X-Men#15: Come What May

In terms of writing, pacing, and art, this issue was, by far, the best of the series to date. There were several talking-head pages that could have become monotonous, but the dialogue was so snappy that one hardly noticed. And besides, they were interspersed with snippets of the fight between Genesis and Apocalypse, so it’s not as though this issue were lacking in action.

I’m still not buying the pitch that Apocalypse was somehow the weakest member of his family, but ok, I’ll swallow it for the sake of his potential character development. The stakes for Cyke’s plan were believably high. Failure means a lot of death. If a council member leaves to help him, they lose their spot as part of the ruling body. Kate’s response was natural, and so was Nightcrawler’s — although if he really is the ‘soul’ of the country (as Jean asserts) surely he would, you know, actually be in a book?

Loads of readers will probably not love the way that Hickman writes Emma in this issue. She’s far beyond being in it for the money, and if any character should know that, it’s Scott. Hickman’s usual misogyny also seeps into his handling of Jean. All of those ‘yes dears’ (and her total lack of personality) is more than grating. 

As usual for Hickman (at least when he’s firing all four cylinders at once) the information charts were very informative. I wonder how people will respond to the news that the X-Men are officially no more? This book has a funny title, if Hickman is to be believed.

And none of this touches the art. Asrar is a brilliant artist. His work is emotional and expressive without coming close to losing its keen narrative edge. His dialogue scenes are intimate; his fight scenes are brutal and appropriately lush. I haven’t been so impressed with an artist in a long time. 

Taken all together, this issue was absolutely wonderful. A mix of fine storytelling, cutting dialog, brutal fights, and frankly incredible art. X-Men hasn’t been this entertaining in a long time.