These were just utter gems! I had a really great time reading issues #17-18 back-to-back last night. Jason Aaron has proven once again that he's the kind of writer who knows how to entertain his readers with some of the most absurd interpretations of certain characters that somehow always works for the side-stories he created. We had a very introspective one concerning Warbird in issue #13 and a confrontational one between Kitty and Colossus in #14. Now, here in #17, we have the most amusing and quirky installment yet concerning the mysterious Doop; an alien whose linguistic speech pattern is barely understood by many (with the exception of Wolverine and other characters). He was hired as one of the staff in the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning for a job description nobody has a clue of except the headmaster Logan Howlett himself. This issue showcases the many varied ways Doop functions as the school's all-around 'protector'.
I loved this issue because I was actually very interested in Doop as a side character now, given how badass and sefless he is! Basically, Wolverine hires him for 'crisis management' because he's a flexible entity who seems to instinctively know when trouble is headed their way. Whatever possible disaster could happen to the school, Doop is there three steps ahead of time to make sure it doesn't come to pass by employing whatever measures it takes to prevent it. And we see these hilarious moments unfolding for this issue whenever Doop gets caught in the most absurd and implausible fights and scenarios all to safeguard the school and its students. And nobody even knows that he's always out there, sometimes in a daily or weekly basis, risking his life in complete anonymity. All the while, teachers are puzzled why he's even in school, and have tried to tell Wolverine that they should probably get rid of him because he doesn't seem to contribute as an employee, but Wolverine knew better, of course. He's the only one who appreciates the extent of Doop's responsibilities for the school; how overworked and invisible he is to everyone. And still, he is dedicated and kind even when some of the people in school think his a burden or an annoyance. It's pretty sad, and I wish I have him beside me so I can hug him and tell him 'thank you for being a badass'.
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| Doop in a nutshell |
Issue #18 is the last crossover issue for the main event AVX though it's worth noting that the AVX scenes here were only squeezed in and they featured that climactic event when Professor Xavier tries to put a stop to Scott's Phoenix possession by sacrificing his life in the process. It was an important moment especially since this was contrasted with the supposedly light-hearted dance night that Kitty threw for the entire Jean Grey school just to keep the students happy and distracted from all the clusterfucks happening around them. The Stepford sisters did not join the fun, though, and were monitoring the mutant activity in Cerebra instead for any changes or disruptions. It was them who discovered Xavier's death as it unfolds in real-time. Meanwhile, Idie (the mutant with temperature-controlling abilities) has been visiting a church outside the school. Her sudden change in disposition was notable and it allowed her to laugh and even flirt with Quentin Quire during a dance. Broo was heartbroken about this because he likes Idie, and so he breaks out of school to go to the church Idie has been attending and discovers the preacher she's been talking to is a cyborg that was developed by one of Kade Kilgore's lackeys.
It turns out that Kade and the Hellfire Club had been busy trying to recruit and brainwash impressionable students into joining them. They've been trying to recruit Q before but he expressed his disinterest, especially now that he's preoccupied with Idie on the dance floor as they shared their first kiss. In the AVX battlefield, Hope finally absorbs the Phoenix Force and starts fixing things around the globe using its powers but was unable to let it go until Wanda (Scarlet Witch) convinced her to. As soon as she did, Cerebra picked up a sudden surge of mutants being reborn all across the world. Excited and overwhelmed, the Stepford sisters informs Kitty about it and the four of them embrace one another with joy and relief. With the death of Xavier and Hope releasing the Phoenix back into the cosmos, the mutant race starts to thrive once more. Everyone is caught up with this major development that no one even noticed when one of the lights in Cerebra died out. It was no other than Broo. Kade had just shot him inside the church, and nobody even knows. It was shocking and I was a little angry because I was beginning to be very fond of the little guy and I had to watch him die alone like that. Since Xavier just died too, and then a miraculous thing occurs around the world concerning mutants, Broo's demise seems rather inconsequential compared to them. And that's just unfair!!
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
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