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.

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.

Uncanny #492 picks up right where Messiah Complex left off. The X-Men have recently arrived home and they’re watching coverage of the destruction of Cooperstown, Alaska, destroyed by the recent mutant birth and subsequent battle between Sinister’s Marauders and the mutant-hating Purifiers. The X-Men arrived just in time to earn some good PR by rescuing some of the victims, but they’re wondering why no-one is blaming the violence on mutants, as expected.

The answer isn’t stated on the page, but it should be fairly obvious to readers - it’s because Predator X, the genetically engineered mutant-hunting beast, has EATEN the corpses of the dead marauders found at the scene, meaning there’s no clue that this was a mutant-based affair. Lovely.

Brubaker shows why he’s a great choice for X-Men with a great scene between Cyclops and Professor X, where the former reminds his old mentor that, after all the crap he’s put up with, he doesn’t feel like he needs permission to take a team of X-Men out. This builds nicely on storylines that you can read in Brubaker’s miniseries, Deadly Genesis, as well as Joss Whedon’s work in Astonishing X-Men. The Professor is certainly not okay with a large proportion of the team, and the pages of him wandering aimlessly around the mansion are surprisingly poignant.

Meanwhile, Wolverine’s out tracking down the Marauders by way of Exodus, and Jamie Madrox (of X-Factor) checks in. Relations between the X-Men and X-Factor are frosty right now, but some telepathic coaxing brought Jamie in and the crossover’s going to be in X-Factor this week, so it’s lucky he turned up. Layla Miller is proving to be a great character, as ever, and between Rictor’s assignment to go undercover with the Purifiers (he is, after all, human now) and Madrox’s task to go talk to Forge, the crossover feels remarkably organic, which is definitely something you want. At this point in the story, the X-Men are definitely playing catchup, but for the first time in decades it feels like Cyclops might actually be the leader they need to get ahead of the game.

There’s only one way I can begin this blog, and that’s the same way I began reading comics: With the X-Men.

Messiah Complex is a one-shot that kicks off the whole “Messiah Complex” crossover, and since it’s been out for a few weeks (I’m reviewing this issue for completeness’ sake) I’m going to discuss the crossover slightly more than the contents of the actual comic.

This is the first time the X-titles have done a line-wide crossover in years, largely because this sort of thing was seen as being one of the poisons that nearly killed off the comics industry. For whatever reason, Marvel is testing the waters by bringing them back. In the past, this kind of story was often poorly plotted and borderline incoherent, so if nothing else, let’s hope everyone’s learnt from their mistakes…

The crossover’s starting issue is written by Ed Brubaker, who, as one of Marvel’s biggest writers right now, seems almost too good to be slumming it in the X-Books, which are not the sales juggernaut they used to be. Messiah Complex promises to change all that and put the X-Men back on top by giving the titles the direction they’ve lacked for a long, long time. Coming out of the “Decimation” event, which drastically reduced the number of mutants in the Marvel Universe, the story of the first new mutant birth has certainly been in the planning for a while - it’s just a pity they didn’t appear to have much planned between Decimation and Messiah Complex.

In fairness, the one criticism of the Messiah Complex one-shot is that it actually doesn’t build on previous stories when it could - the last two storylines in Uncanny X-Men and its sister title, X-Men, have revolved around various groups of mutants eliminating people with any knowledge of the future. When those groups manage to beat the X-Men to the scene of the mutant birth, it should seem fairly obvious what’s going on, but no mention is made of it. Personally, I like to see these things given a nod.

The issue is given an appropriate sense of gravitas by Silvestri’s art, even if it does actually feel almost retro by today’s standards. Kids, I remember when ALL comics looked this muscled and pouty. Nonetheless, it’s a callback to the era when this sort of crossover was having its heyday and as such, works very well.

While I’m going to avoid spoilers, it’s fairly clear to many long-time fans of X-Men where Messiah Complex is going, and why the mutant birth is important the the X-Men on a personal level. Even so, I’m looking forward to the journey we’re about to be taken on, and the promise of some entertaining twists and old-school, shared-universe fun. Hell, it’s even going to make me pick up New X-Men.