STORY: "Children of the Atom, part 2" (36 pages)  The X-Men prevent a group of impostors from stealing a satellite system that can track all mutants.

What you need to know:
This is the second half of a two-part storyline which began in Uncanny X-Men #360 and serves to get Colossus, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat back on the team (following the recent dissolution of Excalibur).  It's a much more traditional roster, although Marrow is still around.

Both of these issues are double-sized, and in theory they commemorate the 35th anniversary of X-Men vol 1 #1, cover dated September 1963.

The duplicate X-Men, who debuted in Uncanny X-Men #360, comprise Cerebro impersonating Professor X (although we don't learn that until the end of the issue) and a bunch of characters he's somehow created by combining elements from other mutants in his records.  Cerebro was brought to life by Bastion meddling with him during Operation: Zero Tolerance.

Cerebro thinks he's carrying out Professor X's remit, by continuing to catalogue mutants.  The US government are about to launch a satellite system which can track mutants anywhere in the world; Cerebro wants it for himself.  Naturally, the X-Men defeat him and Kitty destroys the satellite altogether by phasing through it.

After his defeat, Cerebro changes tack and abandons the Professor X impersonation.  From this point on, he looks like a robot with the old Cerebro helmet as his head.

Marrow mentions that Mikhail Rasputin used to "hurt her", although she's probably just talking about his generally abusive attitude to the Morlocks.

Comments:
Well, it is what it is.  We're now entering into a rather bland era of X-Men-by-numbers, and this is a competent action story without much soul to it.  Kelly tries to add some personality around the edges, but as we see over the following months, nobody's really got any plans for any of these characters - Colossus, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat are back on the team simply because it's warm and cosy, not because the editors know what to do with them.  So there's no direction beyond the immediate fight, and nothing much Kelly can do with it.

Taken purely as a two-issue action story, it relies heavily on the mystery of who the duplicate X-Men are, and where they came from.  Since this storyline (like so many others) never went anywhere, and the explanation turned out to be rather prosaic, that element is lost on re-reading, and there's not much else to grab the reader.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Marrow, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat (the latter three rejoin the X-Men; all last in Uncanny X-Men #360; all but Rogue next in issue #½, then all in Uncanny X-Men #361)

SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Peter Corbeau (last behind the scenes in Uncanny X-Men #360; next in X-Man #55)

VILLAINS
Cerebro (last in Uncanny X-Men #360; next behind the scenes in issue #82)
The X-Men II: The Grey King II, Chaos, Crux, Landslide II, Mercury III and Rapture II (all between Uncanny X-Men #360 and #364)

OTHER CHARACTERS
Paula Reinman (last in Uncanny X-Men #360; no further appearances)

Written: 31 May 2006

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