Review: ‘X-Men Red’ #18 Ends The Series And The War
by Tony Thornley
For the last six months, Storm has waged war with her X-Men to save the red planet of Arakko. X-Men Red #18 ends the war and brings the journey of Storm, Sunspot and their X-Men to an end.
Al Ewing, Yildray Cinar, Federico Blee, and Ariana Maher draw one of the X-Men line’s flagships to a close.
-.A.-’s sorcery has risen a new living island, Kaorak. Now, Storm fights alongside the island to save the entirety of Arakko from Annihilation’s evil and Genesis’s tyranny. While the rest of the X-Men and their allies fight the Arakkii allied with Genesis, Storm faces the queen one on one, and is the only hope of millions. Can she win her final battle, or will the red planet fall?
Ewing has consistently written the best X-book in the line for the last three years. This final issue simply proves it. Though it’s incredibly exposition heavy, it drives the plot along in a way that’s still exciting. It does have a few small pacing issues- in some ways the exposition seems to be a way to move through what would have been better served with another issue or two- and a few characters are too underdeveloped for the story to full work. Otherwise, this chapter in the story shows why Ewing is rightfully lauded as one of Marvel’s greatest.
Maher is fantastic at taking Ewing’s words and turning it into a fantastic and clean issue. She made white font on a black balloon work too- which is hard to pull off as a letterer. It’s all a great example of how Maher has risen as one of the better letterers in the industry.
Cinar does a great job at showing the scope of the battle. He pulls back just right as Kaorak and Arakko do battle, or draws in tight on characters’ faces as they struggle with each other. He paces the action through his layouts to build to the biggest moments, and then gives those action beats large panels and splashes to make sure they have just the right impact. Blee largely does a great job coloring it, though the series’ trademark red tinge is missing.
I’m sorry to see this series go, but it’s time to see and transition. I just can’t wait to see what path this story takes next as it continues into Resurrection of Magneto next month.
X-Men Red #18 is available now from Marvel Comics.
Overview
Sharp writing with some warts come with solid art, ending the series on a note that’s not quite as high as the best of this series, but still was pretty fantastic.
