Issue: #56 - October 1999
Title: "Sins of the Past, Part 2: Heal Thyself"
Creative Team: Jay Faerber (scribe), Terry Dodson, Karl Kerschel (pencils), Rachel Dodson, John Czop, and Rod Ramos (inks), Comicraft (letters), Kevin Tinsley (colors).

Summary/Review:
This issue picks up right where #55 left off, so if you haven't read that, you'll be a little lost. It begins with Monet trying to figure out just what is going on. Everyone else on the team is unconscious and she deducts that it was her telepathic abilities which allowed her to return to the "real world." Therefore, she may still be able to return to help them, using her powers.
Meanwhile, back in Hellions-verse, people are freaking out because they think Monet's dead. Skin goes a little ballistic, until Chamber tries to calm him down and Monet awakens. She quickly explains what's going on to them, just in time for Donald Pierce of the Hellfire Club to show up and unknowingly bring a horde of sentinels along with him, which marks the end of days for the Hellions and is the cause for putting the White Queen into a coma. At least, that's what's supposed to happen. The tables turn a bit in this case, as Generation X begin thwarting the threat of the Sentinels. And finally, their savior arrives, in the form of a telepathic projection of Emma Frost, the real Emma. Naturally, she puts a stop to this madness, showing a wide scope of power on her part.
And now you know what time it is! Yep, it's time to reveal just who the mastermind behind this whole shabang really is. It turns out to be none other than... Co-Headmaster Adrienne Frost?! Sure is, and she's wearing a horrible outfit too. It turns out she's been playing them from the start, only she wasn't very successful. Or was she? That question comes up as she seems to teleport out of there, leaving them all wondering where she's gone and when they'll see her again. Dun dun dunnnn!

Quick Thoughts: : I liked this ish. It was the usual type of story with adventure, some mystery, and it the different revelations (if you hadn't figured some of it out beforehand) kept me guessing as to what was really going on (though the suspicions were obviously already there), and who was behind it. In the end, I liked how Adrienne was the nasty who was behind it all, though I believe it was kind of stretched. I'm not sure she would really have the ability to do all of that. But, again, more mysteries to be solved and pondered over, these ones thankfully intentional.
Now for some of the bad. Not much, mind you, and mostly nit-picky things because I'm - you guessed it - a nit-picker. Adrienne's costume looked pretty damn stupid. Like Dodson's been watching too much Babylon 5 with an unhealthy dose of the brown acid. But oh well. I also believe that this story seemed a bit cramped. It was action-packed, but went unbelievably fast (I thought for a while that I skipped some pages). I think it would have been much more enjoyable if it was spread out to another issue or two, but that probably wasn't an option, due to the fifth anniversary thang.
Lastly, one thing that I really did like was Skin's reaction when they believed Monet was dead. Ha ha! The truth comes out at last! I just hope this is not ignored on future issues. It kind of seemed like something in a situation where, say, you've been trapped in a cave with a bunch of your friends, and outside is the sub-zero wind blowing. People start freaking out, and you realize you need to survive, so you start saying how you're going to eat the first person who dies, because the need for survival is great. Then a helicopter comes and saves everyone. Later on, your friend, who was nearly dying at the time, looks at you and says, "dude, you weren't really gonna eat me, were you?" And you just need to scramble for words, give a confident smile, and say it must have been the brown acid again.
So, to close off this lengthly Quick Thoughts ('quick' my boo-tay!), I liked this ish, but it could've been better if they planned it for a better time, so it wouldn't have been cramped.

Rating: