(Imagine here the sound of deep sighing.)<\/p>\n
So. \u00a0These three issues aren’t technically part of\u00a0Uncanny X-Men<\/em>. \u00a0But they are written by Matthew Rosenberg, and they carry “legacy” numbers #635-637, which would place them between Uncanny X-Men<\/em> #15-16 – just before Rahne leaves, in other words. \u00a0They also smooth over the plot a little bit, in terms of things like Hope becoming a member of the team. \u00a0So imagine if Rosenberg’s main story had been interrupted by a three-issue crossover arc between chapters five and six, basically.<\/p>\n War of the Realms\u00a0<\/em>grows out of a long-running\u00a0Thor<\/em> storyline, and basically involves a whole load of Asgardian baddies invading Earth and having a great big war. \u00a0And that’s not the best set-up for a tie-in with Rosenberg’s\u00a0Uncanny X-Men<\/em>.<\/p>\n If you don’t have any involvement in the main plot – and\u00a0Uncanny\u00a0<\/em>doesn’t – then\u00a0War of the Realms<\/em> is just one of those stories in which civilisation is nearly destroyed by a massive disaster which everyone will have forgotten about in six months time, and the tie-in heroes’ job is just to save a few people and hold the line while fretting about the end of the world. \u00a0Except… Rosenberg’s\u00a0Uncanny X-Men<\/em> is\u00a0already<\/em> a story about a bunch of desperate characters clinging on by their fingernails. \u00a0So doing a\u00a0War of the Realms<\/em> tie-in is kind of the same thing, except on a bigger scale and with less resonance for the X-Men.<\/p>\n Luckily for Rosenberg, he has two characters on hand who\u00a0do<\/em> have a more direct stake in matters Asgardian, even if they aren’t particularly connected to the plot of\u00a0War of the Realms<\/em>. \u00a0He’s got Dani Moonstar, and she’s a Valkyrie. \u00a0And he’s got Wolfsbane, who had a brief fling with an Asgardian wolf prince called Hrimhari back in the 80s. \u00a0It’ll have to do.<\/p>\n So the X-Men find themselves in New York saving the bystanders from Asgardian invaders. \u00a0Dani, being a Valkyrie, feels drawn to join her colleagues on the front line. \u00a0Rahne goes after her and winds up fighting Sabretooth, who has randomly allied himself with Malekith. \u00a0(He went back to being a bad guy at the end of Weapon X<\/em>.) \u00a0Hrimhari is here to try to get her out of trouble and naturally she’s too heroic to simply abandon everyone and on the run with him. \u00a0You know the deal. \u00a0The rest of the team pretty much get to spend three issues being “holding the line” heroes.<\/p>\n I couldn’t care less about\u00a0War of the Realms<\/em>, which obviously isn’t a great start. \u00a0But it’s also rather hard to get invested in a Rahne story published\u00a0after<\/em> she’d already been killed off in the main title. \u00a0On top of that, Sunspot shows up to join the fight here, for absolutely no apparent reason other than to get casually killed off in a clumsy attempt to raise the stakes. \u00a0That’s despite him having been a major character recently in other books, mind you. \u00a0Any attempt at a heroic final battle is undercut by the pointless, unremitting bleakness here.<\/p>\n