Uncanny X-Men #512 - Marvel

This issue, Hank takes his X-Club . . along with Angel and Psylocke, back into the past to visit Dr James Bradley, Dr Nemesis' parents. He's believed to be one of the first mutants born, and they want to examine the blood of his parents to see why, and find a reason for the mutation. He was born in San Francisco, 1906. However, to me, a couple of things come to light during their visit. First his parents aren't normal people. His father is an inventor who is currently working on a renewable power source. Also his wife seems more like an agent of SHIELD than your normal housewife. Secondly, even back then, the Hellfire Club seems to be involved in things. They want the power-source to use in their automaton . . the first Sentinel. And, even then, they're working constantly on trying to eliminate the outbreak of what they call 'the over-men'. They're afraid of them eliminating, or making obsolete, the human race. "We have a league of sensitives and psychics detecting possible . . evolutionary outbreaks. We've been able to snuff them out on our own, but more and more there are, quite simply, too many." So that tells me, there were already mutant births and children. Dr Bradley wasn't the first. However, he may have been to first to survive. Anyways, during the course of these events, Dr Bradley sees his father killed by the Sentinel when it explodes, which also creates the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. And, after being roughly handled, his mother is having complications with her pregnancy. At the end of the issue, we see that he goes back in time, alone, to assist with his own birth. Plus, I think he also wanted to say goodbye to his mother, who died at that moment. But, to me, that also raises the question . . is Dr Bradley able to travel through time, of his own volition? That part was a little unclear at the end. And, after all of this . . it seems that their trip was a waste of time. They get the blood samples, but they can't bring them back with them. So Dr Bradley instructs Catherine, his mother, to bury them for him in Golden Gate park. Which she does. But, when they return to the present, they find that the vials are on the exact spot where the Celestial is standing. The answer is within their grasp, but there's nothing they can do about it. For now. I thought this was a brilliant story by Matt Fraction. I love the questions that it's raised and the possible plot-threads for future stories. Also, I'm not a huge fan of Yanick Paquette's art, but . . I thought this issue looked pretty good. Maybe it was Karl Story's inks. I don't know. I just thought that Yanick's work looked a lot better here than I've previously seen. The next 2 issues will be part of the Utopia storyline.