Mystique officially begins the five-part "Quiet" arc with this issue - although nitpickers might object that last month's prologue is so essential to the plot that this is really just a device to label two consecutive issues as "part 1."

Anyhow, after over a year of build-up, we're finally on to the Quiet Man plot.  Sean McKeever seems to be teasing a major overhaul in the book's status quo, with Mystique finally abandoning Xavier and most likely refusing to play along with the Quiet Man either.  So we're looking at a big change in the set-up after this arc.  Or, perhaps more likely, they've looked at the ever-declining sales figures and decided to call it a day after this storyline - meaning that the book can afford to spend six issues pulling the set-up crashing down around it.

In fact, this issue does finally reveal who the Quiet Man is.  Those who've been hoping for some long-established character like the Banshee will be disappointed; the book is sticking to its own cast.  For my money, that's a better way to go.  If the title is indeed coming to a conclusion, it makes sense to loop back to issue #1 (and give a bit more meaning to a scene which, until now, has seemed a bit of a sideline).

McKeever and Garcia are doing solid and consistent work on this title, which really deserves more attention than it gets.

Rating: A-

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