It’s Chapter 3 of Messiah Complex, and mercifully the plot is well on its way in what feels like a genuinely considered attempt at pacing. I’m almost shocked.

In this issue, Rictor infiltrates the Purifiers, Madrox and Layla visit Forge, Wolverine’s team track down 90s X-Men supporting character Amelia Voight and Cyclops tells the New X-Men that children should be seen and not heard. Of course, it’s the New X-Men issue coming next, so we can imagine how well they’ll be taking that conversation to heart. Chances are they’ll be the ones who eventually take on Predator X, being the only characters that have a score to settle with it.

The Forge scene is quite good. In a shared universe, it’s easy as a reader to shout from the sidelines like “go and use Dr. Doom’s time machine!” and “get Reed Richards on the case!” so it’s satisfying, as a reader, to see these avenues explored in a way that makes sense – by going to the only X-Men affiliated uber-genius with a time machine. Following up a thread introduced in Endangered Species, Forge’s monitoring devices have seen mutant activity appear in two out of hundreds of possible futures as a result of the recent birth, where previously there was no activity in any. Madrox’s duplicates are sent on a one-way trip to investigate and report back, but Layla throws a spanner into the works by tagging along with one of them.

Meanwhile Rictor discovers that the Purifiers have more guns than an NRA shoot in a move that at least makes these pseudo-religious nuts seem like a vaguely credible threat. The only bad scene in the book comes courtesy of Wolverine’s team, who track down Amelia on the basis that even though she’s apparantly working as a nurse, she’ll know where Exodus is because she’s a former Acolyte (wow, even typing the word makes it feel like 1994). Can’t say the logic follows.

terror by night divx X-Factor do at least manage to retain the spotlight in the midst of all the crossover madness, so while the idea of a line-wide X-Men crossover is itself is something of a throwback, it feels like they’ve finally nailed the execution.