But truly it's a boon for X-Force fans this week, since not only do you get X-Force, you also get an all-X-Force issue of X-Men: The End.

Last issue, X-Force were blown out of the sky while flying to the Hindu Kush to pick up Cable.  But good news!  They're alive because of a previously-unmentioned member who saved their lives but died in the crash!  I know it's an alternate future, but come on.  That's just lazy.

Sinister's henchmen duly attack.  They're a bunch of henchman types from various X-Treme X-Men stories - Shaitan, Divinity, Technarx - who weren't that interesting to start with, and don't get much better here.  Big fight.  Several of X-Force get possessed, presumably setting up for an X-Men versus "X-Force" fight later on.  Incomprehensible closing sequence where half the team fall down a chasm which closes behind them, and Domino blithely carries on talking as if they've been captured by Mr Sinister (rather than, say, killed).

And that's about it.  For the first time in the series, the issue actually focusses on one particular plot thread, but it's not a desperately interesting one.  Technically, this is alright, and no doubt the Claremont hardcore fan base will be as delighted as ever.  Personally, I can barely summon up the willpower to read it, let alone write about it.  There's no soul here, nothing to care about, nothing to latch onto.  This could only appeal to somebody who found the mere idea of Claremont tying together a thousand plots inherently fascinating.  But where's the story?  Where's the tension?  Why am I meant to care?

I have no clear idea of the answers to any of those questions, and as a result, I don't care.

Rating: C

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