The following contains spoilers for Uncanny X-Men #10, on sale now from Marvel Comics.

It has been a number of years since the X-Men titles last did a "chapter" crossover, meaning that each issue of the crossover would literally be a chapter of the overall story. They are very hard to pull off, since, well, you know, you're telling a single story with multiple writers and artists. It's very difficult to pull off, but when it works, it can really be a lot of fun. For the crossover to really work as an overall story, though, there needs to be a compelling reason to get all of the books involved, and in the case of X-Manhunt, the idea is that Professor X escapes from prison, and he encounters the various members of the X-community while on the run. That's a great hook, and it's made even tighter with the additional hook that Xavier has been infected with a mutant tumor that could kill him, and in the process, is also forcing him to see hallucinations.

The issue is written by the regular writer of the series, Gail Simone, and drawn by a fill-in artist who is luckily a superstar in his own right, Javier Garrón, and colored and lettered by the regular colorist and letterer, Matthew Wilson and Clayton Cowles, and it is has to not only kick off the crossover, but also serve as an issue serving the plots within the series itself (which is about Rogue building a team of more superhero-centric X-Men that also help to train a group of young mutants known as The Outliers)

How were the X-Men drawn into Xavier's escape?

As we saw in the recent crossover, Raid on Graymalkin, the X-Men's former home in the X-Mansion has been turned into a prison for mutants. Both Rogue's team of X-Men and Cyclops' team of X-Men recently broke into the prison to rescue a member of their respective teams, but interestingly enough, despite the warden of the prison holding mutants prisoner just because they are mutants, Rogue not only answers an emergency call from her, but responds as if they are cool. This was an unusual turn of events, but I suppose this will tie into future stories why Rogue is so willing to work with a warden who runs a prison for mutants.

Before heading into action, we see a nice piece of character work where the X-Men send the Outliers into a training exercise reminiscent of the Danger Room, but Rogue notes that the Danger Room has become such an ingrained part of the X-Men's history that the "danger" aspect really doesn't get much play. These teenagers treat their training like it is a video game, and when a supervillain might actually show up at any moment and try to kill you (like how the Outliers were almost killed by Wolfpack Sentinels in the previous issue), you HAVE to take it seriously, so Rogue makes the decision to actually injure one of her students. She turns to her husband, Gambit, to do the actual attack, and he blasts Jitter (one of the young Outliers, who has the ability to add any ability for a minute) and knocks her to the ground, not SERIOUSLY injuring her, but injuring her enough where the others all stood up and were shocked at Rogue's callousness. Even Wolverine was surprised, even though he ultimately agreed with the move.

What drives Xavier to escape?

As noted, Xavier is being attacked by a mutant tumor that is messing with his head, so that adds a whole new level of danger to his escape, but the thing that drives him is the fact that the Shi'ar Empire is turning on his daughter, Xandra Neramani, who is the Empress of the Shi'ar Empire (the daughter of Xavier and his late wife, Lilandra). She had previously been murdered, but Xavier was able to use the Krakoan Resurrection Protocols to bring her back to life, but now she is in danger again, and his psychic connection to her allows him to feel her worry, but not actually help her (Garrón REALLY cuts loose on this sequence, especially when Xandra's aunt, Deathbird, shows up to protect her niece).

Early in the series, we met the powerful Hag, who once dated a young Xavier as Sarah Gaunt. She even believed that she was going to have his child, but that turned out to not be a case (and a sign of her mental instability). Later, she DID have a child, but when he was killed in a devastating hurricane, she embraced her magical abilities to become the Hag. She had recently been hunting mutants for Warden Ellis. Xavier's turn to her for help, referencing the fact that he is doing it for his child, is something that can cut to Gaunt even through her insanity. It's a great sequence.

Another great bit is showing Xavier hallucinating Rogue's team as the original X-Men (Garrón, again, is a wonder here, as he merges the two teams together with a great sense of creative brilliance). Xavier is so powerful that he cuts through them like a knife through warm butter, and now he is free, delusional but with a mission. It's a compelling start to the crossover event, and it was nice that Simone was able to do character work amongst the overall crossover stuff (this was a CROWDED issue). I am looking forward to the rest of this crossover event.

Source: Marvel