Ultimate X-Men #52 has the third part of "Cry Wolf", which unfortunately remains one of the weaker recent storylines.  It's not horrible, but it's certainly lagging behind the standards the title generally lives up to.

Fenris have captured Rogue, and try to get her to stick around by offering her a power-controlling device.  As you'd probably expect, Rogue isn't convinced, Fenris tell her that she's staying whether she likes it or not, and Rogue and Gambit end up making a break for it. 

I can see what Vaughan is heading for here - Fenris' "steal from the rich, give to the poor" schtick has an obvious appeal to Gambit, and I kind of like the idea of Gambit happily spouting anti-corporate rhetoric to justify his thieving career.  Rogue, on the other hand, gets to make the big decision to remain with the X-Men rather than gain control of her powers - although Vaughan complicates matters by having her claim that she feels her powers are a curse and that she can only be free of them by earning her redemption with the X-Men.  It's an odd little moment in which Rogue makes the "right" decision, and then produces a bafflingly superstitious rationale out of left field.  I kind of like the idea, actually, since it leaves Rogue as a character with slightly screwed-up motives for sticking with the X-Men, rather than just being a villain who thought better of it.

The downside, however, is Fenris.  There's a vague attempt to portray them as the next stage in corporate evolution, although it's far from clear what that actually means.  As near as I can make out, they seem to be running some sort of capitalist corporation which is somehow or other directing its profits towards helping poor mutants.  ("A public company privately run by and for mutants like you."  Sorry, but what does that actually mean?)

They come across as such complete bastards that it's difficult to buy into that, and instead they just seem like one-dimensional villains who've taken in a very gullible Gambit.  Andy Kubert's visuals for the Fenris building are uninspired, as well - the backgrounds are unusually bland in this issue.

A couple of interesting ideas, but the story as a whole doesn't really come off.

 Rating: B-

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