Over in X-Men #196, Mike Carey and guest artist Humberto Ramos complete the three-part "Primary Infection" arc.

Pandemic - the guy who was mentioned in passing in Carey's first arc - turns out to be a mad scientist type who once treated Rogue and managed to duplicate her powers.  Since then, he's been going around using that as a device to copy other mutant powers as well, making him terribly powerful.  But now he wants to get Rogue back.  Why?

Well, we finally get a clear answer to that in this concluding part.  Apparently Pandemic only gets the powers, and he wants the ability to absorb minds permanently.  There's a rather garbled attempt to explain that this way he'll subjectively experience their lifetimes and, in a metaphysically debatable kind of way, live forever.

Hmm.  Much as I like Carey's writing, this one doesn't really work for me.  The problem is the villain - he's a cipher for most of the arc, and when his motivations are finally fleshed out, they don't ring true.  We're told what he wants, but never really why he wants it.  And since he gets comprehensively beaten at the end of the story, I assume he's not being set up for a rematch - if anything, the long-term significance of this story seems to be to mess with Rogue's own powers yet again.

As a result, I can't help but see this as an extended three-issue fight scene, with the usual exaggerated art from Humberto Ramos.  As it's Carey's second arc, it would have been nice to see his quirky roster working together as a team, but by keeping them separate for most of the story he hasn't allowed himself that opportunity.  Still, the finish is inventive, and there are cute action sequences to liven things up.  But the story has Pandemic at its centre, and he's not a great villain.

By no means a terrible story, but a superficial one.  Carey can improve on this.

Rating: B-

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