X-Men: Emperor Vulcan

First thing you should know before considering this is that you HAVE to have read Brubakers "Rise and fall..." to know whats going on here. Having said that i really feel like this was a satisfying follow up. It seems as though this is going to be a bridge to a 3rd and larger chapter because it does leave you hanging at the end. (same way "rise and fall..." did) This story centers around Havok and the starjammers and their quest to bring down the insidious Vulcan who now happens to rule the Shia'r empire. (who mostly hate him and want him dead) A new race of aliens is introduced and the weapon they wield is pretty staggering. Forcing Vulcan and his elite guard to join forces with the starjammers. It gets pretty interesting from there, and how this ends really caught me by suprise. So if you liked Brubakers uncanny run, you'll enjoy this. If you didn't like it then i'd save my money if i were you.

Since he was introduced in early 2006, Gabriel Summers, aka, Vulcan, has been locking horns with the X-Men on a fairly consistent basis; he first appeared in the six-issue "X-Men: Deadly Genesis" miniseries, which was then followed up by a twelve-issue "Uncanny X-Men" story arc, 'The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire', which ended with Vulcan killing the old emperor and assuming leadership alongside his new bride, Deathbird, opposed by the deposed Lilandra and a merged faction of the X-Men, the Starjammers, and loyalist Shi'ar troops. This miniseries is centred on Alex Summers, aka, Havok, the leader of the Starjammers and a former X-Man; he assumes leadership following Vulcan's killing of Christopher Summers, aka, Corsair, the former Starjammer chieftain. Also present from the X-Men are Lorna Dane, aka, Polaris, Havok's on-again, off-again love interest (currently on), and Rachel Grey. While the series begins with a fairly straightforward civil war, it rapidly introduces a new threat in the form of the Scy'ar Tal, a race of aliens who were driven from their homeworld by the Shi'ar centuries earlier, and are now back for revenge. This necessitates that old standard of the superhero genre, the reluctant team-up between the heroes and the villains to fight a third set; all the while, Havok and co. realize that it is only a matter of time before Vulcan betrays them and they must resume their old combat. The story picks up many of the threads from the previous stories, dispensing with a few (such as the relationship between Rachel and new character Korvus), and examines in greater detail the issue of Vulcan's rule of the Empire, including how the general population react to the foreigner now called their leader. Chris Yost takes over writing chores from Ed Brubaker, who handled the previous two legs of the story, and he does a creditable job; indeed, though Brubaker is in general a superior writer (perhaps the finest superhero comics writer of the 21st century so far), Yost does a better job with the X-Men space opera, something that perhaps Brubaker is not suited for as much. Yost has a firm handle on the characters, and does the best job with Vulcan of anyone yet; perennial B-list X-Men like Havok and Polaris get very strong characterization. The most amusing part is that of Ch'od, the hulking green alien who is a fixture of the Starjammers, but here becomes a source of excellent comic relief. On art, Paco Diaz delivers solid and enjoyable visuals; I would call him an improvement on Billy Tan's work on "Rise and Fall...", though not up to Trevor Hairsine's art on "Deadly Genesis" (although it is far, far more timely, a clear advantage); indeed, this miniseries looks better than some of the art in the blockbuster "Messiah Complex" crossover that was running alongside it in the X-titles. If there is an issue with this miniseries, it is the ending, which is no ending at all; the story ends on a cliffhanger, setting up yet another stage in t