Rise of the Powers of X #5: Fake Out

This issue wasn’t as strong as the previous installments, and that’s a shame, but there were a great many good moments and Gillen had several very tangly threads to tie up, so a little narrative disarray is an easy sin to forgive. Highlights included Enigma’s machine-gun-rapid cross-time caper, as he attempted to undo Jean at every major point of her timeline. This was a clever ploy (albeit one he already tried when he went back in time to usurp Hope’s birth) and the execution was cinematic and satisfying. 

Xavier’s meeting with Moira was a play at redemption that only partially succeeded — both for the character and in the eyes of the reader. She’s too far gone as a villain to be resolved over the course of a page and a half. But the visuals were interesting, recalling as they did one very significant moment (that happened to take place on a park bench) in Powers of X.

It was deeply fitting that Xavier’s dream ended (for him, at least) in the exact same spot that it started — with his naked head thrown back against the wooden slats of that same bench, his features (unobscured by cerebro) stamped with a smile. As I stated, the pacing of this issue was a problem. If Gillen had strung out fewer plots and instead focused on one resolution, the series would have had room to draw a satisfying final breath. As it stands, the ending was competent and it was certainly complete. 

Luciano Vecchio’s are was a departure from previous issues, but his efforts were entirely successful. His depictions of the characters were less ‘cute’ than he usually makes them, and this was a strength as the narrative demanded a more serious tone. David Curriel’s color work, rich, vibrant, gorgeously shaded, added a lot of nuance to the panels and did a lot of heavy lifting when scenes demanded emotional heft.