ICYMI! X-Men Forever #2: Background Noise

Gillen primarily utilized this issue as a sort of literary caulk to glue the other books together. It doesn’t progress the plot of the story in general, but it does help the story as a whole by filling in some gaps, namely what’s happening to the mutants who remain in The White Hot Room, how Xavier contacted the X-Men after Mother Righteous killed her homunculus, and it dropped a few hints about what he’s really doing for the Orchis AI. 

Most tellingly, this issue provides a means of enabling us (readers) to have a high stakes investment in the X-Era that’s soon to follow the collapse of this utopia while not completely erasing the wonders that the Krakoan age brought, i.e resurrections will continue, but the resurrected mutants will not be able to return to Earth. 

The ‘how’ of it all is a rather neat piece of storytelling, and I’m not going to spoil it. 

Since this issue is primarily wonderfully-written filler, there was a lot of room for some interesting character work. Exodus, Hope, Destiny, and Rachel all get a moment or two to shine, and their light is dazzling. 

Maresca’s art is absolutely astonishing. He isn’t afraid to use some truly innovative (highly unusual) camera angles, which allows, quite brilliantly, for some interesting character insights. Federico Blee’s colors have a scintillating sheen, a gloss of heightened-reality that is totally appropriate for the setting.