They Were Lost, But Now They’re Found: Reviewing ‘Immortal X-Men’ #14

After the brutal and horrific events of the third Hellfire Gala, the Fall Of X is now in full effect. How’s it going so far? Not great, Bob.

As Immortal X-Men dives into the line’s theme/event, Kieron Gillen, Lucas Werneck, David Curiel, Erick Arciniega, and Clayton Cowles deliver an issue both familiar and different. Plenty of the elements unique to this series stand tall while most of it is completely stripped away creating something quite different.

Things might be dire and depressing for most of the betrayed mutants, but at least the scum Sebastian Shaw wasn’t exempt. Turns out that when you make deals with magical devils to betray your people, one might still get bitten.

Because of how the event has scattered characters to the winds, this issue and the event as a whole is very scattershot. Compared to previous issues there is no real central figure or narrator, and it’s following various characters that normally call the pages home. It’s easy to sort of piece together a bit of a timeline with this issue and some of the others we’ve already seen. There is one thing about it all that stands out for me though: I’m already tired of the X weeks thing.

I get it as a concept. Keeps things timeless of sorts, doesn’t nail down actual time, and fits the theme of tossing the X as a number onto stuff. I get all of that, but it also just feels less cute each time when it might be a bit nice to actually know how long it’s been since the Gala. I’d guess it might mean 10 as it has before, but that feels far too much time and too simple.

Everything with Xavier, Emma, and Shaw works and fits where they’ve been headed. Hopefully this time we see Shaw truly punished for his typical betraying ways, as he considers himself not even a mutant (after he negates his powers). It’s the stuff with Exodus, Destiny, and Hope that left me in a bit of a spot.

Personally, I’m not religious. I know quite a bit about various religions through osmosis and people in my life that are religious. While I’m not religious I respect others’ faith and their need for it. That being said, just full-on diving back into religious allegories and imagery with Exodus feels a bit tiring. Yes, it’s part of his history, but we were seemingly on a path to build a religion for the mutants that let go of all that.

Nope, apparently not. We’re back to just the usual sort of stuff piling up in stories because that’s just the way it is. I get the choice and I don’t fault Gillen or anyone in the office for it. I’m just personally over having it done so overly big like this all the time. Not the first time in the X-Line, and likely not the last.

Also, damn Hope. I guess being in a desert makes her very catty as she just declares that most of the mutants there outside of the council members have no “useful mutant powers.” You can’t tell me that 250,000 mutants all just have hair-changing powers or something. Surely some of them would be useful in a desert, but ya know the council members have massive egos.

As mentioned at the top, there is tons of emotional content to be mined in this issue. Good thing that Werneck is still doing the art here and nailing that aspect. There is something both whimsical but also heavy about his style of art. It feels very much like it belongs in a comic book that has lots of fun and superhero stuff, but the darkness is just lurking behind things. Just the way I like it.

A lot of this series has been characters talking and doing their thing and it doesn’t change here. An artist takes on the heavy work at times to make talking head scenes feel energetic and like they are moving. Werneck achieves this once again as we bounce around and follow these characters with very little actual action happening. It all comes down to how he chooses to frame the various scenes, changing the shape and style, and focus of every panel. This allows things to move quickly as we’re placed right into the mix with the characters and feel everything.

Curiel and Arciniega are both fantastic colorists and they tag-team here to create an issue that has a seamless color situation. Honestly, on the first read, I didn’t notice that there were two of them on the issue. I just assumed it was all Curiel as usual and when I flipped back to the credits, I had to go back through the issue again. I think I can detect some subtle changes but really it all just feels so complimentary that it’s hard to tell where one ends or begins.

Plenty of big vibrant colors for various elements, chiefly the costumes and supernatural elements, alongside more toned-down grounded colors. It lends itself to the story at hand, with plenty of white lighter bits popping up to play against the heavier shadows that are present. Even as it has fallen, Krakoa is still a vibrant place, making it stand out from the barren desert and the drearier buildings that we also spend time in during the issue.

Tons of different voices are heard here and have a lot to say. Cowles makes sure it all fits on the page and dances around in the best possible way. Doing so makes sure that we’re never overwhelmed by all the text and makes sure that each character’s words/voices are unique. Seeing the emotions on their faces gives us a lot but also hearing/seeing it in their words makes sure that it hits us the way it’s supposed to.

Immortal X-Men #14 is now available from Marvel Comics.