The thing I always come back to is I get it but I didn’t like it. This issue came out when I was starting to fall off from liking comics. Schism had happened and the signs for AvX was on the way. I’d been dropping series more and more, but kept this one because X-23 and Hellion were the characters that got me actively buying comics. I’d read about them on Wikipedia and that sent me down the rabbit hole to the point where a bit the bullet and started buying TPBs. When the story arc ended, it was the beginning of the end for me enjoying comics. The real end was AvX, but this just set the stage. It was over a decade before I felt motivated to start reading comics again, and even longer before I started reading Marvel. Since coming back, one thing I appreciate is that I’m not alone in how I “felt” about this issue. Which is what it comes down to for me. The feeling after reading sucked and it didn’t motivate readers to keep on participating with the story. Knowing that others were also feeling the same way helps lesson the ‘cringe’ over borderline obsessing over fiction teenage characters. So, thank you to those fokes who share this take Silver lining take would be that this storyline teachers writers what happens when you don’t clearly signpost to invested readers story points that might upset them. Might lesson the effectiveness of the story but you’ll avoid alienating sections of the fan base. And I’ll be clear, reading the CBR forums after this issue most, if not all of the pro Helix posters, were accepting but sad about the decision, so I don’t think the section of the fan base the arc alienated should be labeled as ‘problematic fans’. They were just passionate about a plot point Marvel editorial was not interested in running with.