Still going through the first ~250 issues of the X-men and now with volume 5.
Okay... The X-men and New Mutants return to Asgard where everyone gets some cool development again. Now we have a Secret Wars II crossover with Rachel receiving the Phoenix from the Beyonder, the introduction of Mojo, Lady Deathstrike, Freedom force, and the Mutant Massacre.
Now... If you never read those comics (they cover X-men, X-Factor, New Mutants, Power Pack, and Thor), this is at once, a delight to read and an absolute horror.
The delight coming from the delicate and complicated ballet where some groups come in and out of the Morlock tunnels, in small groups, a few at a time, then exit. Others (Thor) do things that affect everyone in the tunnels.
Horror because of the subject matter. A lot of people die. Not only "unnamed morlocks" but some that are known too. Even heroes do not escape unharmed: Shadowcat becomes insubstancial, Nightcrawler in a coma, Colossus is paralysed, and Angel gets pinned to a wall.
Vicious. Brutal.
I mean being able to read the whole thing in one place was well worth the price of the cover. I could not let this down. Okay, I did because I had to sleep and go to work...
The one storyline that, again pissed me off, was Rachel. At some point, she disappears and the X-Men don't seem to care what happens to her. She leaves and they move on. Okay, the Massacre begins, but having a "Where'd Rachel go" would've been nice.
This one get a 5/5. This is a masterclass in Comic Book storytelling, across ~10 issues. When you're done, you are scarred as a reader. It's so sad...
