Readers with a long memory may recall that way back in X-Men #157, last May, Archangel was despatched to go and live in Genosha.  Evidently he took one look at the book and decided that he couldn't be bothered, as aside from a couple of guest appearances, he hasn't been seen since.  But the plot has finally caught up with the poor sod, and like it or not, he's coming to Excalibur.

While he's been away, Warren has decided to set up yet another outreach organisation, Mutantes Sans Frontières.  The idea is apparently to muster a volunteer force to help mutants in countries where the X-Men and X-Corp aren't present.  It's the sort of idea that would make reasonable sense if X-Corp didn't already exist; why bother setting up a completely parallel organisation when you could do basically the same thing under the auspices of X-Corp? 

For that matter, Zanzibar seems an odd place to open the first office; you'd have thought there were many more pressing places to go, albeit ones that aren't so geographically convenient to the plot.  And given that Zanzibar criminalised homosexuality in 2004, introducing a maximum penalty of 25 years in jail, it seems a bit much to present their president as a beacon of decency and tolerance.  (Though to be fair, it's not the same president.)

Anyhow.  The Hellfire Club, which apparently is still villainous for certain purposes, is attempting a coup in Zanzibar.  So Archangel and Husk get drawn into that, and the B-team for the regular cast decide they should go and do some fighting.  It's competent enough but not particularly memorable.  The Weaponeers weren't interesting villains the last time around, and Claremont's still not doing anything to establish them as anything more than all-purpose thugs.  But at least there's some decent mileage in Viper's uneasy alliance with them.

Of course, Excalibur is about to be shoved centre stage, since the Magneto/Scarlet Witch subplot is going to be the catalyst for House of M.  That storyline remains far and away the most interesting part of the book, and Claremont's using a fair amount of subtlety in teasing the idea that Xavier's manipulating the whole thing.  It's the part of the story that holds my attention. 

To be honest, I get the feeling that we're marking time here, waiting until House of M is ready to go.  From the sound of it, that story's going to completely obliterate the status quo in this title anyway, so I'm a little sceptical that anything else in this book is going to have any real consequence.

Rating: B

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