And so, after months of build-up, we finally come to X-Men: Messiah Complex, the first chapter of a three-month crossover running between X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, New X-Men and X-Factor.

Messiah Complex is actually a normal length story with a bunch of pin-up at the back, which rather begs the question of why they didn't just make the first chapter double-sized and be done with it.  One answer, I suppose, might be that Marc Silvestri wasn't available to draw a full double-length issue.  Or maybe the feeling is that a one-shot says "important" in a way that fans still believe. 

Whatever the reason, the crossover kicks off with what amounts to a duplicate issue of Uncanny X-Men.  And it has to be said that nothing in this issue will come as a particular surprise to anyone, especially if they've read the solicitations for upcoming issues.  A new mutant finally shows up on Cerebra, for the first time since M-Day.  (Curiously, it's billed as "the first mutant birth in years", which is only true if we're working in real time.  But I digress.)

The X-Men race to Alaska to find it, but show up too late.  The Purifiers and the Marauders - both of whom have better means of predicting the future - have got there first, and one or other group has made off with the baby.  And that's basically it.  That's the first chapter.

Now, granted, none of this comes as any sort of surprise.  But what's reassuring, in this day and age, is that the story has ploughed straight through the set-up in the first issue.  Now, we can move on with the important stuff.  And it's a good set-up issue, which delivers a bit of panicky action, and hammers home the fact that the new mutant is a Very Big Deal.

I'm not a big fan of Marc Silvestri's work generally, but he does a pretty decent job on the art here.  It's rather obvious that he can only do one woman, admittedly.  But otherwise, the story is relatively light on random posing.  Silvestri's style suits these event books quite well when he concentrates more on telling the story.  He's a solid superhero artist when he doesn't get sidetracked by the big moments.

The story has its glitches.  When the X-Men approach the town, Emma can't sense anyone, even though all the adults turn out to be alive and well.  There's no apparent explanation for this, and it seems like artificial peril.  Having identified the missing mutant from the hospital records, it doesn't seem to occur to the X-Men to find out who the parents are.  They just get on their plane and go home. 

And there's a lack of joined-up logic.  The X-Men act as though it's somehow amazing that the Marauders and the Purifiers beat them to the scene.  But the last six issues of X-Men were entirely devoted to the X-Men figuring out that Sinister had knowledge of the future and was trying to stop the X-Men from finding out what was coming.  And the Purifiers' ability to predict the future is based on a New X-Men storyline which the X-Men know all about.  So why are they so surprised?  Isn't it obvious?

Still, even though I could pick holes in it all day if I wanted, I kind of liked this book.  The storyline hits the ground running, and they've convinced me that it's a big deal.  That's half the battle.

Rating: A-

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