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New X-Men: Childhood's End Vol. 3

by Craig Kyle & Chris Yost

(Art by Paco Medina, Mike Norton, Juan Vlasco, Dave Meikis and Duncan Rouleau)

As the superhero Civil War rages, the young mutants of the Xavier Institute reel from a series of devastating losses.  When the futuristic Sentinel Nimrod is reactivated those young mutants have to take on the threat, despite knowing that it almost certainly means their deaths.

This was actually my first encounter with this particular iteration of the young X-Men and the only character I really knew was X-23.  Despite that, this book very quickly got me invested in the plight of these young mutants.  They've lived though M-Day, are living in a mutant ghetto 'protected' by the Sentinels of the O*N*E, and have seen dozens of their friends and fellow students murdered by the mutant-hating zealots known as the Purifiers.  They are very much beaten down and defeated when this story begins and then they have to muster the strength and determination to face Nimrod, a foe far beyond their weight class in terms of power.  It was very easy to become emotionally invested in their story.

I also liked the scene where Carol Danvers (in her Ms Marvel incarnation) arrives as the Institute seeking to recruit the X-Men for Iron Man's pro-Registration side of the Civil War but is then given a thorough dressing-down by Emma Frost, who uses her powers to highlight for Carol all of the times the Avengers were conveniently absent when mutants were being persecuted.  It not only conveys the justifiable bitterness Emma feels but also points out the hypocrisies of Carol and her ilk.

Overall, despite not having read volume 1 and 2 (at least not yet) I really enjoyed this book.

4 out of 5