X-23 #9: Collision Chapter 3

When we last left X-23 she had just been thrown into a trunk to be carted away for Malcolm Colcord and Daken to experiment on. What horros await X-23? Which side is Daken really on? What happened to Gambit? All these questions will hopefully answered....now!


The issue starts off with X-23 in an isolation chamber at Colcord's HQ and we get some panels of Colcord taunting X-23 about a few different things. We then jump to a very cute little scene of Tyger and Gambit cuddling after we wakes up from getting knocked out. They talk about the good ol days when they had nothing to lose and weren't responsible to anyone or anything. But when they started caring they became vulnerable.


Flash forward to Colcord's office and we see him go over all his intell on X-23. Daken show's up and they end up talking about X-23's old trigger scent. Daken asks if he has any, and Colcord says his people make up a batch and then asks why. Daken asks why he would have it unless he planned to use it. Daken and Colcord "discuss" Colcord's intents for Weapon X and  Daken reminds him of who he's dealing with.
 Then we get to meet a mysterious stranger who seems to buying trigger scent from one of Colcord's cronies at the docks of Madripoor. 


Next we see more of Colcord's cronies while Daken watches and secretly cuts an incision on X-23's manacles he then leaves. The cronies rev up  a chainsaw and begin to cut open X-23's back but she escapes and unleashes the fury all the while thinking about how these people think that she's only a thing and not a person. When the deed is over her eyes are blank and she looks like she's doing a Scorpion from Mortal Kombat impression. He eyes come back and she seems to be in shock at what she has done. Perhaps the trigger scent? Daken comes in with X-23's file and the two chit chat about life. The two compare their personal lives and how one was raised by the Facility and the other by Romulus. X-23 says the two are alike. Daken of-course denies this and threatens to hack X-23's head off. Meanwhile at the docks the Goon who gave the mysterious stranger the trigger scent sample now gives her three new samples: a X-23 sample, a Weapon X sample and a Daken sample. Then the mysterious stranger thanks him by pumping him full of lead.


We then return to Daken and X-23 as the twp explore Colcord's facility and eventually come across a cell block. The cells open and out come a shit town of creatures come out ready to tear them to shreds. And that is Ms. Liu leaves us for now. 


Liu's writing is as always in top form...nuff said on that topic. I really dig Stegman's art a lot more than the last issue and I hope he stays on X-23 for a while. Although Sana Takeda will be on the next arc. 


I think the biggest question that spawns out of this issues is this: Who is the mysterious stranger who is after X-23's DNA sample and trigger scent? A easy guess might be X-23's old nemesis/handler Kimura. But I don't this is the case. Liu has been pretty clear in her interviews that she's expanding X-23's friends/enemies. So who ever this mysterious stranger is...I'm curious to see what her next move is. 

All in the next chapter in Collision picks up the pace while setting up some future key events and it ears a solid 8 out of 10 Gs.

New Mutants #24: Age Of X Chapter 6 & Age of X

This is it ladies and gentlemen. The Age of X Finale. Everything comes to a close...or does it? Find out now!

The issue picks up right after Chapter 5 with the human soldiers breaching the walls of Fortress X and the truth behind the creation of the his distorted reality revealed. Cannonball leads the charge against the human invaders while Xavier and Magneto go after Moira. We get to see some great scenes of the X-Men fighting the human legions and their mechs. And watching them from the side lines is Wolverine. As you might recall Wolverine lives in fear of dying if he pops his claws. But watching his friends and comrades fight for their lives even if the enemy is fake. But then....SNIKT! And Wolverine joins the fray.

Meanwhile Moira tries to destroy the universe because of her failure to make a world for Legion where he could be a hero. But as she tries to throw the box in the fire, Kitty phases through and catches it. Magneto and Xavier come in to help fight Moira. But Moira gives a typical "I am God. I control the horizontal and the vertical"  speech and smacks the two around but then Legion shows up.

Meanwhile outside we see more fighting. And the Humans score a point by managing to send Fortress X crumbling to the ground. Cannonball takes a shot to the chest and Rogue borrows his power his power to kick some ass. And Wolverine and Basilisk stand upon a giant mountain of corpses slaying anyone that comes their way. Needless to say....BAD FUCKING ASS.

Meanwhile back with Moira, Legion, Magneto and Xavier. Legion does his best to reason with Moira and then reabsorbs her back into his mind and then tells the other too that he's going to set things right. He then flies outside makes the the Human Forces vanish as they were about to box in the X-Men. He then tells everyone what he did and that's he's going to fix things. He then reabsorbs the world and brings things back to the status quo while Xavier narrates on how proud he is of his son.

Things are now back to normal. Fortress X is now Utopia. Megan lost her demon wings and now is back to Pixie. Scott's back to the condom suit and visor instead of the Shao Khan mask. Hellion is back to having no hands and so on. But despite all the changes they're still not out of the woods yet. They barely remember their old lives but then Emma and the Cuckoos show up and Xavier says that they will help each of them fill in the blanks. Frenzy goes and lays a wet one of Cyke's lips right in front of Emma but Emma laughs and says she's going to give the skank a five minuet head start. There's also some annomilies left over as well: Chamber is still around as well as Revenant.

Xavier finishes off the issue with some narration about how in the wake of this there will be reunions, repairs, revisions, and anomalies. It should be of note, that under each of these words there was two characters interacting. For reunions it was Gentle and Pixie. For repairs it was Psylocke and Angel making out. For revisions it was Dani appearing to chew out Hellion as he contemplates his navel. And for anomalies Storm and Namor give each-other a look. Then Xavier and Blindfold have a chat and then we hear "Moira" try to tell David to let her try again but he holds Fortress X in his hands and then closes it making it vanish.

And that ladies and gentlemen is Age of X.

This issue was very good. It was good to see everything come together and at the same time leave us wondering about the aftermath of Age of X. Which according to Mike Carey will be felt for a while. There are still questions to be answered and anomalies to find their place.  Kurth's art was good and it worked well with the story telling.

Overall I would give New Mutants #24 a solid 9 of 10

But now lets talk about Age of X as a whole. Overall I think its a pretty damn good story. It has some good moments and it had some so-so moments. It was a good solid X-Event which didn't come off as super long and annoying. I'm looking forward to next week's issue where Mike begins to explore AoX's aftermath.