Ultimate X-Men #23: Shadows of Amano

A new year has dawned in Hi No Kuni. The Children of the Atom are no more and Kageyama has been defeated, but at a great cost. Hisako Ichiki is gone, having sacrificed her life for her friends. While Nico, Natsu, Kanon, and Mori have decided to move forward and return to their normal lives, Mei and her X-Men continue to fight against mutant injustice, all the while hoping to find any remnant of the missing Hisako. However, that’s the present. Before the X-Men find themselves enthralled in the Maker’s Endgame, we will turn back the clock to see the true origins of the X-Men.

Destiny is something that means different things to different people. Some run from it while others embrace it wholeheartedly. It can appear as bright as a neon light in the sky, or be as subtle as smoke carrying on the wind. That wistful puff of smoke perfectly sums up the existence of one Makoto Amano, a boy whose quest for revenge serves to set the entire plot of the story in motion.

After the gigantic bombast of the last issue, Peach Momoko makes a bold swing by reframing key events from throughout the story, as well as a few that were missed, through the dreary eyes of Amano (who until this point hadn’t been seen since issue eight). It’s very easy for a reveal like this to be a detriment to the story, but Peach’s careful crafting of these characters and their stories over the past year or so only makes the reveal that much better. Amano’s plan originally starts as a simple way of gathering forces to destroy Kageyama for ruining the lives of Amano and his friends, but events snowball to a point that not even Amano could predict. No meeting was by chance, but the outcome remained shocking as revolution would begin to take place. 

This gripping script goes hand in hand with Peach’s ever amazing artwork. Each page has a somewhat minimized approach, rarely anything stretching beyond the boundaries of the panels they are set in, with titles on the pages to show which issue Amano pulled his threads, and topped off with dynamic colors that eerily fill the pages similar to Amano’s own unnerving presence. From Hisako first discovering her power, Mei witnessing her final battle, Peach illustrates it all beautifully, but not shying away from the horrors as well.