X-Men #27: Night Kat

Much like issue #25, the main X-Men title continues to crawl along with X-Men #27, acting as a fundamental hosting platform for “plot” to exist as the rest of Fall of X barrels forward with more character-driven narratives that expand the scope of this event. That’s not to say that Duggan fails to imbue this title with anything worthwhile from a character standpoint.

Kitty continues to own this title, the makeshift X team on display getting more time to have their dynamics fleshed out. This issue, as is working to continue tying everything together and keeping the plot progression of Krakow’s downfall sturdy and sensible. It’s all standard, average work with a lack of anything thematically resonant on its own, but written well enough to keep readers engaged.

The art, however, is what drives down the overall effectiveness of this issue. Phil Noto is an, on average, excellent artist when it comes to his line work and covers. So, it was a surprise to find that the paneling in this issue was static, the art within them at times made redundant by Duggan’s dialogue. There’s a lot of messy, at times blurry line work as well as a lot of flat character shots. This may be due to Noto pulling triple time with his duties on an incredibly tight schedule, as his work is normally much tighter.

He still does achieve some relatively good comedic timing with his panel pacing, as well as character expressions that ooze emotion, it just comes through as flat and unengaging. It is a detriment to the overall effectiveness of Duggan’s emphasis on building character dynamics and plot mechanics through action in this issue.

I still think readers can enjoy the basic setup, writing, and adventure in this issue due to its bittersweet and surprisingly fun core plot. After a particularly sobering scene with Kitty as she scouts out one of Orchis’ prison camps, the X-Men pay a visit to the Fantastic Four in order to figure out a way to disguise their mutant gene factor from Sentinel detection systems.

While both plot lines are ultimately forgettable and would be Cliff’s Notes in a more compressed comics, they’re filled with raw emotion and character-driven fun that balances out the overall depressive state of X-Men comics across the line. If the art was perhaps more elective, the character beats in this issue could’ve been a little stronger, but Duggan’s pacing and delivery of characterization through dialogue salvage the issue’s overall readability.