After Bendis, Brian K. Vaughan comes on board and give us interesting story arcs. At first they all seem disconnected, with their own ending. But they are also part of the big puzzle, and they are all utilized in the final arc.
The first arc Tempest (46-49) introduces Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse. It’s a completely different concept, with Sinister having allucinations of Apocalypse. Vaughan keeps it ambivalent enough that at the end we wonder if Apocalypse isn’t real afterall. A few mutants have cameos, including Northstar (nice nod about Colossus homosexuality), Sunspot, Marrow. The art here is by Brandon Peterson, which I’ve always liked. I particularly like his Storm, she really looks badass with that haircut and clothes.
Cry Wolf (50-53) brings back Gambit, who was introduced in a guest arc by Chuck Austen. I am not a fan of Gambit and I never understood why Rogue liked him. Same here, he just messed with the X-Men to kidnap Rogue, but she still likes him. Not only that, but he’s dumb enough to believe the Fenris twins. I don’t see why Rogue had to leave Xavier for Gambit, but at least they’re not regulars anymore. The triangle between Iceman/Rogue/Kitty gets annoying, but I guess teenagers are like that. I did like the relationship between Ororo and Logan. I also quite liked Andy Kubert on the art, his style is slightly different here, it felt a little bit darker to me. Don’t know why.
The Most Dangerous Game (54-57) is about Mojo/Longshot/Spiral. The setup is similar to the original concept, but it’s all less fantastic and more grounded. For example Mojo is not an alien, but an albino. Vaughan really plays with our knowledge of the previous version of these characters and give us a suprise ending reversing Longshot and Spiral’s innocence. He also starts a relationship between Angel and Dazzler which feels natural.
Hard Lessons (58-60, Ann 1) includes a few shorter stories. There’s a one-shot with Xavier averting a bank heist which felt a bit weird due to Steve Dillon’s pencils. Xavier looked more like a twisted old man in Preacher than a leader and educator. I liked the two part about Storm after Logan, it develops their relationship but it also integrates Lady Deathstrike into Storm’s past. That first motorcycle scene reminded me of Akira. Finally, the annual goes back to Rogue and Gambit, involving Juggernaut (he’s in love with Rogue?!?). Gambit and Rogue have already kissed too often in my opinion, it dilutes Rogue’s powers and struggle with them. But at least this time the kiss meant something. This is a nice twist on the Rogue/Ms Marvel story.
The last arc is Magnetic North (61-65) and it’s about the return of Magneto. However this arc is about getting Magneto out of prison, and it all starts with putting Lorna Dane inside Magneto’s cell. At first it’s a mystery what happened to Lorna, then slowly it’s revealed that everything was part of Magneto’s plan. At the end we get a series of action sequences with many different characters, including Emma’s Academy of Tomorrow, the Ultimates and the Brotherhood. Many of the characters introduced in previous arcs are chess pieces in Magneto’s grand plan (Longshot, Havok, Polaris etc…). Even Mystique finally appears (as Xavier’s ex!) and she’s also part of the final twist that gives Magneto his freedom.
The art for the majority of Vaughan’s run is by Stuart Immonen, his angular style was a bit jarring at first, but it quickly grew on me. His facial expressions are very good and his action scenes are easy to follow. I really enjoyed his work here.
Vaughan’s run was very enjoyable, but I particularly like how he put together all the pieces in the last arc. He also developed some of the character relationships, which is always part of the X-Men mythos. Overall this is a very good run.