Issue: #29 - August 1997
Title: No Surrender
Creative Team: James Robinson (story), Chirs Bachalo (pencils), Al Vey with Eric Cannon, Tim Townsend & Al Migrom (inks), Marie Javins (colors), Starkings & Comicraft/EM (letters).

Summary/Review: Our story takes place where the beginning of minus 1 previewed. It has Skin held at knife-point by the mysterious Tores. Awww, ain't dat sweet? Thought so. Anyhoo, it turns out that after that flake Glorian sent them all the Skin's old 'hood in East L.A., Cali., M, Paige, Ev, Jono, and Skin have been having a pretty good time at clubs and on the always crowded and scantaly clad streets of the sunny area. After a while, they stopped by Skin's cousins house so that they can crash there and sponge off all his Sugar Bombs (tm). It took a turn for the worse, however. Tores, after finding out some time ago that Angelo was still alive, decided to accept a deal offered to her by Operation: Zero Tolerance and bring Espinoza down. Unfortunatly for her (and the others) O:ZT aren't well-known to be overly trustworthy, as they attacked everyone in the house including Tores. But a funny thing happened while these new sentinels that can blend in as easily as anyone else were attacking, they scanned over Tores and the sensors said, quote, "BIO-DESIGNATE: MUTANT. PREPARE TO ELIMINATE," end quote. Gee whiz. Ain't that special?
To go on, they all got out (including Skin's way-cool cousin, Gil) and Tores decided to help them, now realizing she was royally funked over (that's funked, mind you). Also, East L.A.'s an... interesting place. Let's just say that the kids fit in like cows on a farm. Neat, eh?
Meanwhile, on the other side, Jubilee now realizes that Daria, the girl who has been helping both her and Bastion at the same time, is a mutant. Her powers aren't fully understood yet, but it looks as if she turns almost robotic, even Phalanx-like, except the metallics are a light blue, not yellow. But I can say this; she doesn't like being a mutant so far.
Meanwhile, still, Emma and Banshee may be planning on making a deal with *gasp* Emplate! (insert creepy finale music here). You see, in order to get the kids, they may have to trade Penance over to DOA because, put simply, Emplate knows where they are. He knows where his sister, Monet, is all the time, therefore wherever she is, as are they. Simple, eh? Sorta.

Quick Thoughts: Bachalo's art seems to be getting awfully cartoony. But is this a bad thing? Nay, not in my opinion. At least, not very. I agree that Emma Frost should look more unique like she did before, as well as a little older, but the art is fun and light, just like the book, and I think it's quite fitting. James Robinson also does good in this issue. As I'm a fan of his other work this was no surprise. I look forward to what's happening next.

Rating: