I’m really enjoying this series.
Like issue 1, this felt like a good old-fashioned romp.
We start with Kurt trying to get through to the confused and aggressive Mystique in Central Park. Amidst her confusion she is looking for her missing baby and I think we get the first ever mention of Irene in regards to Kurt’s mysterious birth?
She throws him off and runs, the dialog makes it clear that this is not the first time Kurt has tried to get through to his errant mummy.
Ghost Bamf (GB) turns up again, to poke Kurt and irritate him, they are interrupted by an angel in the form of Dagger! I haven’t seen Tanya for years. She and Cloak are being hassled by Orchis, being superhumans but not mutants doesn’t stop them from getting flack, she’s worried that Cloak will not react calmly to the harassment. She tries to get Kurt to interact more with the non-mutant hero community in NY.
After she has gone, Kurt’s introspection is rudely interrupted by Rhino as per the cover. This leads into the sequence we saw in the previews of Silver Sable and the Orchis operative controlling Rhino (who SS refers to as Manbun… real name Mr Travers) monitoring the attack from a van filled with monitors and tech. SS notices that Rhino is wearing a headpiece similar to the one Kurt was wearing when he was killing the human heads of state (I don’t remember such a headpiece, will have to go back and check, but if it's a retcon, it’s a minor one).
Data Page from Orchis re Project Lykoourgos which is the sinister tech in question.
Silver Sable’s team want to activate their plan, she doesn’t but Manbun has cut her comms so they go ahead, trapping Kurt under a force shield then hitting him with a sedation dart and a snare.
While SS and her second in command, Kremer, argue over the chain of command, Kurt uses the Hope Sword to cut through the snare. SS says that magic swords weren’t in his file while subduing him again. And grabbing that famous tail. She seems impressed (amateur, some of us have been after that tail for decades…) she has also forgotten Rhino, who is not in the mood for discussing Kurt’s soft tail and is trapped in the force shield with them.
Kurt teleports himself and Silver Sable away; forcefield is above and around them, not below.
They end up in the tunnels below Central Park in the pitch black for a bonding session across a nine panel spread in the dark. Silver Sable still has hold on his tail, just sayin’. He recognises her accent and visited Symkaria while in the circus. Can I just add that it’s so refreshing to have Kurt’s travelling circus life (and his ability to see in low light) referenced again, it feels like decades since anyone noticed or cared. He tells her of seeing a murmuration of starlings is typically charming Kurt style.
Kissing ensues. She’s still got hold of that tail. Not that I am envious or anything.
Their romantic moment is derailed by Rhino who is burrowing down to them. Kurt teleports himself and Rhino up and out high above the ground, Rhino crashes down on top of the van being used by Orchis and Siver Sable’s team. Kurt makes his getaway.
Silver Sable confesses that this gig might be more difficult than anticipated.
Well, I found it delightful.
Various plot points (Mystique, Kurt’s history, Orchis mind control tech) were advanced. Spider cast such as Dagger and Rhino are being used well. Ghost Bamf is still an enigma, we get no further clues. It does sound rather like David/Legion, who is conspicuous by his absence, rather than the golden baby Bamf born in Sins of Sinister.
After a shaky start, Si Spurrier seems to have settled on a version of Kurt his fans will recognise and like; witty, quipping, charming, but also smart, compassionate and introspective, it’s a shame it seemed to take so long for Si to get a handle on him.
What does everyone else think?