A crossover of this size is a marathon rather than a sprint; Battle of the Atom started off really strong then cruised along at a nice pace in the middle, but ultimately ran out of steam around the 22 mile mark and went for a poo behind some bushes before limping over the finish line. It's a real shame this book couldn't be delayed for a couple of weeks to finish it in a more satisfying manner.

The issue doesn't end on a particularly strong note either, in lieu of a cliffhanger we're given another character reveal, but this time it's more pleasant than shocking. It's a nice moment but a bit of a strange note to end on considering we're going into the final act of a high-stakes crossover. Luckily we've got three chapters left, which should be plenty of time to ramp things back up and deliver a satisfying conclusion.

Speaking of the final page, it isn't so much a cliffhanger as the final chess piece being moved into position. The stage is now set for Act Three, and if it maintains this level of quality we should be in for a fun ride.

So the X-Men have a new look, and now they just need a new direction; it's hard to care about characters when you don't know why they're behaving the way they are, but Bendis is normally good at making motivations clear so we'll have to trust that he'll clear some of this up in due course.

There's nothing particularly mind-blowing about this issue, but it's nice to see Bagley's Spider-Man again and it does a good job kicking off what is sure to be a story with huge ramifications. Hopefully it will consist of more than just an extended battle scene with a big purple dude, lots of characters dying in heroic ways and the earth cracking in half on the final page. These characters deserve more than that and with Bendis at the helm their is hope that they will get the treatment they deserve, as he's possibly the only person that loves them more than the fans do.

It feels like a bit of a cheat that this is even a tie-in issue; if it weren't for the final page this issue wouldn't be related at all, but it does give us some good moments and sets things up nicely before the carnage inevitably ensues next issue.

When all's said and done this is a nice little issue that does it's job and entertains along the way, even tying in to the ongoing story with the twist at the end. This should be an entertaining few months as the two parallel plots build and inevitably converge as Clint and Kate are reunited, and it's a relief to see that even with a new collaborator, team Hawkguy is as strong as ever.

Giuseppe Camuncoli and Andrew Currie are back on art having also worked on Part 5 together, the pencils aren't quite as sophisticated as the rest of the crossover but it fits in well enough with what came before and tells the story competently. Some of the panels look better than others (which makes me wonder how much work Andrew Currie had to do as Finisher) and for a book with multiple big moments and splash-pages none of it feels particularly grand or epic. Can't help but think what the same issue might have looked like in Stuart Immonen's hands…

This really is a fantastic first issue all round, everyone involved has bought their A-game, now the only problem is waiting for issue 2.