By Allison Senecal - Here we are, the last push before we find out the fate of our marvelous mutants (for now). Explosions, reveals, revolution! Revolution???? Finally!

Nate Grey has this all under control. Doesn’t he? DOES HE?

Previously on Age of X-Man

Age of X-Man: Apocalypse and the X-Tracts #3
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Salva Espin
Colorist: Israel Silva
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Key Characters: Apocalypse, Genesis, Kitty Pryde, Eye-Boy, Dazzler, Omega Red, Unveil, Colossus

The X-Tracts depart on their new mission to locate Omega Red before the X-Men do. X-23 tells Colossus he’s been acting funny since Apocalypse’s rally, and he enters his art exhibition only to find Kitty Pryde, who knows the art is inspired by her. Meanwhile, Evan attempts to heal Trevor’s hands, to no avail. Evan confides that he’s been having visions of Apocalypse’s dark history. Dazzler and Unveil battle Omega Red. Colossus and Kitty ponder whether or not they used to know each other before they’re interrupted by Apocalypse, who attacks Colossus and manipulates Kitty into leaving with him again. Omega Red is getting the best of the ladies, so Evan portals into the fray with a Cap-inspired look.

In light of the recent-ish developments with Kitty and Piotr’s relationship, it’s tough to buy 100% into the romantic memory loss angst in this series, but considering how one-sided it’s been with Piotr’s pining, it manages to work. I still think this is the weakest of the miniseries, but there’s just enough ominous tension building with Omega Red and Apocalypse’s true motivations to keep me curious enough for what I assume will be a wild penultimate issue.

Age of X-Man: Marvelous X-Men #4
Writers: Zac Thompson & Lonnie Nadler
Artist: Marco Failla
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Key Characters: Storm, Jean Grey, Magneto, Nightcrawler, Nature Girl, Laura Kinney, Nate Grey, Colossus

The X-Men and X-Tremists are patrolling a parade, where Apocalypse shows up to influence everyone to touch and kiss. Colossus and Kitty kiss, and the crowd continues to froth until Jean telepathically disperses them. The X-Men once again argue over what to do about the X-Tracts and discuss the fissures and psychic energy spikes that have been occurring globally. Jean and Nate leave to close some of the fissures, and as Nate cries out in pain, we cut to a panel of the glowing Life Seed. Piotr keeps brooding over his feelings for Kitty, and Department X show up to arrest him. Jean has a vision of Scott inside one of the psychic fissures, but waves it off, and Laura smells someone all over her house. Nature Girl shows up to tell her there’s been a murder.

Hey, I finally remembered Nate Grey is dying, and that adds a bit more bite to this entire Age of X-Man thing, eh. Plus, now that we’ve had a couple reveals about Apocalypse, the Cuckoos, and Legion, we know Nate isn’t the only one pulling the strings here. All the series finales should be wild, and this one especially, with that “there’s been a murder!” cliffhanger. If you die in this reality, do you die in the 616 too? Who’s dead? A Department X member, or Colossus?

Age of X-Man: Amazing Nightcrawler #4
Writer: Seanan McGuire
Artist: Juan Frigeri
Colorist: Dono Sánchez-Almara
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Key Characters: Nightcrawler, Meggan, Stepford Cuckoos, Surge, Hellion, Lady Mastermind

Kurt and his posse are still battling Regan Wyngarde’s hangers-on when this issue opens. Kurt’s team bests Regan’s, and while enjoying the crowd’s applause, he sees Mystique and Tenia, who both disappear. Turns out Meggan has disappeared during the fight and Kurt enlists the Cuckoos aid in finding her. They insist they can’t find her without their other sister but Celeste ends up helping him anyway. They find Tenia watching movies with Meggan, who is revealed to have been, unbeknownst to her, taking on Mystique’s from in an attempt to connect with Kurt’s past. They find out the Cuckoos have been suppressing other people’s memories so they’d be allowed to stay together.

I don’t even know what to say, except WHAT and WHAT?? Here we’ve all been agonizing for months over Mystique existing in the Age of X-Man and over in Uncanny, and it’s not Mystique here at all. Anyways, definitely not the reveal I was expecting and hats off to the creative team and event showrunners for that. The Cuckoo twist was also surprising as heck, and I’m curious, now that we know of a few other big movers and shakers, who exactly they’re operating for.

