there’s also a random and fairly pointless action scene thrown in every few pages just to break up the talk (something to do with the Danger Room). The issue conforms well to the expected pattern the series has followed, which is why I had a ton of fun reading it, and will probably pick up the next one. I laughed; I mocked; I reminisced. By any objective emotional standard, it made me happy. Which is where the moral dilemma comes in. Look, I hate me a rubber necker; but I do so like to see what the hell was holding up that whole line of cars, and I’d like to find out if the wreck was, y’know, cool. There’s always that moment, when the view is right there and all you need is a second to glance and…and that’s your moral dilemma. I hate me some bad comics, and I have no desire to encourage Marvel or any other company to make more bad comics. It is the rare and always accidental piece of art that is so bad it becomes good; in no way should someone try to repeat the camp success of X-Men Forever, a repetition that will become inevitable if we continue to get the book just as the traffic will slow if we continue to glance to the right. I need to stop buying this. And yet. And yet. And yet. It was so much fun! Yes, moral dilemmas are not rare for comics character, but they’re rare for the buyers; maybe we should just enjoy this one while it’s here.