ADVANCED REVIEW! Immortal X-Men #1: Sinister Secrets (Spoiler-Free!)

Kieron Gillen is a phenomenal writer. Anyone who’s read his previous excursions into the land of X can tell you that. It’s no surprise that someone with such a prodigious grip on a plot as thickly woven as this one would write a stellar Sinister. Despite my nasty little hint above, I can’t tell you how Nathan Essex knows what he does (trust me, that little revelation is worth the price of admission all by itself) but I can say that the fact that this issue is basically laying out the board for what promises to be a truly remarkable chess match (with delightfully bloody consequences) taking place between Essex and Irene Adler.

There now. Talk about your mixed metaphors. I’ve compared this story to a tapestry and to a chess match, but maybe it’s more like Raumschach, a variety of chess in which multiple games happen at once, on a series of stacked boards, and every combatant simultaneously plays both white and black.

If that sounds like a shockingly cerebral premise for a comic book, don’t worry. There’s plenty of cattiness, a dollop of spectacle, and many possible timelines playing out (one after the other) until we find the one that fits. 

Gillen writes a delightful Sinister. This is Sinister as a mad genius, only partially self-aware, ridiculously intelligent, blindly dismissive, egotistical, overly dramatic villain. This is a man so dazzled by his own hubris that he can’t see what Destiny so obviously can — that he’s the greatest obstacle to his own success — and that he’s basically a pawn in a match that someone else has written. 

This tremendous writing, bolstered by the promise that Gillen will be tackling every Quiet Council member in their turn, sunk a fishhook deep inside the pleasure center of my brain.

Lucas Werneck’s art is almost unbearably beautiful. The X-Men have never looked so good. Seriously, his rendition of Kurt’s new costume was enough, on its own, to absolutely win me over. Add a resurrected, perfectly rendered, giant centipede monster to the mix and it’s difficult to imagine comic art getting any better. David Curiel’s colors are lucid, and bright enough to make even the most horrific action enrapturing. 

Tom Muller’s terrific graphic designs render even the driest of infodumps both pleasurable and informative. I mean, there’s nothing dry about this book, but if there were, Muller’s artistry could render it palatable.

Taken as a whole, this was an absolutely astonishing start to what promises to be a brilliant series. I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens next.