Immortal X-Men #6: It Was a Pleasure to Burn

A phrase came back to me, again and again, while reading this issue. It’s going to be a bit of a walk to see how it connects to the subject of this story, so wear comfortable shoes. The journey is worth it. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury wrote from the perspective of a very special protagonist. Montag was a Fireman, but his job was more about setting fires than putting them out. Montag is no hero. He begins the novel, in fact, as one of the most terrifying villains ever conceived, speaking of books (and people) as mere obstacles which stand in the way of his power and his destructive adoration of that power.

Bradbury writes: “It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.” Montag is a character who is all about power, the acquisition of same and the application thereof. He is a character whom our very self aware narrator would very much approve of, even as something in him rankled at the recognition that they are, essentially, the same. 

Shaw sold his soul (he believes) to Hell in order to gain vengeance on his father’s ghost. There’s room in him for honor, if not love, and it’s clear that he respects (however begrudgingly) those people in his life who have a sliver of it in them. He longs for power as a means of filling a lack within himself (the hollow cavity where love should be) and there’s something Miltonic, something Luciferian, about his firm dedication to the societal role he’s chosen for himself. It’s far more desirable, to some people, after all, to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven. It’s no surprise that the prefix Gillen chose for this book comes from St Thomas Aquinas. A man who wrestles with devils on a regular basis gets to know them fairly well.

This story is about judgement, yes, and emphatically so, but that means that it’s also necessarily a meticulous character story. The fact that it manages to further the overall plot of the current crossover event while drawing in threads from other books is merely the succulent icing on an already rich cake. 

Immortal X-Men is an important, brilliant, philosophically nuanced story, told in a coherent and beautiful form. I am convinced that it is Gillen’s opus.

Lucas Werneck’s art leaps dolphin-like from strength to strength, aided by David Curiel’s masterful colors. The two artists, working together, are manufacturing astonishment.