X-Men: Manifest Destiny by Various

When the X-Men up and moved Digs to San Francisco, Logan was stuck moving all his stuff. But in among the things in his room, he discovered an old souvenir of his former time in SF. a special knife/spear point that symbolized the leadership of the Black Dragon Tong in the city.

But when he travels to Chinatown to try and take it back, he remembers how he acquired it in the first place. After World War II, he was passing through when he intervened to save Chinatown from the Black Dragon Tong, a set of thugs who ran the place like it was their own private fiefdom. Back then, Logan killed the leader of the tong and took the spear-shaped knife. But unknown to him at the time, his taking the knife meant that he was the new leader of the Tong, and the locals needed the Tong to run Chinatown correctly. When Logan abdicated the responsibility by leaving, the shopkeeper's daughter took over the position and warned Logan never to come back.

But now that he's returned, it sets off another battle to control Chinatown, and now he's fighting the girl he once saved, who is still head of the Black Dragon Tong, and she's recruited plenty of muscle to make sure that he dies. This time, Logan might need some help, but will the Martial Arts Schools band together to help Logan take over? Or will the girl he rescued have her revenge after all?

Then, Nightcrawler is invited back to Winzeldorf, Germany, the town from which he was rescued from a torch-wielding mob by Charles Xavier so long ago. It seems they have started a Nightcrawler Museum, and want him to go see it. He finds the museum is run by a woman who calls himself her greatest fan, Mara Keller. But the real reason why he's been asked to come is because of a monster in the woods they want him to kill, but Kurt finds that the "monster" is just a boy cursed by a gypsy to look that way, and tries to save him. But can he overcome the prejudice of the villagers a second time, and face off with Mephisto?

And when Bobby Drake's powers go out of control, he finds out Mystique has been impersonating his girlfriend. Nor will she let him rest. She keeps telling him that this will kill or cure him, but why is she tormenting him- what does it mean, and why does she keep coming back to hurt him again and again?

Boom-boom has problems of her own when she runs into a costumed criminal called Nuwa, and has to deal with the villain who seems more powerful than her. But is she really?

Again, Nightcrawler has to deal with missing Kitty. But can he beat out his problem by fighting it away in the Danger Room, or will it take a different kind of Therapy?

And finally, costumed villain Avalanche has given up villainy and become a bartenderat his own place, called "Nick's". But can he ever outrun the scrutiny of the X-Men?

With all the X-Men comics out there, you are bound to run into some clunkers eventually. These are all stand-alone stories, supposedly taking place just before or after the X-Men moved from Westchester. New York to San Francisco California. The problem with the stories is their very unevenness. The Wolverine story is like the quote from King Lear "Full of Sound and Fury, signifying nothing"- it's a tangled mess that I had a hard time following. I liked the first Nightcrawler story the best, but basically it points out that Nightcrawler is happy with the life choices he's made ever since being rescued by Professor X.

The Iceman story is a twisted romance between Bobby Drake and Mystique, aka Raven Darkholme. She loves him, but the upshot is that she hurts and ends up destroying the lives of the people she loves out of he own twisted motives. And the rest of the stories are just filler: Boom Boom loves shopping and hates people who are more popular than her, Nightcrawler misses Kitty and feels unhappy he couldn't save her- and the X-men are shaking down old villains and making sure they won't return to their old ways.

Nothing in these stories is very interesting or is something you are going to want to have hanging around in graphic novel format. I found the art clunky and ugly in most of the stories, and some of the characters in the Wolverine story looked more interesting than he was! That's a big sign of a story fail right there. Avoid this one. Buy it only in the interests of completism, but there are lots better graphic novels to spend your money on. Not recommended.