ICYMI! Immortal X-Men #17: No Past, No Future

Once again, Kieron Gillen has proven that he is a master of this form. He’s packed a truly remarkable amount of plot into these thirty-odd pages, and he’s done so without ever sacrificing coherent storytelling or his trademark astute characterization. 

If you ever felt a craving for a serious discourse on the nature of faith, a lecture on the history of the Kabbalah, and the sight of a knight cheerfully getting his cranium squished (not to worry; he gets better) this is the story for you. 

The story was told using a form of verbal collage — quotes taken from the long, long history of the Phoenix were shuffled and recontextualized in this place outside of time and space, so that the sloughed skin of the old became a chrysalis housing the new. 

The fact that we also get answers about how, exactly, Sinister has managed to reinfect Xavier, a discourse on the nature of identity, self, and the extreme desolation of megalomania is just the extra rich cream cheese icing on the carrot cake that is this book. 

Oh, and did I mention that thing that Mother Righteous does with that sharp, sharp knife? I feel like I should probably say something about that.

The one weak point in this story came in the form of the art. It isn’t bad art (not by any measure) and if we hadn’t been so thoroughly spoiled by Werneck’s incredible line work I would be singing its praise. But since we have gotten used to certain standards, Ryp’s competent art feels like something of a step down. Though (it has to be said) it’s difficult to imagine Werneck’s glacier-clear lines doing quite so viscerally satisfying a job depicting skull-squish. 

Immortal X-Men is the pinnacle of great comics writing. It is a truly remarkable book.