After Marvel relaunched the larger X franchise, I've been pleasantly surprised with most of the offerings. Billed on the back as "the new mutant team you're going to hate to love," sadly that didn't quite deliver.

This collected four issue edition features mostly Havoc, Psylocke, and a snarky Mister Sinister. Havoc comes off moody and Sinister is up to his normal puppet master antics and I'm generally content to give them more development time to see how Wells handles expanding them. Psylocke steals the show for me and I hope the intent is that she becomes the focus moving forward. The rest of the cast of characters are mildly amusing. The intent seems to be to give the whole lot a Suicide Squad kind of feel as the misfits, misunderstoods, and bad eggs of the X universe.

Segovia's artwork is on point and, with Curiel's help, covers the attempt at darker ground well. Shadow elements on the page are rendered deep adding to the mood.

There's lots of potential here to carve a little niche away from the larger X continuum and make this a great title. Marvel has always been a little soft trying to push established characters into the realm of edgy. If Hickman and the shot callers up the chain give Wells some room to play, we could have a hit on our hands. The relevant question is will I continue to read it. The answer is yes. It stutters a bit trying to get going but I holds enough promise and intrigue that one is compelled to continue the journey. So impressed, no. Hopeful, absolutely.