The X-Men join The Hellfire Club?! To investigate a string of violent attacks perpetrated by mutants, the Uncanny X-Men ally themselves with their (former?) foes. But what they’re about to uncover may be too much for even their combined might to handle…

For his X-Men run, Cullen Bunn has been mining a lot of recent classic characters from the X-Men universe (think 90s characters). His run kicked off with the return of the Dark Riders and in this issue we get the return of another character that I personally think not enough has been done enough with… but I’m not spoiling who.

The issue has a whole lot of action as Magneto’s X-Men team up with the Hellfire Club to figure out what the deal is with mutants going into cryogenic sleep. And of course there’s something up and they come into retaliation and have to fight before getting some answers eventually leading us to the reveal at the end.

It’s a pretty entertaining comic and definitely has a bit of a feel of the 90s considering the characters involved. But, even though Bunn is mining a lof the 90s he gives us a lot of new too. Magneto having a big picture game plan going on is the most interesting thing of the series and I want to see what he has up his sleeve. The fact the X-Men and Hellfire Club are teaming up is interesting. We’re getting a greater look inside the world of the Club and it’s entertaining to say the least. The new leadership is fascinating. Bunn is playing the long game here.

Greg Land‘s art is decent. I’ve usually had issues with his art as I feel his characters tend to look a lot alike, but things are a bit better here. You know Land art when you see it and while I used to think it was pretty bad, there’s been improvements so that it’s not as much of a distraction for me.

The issues really gets things rolling as far as Bunn’s next story arc and we get some answers. On it’s own it’s ok, but like a good X-Men story it’s the big picture that’s what really matters for me.

Story: Cullen Bunn Art: Greg Land
Story: 7.4 Art: 7 Overall: 7.35 Recommendation: Read