Now, this is what I call a twist worth reading. Bishop, who has been conspicuously absent of late, manages to halt Cable’s flight just as he reaches his goal of Forge and a Time Machine. The X-Men just figured out that he was heading to Forge’s home in Texas, and head there themselves, unaware of Bishop’s betrayal. Things don’t look good for the mutant baby, but we all know this arc isn’t going to end with Bishop shooting an infant in the head. My guess is that Predator-X is finally going to make its unwelcome entry into events before he manages to pull the trigger.

Of course, this revelation explains some of the mysteries - it wasn’t Cable that set the sentinels on the mansion, but Bishop, a man who would’ve had plenty of access to the O*N*E and X-Men facilities. Some questions do still need answering though - was Madrox-2 branded with the ‘M’ because he’s in Bishop’s timeline, or because Bishop set up these camps? There was, after all, a very pointed line about mutants bringing the camps on themselves. Or is it that Bishop, being from the future, knows that he needs to kill the mutant baby to prevent those camps from appearing?

In any case, it makes brilliant sense. Since the original X-traitor storyline that introduced him, and the eventual wrap-up of that thread with the Onslaught saga, Bishop’s been a bit of a non-character in the X-titles. His status as a mutant policeman made sense, but also didn’t really make use of the most original part of the character - the fact that he was from the future. Now, as it turns out, Bishop may well have been the X-traitor of legend all along. A simple reversal (and ending?) of his arc that make perfect sense given the recent emphasis on prophecies and mutants from the future. Positioning Bishop as effectively the anti-Cable makes him interesting again, however long that lasts.

It’s been years since the X-Books made nods to continuity this openly. Bishop’s past was shoved into the background long ago, presumably to prevent confusion to new readers, but now it’s all out in the open again. One panel shows Cyclops remembering the day he gave up Cable, as a child, to the Askani. The rich history of the X-Men is one of the properties major strengths, so as a fairly old-skool fan, I’m glad to see it being given the respect it deserves. Who needs Spider-Man three times a month when we’re currently getting X-Men every week?

We’re now up to chapter 8 out of 13 in Messiah Complex, and the second act is drawing to a close. In this issue, X-Force track down Cable, just in time to end up fighting Deathstrike and the Purifiers while he makes his escape, Madrox and Layla get imprisoned in the future, and the remaining members of X-Men and X-Factor get their collective asses into gear just slightly too late to be of much use, it seems.

Again, while the Madrox plot feels horribly overstretched at this point - we’ve been getting drip-fed it for a good portion of the crossover now, where other threads wrap up after substantially fewer issues - the rest of the story is continuing its breakneck pace. Plus, from the next issue preview, it seems like the Madrox plot might be due an ending soon…

The biggest part of the issue consisted of X-Force fighting the Purifiers to get to Cable. Because it’s effectively the New X-Men book, the New X-Men characters are afforded slightly more focus than in the last few chapters, which will hopefully satisfy NXM fans, though at this point it’s hard to believe anyone who’s not buying the crossover would still be following it. X-23 in particular has an excellent fight scene with Deathstrike, and Surge gets a decent character moment too, lamenting the consequences of her unsanctioned attack on the Purifiers some issues ago.

Again, it’s very interesting to see Wolverine taking a leadership role - he doesn’t second guess his charges, and he’s quick to issue orders when it looks like someone’s losing focus - for instance, when Caliban is shot and probably killed, and Warpath blinks. It’s a substantially different style to Cyclops, and it impresses me that they’re managing to convey that so clearly. X-Force also manage to kill a whole bunch of people out of necessity - even Rahne manages to off at least one - showing the slippery slope that X-Force may well be on. I’m still not sure if it’s enough to make me interested in an ongoing title featuring an X-Men “Black Ops” team, but for this story alone they’re doing the job well.

You probably know the drill by now. Messiah Complex has been nothing if not remarkably consistent. Tight plotting, strong focus on certain characters, it’s all here, again. Though I find myself wishing certain parts of it would hurry up a little.

This being the X-Factor issue, I kind of expected us to get a tight focus on the X-Factor characters, especially Layla and Madrox-2 in the future they’re visiting, where mutants are huddled in internment camps and even mentioning the word gets you arrested by the government. Unfortunately, rather than any resolution, we just get another little chapter and the rest of the story, once again, is coming in another issue.

X-Factor readers who aren’t following the crossover are sure to be feeling a little bit annoyed by this issue, which sees the series hi-jacked by the rest of the X-Universe. Writer Peter David does manage to throw in some interesting tid-bits regarding the nature of Layla’s power, as well as a sequence where a mutant on the run from Predator-X contacts X-Factor for help in a nod to the usual premise of the title, but he’s well out of luck and most of the X-Factor cast doesn’t appear at all. This issue would’ve been a nice place to tie up the loose end of what Rictor’s doing now that his cover in the Purifiers is blown, for instance, even if just to show him being sent away.

Wolfsbane’s role in the X-Force team will also be of interested to X-Factor readers. They only get one scene, but it’s good to see people addressing Warpath’s history with Cable (in a previous version of the X-Force team) and showing Wolverine’s often-neglected leadership skills. Speaking of leadership, Cyclops finally proves that not only has he grown a pair, he’s grown several, by kicking Patrick Stewart (er, I mean, Xavier, as rendered in full TNG glory by artist Scott Eaton) out of HIS OWN MANSION, sick of the old man whining that it’s gotten all draughty and he can’t find his cardigans since the place was destroyed by sentinels. That subplot is going somewhere big, I can feel it, and at this point that’s what I’m most interested in.

