738 ( )

A bit confusing for the non-regular "Uncanny X-Men" reader picking the book up as a House of M tie-in (this being an arc from the main book rather than a tie-in standalone miniseries), and without a proper resolution to one of the main plot threads. That said, it has some fun and cool bits, and the interplay between Rachel and Psylocke is a solid core. The emotional payoff of Meggan's sacrifice at the end is pretty good, too. ( )

A pretty cool "what if" type thing featuring Captain Britain, was super happy to see the Bachalo as the artist. I'm thinking about collecting all the comics he's drawn, he's definitely my favorite. ( )

This was a fun alternate-reality adventure with story by Chris Claremont and art by Alan Davis (two issues) and Chris Bachalo (two issues). This is what you would expect from Claremont and Davis. The surprise is that the two issues drawn by Bachalo work well also, even though his and Davis' art is so different, the transition is jarring. This story does not seem to matter either to the House of M cross-over or the ongoing Uncanny X-Men story-line, which is odd, but it is a nice story nonetheless. Well, I take that back, the one connection going through all of Claremont's run on The New Age Uncanny X-Men is that Jamie Braddock is pulling strings (literally, quantum strings) for some grander purpose, and Jamie does pop up in these issues as well, but you could easily skip this volume and not miss a beat in the larger plot. So, to sum up, good for fans of sidereal Claremontian jaunts, but skippable if that's not your thing. ( )

The only reason I bought this trade was so I would have the complete House of M set, and I think it's the worst trade of the lot. Most of it was completely incoherent to anyone who isn't a diehard continuity geek; I had no idea what was going on for most of the story. Oh well, at least it looks pretty on the shelf. ( )