Review: X-Men #4 Makes Economics (And Assassination Attempts) Fun!
by Tony Thornley
Rounding off our Super Sunday of all things Dawn of X related is a review of X-Men #4, which came out last week from Marvel Comics.
If the Dawn of X era of X-Men has given the Marvel Universe anything, it’s been an exciting landscape to explore. X-Men #4 does exactly that, exploring several of the new status quos from House of X and Powers of X.
Jonathan Hickman, Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan, Sunny Gho, Clayton Cowles, and Tom Muller take readers into the most tense dinner party in comics history. As a side note, this appears to be Alanguilan’s last interior work before he passed away last month. We were sorry to hear of his passing and appreciate all he’s contributed to comics in his life.
Xavier, Magneto and Apocalypse have accepted an invitation to the World Economic Summit, where Krakoa is a massive topic. As they share dinner with a small council, their bodyguards Cyclops and Gorgon discover not all is it seems. Can the duo protect the Quiet Council without causing an international incident?
Hickman has accomplished a difficult challenge in this issue. He made an issue that was about eighty percent discussion of economics and politics absolutely engrossing. It’s not just the tension of the assassination attempt on Xavier, Magneto and Apocalypse either, as the world building in the story is absolutely fascinating.
He wisely puts the weight of the story on Magneto, one of the characters he’s written best since the relaunch began. Xavier and Apocalypse both get fantastic moments of their own though that really enrich the story. It’s a fascinating look into this new world and the best look so far at the repercussions of Xavier’s new dream.
Yu and Alanguilan are able to step up their work this issue. They’re able to convey body language and facial expressions here much better than they have in the last few issues, which was critical for this story to work. The action filled interludes are well done as well, using a limited number of panels to tell that side of the story, giving it a greater impact. Gho uses a very stark color palette, ensuring the colors doesn’t take away from the intricate game of chess we’re seeing played on the page.
This issue showed us how much the new era of X-Men has to offer, and I’m thrilled to see it unfold.
X-Men #4 is available now from Marvel Comics.
