The second issue of AvX: Consequences improved on the first by narrowing the focus down to Cyclops and the conflicts immediately surrounding him. Issue #3 takes a somewhat broader approach again, though the result still feels more cohesive than it did in issue #1. This is a series fans of Gillen's X-Men work won't want to skip. In some ways, it serves as a better coda to Uncanny X-Men than it does AvX itself.

Cyclops' prison woes remain the central focus of Gillen's story. As much as we may all want to hate Cyclops for his actions during AvX, it's hard not to feel bad for the guy as he fights for his life and can now count the number of allies he has left on one hand. The political prisoner angle is working well so far. Gillen also explores some of the spiraling effects of Cyclops' incarceration, such as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s debriefing of Wolverine and the status quo of some of the Phoenix Five. Though he doesn't even appear directly, Magneto has a nice standout sequence through his little contribution to the story this week.

Only two sequences feel a bit of out of place in this issue. The Iron Man material doesn't feel particularly relevant or necessary, reading more as though Gillen felt obligated to include more Avenger characters even though this has quickly become a very X-Men-centric series. Gillen also addresses the current whereabouts of Hope. While this material should please fans of his Generation Hope run that craved a more conclusive finale, it too feels disjointed relative to the rest of the issue.

Scot Eaton handles the artwork this week. His style falls closely in line with issue #2 -- solidly rendered, but not particularly flashy or memorable. Like Tom Raney in issue #1, Eaton seems to struggle with Captain America's overly busy new costume. Thankfully, it's a new costume we probably won't be seeing after this book wraps.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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