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[Punchy]

The Final Execution arc steps it up a gear with this issue, as every player is now back on the board. X-Force are back from the future, we know who the Brotherhood are, and Evan knows the truth. Things are getting just a little bit epic. What I most appreciated here is that Remender is not content to just have the bad guys be an unstoppable evil force, that there is a hatred remaining between Mystique and Shadow King, that Daken and Sabretooth have this weird father/son relationship. I really loved their conversation here, how they hate Wolverine for being the same as them and not admitting it, very interesting stuff. I still almost feel sorry for Daken, and was Sabretooth’s pep talk there because perhaps he is having doubts? Hmm. As for X-Force themselves, they have something of an edge on the Brotherhood because they think most of them are dead, but I was surprised by how little this issue featured them once again, does this book perhaps have too much going on? One thing I did like was the last page, with Deadpool planning on killing Evan, this is the kind of Deadpool I like, he’s unpredictable and he’s dangerous, he’s not a joke. Speaking of Evan, man, I really feel sorry for him, the Brotherhood are really fucking him up, that bit with Fantomex/Uncle Cluster’s corpse was just messed-up. But then, X-Force only have themselves to blame. Was the opening scene set ‘three hours from now’ a real scene, or just a possible future? The tension is too much!

[ElijahSnowFan]

The bedroom chat between Sabretooth and Mystique was amazing to read.

You truly get the impression of how much those two characters alternately hate, fear and respect Wolverine. They KNOW he's not dead. They KNOW he's coming. They KNOW he's coming to kill them.

"Nah. He'll be here. I ain't never struck a blow to the little lady like this. Not since Silver Fox."

"The Indian girl he loved?"

"Har -- yeah. His 'true love.' Boy, he did some howlin' over THAT one."

That sequence is what I'm talking about when I praise Rick Remender so highly for this run.

Continuity is a strength when you don't allow yourself, as a writer, to be a slave to the worst parts of it -- storylines that clearly are contradictory, senseless/pointless.

But here? Continuity means that longtime readers know just how much blood there is between Wolverine and Sabretooth. You know it. You know when they see each other, it matters.

So many good things have happened in this book. Don't know how this arc ends, but I do know that I've enjoyed every bit of it. Every last bit of it.