Bringing Some Closure – X-Men: Blue #36 Review
by Josh Davison
[**Mild Spoilers Ahead for X-Men: Blue #36!]
The members of X-Men: Blue know that they need to go back to their own time. They have been in the present for long enough and have likely damaged the timeline in ways they cannot imagine. Jean Grey, Cyclops, Beast, Angel, and Iceman say goodbye to friends and family they have met in this time one last time before returning to their world.
X-Men: Blue has had many ups and downs in its run, ranging from brilliant to nearly unreadable material. However, with its final installment, X-Men: Blue has managed a solid and even slightly poignant finale.
It doesn’t approach the gravity and pathos of the final Magneto story from #31-34, but, in fairness, Cullen Bunn is just a master of writing Erik Lensherr (or Max Eisenhardt, if you’d prefer).
The best moment of the comic is Cyclops contacting Corsair and the Starjammers; that conveyed its emotions well and made me genuinely feel for the characters. The book also takes a moment to reminisce on the union of Cyclops and Jean Grey and to remind us that it’s not completely lost to time.
Those hoping for complete closure may be a little disappointed, as the book is a little open-ended. That is likely because the final fate of these characters will be decided in Extermination.
Marcus To closes out the book on a visually high note. He has been doing some great work over the past few issues of X-Men: Blue, and it’s no different here. He knows how to fill out a frame for maximum emotional resonance and how to play with lighting well. Matt Milla keeps things colorful and contrasted to draw the eye.
X-Men: Blue #36 is a solid closing to the series. It finishes the stories it can while leaving things open for Extermination to tell us what really happens to these characters. The book has its emotional moments, and they land well. The art of To and Milla is excellent too, and the book earns a recommendation for those who are invested in these characters or just want to see how it ends. Feel free to check it out.
This comic comes courtesy of writer Cullen Bunn, artist Marcus To, color artist Matt Milla, letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna, cover artists R.B. Silva with Matt Milla, and variant cover artists Michael Allred with Laura Allred.
