Parabellum continues quietly in the Fall of the House of X this week with the light, but no less important, happenings in X-Men #31.

PRELUDE TO THE FALL OF X

Just one issue: X-Men #31.

RECAP OF THE FALL OF X

In the aftermath of Talon’s death on Counter-Earth, Synch is struggling (mentally and physically) to keep her alive in his head with Jean’s powers. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel finish modifying the High Evolutionary’s anti-humanity device to prevent the mass deaths of humans affected by Orchis’s sabotage of Krakoan medicines, but Nimrod ambushes them before they can deploy it.

Ms. Marvel stays with the device to ensure it goes off, while Spider-Man leads him away from the scene, where he is quickly joined by Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Wolverine. Elsewhere, Wilson Fisk meets with the Hellfire Club and is reunited with his wife, the mutant known as Typhoid Mary, who went missing after the disastrous Hellfire Gala.

In Synch’s mindscape, Talon pleads with him to let her go and focus on the mission at hand, and he finally accepts her fate as he returns to full consciousness. He then joins the X-Men to help fight Nimrod and slows him down enough to allow for the device to activate, and promptly escorts them far away to the Rocky Mountains. He declares that their next goal is to rescue Cyclops, and that Polaris is clear to enact her part of their war preparations.

ANALYSIS OF THE X-MEN

X-Men #30 is a quick, easy-breezy issue with two main concerns: having Synch work through his grief over losing Talon, and setting things in place for the next installment of the story. There’s not too much to talk about because of it, but writer Gerry Duggan and artist Phil Noto do a great job of balancing the two and making the issue feel like a substantial read. I’ve always had a soft spot for Noto’s work, and he’s able to balance the dual requirements (action and character) in admirable form. I have a feeling this truly will be the last we see of Talon —who, as you might’ve forgotten, currently has a double more closely resembling her pre-Vault self running around in the universe— so when Synch decides he needs to let her go, it’s genuinely affection. But the action scenes with the others are very fun and light, cutting through the tension for a little bit of levity.

NEXT IN THE FALL OF X

Wolverine #43 and Fall of the House of X #2