Vulcan's secrets are revealed in X-Men #10, by writer Jonathan Hickman, artist Leinil Yu, colorist Sunny Gho, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This issue is a crossover with the Marvel event Empyre, but readers don't have to be too familiar with that book. In fact, this could very well just be an issue of X-Men if it wasn't for the epilogue.

The book begins in flashback, showing Vulcan floating through the rift in space… and then something takes him. Three aliens begin scanning him and find fire inside him… and something broken. In the present, Vulcan wakes up in the Summers House and goes to the kitchen. Petra and Sway are there, making drinks. They tell him Cyclops, and the kids are gone, and so they've decided to throw a party and wreck the place. Vulcan goes for a walk and encounters a bunch of Cotati who are about to attack the Earth. Petra and Sway think about going after him but see an explosion and decide against it. The Cotati capture him and use a special seed to interrogate him. They see the aliens who have dissected Vulcan- their whole purpose was to hide the broken parts of him to use him for their own purposes. Vulcan snaps and destroys everything in sight before Petra and Sway him to stop. Afterward, the Cotati leadership discuss what happened- there was a survivor, and he said one word- Krakoa.

This is the best kind of crossover issue- one that doesn't feel like a crossover issue. Hickman uses the book to tell a very interesting story about Vulcan. There was some speculation about the character- maybe there was a version of him still alive in the rift, and the one on Earth was a copy that was made unbeknownst to the mutants. The answer is much more sinister and gets to the root of who Vulcan is- a broken man.

Vulcan's life has been terrible. He really can't be blamed for his villainy- he just about had no other choice. The fact that he's so messed up makes him such an interesting character, but this issue takes a bit farther. The Vulcan readers have been seeing isn't the real one but something the alien brought to the surface to hide the Vulcan they want for their own uses. Readers get to see that one in this issue as he cuts loose and destroys everything in sight. However, he knows who and what he is, and he hates it. It's a wonderfully poignant moment.

Leinil Yu's art is great, as usual. He does a wonderful job with the Cotati biotech. Yu has always been an amazing artist with a great eye for designs, and he really knocks it out of the park. He also really captures the turmoil of Vulcan throughout the issue. Also, Petra's posterior should have gotten a co-starring role in the book.

X-Men #10 is an event crossover that doesn't feel like an event crossover, and that's one of the many reasons it's so good. Hickman uses it to do a character study on Vulcan and pay off some clues he's sprinkled in the book about Vulcan. It all works really well, even Sway and Petra's shallow party girl attitudes. Yu's art is at its usual level of greatness, his eye for design, emotional storytelling, and detail, making the whole thing look amazing. X-Men #10 works even if someone has no idea what's happening in Empyre, and that's great.

Grade: A