If you’ve not been paying close attention to the solicitations, you might be surprised to discover that this limited series – heavily pushed as being based on Iceman’s journey towards San Francisco – is actually an anthology. It’s much in the vein of the recent “Divided We Stand” 2-issue miniseries, with the added bonus that there’s a lead story running throughout each issue starring Bobby Drake, as written by Mike Carey.

Carey clearly has a plan in mind for Bobby, hooking him up (in a way I found almost too convenient) with Opal, a former girlfriend, before turning the situation on its head. It’s unfortunate that in doing so, Carey reverses the ending of the still-fresh Wolverine arc, Get Mystique, but on the other hand, there was no chance that particular “death” would stick, so it’s easy to forgive for the twist. Iceman’s developing powers – and his lack of understanding he has of the full range of his abilities – have long been a subject of stop-start exploration ever since the days of Scott Lobdell, so it’s good to see Carey picking up the baton in a definitive way. The story itself isn’t yet very gripping, but the prospect of seeing this side of the character explored definitely is.

The second story in the anthology is a single-parter about Boomer, or Boom Boom, or whatever her current codename is. She’s in full-on Nextwave mode, fighting a villain with considerable support from Beast. It’s an entertaining fluff piece, befitting the current interpretation of the character, with a couple of good jokes and some decent art, though it’s hardly essential reading. Even less so is the third piece, which re-introduces Karma to a modern audience – I’ve been reading X-Men for almost 15 years and she’s even before my time, truth be told, so it’s an uphill struggle at best. It works partly well, though it’s a little brief on occasion (I already knew there was a period where she was made massively obese – but I still don’t know how) and the story appears to be mainly used to introduce a plot arc that’ll spring back up somewhere over in Uncanny in the near future. Again, nothing massively special, and in this case, occasionally obscured by continuity.

These anthologies tend to work reasonably well for the X-Men, who have a wide and diverse array of characters, all of whom are easily placed to drop in and out of the mutantverse at any point, though the lack of emphasis on the book’s format during promotion will certainly irritate those looking for a coherent storyline rather than a collection of vignettes that tie into the current status quo.