Finally for this week, X-Men #179 ties off the three-part "House Arrest."

I'm perpetually in two minds about Peter Milligan's run on this title.  Personally, I love his sense of humour, and the book tends to be liberally scattered with throwaway deadpan items that bring a smile to my face.  He's also big on intriguing character ideas that don't strictly speaking make any sense, yet somehow shed interesting light on the personalities involved - Lorna's denial about her power loss, for example.  But Milligan's always been better when he's out on a limb than when he's trying to write a mainstream superhero comic, and the series hasn't been altogether successful on that level.

This arc lands Milligan with one of the key planks of the Decimation event - the arrival of the Sentinels at the X-Men Mansion.  Typically for Marvel, they couldn't actually bring themselves to co-ordinate anything with the other comics, so Milligan finds himself introducing the Sentinels as if they were a staggering new concept, even though sister titles have been dispensing the same information as throwaway exposition for weeks beforehand.  You can't do that if you want this sort of thing to work. 

Anyhow, all of this leaves us with three issues of fighting, which isn't really Milligan's strong point.  The X-Men fight Sentinel Squad O*N*E due to the obligatory misunderstanding, and then team up to fight the Sapien League, who are awfully well organised for a group that had never been mentioned until a few weeks ago.  Milligan obviously loves his Leper Queen character, and the unsettling blank facemask is a nice design feature.  But I'm never for a moment persuaded that this bunch of shotgun-toting hicks are any sort of threat to the X-Men, let alone the giant robots.

Lorna's power loss denial, while an interesting character idea and a cute feint with Bobby's genuine mental block, doesn't quite work either.  I like it as a concept, but I can't buy for a second that Lorna managed to keep up the pretence for two weeks, without anyone noticing, during a period when power loss was a threat on everyone's mind.  It's simply not believable, no matter how much goodwill you have for the creators.

On some level, I continue to find Milligan perversely entertaining.  But intellectually, I can't justify it - there are plot holes here that you could drive a Sentinel through, and concepts that strain the suspension of disbelief beyond breaking point.  Perhaps Milligan would benefit from a co-writer with stronger sensibilities for the genre - or a stronger hand from his editor.

Rating: B-

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