AXE: Death to the Mutants #1: Nobody Shines Quite Like You…

And here’s something we think you’ll really enjoy! While Gillen is over here killing it on the main AXE crossover, we get these little minis dedicated to the Eternals from the recently concluded ongoing, to help give us more depth on what’s going on with our erstwhile heroes, and it was enjoyable. While everything that happens in this issue isn’t detrimental to the overarching storyline, it’s great to see these characters, and how they’re reacting to the events of the main mini. Gillen’s joined by Guiu Villanova, who worked on the Eternals with Gillen on a couple issues to help Ribic out, so he’s not exactly new to this world. More about him later. 

The rogue Eternals here are doing everything they can to ease the plight of the mutants, and the rest of the world, who are just being hammered by the big battle that’s being waged between the Eternals and the Krakoan mutants. Especially between the creatures of the Hex, who pose a humongous threat to not only the mutants, but the rest of the world. The damage inflicted on the Machine from these monstrosities have to be incalculable, considering they’re all from the Uranos weapons cache he had sequestered from the rest of the Eternals. How much can Druig do to the world to keep the human detractors from changing their opinions on the war at hand? That’s the question I’m looking forward to seeing explored as this event rolls on. 

Now, it’s not just the creatures from the Hex that are explored here, we also see Druig’s assault on the island’s incredible psi-talent. You have some of the world’s most powerful telepaths going up against what looked like it was the Uni-Mind, but it’s actually just one Eternal, as seen here. I’m not sure if it’s just a miscommunication between the script and the artist, or if it’s intentional, but one Eternal vs. Xavier, Jean Grey, Exodus, Emma Frost, Rachel, Betsy, etc., and it just sorta loses any impact you had from the mini. You don’t need to have all of the Earthly Eternals combined in order to form the Uni-Mind, as seen it could be accomplished with just a handful. The battle would have felt more…I hate this word, but epic, in nature. At least the battle would have some added gravitas to it, since you’d have the combined might of several Eternals taking on several disparate mutant telepaths. Strength in numbers, and all that. 

Guiu Villanova’s the artist here, and I have to say that I’m a much bigger fan of his work here, than his fill-ins he had on the main book, but I think that has more to do with the differences in style when compared to Esad Ribic. It’s not that his style was bad, it was just a notable difference. Ribic was giving us big, sweeping, ephemeral science fiction and fantasy landscapes, while Villanova’s harsh, and apocalyptic lines just ran in a different tone for the story. That style works here, and it makes the stakes feel all the more real here. Also his slapdash resurrected Celestial just oozes with the right amount of dilapidated monster that was needed here. It’s a strong start for the rogue Eternals here, can’t wait to see what comes next.