Age of X-Man: NextGen #4
Writer: Ed Brisson
Artist: Marcus To
Colorist: Jason Keith
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Key Characters: Glob, Armor, Pixie, Anole, Shark Girl, Bling, Angel, Maggott

Armor walks in on Glob revealing all his secrets to Rockslide via wax, just as he did to her. They all leave to find Anole, who they know is neck-deep in trouble. Pixie runs to Dean Angel and Mr. Yoshida and tells them she thinks Armor and Anole are unveil addicts. Anole travels to a safehouse where Maggott greets him. Anole tells the other revolutionaries that his friends are onto them and they decide to speed up the library bombing. Meanwhile, the Dean has called Department X, who come to investigate, and Shark-Girl unwittingly rats her friends out to Psylocke. Armor, Glob, and Rockslide find the safehouse and a fight ensues when Maggott won’t tell them where Anole is. Department X find Glob’s journal, and Anole successfully sets his bomb off in the Hope Summers Memorial Library. KABOOM!

Speaking of death and how it works in this reality, poor Anole? R.I.P. Anole? I mean this went exactly how I thought it would. The event needed a huge explosion, and well, it’s been building to this one for four issues. Now we can also tie Rockslide’s search for info on the Life Seed to that panel (in Marvelous) of it chillin in a basement. (Nate’s basement??) Possibly also to Hickman’s plans for the X-line, but *shushing motion*.

Age of X-Man: X-Tremists #4
Writer: Leah Williams
Penciler: Georges Jeanty
Inker: Roberto Poggi
Colorist: Jim Charalampidis
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Key Characters: Psylocke, Jubilee, Blob, Iceman, Northstar, Moneta, Rictor

Northstar grows suspicious of Blob and Psylocke’s growing friendliness toward each other and flies off to brood on the fact he could kill himself by traveling at the speed of light...if he wished it. The next day at the office he meets Moneta, who has been recently mind-wiped. Blob says they have the Priteca Theater on their list of places to investigate and Jean-Paul quickly calls dibs. When he arrives, he’s greeted by Rictor, who greets Jean-Paul like a regular customer. Back in the office, Moneta uses her powers on herself! DUN DUN DUN. Jean-Paul tells Rictor he’s there to arrest him but Ric is dismissive, saying he won’t. Bobby shows up, having followed Jean-Paul and the two argue. Ric interrupts them, inviting them to share some booze with him, which they do. Jean-Paul talks about how he feels like someone is missing from his life and Bobby comforts him. There are explosions outside! It’s Jubilee! She has her memories back (as does Jean-Paul now) and she’s ready to kick some ass. So is everyone else!

ONE OF THE BEST ISSUES OF THE EVENT SO FAR! And that’s hopefully not just me being biased about Shatterstar’s presence all over this issue, even without him actually being in it. It’s just so gay and so angry and so sad and so good. You’re telling me Julio opened a theater that shows illegal films, and the implication is it’s because some part of him remembers how much Shatterstar loves watching movies? *turns away to cry softly* Also, understandably the Jubilee turnaround seems sudden, but the series finale is all about her, so I’m guessing we go back a little bit and see how she got here.

Age of X-Man: Prisoner X #4
Writer: Vita Ayala
Artist: German Peralta
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: VC’S Joe Sabino
Key Characters: Bishop, Dani Moonstar, Polaris, Legion, Honey Badger, Forge, Beast

Forge and Bishop have a conversation in Bishop’s cell about the purpose of the Danger Room, with Forge insisting it’s only there to rehabilitate. Bishop asks him if he really believes that or if he thinks someone is pulling the strings. Bishop then begins asking around to see if other inmates remember anything from the time before. Dani asks Lorna about her outburst from the last issue and Lorna confides that every time she breaks free, it feels like it takes more time for her to fall under control again, and that no one else ever remembers. Dani tells her to be ready for a breakout. Bishop has convinced the others to aid in said breakout and gives them all a signal. Beast creates an altercation to draw the guards' attention and Forge attempts to let them out before Legion stops him, though not before Forge releases all the power dampening collars. BREAKOUT!

Loved this issue. Another gorgeous one from the whole team. I will really miss Peralta and Spicer’s Polaris. I’ve also loved that writer Vita Ayala has subtly made some callbacks to Lorna’s fraught history with mental health since the start of this series. Can’t wait to see how this one ends, especially with Legion firmly in the picture, but his plans going awry. How does he fit in with the Nate Grey-ness of it all?

