Uncanny X-Men #454 concludes the three-part "Chasing Hellfire", and... well, it's alright.

Yes, the plot hinges on a string of coincidences, but it's just about got enough momentum to disguise them.  It's one of those stories where we're asked to accept on trust that Sage predicts some suspiciously arbitrary things, but then that's Sage's schtick, so it comes with the territory.

The bigger problem is that there's really nothing here to engage me in any of the characters.  Rachel has a fight with Selene which comes down to little more than Rachel doing something indeterminate and telling us what a great character she is; Pierce and Shaw brawl in one-dimensional fashion.  There are glimmers of interest as Sage tries to sell the idea that Shaw is a potentially decent individual, and Storm finally starts to have some doubts about how much the team can trust Sage - but god, what took her so long?  They're put up with so much nonsense from Claremont's chosen one that it's hard to see why they should start to question her now.

Sage also gets an odd little speech about how she left Xavier to join Shaw.  After spending years hammering the fact that she was a spy for Xavier all along, it seems bizarre to turn around now and suddenly claim that she wasn't.

At the end of the day, it's not horrible - but it doesn't do anything to make me care.  These people don't feel real, their concerns feel hollow.

Rating: C+

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