Astonishing X-Men #33 - Marvel

I've been a fan of this book ever since it's inception, but . . I really can't tell you how thrilled I am that Phil Jimenez is doing the art here now. I'm a huge fan. When he first came on the scene I thought he was just a George Perez imitation, but . . he's turned out to be so much more. Such as this amazing cover, and . . he's got some equally impressive pages on the inside. Anyways, enough fan gushing . . between Phil and Warren Ellis' story . . this is an amazing book. And it seems to get better and better every issue. Last issue, while trying to help out Abigail Brand, the X-Men were attacked. During the 'save' Emma saw one of her dead students on the pier. When she tried to make contact with her she attacked. Actually, her whole body turned into some kind of living Sentinel. They beat her, but they were left with more questions. That's when Abigail told the X-Men that someone had hacked into Henry's files and were using his theoretical work. It had to do with when he was trying to solve the M-Day dilemma. He had postulated that the whole 'No more mutants' thing might not apply to those already dead. He thought he might be able to harvest live x-genes from dead mutants. All Abigail knows it that the guys name is Kaga and apparently he's been able to take Henry's work from the theoretical to the practical. The Hellion/Sentinel was one example, as well as the Brood on the asteroid base that Abigail was trying to take out. Next they're attacked by what looks like a cross between a Brood and Krakoa. Remember? The living island. They thought it was attacking them, but actually it was trying to destroy the evidence that was left behind by the Sentinel. Again, the X-Men beat it, but this time before they can do anything, they track a rather large ship swooping down from the ionosphere to scoop up the defeated hybrid. Scott immediately puts a plan into action and they use their new rescue vehicle to chase after, and land on the ship. But again they're left with more questions than answers. The ship itself seems to be some kind of living entity. The only thing they can find even remotely alive is the head of Paradigm. 'I knew him. Part of a rogue group modelled on my own student teams. I never got to teach him. His mind could interface with information technology. They exposed him to the Phalanx, the cybernetic aliens . . and that'll be how they got into your computer systems.' But now Scott's mad. This Kaga has been planning, and waiting for the mutant's number to become dismal enough to attack. He obviously wants to eliminate them and he was just waiting for the most opportune time. Apparently . . that is now. So Scott wants to take the fight to him. 'I want direct control of this vessel. I would like to visit this person. And know his name. And kill him.' Admittedly, Warren isn't the best writer as far as character development goes, but . . he does bring some fantastic ideas to the table. That's not to say he doesn't do a good job with the characters, but . . his focus seems to be more on the situation they're involved in rather than necessarily on any individual team-member. He does give them some good 'attitude' though. Phil's art is amazing. On the pages where Scott is frustrated about the monster attacking and he decides to let loose . . the scene was great, but you could just see the frustration and anger on his face. And I love the way he draws Hank. Right now, the current story-line is scheduled to run through issue #35. I'm not sure how long Warren and Phil are scheduled to be on this book, but . . I say, the longer the better. These 2 make a great team.