Release: April 2026 | Writer: Alex Paknadel | Artist: Rogê Antônio | Colorist: Fernando Sifuentes | Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cyclops and Mei continue to fight! On their way to the crashed Quinjet, they're met by some unwelcomed faces.
*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!*
Searching For the Quinjet:
Looking at a brutal scene in front of them, Mr. Pierce and his Reavers look at a mutant that has died while getting stuck phasing through a rock wall. All the other mutants around them are horrified, but Mr. Pierce has no emotion to this situation in front of him. He just wants these mutants to get back to work. But he's pulled away by Blitz Tempo.
She reports to him that she's found Endzone's body. But the weird thing is that Endzone's parts were stripped by Tearjerker while Endzone was still alive, reporting to Pierce that Tearjerker is actually the reason Endzone is dead.
Cyclops' and Mei are waling through the woods trying to find the remains of the Quinjet that hold Cyclops' glasses so that he can finally see again. They argue about Krakoa and how someone like Mei is upset that they didn't get to experience it because of the mutants that were there allowing it to be destroyed.
During this, Cyclops begins coughing up BUCKETS of blood due to a wood shard lodged into his rips. He begs Mei to pull it out of him, but due to fear not allowing her strength to kick in, he teaches her a trick to focus on her powers and get over this fear.
And it works to her surprise as Cyclops thanks her and seals up his wound. Before they continue on their walk and arrive at the jet, Cyclops feels like they got here too easily. The jet feels too...staged.
And he's right because Tearjerker is waiting for them, holding Cyclops' ruby quart sunglasses. He begins to put a beating on Cyclops, toying with him and destroying his glasses with his bare hands. Cyclops has no way to contain his optic blasts now.
But the scene heats up for both sides, because Blitz Tempo arrives, holding the hair of Mei. And threatens Tearjerker for what he did to Endzone, telling him that Pierce knows what he did. Better yet...he's on his way over there.
Fight to Survive:
Mei struggles with her powers once again when trying to free herself. Cyclops reminds her of what he taught her earlier leading to her being able to free herself. Following that up by breaking the arm of Blitz Tempo and punching a whole completely through her stomach.
Ofcourse this terrifies Mei. She tells Cyclops that she didn't mean to kill her, she was just doing what she was told to do and she runs away. Tearjerker says she won't get far and he'll handle her soon, but first he's going to focus on killing Cyclops.
But he is not happy about this.
Cyclops calls Tearjerker an idiot and tells him that he was trying to do this the nice way. He was trying to handle him in a polite manner. But he's forcing his hand.
Causing Cyclops to blast him away in a red haze.
In the woods Mei is trying to run as fast as she can until Mr. Pierce catches her by the neck and is planning to take her back to the cave to get back to work.
Under pounds of rubble, Cyclops crawls away as a bloodied mess. He walks to the body of Tearjerker who is malfunctioning on the ground. Cyclops grabs his robotic remains and drags him away saying that he has a use for him.
What is that use? We'll have to wait and see!
Conclusion:
This issue built on almost every character shown on a panel, which is great. Cyclops gets one step closer to putting this behind him and defeating Mr. Pierce and his Reavers. Seeing the Reavers bicker constantly with each other is a touch I always like with a group of villains. Always sets up the age old question of who is the most deplorable of them all?
Mei and Scott's relationship is nice to see as well. Going from X-Men United Cyclops who is trying to use other's powers to pretend to burn down a school, to a protective and helpful leader in this book is kind of hilarious to me. THIS is how Scott Summers should be written. Seeing his internal struggle of wanting to be a hero, but feeling forced into the role of a soldier is almost poetic. While the action was great, the art continues to shine and be phenomenal as well. Every character looks amazing and the panel of the blood reflection showing Cyclops and Mei talking was a great artistic touch.
This issue is on par with the fun action packed ride of last month for sure. Definitely give this book a shot if you haven't yet.