With the arrival of younger mutants asking for help from Rogue, Gambit, and Logan, the three were initially a bit more cautious of whether they could be trusted in the previous volume. A little bit of drama between the two groups before they came to a more relaxed stance. It was an okay volume that focused on some of the characters and their trust issues, but this volume took another turn and decided to go a bit more into the younger mutants and who they were. It was a bit of a boring volume due to the information dump that it had for the most part, and in the previous review of the last volume I mentioned it didn't feel like it had this odd passing of the torch feeling to it, whereas this one most certainly did. I'm not all that interested in that side of things, the younger mutants are simply not that interesting to be given such focus. Though some backstory that gives some context into who they are is necessary, it just had that weird feeling of old teaching the young, the feeling of the main characters being old and dusty, all washed-up and ready to pass down responsibilities to the younger generation. A little too forced in that sense.
It did feel like a bit of an exposition dump for the most part. Panels in a row dedicated to introducing each of the younger characters and giving some context into who they are and how they came to having their abilities. I only really enjoyed one of them given the idea was a bit more darker and thus engaging: a child born with the cord around its neck, having died multiple times at birth and spending its time with death in the underworld, witnessing the horrors of that underworld, before suddenly springing back to life. Now plagued with the constant connection to death and the underworld. Always dressed in black, always a little weird and obsessed with death and decay. Capable of turning into something demonic and horrifying within an instant, but otherwise quite fragile and gentle. This was an interesting character to briefly explore a little more, it wasn't the usual story of gaining powers out of nothing. Another was a girl that had no powers but was raised to always abide. Even when it came to a house fire, she didn't scream or shout because she was told to never do so, and didn't out of fear of punishment. Leading to the death of her family as she casually escaped with her horse. Darker stories for sure, and they did split up the volume a little more.
It did just feel a bit too much like a passing of the torch scenario. The out with the old and in with the new. It didn't really expand on much else aside from that, to which it ended with Logan announcing his leave. A bit of drama that sets up the next volume, but no major events that stood out. I can see why it was important to give those characters a bit more depth, but one after the other perhaps was a bit too much, instead of being weaved into the story over time. Though again, I can understand why it would've been done to maintain the moving of the ball going into the next few volumes, where things did pick up a bit more again. So far it is the weakest of the five volumes I've read. I guess sometimes these sudden jumps and changing of pace are necessary. Though it did have me slightly worried about the next few volumes based on that idea. In terms of comedy though, it was pretty fun. Random references to furries had me slightly chuckle due to the generally unexpected nature of such humour. This volume did also somewhat set the stage for a few additional themes in the next volume which I think was a nice addition, one that focused on the idea of love, marriage, and being a parent. Something I think the Rogue character has been expressing a bit more emotion around so far compared to the others. Particularly with the flashbacks to Xavier's earlier journals in which he meets a woman, and they have a child together.
I do think that one of the main things that keeps me engaged in these weaker aspects of the story is the art though. I really am a fan of the artist's stuff. There's a level of messiness and detail that I really enjoy, with really classic comic looking construction in the faces, as well as good use of perspective and composition when it's needed. The art really is the main strength here. I do find I go back and re-read things just to give the art a second look here and there. I think it also worked nicely with changing some things up when it came to those aforementioned flashbacks to give context on the younger characters. The style shifting a little bit to show a different time, giving each story a different type of central theme or colour that pertained more to the character themselves and their personalities. Blue, black, or the harshness of an orange through fire.
Still a decent volume, but one that felt a bit more of a slog to get through given the expectations it gives for future volumes. Fortunately it wasn't the case in the end. I can understand why it chose to throw out so much character development one after the other, but admittedly there are also alternatives to doing so, albeit taking up more time to tell such stories and thus more volumes that could've been spent elsewhere. I would say it was a slightly weaker volume if not for some comedy and interesting backstories, it's just that passing of the torch feeling that left a bad mark.