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Sebastian Shaw attacks Magneto after he rejects the offer to join Mothervine. Meanwhile, the new Marauders attack Xorn after he too rejects their offer. Thankfully, Xorn receives help in the form of Jimmy Hudson and Bloodstorm. Unfortunately, Malice infiltrates the Madripoor mansion through the body of Polaris.

Finally, Briar Raleigh seeks out new X-Men with Magneto's team having gone missing.

I didn't expect to return to this one anytime soon, but the Jorge Molina cover with Magneto and Havok drew me in like a true sucker.

Thankfully, X-Men: Blue #24 surprised me with a solid read. The main thrust of the story is Magneto, aka the greatest mutant of all time, fighting Sebastian Shaw, and the fight is quite good. Molina, Matt Milla and Jay David Ramos do a damn good job of bringing the battle to life.

The parallel stories of Polaris battling the Rakshak team and Jimmy, Bloodstorm, and Briar building a new X-Men team is fairly enjoyable.

Even the dialogue gels better than in prior issues of X-Men: Blue. There's only one real groaner of a joke in the entire book.

Honestly, removing the baggage of the main team may be a boon for the book going forward. The melodrama between the original X-Men, the time-travelling complications, and the nigh-insufferable jokes weighed the book down greatly. This replacement lineup may only be temporary, but it may just do some real good for this series.

I am still annoyed that Havok has been made into a villain, though.

Molina's artwork is another great change from what I've been accustomed to in this book. The characters are detailed, but the line work and inking are appealingly clean. The fight scenes focus on kinetic energy and the impacts. Milla and Ramos give a good color balance to the art, never focusing too much on lights or darks.

X-Men: Blue #24 is easily one of the best installments of this series I've read in some time. The narrative is spread out, but each plot has focus. The dialogue is far better than in previous issues. Magneto receives more focus, as he damn well should. Molina, Milla, and Ramos deliver some great artwork. This was a good comic, and I recommend checking it out.

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