X-Men Unlimited is having another format overhaul.  This time, it's turned into a normal sized, monthly comic.  I'm still left a little unclear what the point of its existence is supposed to be, but I expect it's going to be used as the usual dumping ground for stories about characters who don't have their own books. 

Fortunately, this week we have a strong creative team and a character who actually has a story that needs done with her.  So for once, I get to say: X-Men Unlimited is this week's best X-book.

With the creative team of Greg Rucka and Darick Robertson, this shouldn't entirely come as a surprise.  It's the first anniversary of Colossus' death, and Kitty Pryde is still not over it.  Seeing a man who looks like Peter, and being used to this sort of thing happening, she wonders whether he's back from the dead.

Although Peter is a presence throughout this story, it's entirely a character piece for Kitty Pryde.  And an excellent one.  Rucka and Robertson manage to work in the weirder aspects of the Marvel Universe without dragging the grief plot away from reality.  All of that material is kept on the sidelines, with the story given a firm real-world feel.  Lockheed is fluttering around her apartment, but he's kept as a background element.  It's the right balance.

If you're looking for that farewell issue that Colossus never really got (what with his death story being rubbish), then this isn't it.  It's not his story.  But Rucka and Robertson have Kitty's character nailed, and this issue gives some closure to a death which had always felt like a loose end.

Simple, straightforward, and very good.  The universal themes are always the best.

Rating: A

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