The Good

Let me start out by saying I've been a big fan of this story/event. I've always been intrigued by time travel in the X-Men comics and seeing the possible future versions has kept me on the edge of my seat.

As with previous issues, we get some tiny mentions to events that happened in the future X-Men's past. We get some cool moments with future and present day versions of characters (and past, of course).

Even though this is only a ten-part story, there have been times we've had more conversations over action. If you've been hungering for more action, this issue will give you quite a bit. We have X-Men fighting X-Men fighting X-Men. Serioiusly, there's a two page spread with more X-Men than you'd want to count.

The Bad

Are they good? Are they bad? It's almost like we're watching a tennis match with the going back and forth. We have one more chapter to go which should give us all the answers. There is a crazy ending to set up the final chapter. It is pretty heavy but maybe I'm just unfazed by it.

The other problem for me was the art. I usually dig Giuseppe Camuncoli's art but it didn't quite work here. Some moments felt a little rushed. Granted, there is a lot of characters involved and he should be commended but some of the characters and their expressions looked a little odd.

The Verdict

We are close to the end. Those hungering for more action will indeed get it in this issue. The stakes have been raised. We get a big cliffhanger and there's no telling what will happen in the final chapter next week. The entire arc has been a bit of a roller coaster ride and it almost feels like a lot is being crammed into this second to last issue. The art feels a little rushed at times but then again, there is a lot of action and characters crammed in. We may know (from future solicits) the fate of most of the characters but there's still the chance of some casualties in the final chapter. There's no questioning if you've been following along this arc, you'll want to read this issue. We are ready and waiting for the story to end to see what's next.

-_- all Marvel events start strong and end crap

This wasn't very good at all....... I couldn't help rolling my eyes when I saw teenage Xavier in a psychic wheelchair.

How didn't storm figure out that was her kid lmao its like Aaron wants her to look stupid

Except that this one was crap from the start

nope I loved it from the beginning along with a lot of people.

A whole lot of fighting. I get the feeling their introducing a whole bunch of new x men just to kill them off. I will be glad when this event is over though so I can just go back to reading All New X-Men and drop the other books.

This has been one of the best events of the Year and I love what Bendis and the other writers have done. It is way better and than infinity and I love infinity.

lol are you serious?

Umm I have to agree & disagree at the same time. This is just a typical Bendis event. Like with Age of Ultron I finished today's chapter thinking, "How dafuh is he gonna sum all of this up in 30 pages?!" This issue though had a couple of worthy interactions though. Like Maria Hill telling some guy to find a time machine so she could send someone back to kill whoever invented the time machine, & ohmylanta the moment between the Quires had me LOLing like little girl with a crush. Definitely a crowded a$$ book, but it had its moments which most of the others hadn't.

Quite a few folks here seem to be mirroring my own sentiments. This actually might have been considered a better issue if not for the fact that it's the second to last and didn't deliver quite the amount of clarity those of us who have been enjoying the series expected.

Have to commend Camuncoli on artwork solely based on the amount of x-men crammed into each panel. Honestly, drawing that many dudes takes a significant amount of time and even though his total attention to detail might be slightly lacking and faces are a little off sometimes, an incredible amount of time was put into this issue. Also, loved seeing 4 icemen trade quips in one panel.

@cheesesticks:

I would say that Bendis' big storylines start out strong and fizzle out. The payoff is rarely worth the set up

I hear you. So-so, overall.

Unlike most alt-future characters, I am actually intrigued by the ones in this story arc. Future Iceman with a beard and walking stick is badass.

Looking forward to the conclusion, more so we can get on with the X-Men stories than anything else. I hope they figure out a way to send the kids back to their own time!

Yeah, I'm genuinely disappointed in this. I was really looking forward to it and it just felt so... Boring... None of the big reveals were impacting to me, and idk, I'm tired of the O5 being in the mix like many others, but hey my money speaks and it's still on my pull list so...

a complete mess; and since when would Kitty and Illyana speak to each other like that? did I miss something? does no writer recall their former friendship, if it is former?

I really don't think they do. It gets glossed over pretty often nowadays. I guess there is no room for characterization when you just want the cast to behave like they are in a fighting game.