The second act of Messiah Complex essentially begins now with Cable - who has the mutant baby - on the run from Sinister, the X-Men and Predator X, and heading towards…somewhere. The X-Men themselves fending off the dearly departed O*N*E squadron who are infected with Nano-Sentinels and smashing the mansion apart with their regular Sentinels. But who’s responsible?

Seriously, I’m starting to suspect there’s never been an X-Crossover this good. A lot of the plots take a breather in this issue so that the bulk of it can be devoted to the X-Men trying to recover from the surprise attack on the mansion, and recover they do. Cyclops hasn’t been this badass in a long time, and Messiah Complex has gone a long, long was to making him a credible leader for the X-Men again. The way he quickly makes use of the available New X-Men, despite his earlier tactical decision to keep them out of the fight, is an excellent way to display this.

The ending is the first time a Messiah Complex cliffhanger has fallen slightly flat, for me, though largely because the dialogue - “Assemble the X-Force!” - sounds too much like an advertisement for the new series. It’s not helped by some fairly inspecific artwork on the final page, showing what appears to be the X-Force team - Wolfsbane, Caliban, Hepzibah, Warpath, X-23 and Wolverine - in what amounts to little more than a publicity shot for the new title because those characters aren’t really in the same place at the moment. This is made further confusing because when compared with the ACTUAL publicity material, it appears that the team will have lost 2 of those members by the time the series begins, which is a potential spoiler in one of several ways.

With a whole bunch of plot threads now wrapped up, it’s good to see some new ones being introduced for the next act of the crossover. Sinister’s temporary defeat came at a price, and the X-Men, having previously been on top of the situation, find themselves severely wrong-footed by Cable’s perceived betrayal (I’m still holding out that he’s on the right team, though.) I haven’t enjoyed a fight scene this much since the first time I read Ultimates, that’s for sure, but with that in mind, I’m hoping for a little more breathing room and some progress on the other plot threads in next week’s X-Factor.

I have to admit, it’s been a long time since X-Men was on top of my reading list (years, in fact) but right now I’m on the edge of my seat whenever I check a new X-Men title out of the shops. It’s all because of Messiah Complex. I feel like my comics-reading credibility is shot to pieces, and let’s face it, with the amount of Marvel I buy it was never on solid ground.

Part 5 of the crossover sees the first big twist. It’s name is Cable, and just as I was starting to believe they might have killed him, he turns right up. Speculation at this point had largely pegged a reborn Cable as being the baby they were all fighting over, but rather it turns out that he’s alive, and what’s more, he’s the one who actually got hold of the kid. I have to admit, I didn’t remotely see it coming, but he makes sense as an player in the crossover, given the Sinister/Summers family connection and his own messianic role.

The rest of the issue has an excellent X-Men/Marauders fight scene (featuring this year’s best Gambit/Wolverine moment) and the New X-Men’s hubris catches up with them as they barely escape with their lives, spoiling the X-Men’s main plan and blowing Rictor’s cover in the process. Madrox-2 and Layla’s adventures in the future, however, are so far yielding nothing much different from the usual mutant-opression dystopia, so I’m hoping for a decent twist there.

There’s a lot going on right now in Messiah Complex, but so far it’s not become overwhelming and nothing looks too much like it’s barking up the wrong tree just yet, though the Sentinel attack and what I’m assuming will be the subsequent destruction-of-mansion seems far, far too much of an X-Men cliche, but at least it should, if I’m guessing right, mean that the O*N*E plot is at least finally tied up, because it’s been hanging around the fringes of the book without much to do for years now. If Messiah Complex accomplishes nothing else, that would at least make the whole exercise worth it.

A few years ago, I pretty much swore off the peripheral X-Books altogether and decided to stick with the core titles, as liberal as that definition was. As a result, this is my first ever issue of New X-Men, which seems fairly strange for a book that’s been going for almost 60 issues in various forms. Messiah Complex, however, is compelling enough a story to make me do what even Endangered Species could not.

It’s a good job, too, because this issue is as important to the plot as any other. I had a feeling it might be a bit marginalised, but it continues the breakneck pace of the story. Rictor’s undercover mission is interruped by the New X-Men taking things personally and going, against Cyclops’ orders, after the Purifiers, who we discover have a secret ally (not a huge revelation for anyone who’s seen the variant covers.) Madrox-2 and Layla investigate their future while Madrox Prime lies comatose. Crucially, Wolverine’s team of X-Men actually finds the Marauders and gets the jump on them, in an incredibly pleasing sequence that reminds you that the X-Men aren’t always a bunch of morons who sit around the mansion waiting to be attacked. The bulk of this scene will presumably be played out nicely in next week’s issue of X-Men, and god help me I’m looking forward to it.

As someone who’s not overly familiar with the New X-Men cast, I feel that Gage and Yost have managed to cater for me in introducing them and explaining their personalities. Their leader, Surge, appears to be very close to breaking point which, given the relentless bloodbath they’ve dealt with in the last year or two, seems highly appropriate. Witness, too, the hilarity with which she smacks down Professor Xavier’s offer of training and help, further pushing the old coot to the fringes. I have a suspicion that Xavier’s going to be doing something fairly important in the course of this crossover because they’ve so far gone to a large amount of effort to distance him from the team. Ramos’ art is, as ever, a love it/hate it situation for the audience. Personally, I enjoy it, so I’m pleased to see him pencilling the book, though one wonders what it’ll look like when the whole story is collected because so far, the art’s been fairly consistent.

In any case, the New X-Men holds up well as a story in its own right, with enough plot movement to make it an important chapter of the crossover as well.