White Hot To The Touch: Reviewing ‘Immortal X-Men’ #16

It ain’t easy being a Mutant in the Marvel Universe these days, or ever; just ask the beleaguered Quiet Council. They’re still being put through the wringer as capitalism, greed, religion, revelation, community, and more offer them paths both fruitful and destructive.

Immortal X-Men #16 continues the Quiet Council-centric series journey into the Fall Of X. Another deeply solid issue from Kieron Gillen, Lucas Werneck, David Curiel, and Clayton Cowles.

Each series that carries the Fall Of X banner currently has its own focus, but also its own flavor. Out of all of them it is this one, alongside the main X-Men series, that has a wider overall view. That makes sense with this being the series that had the biggest cast of characters and purview before this event. It was the series following the governing body of the Mutant nation after all.

Gillen does a very good job of balancing the cast here, partially because it’s been cut in half just about. With Emma Frost, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Mystique, Shadowkat, and Storm busy elsewhere it gives Xavier, Shaw, Selene, Destiny, Exodus, and Hope far more spotlight.

Part of that balancing act is how Gillen smartly gives each of the dual storylines alternating chances to take more of the page count for each issue. In issue fourteen it was Xavier who took more focus, and then last issue it was the exiled lost group of mutants that got to guide things. In this one the two are pretty equally balanced, not in page count but in execution and powerful revelations/plot progression.

With Xavier standing in the way of Krakoa’s capitalistic exploitation, former Black King Sebastian Shaw pulls out the big guns (essentially an old-fashioned-looking Iron Man suit of armor). Few things bother that man more than being unable to use capitalism for his deepest greediest desires. It’s the end though that rocks things, by revealing that Xavier might not be as free of manipulation as he or we thought.

On the other side, the trio gets deeper into religious stuff and finds the Five (even pulling off a resurrection) and debates whether Mother Righteous can be trusted or not. Attacks continue from Apocalypse and nightmares, leading to Hope making a major discovery. The place where they are trapped is the famed White Hot Room, essentially an afterlife of sorts connected to the Phoenix. It’s a nexus of realities, and that is where they find an entranced Jean Grey who is, surprise surprise, living out various realities in her own solo miniseries currently.

Now that’s the connection sort of stuff we love to see in these shared universes, same line, same event types of stories. Arguably this is one of the titles where, I believe at least, we feel the most personal levels of loss from this fall. Not that we don’t feel that in others, but Orchis and the fascism are on full display taking up room in almost every other title. Here, Orchis and such is just background noise.

While the title will go on, this issue is the last for Werneck on art. It’ll be sad to see such a departure, as he brought such an energy and distinctive feeling to this series.

Throughout this series there has been a very delicate balance in the artwork, straddling that line between hefty emotional realness and something that is a bit whimsical/less realistic. Werneck does that balancing act so smoothly. He gives us so much in the facial expressions and body language of characters, making every emotional or important beat land with power. Simultaneously these moments are allowed to exist as something outlandish and out of the norm, bigger than our reality. Marvel might be “the world outside our window” but it’s really not at the same time.

All the action, even with that whimsical tinge, is solid and grounded. It moves swiftly and smoothly through the pages. Well chosen framing devices make sure to keep us right down in the moment. Right beside or in front of the characters, in the thick of things rather than being static far-off observers.

If one is looking for an artist to really bring characters to vivid life on the page, Werneck should definitely be high on the list. If you want one that also kills the action/superhero/supernatural stuff as a double threat, again, put that name high up there.

Per usual Curiel brings a lot of those very vibrant colors for specific moments, allowing the rest to sort of just be. It adds to the sense of realness alongside the less real, making the spaces feel normal and natural to our eyes. All the characters and other elements that are out of this world then help bring in the bigger poppier colors and moments. With part of this story happening in a barren desert like space, the bigger colors stand out perfectly.

Just as Werneck nails the emotion with body visuals and Curiel with the colors, so too does Cowles every time with the voices. Every bit of pain, anger, betrayal, surprise, etc rings even more true when we see it in the words. Within our heads, at least speaking for myself, all the voices are accurate and convey these beats and personalities loudly. Just little flairs added to the text accomplish this and make sure that everything lands. Not to mention throwing in little fun things here or there that liven it all up, giving the world even more personality too.

There is no telling how many issues are left of the series (a relaunch of books seems eminent in the new year), but I’m glad we got as many as we could from this creative team together.

Immortal X-Men #16 is now available from Marvel Comics.