But Brandon Peterson? What I wouldn't give to see him on a monthly book. Jeez his art is beautiful.

Actual comic itself: Xavier takes a trip inside his mind and is yet again haunted by those he cares about. Those he has hurt. This time: his father, his son, and his first best friend, Carter. And to gather some of his past memories, to learn who his father was and to get a better grasp on who he is, he has to visit his friend Carter in a mental institution as he was one of the millions that lost his mutant powers.

And we learn that Carter and Xavier were tested on by a group of scientists. A group that thought their cells, their DNA, would live on forever. That group included Irene Adler (Destiny), Brian Xavier, Kurt Marko, and Doctor Milbury. We find out Milbury was running explicit tests on their blood and DNA and is in fact MR. SINISTER (why he isn't Dr. Sinister is beyond me, probably because of Doc Doom or something). Maybe his doctorate was honorary from Columbia College or something.

Anyways, Xavier has visited Carter and learns that Sinister had plans for him from day one and then we learn Xavier is being followed by who knows what or whom (and Xavier uses his powers to give some pigeons the intentions to land on his would-be attackers). People die, and we get a brief look inside the Hellfire Club and learn a little bit more about Cronos (not much, as still unseen, but I think it's probably Cassandra Nova, back for more, or some form of Brood Queen or some hybrid).

The issue ends with everybody's favorite dirty Cajun, Gambit. And he guarantees that the next ish will be a rollickin' good time (hopefully). This book only lost book of the week because it is a lot of setup. The book is wonderful in its premise and does a lot of good things to make Xavier a readable character, but sometimes, we just need a little bit more than the smoke and mirrors/espionage/Jason Bourne thing. The book is slightly coming off like Wolverine Origins started out to be, and we're not getting much of the Legacy aspect just yet.

I suppose we should blame that on the idea of Trades. Instead of the comic breaking down into 6 issue arcs, I think this book would be well-suited for 2-4 issue arcs that are short in premise and long in ideas. That way, it would give it the over-arching plot of the Legacy that they are struggling for. Otherwise, they run the risk of falling into the trap of been there, done that. I don't think Carey will, but one can worry.