Uncanny X-Men #526 - Marvel

In this issue the X-Men begin watching 'the Five Lights'. They're the new gen-actives that Cerebro picked up shortly after Hope arrived. Well . . I guess I should say, shortly after the X-Men defeated Bastion and they could finally return to Utopia and call it home. Anyways, the problem they're having is . . nothing is really happening. Sure there's some physical things that are happening to them . . hair falling out, different sensations throughout the body, and general confusion over what is happening to them. But overall, the X-Men don't really want to get involved, other that making sure they're safe and waiting to see what happens. They are confused though because most of these people are in their late teens. Most of the X-Men's powers activated shortly after adolescence. So Scott feels that the mutant race is still . . mutating. Anyways, while they're keeping an eye on the kids around the world, Hope has gone to Alaska in search of her parents . . her biological parents. There's no clue as to her father, but she finds her mother, and that she died in the fire at the hospital. The X-Men help her find extended family . . a grandmother. And they arrange a meeting between them at her mother's grave. They end up talking and she finds out who her mother really was . . a person who wanted to help people, a fire-fighter, and overall a pretty good person to be around. Hope returns from Alaska in a much better mood, and feeling a lot better about Scott. On their way back, Bobby calls from Vancouver. The girl they're watching is starting to lose it. She's on top of a building getting ready to jump off because she's confused about what's happening to her. So Hope and her entourage go over to offer back-up. Here's what happens. The girl freaks out and decides to jump off the roof. Hope, probably from her recent enthusiasm, decides to jump after her. When they connect, Hope's arms start to glow. It appears that this activates the girl's powers. She begins to fly. When they land back on the roof, she has a completely different attitude. "It was . . it feel good. Because I feel . . I feel . . I feel brand new. From the inside out. I feel brand new. My life is a disaster . . as of this exact second. Okay? A total disaster. I have, like, six finals and . . and I swear to god I'll follow you wherever you go. Whenever you go there. I'm Laurie. Thank you for saving me.' Hope turns to Rogue and says, 'Who's next?' Overall I thought it was a pretty cool story by Matt Fraction and Whilce Portacio. Hope definitely got to feel some 'highs' on this day. Oh yeah, also Dr Rao, Piotr and Madison Jeffries are trying to figure out how to cure Kitty. They think that she stayed in her altered state for so long . . she simply forgot how to turn back. So now it's just a waiting game. In the backup story, by Allan Heinberg and Olivier Coipel we see the X-Men rebuilding Utopia. Magneto wants to help, but Nemesis suggests against it. And then he tells him about the Young Avengers. Specifically, Wiccan and Speed. They think that they may be his grand-kids. Their names are William and Thomas, just like Wanda's boys. But the problem is, Wanda's boys were made up magically. While the resemblance is uncanny, nobody else believes that it's really them. Magneto decides to help in the rebuilding effort . . to try to get his mind off of things. But in the process, he finds a picture of Wanda's boys. No matter what anybody else says, I don't think he's going to give up on this. This story is continues in Avengers: the Children's Crusade #1, but . . I won't be buying that one. I've got enough books in my pile. I'm sure we'll hear about what happens back here in the X-Men books. Anyways, overall I thought it was a really good book. I enjoyed it. Terry Dodson does the cover.