Kieron Gillen does the best he can here, but the Schism concept is so flawed that his best efforts amount to putting lipstick on a pig. This issue is all talk as Cyclops and Wolverine go around Utopia recruiting X-Men for their respective teams. Gillen enlivens the concept by positing a symbolic parallel story where the X-Men are portrayed as a primitive tribe choosing sides between two tribal leaders, Cyclops and Wolverine, who are fighting around a campfire. The reason for the split between Cyclops and Wolverine is Wolverine’s absurd epiphany that teen mutants should not fight the enemies of mutant kind or humanity, but should merely learn and train until they are adults. The same result as Schism could have been achieved by the X-writers and editors without a high-falutin’, silly breach in philosophy between characters. It makes perfect sense for the X-Men to break up from a standpoint of military and political strategy. If a Galactus or Phoenix level force were to annihilate Utopia, some mutants would still survive in Westchester, and vice versa. By having branches on the West and East coasts, mutants can try to prove to both sides of the country that they can be of service to humanity by defending it against super villain threats. The X-writers could even have revived Grant Morrison’s idea of an X-Corporation with branches around the world. Schism is an opportunity missed in storytelling. Billy Tan gets the art job done without any particular panache or originality. His work looks vaguely Frank Quitely-like. The end of this comic asks, “Which side are you on?” I’m on the side of good comic book storytelling, which this is not.