STORY: "Know Thy Enemy" (22 pages)  In the aftermath of Onslaught, life begins to return to normal for the X-Men, while Operation: Zero Tolerance prepare to make their move.

What you need to know:
Professor X is feeling rather depressed after the events of Onslaught.  Yes, it's a "my god, am I truly capable of such a thing" story.  This is set-up for his decision to hand himself over to government custody in X-Men vol 2 #57.

Mutants are being blamed for the loss of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four (and a few others), following the rather contrived way in which Onslaught: Marvel Universe set up its climax to make sure the X-Men looked as bad as possible.  Graydon Creed is making political capital out of it, kicking off the storyline where he runs for President.

The Daily Bugle decides to begin an investigation into Creed's activities.  The use of Spider-Man's archenemy J Jonah Jameson as a sympathetic character is a nice touch - after all, he's supposed to be a good journalist when he isn't dealing with his blind spot, Spider-Man.  This begins a rather meandering and pointless plot in which Jameson investigates Creed and Operation: Zero Tolerance, but never really seems to achieve anything.

Joseph is now living with the X-Men permanently.  Immediate reaction to this comes in the form of Rogue being chummy with him (behind the scenes) and Cannonball avoiding him (presumably because he still doesn't trust Magneto following his betrayal as mentor of the New Mutants).

Quicksilver is now staying with the X-Men following the apparent death of his wife Crystal (who was one of the more minor characters shoved off to the Heroes Reborn universe) and the dissolution of the Avengers (as seen in flashback in Avengers 1999).  This of course allows the creators to get him in the same story as Joseph, who's still meant to be his father Magneto at this point.

Psylocke's being distant again.  This is the Crimson Dawn plot. How dreadfully exciting.

Psylocke also mentions that Archangel is "not feeling well."  This is foreshadowing for the events of next issue.

Bastion's aide Harper makes his first appearance here and is immediately established as a shape-changer.  Presumably this is because he's given himself superhuman powers using Operation: Zero Tolerance's nanotech.

Comments:
Onslaught is finally out of the way, and we can get back to business.  Post-crossover issues are traditionally Scott Lobdell's best stories.  This isn't the best, but it does have a nice sense of shellshock after the recent events, which really did rewrite the face of the Marvel Universe for the next year.  Much of what happens in this issue is just people sitting around the Mansion doing not a great deal.  But the ripples from the recent events, and the status quo change that Onslaught inflicted on the Marvel Universe (essentially removing all the bright, shiny heroes that the public trusted), are present in the background, creating a genuine sense of unease.  Joe Madureira's artwork fits perfectly when it's being restrained; it jars a bit when he goes into outright comedy mode. In particular, he seems to be drawing the Beast at the same size as the Hulk, which is just plain wrong.  His ripple effect cover is wonderful, though.

At the end of the day, this is a tone-setting issue for the rather grim year to come.  Yes, I know - they're all grim years in the X-books. But who knows, maybe if Operation: Zero Tolerance had achieved the same sense of understatement as this issue, it would have been a rather more successful affair.  The year doesn't live up to the promise of this issue, as we'll see.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Archangel (behind the scenes; last in flashback in Avengers '99; next behind the scenes in X-Men vol 2 #57)
The Beast (last in Fantastic Four vol 1 #416; next in X-Men vol 2 #57, then in Generation X #21)
Bishop (last in flashback in Onslaught: Marvel Universe; next in X-Men vol 2 #57, then in Uncanny X-Men '96)
Cannonball II (behind the scenes; last in X-Men vol 2 #55; next in X-Men vol 2 #57)
Cyclops (last in flashback in Onslaught: Marvel Universe; next in X-Men vol 2 #57, then in Sensational Spider-Man #10)
Gambit (last in flashback in Onslaught: Marvel Universe)
Iceman (last in flashback in Avengers '99; next in X-Men vol 2 #57)
Joseph (behind the scenes; last in flashback in Onslaught: Marvel Universe; next in X-Men vol 2 #57, then in Magneto #1-4)
Phoenix III (last in flashback in Onslaught: Marvel Universe; next in X-Men vol 2 #57, then in Sensational Spider-Man #10)
Professor X (last in flashback in Onslaught: Marvel Universe; next in X-Men vol 2 #57, where he leaves the X-Men)
Psylocke (next in X-Men vol 2 #57)
Rogue (behind the scenes; last in flashback in Onslaught: Marvel Universe; next in Magneto #1, then in Magneto #4, then in X-Men vol 2 #58, then in X-Men '96, then in X-Men Unlimited vol 1 #13, then in Silver Surfer vol 3 #123, then in X-Men '97, then in issue #341)
Wolverine (last in flashback in Onslaught: Marvel Universe; next in X-Men vol 2 #57, then in Wolverine vol 2 #106, then in Elektra vol 1 #1, then in Elektra vol 1 #3, then in both stories in Wolverine '96)

GUEST STAR
Quicksilver (last in flashback in Avengers '99; next in X-Men vol 2 #57)

VILLAINS
Bastion (last in Generation X #20; next in X-Men vol 2 #57)
Graydon Creed (last in issue #334; next in X-Men vol 2 #57)
Harper (first appearance; next in X-Men vol 2 #57)
Operation: Zero Tolerance (between X-Men Unlimited #11 and Generation X #20)
The Sentinels (between Amazing Spider-Man #416 and X-Men '96)

GUEST APPEARANCES
J Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson (both last in flashback in Onslaught: Marvel Universe; both next in Amazing Spider-Man #416)
Peter Parker (between Spider-Man #72 and Amazing Spider-Man #416)

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