Review: ‘X-Men’ #24 Is A Deep Dive Into Villainy
by Tony Thornley
At the end of Age of Revelation readers learned that X-Men’s big bad is a very familiar face. In this week’s X-Men #24 we get a deep dive into the horror of that reveal.
Jed MacKay, Tony S. Daniel, Mark Morales, Fer Sifuentes-Sujo and Clayton Cowles reveal the inner workings of the evil organization, 3K.
The Chariman of 3K has been revealed to be none other than Hank McCoy, the former X-Man turned mutant supremacist. While he’s gone comatose in during the time travel events of Age of Revelation, Cassandra Nova and Astra have begun making moves to usurp him. However, Beast will not tolerate such treachery when they finally have the tools they need to accomplish their goals- total mutant domination.
I love villain focused stories. MacKay does a great job here at showing why 3K is so scary (but also likely why they may fail). But after about ten pages of in-fighting, Beast makes his debut on the page, and it all comes together. This is the natural evolution of the increasingly villainous Hank McCoy of the Krakoa era, and giving him the form of so many evil versions of Beast we’ve seen before is a smart move.
This is what makes X-Men great. X-Men is a bit of a soap opera at its best, and that includes its villains. Creating a thriller about the bad guys is great, but MacKay made it even better by doing both forms of the trope around that — the betrayals and the scheming. This evil version of Beast is fantastic and I’m excited to see where it goes next.
The art is stunning too. I’m very glad to see Daniel, Morales and Sifuentes-Sujo as a new semi-regular team. Daniel is able to ramp up the tension throughout, and his splash page with the new design for Beast (which I assume is his) is a great page turn. Morales keeps the lines sharp, and Sifuentes-Sujo’s colors are moody and dark without being grimy or washed out.
Cowles always deserves a shout-out. He relays a lot of information clearly, and compliments the script with how he places and lays out his lettering work.
X-Men #24 is available now from Marvel Comics.
Overview
I’m enjoying this run more and more by the month. This is what X-Men needs to be.
