Fall of the House of X #5 The Bigger They Are

As far as climaxes go, this story felt a little bit rushed. The fact that this is the final hurrah of the Abe of Krakoa just makes the problem worse. We’ve had almost half a decade of stories revolving around the events of this country and its government and wrapping the whole shebang up in what amounts to five pages of explosions feels a bit cheap.

However, fireworks are also cheap, and fast, and lighting their fuse grants surprising results. This story certainly exits with a bang, one that is a lot louder than a single slamming door. The inclusion of mutant circuitry, mutant togetherness, as the stone that slayed the Nimrod-giant was a brilliant stroke. And it was gratifying to see Storm finally step up to the plate — even if we all know that she was granted this truly Omega moment in order to set her up for joining The Avengers later on in the year.

Duggan has a history of neglecting the majority of his cast in favor of the one or two mutants he’s developed big plans for, but he didn’t indulge that urge here. All of the central characters were granted equitable panel-time. Perhaps knowing that he was writing towards a definite end helped him balance his cast.

Lucas Werneck’s line work was, as usual, absolutely stunning — especially during the climactic, multi-faceted final boss battle. It’s always wonderful, in any case, to see his gorgeous art luxuriating in violence.

This was an excellent, if speedy, finale to the saga of Krakoa.