Dark X-Men #5: Inferno’s End

Dark X-Men #5 is a disappointing finale, but not a bad comic by any means. As the last pages of this issue came about, it felt pretty clear that a sixth issue was critical to allow this series to fully flesh out what it was trying to say. Regardless, Steve Foxe and Jonas Scharf have crafted an X-Men that will forever remain near and dear to my heart for how it celebrates the nature of ‘freaks’ without damning any one character’s own agency in relation to their nature as people.

The rush in this issue is apparent all the way down to the art. While Scharf’s visuals and Martin’s coloring still give the book its effortless dark fantasy charm, some of the art is muddy, lacking in the same life the series had in its opening issues. There are some standout shots in this book, especially in the issue’s closing pages, but it did feel like Scharf had to pick his battles in terms of devoting time to specific sections in this issue. The plot is also wrapped up a little too quickly, coming down to an anti-climactic standoff that should’ve seen Maddie’s realization as to her role within the Marvel Universe be much more fulfilling than what occurred. The theme on display and its meaning are as strong as ever, but it felt like it didn’t have the time or space to breathe.

However, the team was still able to give the book a more thematic and unwritten sense of satisfaction in how Maddie reflects on the events of the series with a quite beautiful closing dialogue between herself and Havok that left me, a reader invested in her development, with the same sense of melancholic realization she herself was undergoing. This series really was a carefully plotted journey that did something compelling with a slew of characters who are rarely given the chance to have any role in current comics that isn’t purely nostalgia pandering. It’s a book filled with off-brand versions of more popular characters that are often pushed to be like their more popular counterparts as opposed to being someone of their own creation, and the thesis of this story absolutely rejects that notion with poise.

While many can read Pryor’s declaration as the ‘Goblin Queen’ within this book as yet another reductive continuance of her character cycle, it feels more like her declaring who she truly alongside all the growth she’s undergone. She may be the Goblin Queen still, but that does not mean she’ll return to petty villainy. Instead, she’ll continue to grow as the lord of Limbo and as her own person far and away from her baggage as a Jean Grey clone. It’s a very powerful theme that still manages to pour out of the book’s soul by the end, even when the finale itself lacked satisfaction.

Foxe and Scharf undid themselves with this series, giving what would of otherwise been an event tie-in the power to stand on it’s own as a cult classic comic. This is something that should be read by everyone, not just those reading the Fall of X event. It’s moody, character rich, and filled with beautifulk examples of how comic book action can contribute to deeply human themes in its brutality.