Plot: Jaime and Layla are lost in the future, while in the present the X-men try to figure out what Cable’s up to. Charles may know the best, since he has found the injured Cable. Is it he or Bishop (the other X-descendant from the future) who is lying?

Comments: This title has achieved guard status, hasn’t it? It’s one of the core books to the crossover. Well into its third year, it proves elastic and flexible enough (despite its remit to round up the odd leftovers, generally least powerful and most psychologically screwed of mutants) to blend seamlessly into intruding events. Most of that credit goes to the real old master of course, writer Peter David. He has a history of fitting the requisite crossover events into his own title, while somehow not letting plot requirements upset his ongoing apple carts. Here he focuses on Madrox and Miller, two of the oddest odd balls who’ve voluntarily gone back to the future. They want to find out what Cable’s doing, but instead they find a young Bishop; it turns out that there’s more than one (or three, or umpteen) traitors from the future who’ve gone back to the past for agendas still unknown.

We learn that Cable’s motivation may be noble, and that so may be Bishop’s, in one way or another. Bishop confuses everyone by his last minute actions, and his is not the only switch-up keeping things jumping in the issue. David uses the Marauders well, setting them up against the all-new all-action X-force employed by Scott, while the raw New X-men must face the X-predator alone, and Scott and Emma try their best to figure out what’s going on from home-base. It’s a masterful balance indeed, keeping some semblance of the feeling of this book (with consistent focus on Jaime, Layla, and Siryn at least) while making excellent use of the Stepford Cuckoos, Wolverine, Mystique and especially Bishop: This issue is one of the best insights into his character we’ve ever had.

Eaton does the best Patrick Stewart I’ve yet seen when it comes to Charles. While his work isn’t as showy as most of the other artists on this crossover, it’s very competent in delineating a complicated and broad field of characters. “Messiah CompleX” continues to impress with a clear vision that has clearly been understood and acceded to by all the talent involved.

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