The New X-Men graphic novel compiling issues #114-117

 

This is another random pickup from the Founders Club Book Fair and while this story line is already over 20 years old (Yikes!), I have been out of the loop of the X-men saga for long enough that while I know who the main characters are, some of the plot lines and variations on the characters made me wonder what all I have missed over the years.

Of course, I'm just dropping in on the middle of a tale here, but here we are introduced to Cassandra Nova, an incredibly powerful mutant (or mutant variation [or possibly even a clone] - I'm not quite sure, especially as Marvel is introducing humans who are mutating artificially here) who wages a war on mutant-kind for some reason that I did not really grasp. She murders 16 million mutants - there are more than ever before in this reality, although many have either no real powers (they are simply disfigured to our homo sapien eyes) or nothing that helps in a fight, and the X-men do their best to rescue those that they can.

Of course, there's lots more going on and there are lots of X-men interaction and drama, as usual for this team. It is all a little overwhelming and slightly confusing if you haven't been following the series, but you can get the gist of it all regardless. Naturally, being Marvel, there is a cliff-hanger ending and lots more potential for mayhem, so who knows what did follow - maybe I will have to find out!