Synopsis & Review by X-Mark. Thanks!
Synopsis: 30 years from now: In the Days of Future Past timeline, Wolverine laments the fact that the Sentinels don’t seem to have gone, despite the previous attempts to stop the assassination of Senator Kelly, etc. Wolverine explains that he’s realised that the assassination attempt wasn’t the cutoff point; in fact, the reason Days of Future Past came to happen was all because of him. He explains about the Weapon X program, and what he did to Malcolm Colcord; it shows Malcolm wearing a white mask over his face that, oddly, doesn’t appear to have any airholes.

The Present: The Director stands in a big pile of dead mutants, discussing matters with a robot and Imaginary Wolverine while Madison Jeffries passes out from exhaustion. The robot analyses the situation, noting that “Subject MalcolmColcord” is a deranged lunatic who constantly bullies everyone in his employ and has never achieved anything for himself, yet still seems on the verge of winning the War of the Programs.

It then analyzes the War, showing Team Malcolm (Aurora, Deadpool, Sabretooth, Mesmero), Team Jackson (Sauron, Washout, Zero, Wild Child) and Team Sublime (Fantomex, apparently… and the U-Men). The most interesting point made is that Brent Jackson and his Weapon X program have yet to participate in a single battle of the war. They disappeared, and the robot mentions that it remained that way until a jailbreak ‘turned an enemy into an ally’. Ooh, foreshadowing.

Three weeks from now: Dr. John Sublime gives a talk on the Transpecies Movement (as it’s apparently now being called) as Fantomex lines up a sniper shot for him. Whoops, guess he wasn’t on Weapon Plus’s side after all. Logan and Zero show up, however, and threaten him into putting the gun down. They reason that Sublime might be the only one who knows what happened to Chamber and Neverland. Fantomex says that Sublime sabotaged E.V.A. and he wants REVENGE! (thus explaining the end of WX #25, incidentally) and he won’t give up this chance, adding that several other attempts have failed to work since Sublime just won’t seem to die. Before any of them can decide, however, Chamber appears (face healed and powers working) and blows Sublime up, apparently killing him.

As Logan and Fantomex jump into action, Zero notices Mesmero in the crowd and goes to investigate. Meanwhile, Fantomex stands over Sublime, and Sublime tells him there’s something Fantomex needs to know before Sublime dies. Fantomex leans close as Sublime whispers in his ear, and then walks away, commenting, “Huh.”

Wolverine chases Chamber out of the building, but Chamber says he’s only ever heard about him from Weapon X’s files. Logan tries to explain about the mission to infiltrate Weapon X, so Chamber incinerates him a bit. Well, fair enough I suppose. In the ensuing melee, Jono gets away, as Zero shadows Mesmero back to a hotel, where he meets Director Jackson. But it seems that Weapon X were expecting Zero’s presence…

Later still: Sentinels tear through the hotel where Weapon X were meeting. A proud Colcord stands with Sauron, declaring “Weapon X is mine.”

Review: From the flaming wreckage of Weapon X’s cancellation came… Days of Future Now. That title gets on my nerves a little, since there are only so many “classic storyline variant” titles one can take before it drives you insane. I’m also a little unsure of the premise, as it seems to be retconning parts of the original Days of Future Past, saying it started for different reasons that were stated in the original storyline (although my knowledge is a little shaky in that area). Still, the whole convoluted cancellation/limited series meant they had to do something with it, and I guess this was what they went for. Certainly there seems to be a tendency in Marvel to think that old storylines will sell just as well as they first did if repackaged in the right way. But I digress.

One of the most important things to note is that Tieri is starting to clear up the plot points he didn’t get a chance to in the original series, right from the get-go; here we learn why Fantomex crashed in the field and see the reappearance of Chamber (finally). Since that was one of the biggest arguments against cancelling the series in the first place, it’s a good start. And, of course, the plot for the mini-series in and of itself is being laid, with the whole Sublime/Fantomex thing and Chamber’s lost memory.

Weapon X has always essentially revolved around its villains, and now it seems to be focusing on two; the Director (I always think of him as such, even though he isn’t any more) and John Sublime. Sublime is, of course, a difficult case to deal with, and it seems that Tieri’s doing his best to incorporate all the nonsensical Grant Morrison crap regarding Sublime (Fantomex couldn’t kill him, etc.) I doubt Chamber could really kill Sublime, either, but we’ll see. Malcolm seems to be the star of the show once again, as it should be, and his new look with the white face mask is cool and menacing and stuff. Colcord may be the perfect anti-villain; as his magical robot friend notes, despite being weak and pathetic, he’s still extremely dangerous. On that note, the use of the robot to tell the story so far and analyse the Director from a neutral standpoint was inspired and very well done.

I can’t say I liked the art too much, though. Wolverine in particular just seemed really odd looking in every panel he was in, though Fantomex and Zero didn’t look so bad; maybe it was the faces. And Jono looked more like a boxer than your average mutant. Plus, his energy looked weird, as though the artist thought he was a pyrokinetic or something. Next issue: The War of the Programs continues!

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