Problems here? Why would Warren ever want to drive a car in the first place? If I had wings, I would never stop flying. Ever. Not to mention I'm still furious about the timeline and how this fits in with X-Force and why he has feathered wings in this book and metallic wings in that. But I think X-Force will probably answer that question and will probably do so soon enough that Warren will probably have his feathered wings back anyways. And then I can stop bitching about this.

Anyways, Warren flies ahead due to business at his corporate headquarters, leaving Cyclops in the car by himself and then leaving him to venture forth into the new X-compound. There we see Nightcrawler, Wolvie, and Beast. A nice little touch with Beast is the mention that he has been cooking all morning because his dexterity is coming back in his fingers and he is capable of opening cans and flipping eggs. I'm sure that will lead somewhere else in the future, but for now, I'm just happy that Beast is being used in a book.

Colossus is still heartbroken by the loss of Kitty and Wolvie is drinking beer early in the morning. Pure X-Men. Up until Pixie falls through the door and they have to deal with that tragedy and see the mask in her hands, the mask of the Hellfire Cult. And Cyclops is pissed.

With that, change of scene to the Hellfire Cult hideout and their leader giving a speech about taking the city back from the mutants and then they disperse. One of the members stop La Roache and asks him about his past since another member told him that La Roache used to be La Rocha and work for the X-Corporation. You see, it seems that La Roache and De La Rocha used to be Empath, who just so happens to be one of the New Mutants from way back and was one of the original Emma Frost Hellions. He has mental abilities and is pushing the gang to do these awful things, and it just so happens, it look like he is being mentally pushed by the Red Queen.

And with that, the X-cats are pissed and ready for a battle. They use Karma as bait for the Hellfire Cult in the same area where Pixie was attacked, and then Wolvie and Kurt take to the streets to kick some cult ass.

As I mentioned, a much better issue than the last. Yes, I could deal with no more nonsense between Emma and Scott, we get it, they're lovers, I could deal with less green shit (there was only one real mention of going green in the whole issue), but as a whole, it felt like a strong package all around. I'm not a fan of recycling old ideas and reusing them in new ways (like Hellfire Cult and the upcoming Sisterhood of Evil Mutants that I'm sure Red Queen is part of), but for the most part, it feels like the X-Men, in ways that Astonishing and Young X-men fails to do, this brings them back.

It takes them in a soap opera direction and makes them heroes in a city that actually may enjoy having them around. And I can accept that. If they would just explain why Warren looks different in X-Force and this, I'd be happy. But alas, I'm still frustrated by this.

Last mention, Greg Land's artwork on this issue was very strong. A lot stronger than usual. I'm not his biggest fan, nor am I his biggest detractor, but this issue definitely made me remember why I ever started to like him. His Logan, full-on cowboy Logan look, was great. His sense of musculature and the way some of the characters moved was good. His body types all were very different, and yes, Emma was probably visually based off a pornstar or a girl in Playboy, but that's what she is. The best thing money can buy.

And this book was almost there. It just fell flat as not much actually happened. It's still in the set-up phase, and that makes it falter near the end. It takes the wind out of the sails when this is the only book dealing with this extensive cast and really making sense of them. So for that, a few points were deducted. But still a much stronger showing.