Meanwhile on Uncanny X-Men

Uncanny X-Men #18 & #19
Writer: Matthew Rosenberg
Pencilers: Carlos Villa, Carlos Gómez & Bob Quinn
Inkers: Craig Yeung, Juan Vlasco, Adriano Di Benedetto, Michelle Delecki, Carlos Gómez & Bob Quinn
Colorist: Guru-eFX
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Key Characters: Cyclops, Havok, Wolverine, Magik, Dani Moonstar, Karma, Multiple Man, Mister Sinister, Emma Frost, Mystique

Wolverine leaves the team and they go to confront the Marauders, who surrender after a brief fight. Chamber, however, doesn’t accept, and burns them all to a crisp, but not before Harpoon is able to stab him through the chest. They return to HQ to find Mister Sinister has burned it to the ground. He’s pretty resoundingly beating them until Havok turns his full power on Sinister, defeating him, but leaving Havok transparent. Damn those unstable molecules. Karma takes everyone to their new headquarters, which she’s been secretly building for them since getting cured. She and Dani have a heartfelt conversation, in which Karma spills that she still feels guilty for the events of Dead Souls and will be leaving the team. Cyclops and Havok chat about how no one remembers Emma Frost and roast each other. Emma and Mystique discuss how the X-Men have handled their Marauders problem. Mystique gets a very sudden call from Cyclops.

Uncanny X-Men #19 is essentially the previous eight issues entirely re-contextualized from Emma’s point-of-view. Pretty much everything we’ve seen so far has been orchestrated by Emma and O.N.E. (Callahan is aggressively blackmailing her), and we find out Emma is even the one who implanted the suggestion in Anole to hand over the anti-mutant vaccine. She had Logan approach Scott. She and O.N.E. pit the X-Men against every one of their adversaries to date. Mystique has been impersonating Captain America. The issue ends in the current timeline of events, with Wolverine showing up with Kwannon to confront Emma.

Action-wise, #18 was very ho-hum, but I was a sucker for the heart-to-heart between Dani and Xi’an, but fairly upset that it seems Xi’an will not be appearing in any X-books for a bit during her break? It straight up stinks to lose two of the New Mutants ladies in this run. Similarly, loved the Summers brothers’ banter. #19, however, is the real issue of the two to talk about. I have to think Emma is playing an extremely long game with O.N.E. and she even says about as much. I just hope she’s not in over her head. Great to see another nuanced portrayal of her, hard-edged at times, but obviously trying to care for her people, in this case both mutants and the new Hellfire Club.

Age of X-Man: Apocalypse and the X-Tracts #4
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Salva Espin
Colorist: Israel Silva
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Key Characters: Apocalypse, Genesis, Kitty Pryde, Eye-Boy, Dazzler, Omega Red, Unveil, Colossus

Eye-Boy suffers the effects of his hand injury and Evan’s attempted healing, which has amplified his powers of sight. Evan continues his fight against Omega Red, refusing help from Dazzler and Unveil. Meanwhile, Colossus tells Kitty he’s left the X-Men to join the X-Tracts, and the two have a heart-to-heart and kiss. Omega Red tells Evan the truth about his father and his life as Apocalypse, and the two mutants destroy each other. Apocalypse senses his son’s death and recalls his Riders. Later, Apocalypse fully heals Eye-Boy’s hands and Eye-Boy has a vision that night of Nate Grey and Apocalypse discussing how they’ve been controlling this world.

A fairly moving issue for this series! Apocalypse’s easy discarding of his son at the end is heartbreaking considering Evan’s attempts to prove himself to his father through the last four issues. Still the weirdest series of the bunch, too. At least Trevor has his hands back.

Age of X-Man: Marvelous X-Men #5
Writers: Zac Thompson & Lonnie Nadler
Artist: Marco Failla
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Key Characters: Storm, Jean Grey, Magneto, Nightcrawler, Nature Girl, Laura Kinney, Nate Grey

Here we are! The finale of the first miniseries! It leads off with a vision of Nate Grey as a member of the O5 (he’s replaced Beast), and him discussing with Professor X his dream for a new world. Cut to the X-Men standing over Moneta’s body. Nature Girl uses the bacteria inside Moneta to witness her final memories and sees her confronting Apocalypse at an X-Tracts club. Now Nature Girl also knows that Nate has placed Apocalypse in his role in their world and is trying to maintain control. The rest of the team decides to take action and bring Jean into the loop. Jean remembers attempting to help Nate (during Disassembled) and failing, and reminds everyone about Bishop (who Laura has been smelling in her house). They confront Nate and Nate tells them not only did he create this world, but he is the world and the world is him.

Finally! The first thread to lead us into the Omega issue next month! I’m really curious as to how this will go down, especially considering pieces still on the table in the other series. I have the feeling Nate’s going to die, and the Age of X-Man world with him, but who knows. (I can’t feasibly see him fitting into Hickman’s plans anyways, so there’s also that.) I just have so many questions still. How are they going to wrap this up? Is it going to segue RIGHT into HOXPOX? Also yeehaw, Nature Girl showing off a cool new upper (lower? microscopic?) range in her powers. Love it.

Check out last month’s Age of X-Man Round-Up here!

Allison buys books professionally and comics unprofessionally. You can find her chaotic neutral Twitter feed at @maliciousglee.