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Bishop: The Last X-Man #11

Cover by Georges Jeanty & Art Thibert

Joseph Harris/Georges Jeanty/Art Thibert

The Last X-Man continues his march towards Chronokeep, except there’s a new obstacle in his way - the Morlocks! Will these frightening mutants turn out to be friends or foes? Who is the enigmatic figure hiding in the Morlock caves? And why is Fitzroy consumed with capturing him?

Fandom Comics: "Bishop negotiates with the Morlocks as his army continues to move toward Fitzroy`s citadel, while Fitzroy tries to manipulate Shard for his own ends."
"This issue has its high points and low points, as Bishop attempts to negotiate with the Morlocks (after the obligatory fight) and Fitzroy prepares for his arrival. There are a lot of interesting things here, such as Bishop finding a role for himself as the leader of an army, or the continuing development of Fitzroy and Shard, but for the most part, I`m ready for the big confrontation to get over with and hopefully make a big change in this series. It doesn`t help that so many alternate futures have come and gone in Marvel Comics, and most of them have grown pretty tiresome... this one isn`t unique or innovative enough to escape that."
"In terms of story structure and thematic resonance, there`s a lot going on here. Bishop and Fitzroy have transformed what was a two-man conflict into an army clash that the world will turn on. Both are gathering allies and preparing for the other`s coming, and there`s a definite sense here that the big explosive climax is coming."
"There was a clever development with the Morlocks here. Given that Storm was their leader in the modern world, it makes sense she would be the X-Man to serve as their inspiration. And given that Bishop was close to Storm, it makes sense he`d be carrying around part of her costume, as opposed to how weird it would have been if, say, Cyclop`s visor or Wolverine`s hood fell out of his tunic."
"Jeanty has grown with every issue of this title, and his facial structures are growing as good as his storytelling. Some of the close-ups are very detailed and smooth work, and his storytelling is atmospheric and powerful as always. He`s suited to this type of "war" book, able to do the big sweeping shots of mountains and fortresses and snow-swept landscapes with troops across them."
"The final scene this issue is the best in the story so far. Scorch, the rebel, finally giving in to Bishop`s leadership and scorching an announcement in the ground to Fitzroy... we`re coming."
"There has been a lot of build-up in this series... building the world, building the Fitzroy/Bishop rivalry into something resembling two warlords and building the groups around them. There hasn`t been a lot of payoff to this yet, and it`s reminiscent of the slow pacing Harris brought to the late, lamented Slingers. As with that title, the problem is that there isn`t much interest in the characters in the first place, and without a sense that the book is going somewhere fast, not many are going to stick around just to see what`s happening with Bishop."
"We`ve seen so many dark futures that one more really doesn`t make much difference. And while I thought the tie-in to Ororo was clever, and the Morlocks certainly serve a story purpose, it wasn`t so interesting that we needed to spend an entire issue on the alliance. And it certainly wasn`t interesting enough that we needed the cliched hero vs. hero fight."
"The relationship between Shard and Fitzroy is really, really odd. She`s clearly a bit out of sorts, maybe even borderline crazy, from what she`s been through, but the way he talks to her it`s as if he expects her to be a partner in crime rather than someone he needs to manipulate into doing his bidding."

Mutatis Mutandis: "A number of interesting developments this issue. I like the new Morlocks. Nothing especially original about their powers, but what go me was how they kept the memory of Ororo alive. Did anyone notice that it's not exactly clear that Bishop is the Savior? And that Michael is definitely more than he seems? Seer seemed to imply that Michael will have an important role to play in the upcoming Chronowar. I guess that's why he runs off in the end."
"Another interesting part was Fitzry's manipulation of both Bishop and Shard. Really into the mind games. He must really feel that he's holding all the cards, now that he's so powerful. I'm curious to see just how powerful he is, and what Bish could do to stop him."
"Anyway, anybody wonder what will happen to Bishop in the event that he beats Fitzroy in the next couple of issues? Will the people make him their leader? Would he accept? How badly will he be damaged by the battle? Seer implied that he wouldn't be the same afterwards. My guess is someone's gonna die. All in all, this story is kind of slow, but at least it's building a solid foundation for future stories and for the big beat-down."
"Last, very little character development for the X-Faces, but I did like Scorch saying that he learned something from Bishop as he burned an X into the ground. He's beginning to come around, that one. Now we just have to see what Nom is up to, what's going on between Jinx and Bishop, and Link develop her powers more. That's my wishlist."

X-Axis: "This issue is billed as being chapter 2 of Preludes, leading up to the eventual confrontation with Trevor Fitzroy in issues #12-14. The series has taken an awfully long time getting here, and while I realise they're trying to build up the tension, I'm not convinced it really needed to take quite this long."
"The point of this story is to introduce the Morlocks, although they're not much more interesting than their mainstream counterparts. Although there are some nice character designs here, none of them really do a great deal other than act as a rather generic bunch floating around behind their generic leader character. Given that this world already seems to be populated by the oppressed and the semi-humanoid hidden races, it's not at all clear that the Morlocks stand out here."
"There are some very good sections in the subplot scenes with Fitzroy talking to Shard. What looks very like their simultaneous mental collapse is an interesting idea; hopefully Harris is going somewhere with this other than the obvious ending (which would be Shard pulling herself together and saving Bishop at the last moment)."
"All this post-apocalyptic fantasy stuff has never really done much for me. I know the book has its fans, but I'm hoping that the shift of focus due after the Chronowar storyline is going to kick it in a more interesting direction."