X-Men: Schism

[Steve!]

I think it's a little premature to really say what the split is, because it's really only been hinted at so far. If the issue presented was the actual rift, Wolverine (at least to me) comes off as fairly naive.

It just doesn't make sense that he'd come from that angle, especially at this point in time in the X-Men's history. Sure kids should be kids and they shouldn't be on the front lines, but this isn't exactly a normal situation. The kids in question are totally super-powered (for the most part), but in most scenarios their targets and are going to be on those front lines whether they like it or not (and whether their "guardians" like it or not). I feel like this is something that Wolverine would side with and in fact has argued for in the past (granted, I'm not a stickler for drudging up old continuity). And I get that the line might be Wolverine doesn't want kids to have to make life and death decisions that he has/had to, but I'm not really sure he's in a position to really make that choice. If you're a 16 year old kid and you've witnessed a bus full of your friends and classmates blow up, your innocence is not only lost but that might not even be a blip on your radar anymore (and that was when they were in somewhat of a safe haven). Relative normalcy gets thrown out the window at that point.

Cyclops on the other hand is on the right side of his characterization (at least to me), considering that the role the mutant children are in now is basically his life. It was something he had to cope with from about age 16 on, and thus this something that he believes in.

It just feels like they're shoehorning Wolverine into a role opposing Cyclops. What strikes me as odd, is there's a much more likely character to oppose Cyclops in Emma Frost. She's been on the opposite stance of where Cyclops is standing several times (and it's a core part of her character).

It might seem like I dislike the mini-series, but it's actually impressed me and gives me faith in Jason Aaron that I'm enjoying it as much as I am. While I don't necessarily believe in the crux of the split, he's a great job of making at least the emotion behind the tension between Cyclops and Wolverine palpable.

Another thing that bothers, and this isn't really about the mini-series, this is something they should've been building in the 15 or so issues that have come out since Second Coming, but they've sort of dropped the ball there (or didn't plan it until later in the game). Since M-Day I've thought they've done a good job in creating the events as Messiah Complex, Second Coming, and now Schism are all solid, but it's just the stuff in the middle that's lacking.

Sorry, if I repeated myself from earlier in this thread, but I'm drained and didn't feel like looking back through my past replies here.