Chaos War: X-Men was good. It takes a similar format to Dead Avengers in that the dead heroes suddenly find themselves alive, puzzle out bits and pieces of what's going on, and then have to quickly deal with a crisis that emerges. Thunderbird also fills very much the same position as Captain Mar-Vell, rallying the confused heroes to action, while Esme of the Stepford Cuckoos takes the Dr. Druid role of naysaying ass. Still, the similarities are superficial and the issue definitely feels more like an X-Men story than an Avengers one. We get a nice mention of Destiny's diary, which I always thought should play more of a role in the X-Men's lives now that they've had it for a while. Nice fake-out with the flaming bird symbol in the sky, too. I was totally expecting Jean to put in an appearance, but I hear she's not really dead this time. The villain is one of Thunderbird's gods, presumably under Mikaboshi's influence, and only he can see the flaming bird, so I imagine it represents another (presumably free/helpful) god of his. Both cool and, given the nature of the event, quite appropriate to see Thunderbird's faith take a central role. Looking forward to next issue.
