The X-Men continue their fight against the Shadow King! But when Old Man Logan loses himself in the Astral Plane and Shadow King’s illusions, will he ever find his way back to his teammates? And what other horrors await our team?

After the events of Astonishing X-Men #2 (minor spoiler) with the team now on the astral plane, and being separated into two pairs and 1 solo, I knew the next few issues would be focusing on the split up characters and their path to confronting the Shadow King. Charles Soule starts us of with Old Man Logan and his journey through the astral plane. It’s an alright journey, telling the reader a bit about Logan’s past and what drives him, along with how he’s able to walk so easily through the astral plane and shake off the Shadow King like he’s nothing. Nothing terribly exciting, but not a bad read either. The flashes back to the real world and how the remaining X-Men are dealing with the authorities is getting a little dry, pretty much just a chance to reiterate why this is all going down. One thing it did manage to do was to get me missing the old Warren Worhthington III; I’m not a huge fan of this pacifist, peace loving character as it’s laid on a little thick here, but I am intrigued by the inner struggle between him and Archangel. I’m sure we’ll see an issue or two about that.

The art provided by Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales and Jason Keith is fine, but I really found myself missing the art from the first two issues. I know this book will be rotating through artists, and that’s great to showcase different talents, I just found myself finding this art feeling a little ‘cartoony’, lacking in some of the grit and darker tones of the last two issues.

Overall, this was an alright issue. I think I just feel spoiled after the first two issues, with lots of action and a fast pace, matched with great art and dialogue. This issue, as I mentioned, was fine and I expected the story to go this way when the team was split up. But it felt a little slow for me, nothing really earth shattering taking place, and the art just didn’t leave me with the high I felt after the start of the series. I am still very much a fan of this series and I’m looking forward to seeing more from this team and the ultimate showdown with the Shadow King.

Story: Charles Soule Art: Ed McGuinness Ink: Mark Morales Color: Jason Keith
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE issue for review