Destiny Unfolds Before Our Eyes: Reviewing ‘Immortal X-Men’ #3

When it was first announced Immortal X-Men seemed like it would be very much focused on the everyday goings-on of the Quiet Council of Krakoa, all their political wheeling and dealing and backstabbing. While that is very much the focus of the series, the council, it’s proven to be so much more which should have been a given when one remembers that Kieron Gillen is the writer.

Choosing a single council member as the narrator/focus of each issue has been a tremendous device so far as we got to see what Sinister has cooking and then we got to really see inside Hope’s head and what she brings to the council and to Krakoa as a whole. This issue brings a much-needed sojourn into the mind and past of Irene Adler/Destiny. She’s one of those characters that was dead so long that was more of a story point than a character for many, but that isn’t the case anymore.

Gillen spends the first half of the issue showcasing not only Destiny’s past but also how her powers work, with her stating that simple things like “Colossus will break through the wall in three seconds” aren’t that helpful compared to the harder ‘nexus point’ events that affect the timeline that she manipulates like a chess player. One of which was her death in Uncanny X-Men #125 which we learn that she went into willingly because it was one of many things needed to lead to the formation of Krakoa. We even get the council finding out about Mystique’s manipulations to get Destiny back and more, all that before the title page is dropped halfway through the issue which is pretty darn awesome.

All of this had to be laid out because following the title drop we get to see things from Destiny’s point of view as the future comes to her again, all the possibilities and potential nexus points. There are all these revelations, including Destiny learning of Sinister having cloned Moira to use her ability, but they all take a side seat to us getting a whole ton of Mystique and Destiny’s relationship. It was so good to see them being able to be the loving married couple at last, but it’s also bittersweet because of the revelation Destiny drops at the very end of the issue.

Lucas Werneck is a tremendous artist and this series is just gorgeous in how he brings these characters and their world to life each month. So much detail in every panel, with the character’s emotions so clear and tangible upon the page. We get a mix of great present-day and past pages and there are small changes made to how they are brought to life that is great. Flashback pages that have that almost old-timey sort of feel to them are some of my favorites and we get plenty of those here.

One of the beautiful things about this book stems back to the mention of how each issue is from the perspective of a different character. Not only is this narratively from Destiny’s point of view but most of the panels and pages are essentially from her point of view as well. We see things either how she saw them in life or how she sees them through her powers, a perfect example is the council scenes she narrates as we’re often a voyeur or sorts looking down upon the action or away much like she potentially saw it in her mind thanks to her powers.

For this issue, Dijjo Lima steps in to handle the coloring. Much like David Curiel in the first two issues, Lima’s colors are quite lush with different areas and places having their own palette and feel that matches the given tone. There is a different sort of smooth feeling to Lima’s colors and they tend to be a bit more on the brighter side but still maintain many of those dark shadows to the side or in other ominous sorts of positions. For the flashbacks all that is toned down a bit with a sort of washed-out effect to fit with these being pages from the past, giving that more classic feel to them.

Destiny gives us a ton of information in her narration, so there is a lot of lettering to be done and Clayton Cowles makes it all flow and work across the pages so that it’s never overwhelming. As usual, he does masterful work to showcase every character’s personality and energy in their dialogue, while changing the size of fonts or bubbles to make it clear what the tone of everyone’s words happens to be. I love a big, jagged speech bubble for someone yelling, it’s got that angry energy just bursting out. In each issue, there are changes too as Sinister was very over the top with some dialogue and views while Hope is a more controlled soldier type and Destiny is even more controlled and plays things closer to the vest.

Immortal X-Men #3 is now available.