ICYMI! X-Men Red #18: Out With A Whimper

It is unfortunate that the final issue of this series was also the weakest. Ewing is at his best when he’s allowed to take a deep dive into characterization and motivation, and it is unfortunate that there wasn’t room for anything in this issue but bare plot. Yes, all (or most) of the dangling plotlines were resolved — often so quickly as to seem like an afterthought — but the story played out without any room left for emotional significance.

This issue read like a summary of itself, as though it were a (brilliantly) illustrated encapsulation of a much longer narrative. Cinar’s line work was astonishingly good, but because the characters were mere sketches of themselves, and because the nature of the ending was a forgone conclusion, it was difficult (if not impossible) for the art to generate a sense of emotion.

The narrative affect was so flat, so barren of consequence, that even the (permanent) death of a previously significant character felt tacked on and rushed. If this had been written by any other writer, it would have been disappointing, but less devastatingly so. The fact that Ewing has spent years producing consistently strong stories, rooted in a verisimilitudinous rendering of character, means that this issue fails all the harder for being in competition with itself. If someone incompetent had been handling the series from the start, it would have been passable. But because what came before was so perfect, this late-developing mediocrity was even more disappointing.

At least, as I said, all of the loose ends were neatly trimmed and boxed away, and the resolution (although a forgone conclusion) was competently handled.

And the art was bloody brilliant.

Cinar brought his A-game to this story, depicting quiet moments, terrible violence, and the awful stillness of death with equal verve. The art redeemed many, not all, of the narrative flaws on display in this story.