One of X-Statix's more interesting tricks is its habit of producing stories where the mechanics are entirely transparent.  You can see the writer manipulating you from a mile away.  This ought to be intensely annoying.  Yet somehow it isn't.

My current theory is that it works because, although the surface level of plot is deliberately garish and obvious, the character arcs - despite their melodrama - are kept a little more obscure.  And they're the bits that really make readers care about the story.  The current arc is flagging this up, with all the characters (except Venus) talking about Guy as if it's a straightforward question of whether he's Good or Bad, while clearly the characterisation runs a little deeper than that.

For that matter, despite giving the story the look of an eminently predictable plot, Peter Milligan still leaves a few elements uncertain.  It was pretty obvious that Guy Smith was not going to be Bad Guy, precisely because the story was so patently bending over backwards to suggest that he was.  That still leaves the question of what the hell Guy really is up to and why he has a matching scar of his own.

That said, there's at least one glaring plot problem in this issue.  Xavier being one of the top telepaths in the world and all, it's rather surprising that he doesn't realise Guy isn't the villain the moment he steps into the room.  It's all the more surprising that, having decided that Guy is the villain, Xavier does precisely nothing to stop him, even though it would hardly take a tremendous amount of effort.  However much I like this book, I've got to admit that that bit just doesn't work.

Still, you can never go that far wrong with X-Statix.  Good as ever.

Rating: B+

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