Aliens have come hunting for X-Men and they have done their homework. The only thing they have not accounted for, is Canadians. Your Major Spoilers review of X-Men #12 from Marvel Comics, awaits!
X-MEN #12
Writer: Jed MacKay
Artists: Netho Diaz, Sean Parsons, and Livesay
Colorist: Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letter: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: February 26th, 2025
Previously in X-Men: After picking up an interstellar signal heading towards their base, The X-Men intercepted it only to discover that it was none other than Cyclops’ dad, with a group of alien bounty hunters on his tail. Cyclops leapt into action to save his dad, only to find out that they were not after that member of The Summers Family. But the aliens have caught the attention of Canada’s premier mutant superhero team, Alpha Flight.
INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT
X-Men #12 starts off with Agent Arsenault discussing Alpha Flight’s recent history and their current active roster. Things then shift to the present as they begin their attack on the alien bounty hunters, who have proved they were prepared for the X-Men and have systematically incapacitated Juggernaut, Magik, and Cyclops. It’s then revealed that the bounty hunters are being led by Dr. Starblood and Karkos. Outside the ship, The Guardian and Agent Arsenault use their powers to destroy a part of the ship, while Puck and Snowbird destroy one of the ship’s hearts. Elsewhere on the ship, the unaccounted-for X-Man, Psylocke destroys the other heart. This puts the kibosh on the bounty hunter’s plans but also leaves a giant burning spaceship with two superhero teams on board, plummeting out of the sky.
A NICE SIDE QUEST
Since the series started, this title has acted as a sort of lynchpin for the rest of the X-men titles and, because of that, hasn’t really had a lot of opportunities to showcase standalone adventures. That changed with X-Men #12 and the previous issue, and it was something the series definitely needed. Getting to see Cyclops, his crew, and Alpha Flight all team up to beat up some aliens, without it having any readily apparent, far-reaching consequences for all mutants in the Marvel Universe was a nice change of pace. What made this particular adventure work so well was that it kind of acknowledged how low-stakes everything was and acted more as a way to let the characters on these teams just be cool. Psylocke got to hack and slash, Magik got to use her portals in some fun ways, and then you have the Alpha Flight team really wrecking shop in a dominant way. Now, this low-stakes nature does have a downside and that’s the lack of tension in this issue. At no point was there even a hint that something bad was going to happen, so it was difficult to be invested in this story. Also, for this story to happen, it required some of the characters to act very, uncharacteristically. For example, just two issues back you have Cyclops basically outplaying the entirety of the federal government in convincing fashion, but in this one, he struggles with figuring out what to do when the bad guys have sets of armor made from ruby quartz.
BOTTOM LINE: A LOW STAKES ROMP
X-Men #12 is very much the pitstop leading into the next crossover event that’s coming next month. Here you just get to see the X-Men and Alpha Flight fight some mostly nameless dudes and blow some stuff up. It’s fun, but it also has to make some sacrifices to make that fun happen. In particular, some characters act differently than we’ve seen in this issue and there’s a distinct lack of anything that a reader can latch onto emotionally. But, nonetheless, for those who have been following this series from the beginning, this will be a nice change of pace and a chance to catch your breath. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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X-Men #12
X-Men #12 isn’t going to shake anything up or change the status quo, but it also doesn’t want to. It’s a fun little adventure, but that does come at the expense of some odd character decisions and a lack of depth.
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Writing7
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At a young age, Jonathan was dragged to a small town in Wisconsin. A small town in Wisconsin that just so happened to have a comic book shop. Faced with a decision to either spend the humid summers and bitter winters traipsing through the pine trees or in climate controlled comfort with tales of adventure, horror, and romance, he chose the latter. Jonathan can often be found playing video games, board games, reading comics and wincing as his “to watch” list grows wildly out of control.
1 Comment
I really enjoyed this despite the relatively low stakes. It was nice McKay rose to the challenge of featuring his beloved Alpha Flight in away Brevoort thought fit best with the current X-World. I dislike Vindicator and their mistreatment but see the possibilities for good stories coming from it. I do wish Talisman and some of the non-Byrne cast had showed but who was used worked. As far as future guest stars, I’d love to see what a Black Cat appearance would be like as McKay writes her the best anyone ever has and his series with her and the current Avengers guest starring role has been so much fun.