X-Men # 14 Review

Here’s my X-Men # 14 review which was written by Gerry Duggan with art by C.F. Villa and serves as a tie-in to the ongoing AXE Judgment Day story.

This issue was framed in three fronts, one focusing on the media’s look at the mutantkind hot on the trail of a recent interview with Bobby Drake aka Iceman; the other focusing on other members of the X-Men continuing their war against the Eternals and a subplot about mutants willingly undergoing the Celestial’s judgment.

Iceman’s story

X-Men # 14 starts really with the battle between a writer and her editor and he wants to have her remove the gay angle, something that many X-Fans and Iceman fans also catch themselves in from time to time. Most of the issue gives us the time to really learn more about Iceman now and a bit of history lesson too.

There’s also a bit of connection to his past with Firestar; the two of them were part of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and it was such a nice call back when Jean Grey specifically sends Firestar to play backup to Iceman as he stops the solar flares from entering Earth’s atmosphere.

Really though, this was a nice issue because it gives fans more Iceman moments, not that we don’t want that especially after how he turned into a giant version of himself to dive deep into the ocean to stop the Hex from pouring into Krakoa. And before that, he was integral in the mutant claiming Mars and terraforming it into Arakko in Planet-Sized X-Men # 1.

But its the closing moments of this story that is a step on the right path for the character and a reaffirmation of what the X-Men truly is.

Cyclops’ story

The issue also deals with Cyclops to some extent. His story starts with a mission to stop a bunch of aliens who launched a weapon that would create solar flares that would can destroy Earth. Only a few things, these aliens (wearing stolen Nova Corps helmets) were still under the impression that they would be paid for destroying Earth. They were not aware that Gameworld and Cordyceps Jones have already been taken down previously by Jean Grey, Polaris, Rogue and Wolverine.

We get a nice display of Cyclops’ optic blast too and he says that years worth of fighting Magneto taught him how to take out metal helmets with his optic blasts.

Later in the issue, he and Magik aka Ilyanna Rasputin help out by saving the astronauts in the ISS who might be killed by the oncoming solar flare (that Iceman is getting ready to stop in space).

Finally in the last few pages of the book, Cyclops appears in front of the Celestial (formerly Avengers Mountain) who was revived by members of Avengers and the Eternals to be judged. He later walks away smiling because the Celestial has found him worthy.

So what do you think? Love it or hate it? Leave a comment below and follow me on Twitter at @thefanboyseo for more geek news and updates!