Review by Ian Keogh

Stephanie Phillips takes a roundabout route to the revelation, but someone is abducting super villains, some of them mutants, and some of them from very secure facilities. Teleporting mutant Manifold is working on locating them and discovering the culprits. Separately Rogue and Gambit have been tasked with persuading Manifold to come to the mutant community of Krakoa, where according to Destiny his presence will later be critical. He’s been reluctant.

The bigger problem that Phillips drops is that whatever Rogue and Gambit do, they’re going to have to do it without their powers. It’s an intriguing situation. She’s already established them as a loving, if bickering couple, and without powers Rogue’s able to touch people skin to skin without draining their abilities and eventually life force. It’s Christmas come early for Gambit.

In terms of art, the same applies to the readers as Carlos Gómez employs an expansive cartoon realism strong on personality and location, with action scenes well choreographed. He also makes good use of the X-Men’s HQ to provide some unconventional views of New York. This is a story that looks really good with some killer pin-up pages.

By including Destiny’s vague vision of the future, Phillips is being far smarter than most people realised at the time. After all, given what happened during the 2023 Hellfire Gala, someone able to teleport mutants away in quantity would have been life-saving. Phillips also includes a wide range of guest stars, some mutants, some not, and some via text messages only. There’s a neat twist near the end, and everything adds up to a whole lot of fun, which in the tortured world of Marvel’s mutants is something that doesn’t happen often enough.