X-Men: Divided We Stand #1 is the first of two anthologies containing short stories about X-Men characters dealing with the break-up of the team.

For the most part, they're stories about minor characters.  And while it's true that most of the stories come from regular X-book contributors, what we have here is basically an issue of X-Men Unlimited.  "Divided We Stand" isn't really a crossover so much as a general backdrop to various X-books.  Despite its name, this isn't a central issue; it's mainly a peripheral exercise in filling in the continuity gaps.

The fundamental problem with all of these stories, of course, is that "Divided We Stand" doesn't make a tremendous degree of sense.  "Messiah Complex" didn't provide the X-Men with a sufficient motivation to pack up and call it a day, especially considering the sort of things they've picked themselves up from in the past.  In Uncanny, Ed Brubaker has presented it more as a trick to get the government off the X-Men's backs, which at least makes passable sense.  But that's not how the characters here treat it.

Mike Carey's "Danger Room", for example, is about Cannonball returning home to Kentucky and getting into a fight with the Cabots - yes, a rare reference to the Chuck Austen period - in order to keep his edge.  The basic idea is that Cannonball is furious that the X-Men have thrown in the towel and wants to carry on fighting, even if there's no direction or point.  This requires you to take "Divided" at face value, where it becomes at best an emblem of the X-books' total loss of direction over the last couple of years.  Even then, it's a bit shaky, and sets off all sorts of alarm bells: if Mike Carey can't make this idea work (and Ed Brubaker can only make it work by redefining it into something else entirely), then we may have a problem here.

Craig Kyle, Chris Yost and Sana Takeda's "Home" follows, of all people, Nehzno as he returns to Wakanda.  You remember Nehzno.  He's the guy with the tattoos who stands in the background in New X-Men and doesn't do a great deal.  Obsessive New X-Men fans might well get something out of this, as it does fill in some details of the character's history, albeit in a rather heavy-handed way.  The art's rather attractive, too.  But there's not much of a story; Nehzno arrives in Wakanda, and soon wishes he was back with the annoying kids from school after all.  And really, was anyone desperate to find out what Nehzno did next?

Yost also contributes "Belong", with art by David LaFuente, in which the abandoned Hellion hunts out Magneto and tries to hook up with him, only to be knocked back.  This works fairly well with the original conception of the character as a brat who might grow out of it but might equally be a supervillain in training.  La Fuente's art is clear and dynamic.  It's a bit rushed to cover the territory in only six pages, however.  If it's trailing the start of a storyline, then I suppose that's fair enough.  As a self-contained story, it's too rushed to be satisfying.

Skottie Young writes and illustrates "Blend In", in which Northstar goes to check in on Anole.  In some ways, it's one of the more successful and personal stories.  Northstar shows up ready to give a pep talk on the difficulty of overcoming tolerance.  But Anole's problem is entirely different: even though the locals are more than happy to have him back, he doesn't feel that he can fit back into the real world after spending time with the X-Men.  He blames the group for abandoning him. 

Young makes that point clearly and effectively.  Unfortunately, he's chosen to do it with Anole and Northstar, and in doing so he manages to miss the voice of both characters by a mile.  Northstar in particular feels horribly off, as does the relationship between the two of them.

Best of the bunch is the closing story, by Matt Fraction and Jamie McKelvie.  It's a story about Nightcrawler and Scalphunter which works largely by ignoring the "Divided We Stand" concept altogether.  Okay, strictly speaking it pays lip service to it.  But it's really a story in which Scalphunter tries to set up a life as a small-town chef, and a disguised Kurt shows up to torment him about his soullessness.  It plays off the fact that the Marauders are all clones umpteen times removed from the originals, and makes unusual use of Kurt's religion.

Now, Fraction's style probably won't be to all tastes.  This is, after all, a story which includes characters quoting from "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."  A cynic might suggest that Kurt's discussion about how to find meaning and soul in mass-produced product are equally applicable to the X-Men themselves, and I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Fraction was thinking the same thing.

But it's a story which has something to say - even if that something has little to do with the ostensible theme of the anthology.  And McKelvie, already established as an indie artist, turns out to do a lovely Nightcrawler, bringing out the more sinister side of the design.

Overall, there's probably enough in this issue to make it worth the attention of hardcore X-Men fans, who might actually want to know what happened to these minor characters.  Those who are simply looking for a good story can probably skip it; despite generally decent art, there are too many that don't work, or are too rushed.  But the book does have its moments, to give it its due.

Rating: B

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