X-Men #14 (XoS Pt 14): Lovers Sundered

Jonathan Hickman’s writing technique is certainly unique. You won’t find it in any writing workshop, or advertised in any guide to style. He tends to either withhold information, in an attempt to generate mystery by dropping the reader into the middle of the action without the barest fragment of warning (a technique which can occasionally be effective) or else he delivers great chunks of hard-to-chew exposition in an experience that feels like the repetitive scenes in the Back to the Future films when Biff Tannen is repeatedly assaulted by that truck full of manure. This experience is considerably less fun than that cinematic treasure, of course (we’re supposed to like these characters, remember?) and unfortunately this seems to be the style that the X-Men book has devolved to.

In this issue, we were treated to seemingly endless panels consisting of Genesis telling Apocalypse that he is ‘weak’ and relating a dumpster’s worth of ‘mutant history’ that’s supposed to feel epic, but which instead was nearly incomprehensible. 

Aside from the rather pat mirroring of Arakkoan and Krakoan cultures (the laws and the consequences of endless resurrections, with a dash of Sinister-like genetic experimentation — all of which has been stated and restated in previous books) this story was a slog. And that’s not at all what you want from the culmination of a supposedly ancient love affair. 

We are supposed to care about these characters. We are supposed to be, at minimum, curious about what is going to happen to them. Other X-Book writers succeed at this. The mastermind behind the current era absolutely does not. And that’s almost a tragedy. 

The one redeeming feature of this book was the art. Asrar has a tremendous talent for emotion — succeeding even when the writing fails. Yu’s detail-work is astonishingly engrossing. Indeed, the two work together so well that the art is nearly seamless. Whatever emotional resonance this story has was due to their efforts. Certainly the writing did not merit it.