Posted in: Comics | Tagged: cable, new mutants, x-men, X-ual Healing - The Weekly X-Men Recap Column

X-Men Scramble to Escape Egg-Hungry Brood in X-Men #8 [X-ual Healing 3-11-20]

Published Mon, 16 Mar 2020 16:00:40 -0500

Three X-books this week. Which was the best, Cable #1, New Mutants #9, or X-Men #8? Read on for recaps and analysis…

Sworn to sell comics for Marvel executives who feared and hated the fact that Fox owned their movie rights, The Uncanny X-Men suffered great indignities, but thanks to a corporate merger and a line-wide relaunch, the X-Men can finally get back to doing what they do best: being objectively the best franchise in all of comics.

X-MEN #8 DX
JAN200843
(W) Jonathan Hickman (A) Mahmud Asrar (CA) Leinil Francis Yu
The New Mutants are back from space, and they've brought intergalactic trouble with them! The Brood! The Shi'ar! The Starjammers! The Imperial Guard! Rated T+
In Shops: Mar 11, 2020
SRP: $3.99

What happened in X-Men #8?

In the Sextant, the New Mutants admire an egg brought back from space by Wolfsbane, the one that the Starjammers were trying to steal. Meanwhile, way at the edge of Shi'ar empire in a space graveyard, an armada of Acanti infested with trillions of Brood look at an image of that same egg, a King Egg. In the Summers house on the moon, Gabriel Summers dreams of floating through The Fault, where he was originally believed to have died at the end of War of Kings, after a long night of partying with his OG All-New All-Different X-Men teammates Petra and Sway. An infographic page later in the book tells us he "never died." Do they not know about Krakoan resurrection? Or is there more to this? Gabriel is awakened by his brothers just in time to notice Acanti flying past the moon toward Earth. On Krakoa, Oya and Broo pay a visit to the New Mutants' abode. When Broo notices the King Egg, he freaks out.

An Acanti crashes on Krakoa and Brood swarm out. The New Mutants jump into battle, and Cyclops and Marvel girl arrive to back them up. As the battle rages, Broo tells Jean that the Brood will keep coming for the King Egg, and the only way to save Krakoa is to get the egg off the planet. Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Broo run through a gate while the New Mutants hold off the Brood. Along with Havok and Vulcan, the thrio hop in a spaceship with the egg and head for the near Shi'ar stargate.

In Shi'ar space, a Kree accuser is negotiating over space Skype with Sunspot, who is living with Cannonball and his family on Chandilar. The accuser is holding the Starjammers captive after they failed to deliver the King Egg to him. Bobby secures a deal to release them to collect the egg and bring it back. Elsewhere in Shi'ar space, Gladiator and Kid Gladiator are hunting Brood with some Imperial Guard members when they get word of a Kree accuser in Shi'ar space. They head off to hunt him instead.

Was it any good?

X-Men is on a roll lately, and I appreciate it for three reasons. One is that we're short storylines instead of written-for-the-trade decompression, though each of these stories builds a greater ongoing narrative. The second is that the tapestry of side-plots happening concurrently has become pretty rich now, bolstered by all the side-plots developed in New Mutants. And the third reason: Kid Gladiator. When the Sex-Men meet up with the Imperial Guard, presumably next issue, it should be a blast.

Next: the Wolverine's Weiner X-Pick of the Week!