X-Men #11: Vegicide

This issue was altogether more satisfactory than at least half of the previous installments. The Summoner (with his creepy smile and possibly, well, ominous dialogue) is an interesting figure and it was interesting to see him interacting with (and spouting Hickman’s usual brand of watered down pseudo-philosophy at) Santos, Loa, and Anole. 

Exodus is, possibly, not the best person to be instilling children in the liturgy of awe. And it is a liturgy he’s building, in his little fireside chats. There is, already, a tote call and response. The fact that Exodus seems to be in charge of this aspect of life is more than a little disturbing. If he intends to use these instructional (possibly indoctrinating) scenes as a means of highlighting the fact that not everything on Krakoa is peaches and freshly-churned cream, it’s effective. This is less true if he is playing it straight, because although Exodus has what he has, seemingly, always wanted on Krakoa, he’s still a murderous megalomaniac.

However, the best part of this issue was the depiction of Magneto. Mags, with his hair down, is a tremendous thing. Almost Awesome, in the ancient sense of the word — he is awesome in a similar way to Sampson. This is Magneto at peace with himself, fighting for his people (fighting, in a sense, for all people) and able to joke even as he administers what he probably thinks of as justice to an invading force. All of his flaws are still there, but they’re in retreat now, eclipsed by his undeniable strength. 

Magneto, in the Krakoa era, is more than worthy of admiration and love. 

Yu’s art is fine for this book. It’s not great, but it’s better than it has been. He’s good at expressions — though his faces often bears a familial similarity that takes you out of the story a bit. Having said that, the coloring work was truly spectacular. It contributed to the story in a big way. 

All things considered, this was a solid offering for the line. And that’s more than I could say for the vast majority of the X-Men issues that have been released since the Dawn of X began.