Cyclops #5: I’ll Be Your X-Man

In Cyclops #5 Alex Paknadel reminds us that while both Xavier’s School and Krakoa may be gone, there is still hope. That’s exactly what Cyclops, mutantkind’s most notorious soldier in Marvel’s Earth-616, represents to the mutants we don’t normally see, such as Paknadel’s Mei, who is simply an innocent bystander caught by the villainous Donald Pierce.

Mei and Pierce both play opposite roles in this issue, as Pierce’s Uru armor (the stuff Thor’s hammer is made out of) makes him nearly unbeatable to the mutant prisoners during their attempt to escape once and for all from Pierce’s enslavement. The armor is merely an enhancer, making Pierce all the more villainous and oppressive. Mei, on the other hand, has only grown more selfless and brave even as her situation has gotten more and more dire with each issue.

Either character represents two opposing extremes. Pierce’s well-established villainy, which is so malicious that he doesn’t even care for the human-turned-mutant hunting cyborgs who have essentially sworn their lives to him, is in direct opposition to Mei’s budding heroism. Mei began her character arc as naive and reckless, but in the past three issues since her last page introduction at the end of Cyclops #1 last February, she has grown paradoxically less naive and more heroic.

Then we have Scott Summers, aka Cyclops. He’s been right and he’s been wrong, but he’s never actually changed. Cyclops’ worst habit and best character trait is his self-sacrifice. That trait is something Pierce, as a true-to-his-nature villain, could never understand. While Pierce uses the reavers as disposable soldiers, Cyclops sends the mutant prisoners away while he unleashes the fury of his optic blasts, which brings us to the artwork.

Rogê Antônio and Fer Sifuentes-Sujo must have been kicking their feet in sheer glee when they got the script for this issue. Unlike the previous four, Cyclops #5 is so overtly unrestrained that the art is practically brimming with excitement for its eventual buildup. We’ve seen the red hum of Cyclops’ eyes underneath his blindfold more than once in these five issues, and finally in issue #5 the blindfold comes off.

The panels are stacked on top of each other as the only flimsy restraint for the pages’ glow, whether it be Pierce’s gleaming armor or the shining red rage of Cyclops’ optic blasts. As the action builds and each page turn becomes a shattering blow, the panel arrangement breaks up its rhythm from the predictable 5-panel spread to 2 panels, then back to 5, and eventually up to 6 panels on several pages, each depicting an attack in hit-by-hit pacing that sells the climax of the storyline.