Ah, now this is more like it.

New X-Men kicks off its next storyline with "Brimstone & Whiskey", a story which is really more about Scott Summers trying to drown his sorrows.  And it's great.

Now, granted, there are glitches around the edge.  Sebastian Shaw is apparently now a telepath, which is presumably a glaring continuity error.  The alternative is that it's a secondary mutation, I suppose, but if that's the idea then it really needed to be established.  Then there's the latest incarnation of the Hellfire Club, which has been reinvented as a high-class lapdancing club for mutants.  Granted, the Club's continuity and status was such a mess that sweeping it aside and starting from scratch was fair enough, but it does read a little strangely for Shaw to be repositioned as, essentially, a nightclub owner.

But this is background stuff, and doesn't really touch on the heart of the issue, which is a character piece for Cyclops.  Having previously relied on Emma to get him out of his shell, Cyclops is trying to do it himself, but typically enough, can't actually do it.  Alcohol makes him depressed, lapdancers do nothing for him at all, and people just won't leave him alone.  While most writers seem to look at Scott's rather blank persona and give up in despair, Morrison is making it work as the centrepiece of a character who's thoroughly unhappy with his own personality but doesn't know how to change it.

Chris Bachalo turns in some of his best work in ages.  Admittedly the script plays to his strengths, by avoiding the sort of clutter that often plagues his work these days.  But Bachalo is on top form with his take on Scott, and a great fire-lit colouring job from Chris Chuckry helps the mood enormously

Poor old Scott.  But Morrison makes me care about the character more than anyone's managed in years.

Rating: A

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