X-Men: Day of the Atom by Chuck Austen, Salvador Larroca and Danny Miki

On a mission in China, the X-men encounter someone who is apparently just like their old comrade, Xorn, with the exception that this one appears to have a Black Hole inside his skull instead of the star that was inside of Xorn's cranium.

So when his head cracks open during a fight with some Chinese superheroes, they have to find some way to prevent the entire world from being sucked into Xorn's head. And that would be a very, very bad thing. Luckily, Havoc's powers seem to be able to keep the black hole in place, and the Chinese Superheroes, realizing that the X-men are not villains, tell the others where the containment helmet that is the only thing that can stop the black hole is located.

In the fight, Remy's eyes are burned, making him blind, and he gets rather upset at Rogue, but when they must fight against more Chinese superheroes, as well as the Chinese army, at their destination. But while they attempt to retrieve the Helmet, Iceman and Juggernaut, left behind, argue with each other and attempt to one-up each other when a Chinese Hero named the Collective Man attacks them.

Meanwhile, back at the school, Juggernaut's best friend Sammy thinks he has seen Black Tom Cassidy's face on a tree. But no one seems to believe him. Even other kids in the school have seen and talked to the tree, but no one pays any attention to what Sammy is saying. When Juggernaut comes back, Sammy confides in Cain, but when he disappears, what is the young mutant to do? Go and find him, of course!

But when he sees Juggernaut teaming up with the villains to take out the school, Sammy feels betrayed, and repudiates Cain, telling the former villain that he hates him, which tears Cain apart emotionally. Whether he actually intended to betray the X-men all along or was just pretending to go along with the villains to learn their plans, Sammy's death at the hands of Black Tom turns Juggernaut against the others and he fights on the side of the X-men. But can anyone or anything defeat Black Tom when his consciousness is in all the plants everywhere at the school?

And, in a related story, after an icy accident on the Interstate, the X-men rescue a family from a car accident. Planning for the holidays and dealing with the changes and shakeups to the team are on everyone's mind, especially X-23, who is rooming with Kitty Pride and Rachel Summers to gain some much-needed socialization. But when their holiday party is interrupted by the family they rescued, will the parents accept or reject the mutants who saved them?

I liked this book a lot, what with all the revelations left, right and center. I liked how some things were kept ambiguous- whether Juggernaut actually was a spy and plant, or if he was just pretending to go along with his old comrades was kept pretty murky- a case could be made either way. But his friendship with Sammy brings him back to the side of the heroes, which was rather a nice change from heroes turning out to be villains in disguise.

Even the ending of that story was great. Yes, people die and/or are gone, possibly forever, but it wraps up the story in a totally satisfying way. The heroes (minus some casualties) win, and in the bonus holiday story, even manage to convert some mutant-haters to being neutral, at the very least. I understand that the House of M (which is well in the future of this story) sent things backwards to mutant-hatred because they needed to have it that way for story reasons, but in my mind, it should be like Gay marriage, slowly gaining support from younger people who don't see what the whole problem is. Wouldn't that put a spike in the older mutant-haters?

Anyhow, I thoroughly enjoyed this story, which is less good versus evil, but still has some of that with some neutral as well. Enemies become allies when the realize that the X-men are only trying to help, not conquer China. I liked the three-sided conflict, and the resolution to each of them. Recommended.