Well, it's taken four issues, but House of M is finally developing a plot.  Thank heavens for that.

The plot probably won't come as much of a surprise to anyone.  Wolverine remembers the world the way it used to be.  Luke Cage's group have hooked up with Layla, a young mutant who has the magical plot-convenient power to make other people remember.  And so we begin the grand tour of reminding the heroes who they are, starting with Emma Frost.

I have the sinking feeling that the grand tour is going to continue for issues #5 and #6, to be honest.  We've pretty much spent four issues, half the series, getting to "The heroes identify the problem and begin to take action."  We've still got a story with no real antagonist, and no threat beyond the prospect that things might stay the way they are.  And the heroes haven't actually come up with any sort of idea for how to put things back.  Really, considering that we've reached the halfway point of a miniseries, we've achieved bugger all.

But at least something is happening.  At last, we're getting some sort of direction and momentum.  It may be a little late to satisfy those readers who are already getting decidedly antsy.  And it's worth noting that, despite the huge sales on the first two issues of this series, there have been plenty of anecdotal reports of poor sell-through. 

I'm still inclined to think that Marvel have misjudged what people are looking for from these sort of events.  A proper plot is a big step in the right direction, though.  And it's only fair to note that, while the whole is less than the sum of its parts, the parts are pretty good.  The individual scenes are great - you just want them to go somewhere.  It seems they are, although they've taken their sweet time about it.

Rating: B+

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