Young X-Men #9 - Marvel

This issue focus' mainly on the team non-mutant member . . . Ink. Last issue they went to look for some of Leon Nunez' other tattoo recipients. He's the guy that was Ink's artist . . he's the actual mutant. But once that was figured out, the question was raised, how many more people received his special gift? As it turns out . . quite a few. And mostly gang members. Somehow Leon got in bad with the gangs, and his tats were considered his form of payment. So when our team of your heroes go to find some brothers, what they actually get is a whole yard full of tat-powered gang members. This issue, we also begin looking into the mystery that is Cipher. It's about time. She just kind of popped up here, but . . nobody really knows who she is or where she came from. And really . . . Ink seems to be the only one questioning it. Anyways, while the rest of the team is stuck in their 'shoot-out', Cipher helps Ink who seems to have an idea. He goes to get a couple more tattoos. First, on his hand, is the Caduceus . . . for healing. Good thinking ahead, actually. The second, on his face, is the Phoenix symbol. I thought this was pretty imaginative also. Ink surmised that the powers didn't actually come from the tats, but rather Leon himself. So if he got the tat of the Phoenix, while it would give him incredible powers, it would also deplete Leon's energy. Basically, if he was powering Ink . . he wouldn't have enough left in him to power all the others. Unfortunately, it sends him into a coma . . and is now in the X-Men's infirmary. But, he went under focusing on Ink so he should be the only one left with powers. And, at the end of the issue, it seems that Ink and Graymalkin have developed a friendship. It looks like, together . . they're going to try to figure out this mystery of Cipher. I really enjoy this book. I think that Marc Guggenheim is doing a fantastic job with the stories, and he's really gotten the reader involved with the characters. We've come to care about them. Also, I'm glad that this series is now so entrenched in the X-Men franchise of books. They were kind of on their own there . . for a while. With not much training or supervision. Rafa Sandoval does the pencils. They were ok. I think he's someone that after a few issues will grow on me. After 3 different attempts with this book . . . this being the fourth . . I think they've finally got this one on track. Now lets see the kids in action.