With the House of X falling and the Powers of X rising, go behind the scenes of the fight against Orchis and Dominion with the remnants of the Krakoan Quiet Council in X-Men Forever #1, written by Kieron Gillen, drawn by Luca Maresca, colored by Federico Blee and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
Austin Gorton: Welcome to X-Men Forever #1 (no, not that one. Or that one), aka the last gasp of the Quiet Council!
Tony Thornley: Aka let’s get one last #1 bump before Krakoa ends!
Austin: Also, please ignore the presence of any malevolent consciousnesses existing outside time and space that may make their presence known in the course of this review.
Immortal X-Men #19
Austin: Let’s be clear up front — especially for anyone who hasn’t picked this up yet — this is for all intents and purposes Immortal X-Men #19. It picks up right where Immortal X-Men #18 left off, with Mother Righteous’ discovery of Enigma and Jean bleeding out in the White Hot Room. Here is what writer Kieron Gillen said about this in his newsletter:
“At its heart this is Immortal X-Men #19, and is basically material I was planning to be released in January, alongside rotPoX 1. When Marvel’s publication plans meant they wanted it in March, it needs to serve a different purpose. We join rotPoX in motion, and then leave nagging questions to explain two months into the event. The material was remixed for this purpose a little (and it’s a 30 page issue — a hypothetical Immortal 19 wouldn’t have been, probably). A little distance between Xavier and the reader is useful, and I tried to write into that. What’s he up to? How did he get here? And here we say why. Or at least, some of it.”
But it does beg the question of whether there’s anything to be gained (aside from a presumed bump in sales thanks to a new #1) in detailing these events out of sequence. Did Gillen succeed in making the most of this shift?
Tony: This is so interesting to me. It’s incredibly obvious that this is Immortal #19. Why was X-Men allowed to continue uninterrupted while Immortal was not? And it’s even more glaring since X-Men is doing the same thing as this issue did — fill in gaps from Fall of the House of X. It’s one of those weird editorial/business decisions that I think we’ll never fully understand.
But beyond that, holy crap did I like this issue. We get “confirmation” of which Sinister the Dominion is (if I missed that elsewhere, it’s my bad), more of the sins of Irene Adler, a resolution (more or less) to Mother Righteous’ storyline, then a couple scenes to fill in the gaps between Immortal #18 and the beginning of Rise of the Powers of X and Dead X-Men.
And I’m shocked to be saying this, but I’ve really started to like Mother Righteous as an antagonist. Maybe it took Gillen writing her instead of Si Spurrier?
Austin: I definitely like Mother Righteous more under Gillen. There’s an interiority to her when Gillen is writing her that seems to be missing elsewhere, a better sense that she’s an aspect of Sinister: She’s a mysterious schemer, but she also gets frustrated and lashes out and is capable of being surprised. It helps that we see her arguably at her most vulnerable in X-Men Forever #1, as she’s attacked first by fellow Sinister manifestations Orbis Stellaris and Doctor Stasis, as well as Selene. I liked the way this built, with Righteous being surprised by the appearance of her fellow Sinisters but able to best them, only to be bested in turn by the superior sorcery of the X-Men’s OG sorcery queen, Selene.
Tony: Selene’s prominence in the Krakoan era as this chaotic evil presence continues to delight me. I really hadn’t ever read much with her pre-Krakoa, and she just has been such an entertaining presence under both Tini Howard and Gillen.
I was surprised to see Charles show up in the way he did at the end of the Mother Righteous sequence. I like the idea of Xavier as an amoral influence who’s doing whatever he can to save mutantkind. In this issue, we see him kidnap Mother Righteous, ally himself with Sebastian Shaw and resurrect Sinister in Doug Ramsey’s body (and assuming with Doug’s gift, we did see that in Rise, correct?).
Also, I’ll never get over Xavier with telekinesis. Not every telepath needs it.
Austin: Telekinetic Xavier is one of those things that drives me bananas. I can’t stand it.
Anyways, I enjoyed all the layers and backstabbing that went into this “Mother Righteous recruitment” scene. It was like three issues of story condensed into a third of an issue (in a good way), with the Orchis elements set against Mother Righteous by Shaw, who has turned heel against Orchis back to Xavier and Krakoa, with the whole thing having been orchestrated by Xavier to push Mother Righteous to the point where she’d be vulnerable enough to be captured. As you said, it’s surprisingly amoral of Xavier, and while that’s been something of an arc for him since Fall began (Xavier pushed to darker and darker extremes), I also wonder if Gillen isn’t trying to suggest that Xavier is still being influenced by the elements of Sinister inside him more than he knows — at least to the point where Sinister-as-Doug (with Doug’s power) emerges and Xavier claims he is at last free of Sinister.
Tony: A) I love the compression. It’s a storytelling method that isn’t being used enough in comics right now.
B) I didn’t make that connection because Xavier’s journey into darkness has been a big part of his core for years. It does seem very possible, though. It seems to me though that this is more in line with his activities as X than Sinister influence. That’s the great thing about these stories, though. There are so many layers, and unless it’s explicit on the page, there are so many possibilities. Headcanon exists for a reason.
Austin: The only other thing I want to point out about Xavier and this whole pre-Rise of the Powers of X sequence is Xavier learning that all the mutants he thought he killed by forcing them through the gates at the last Hellfire Gala are still alive in the White Hot Room. This is one of those moments this little corner of the X-line has been building toward since that Hellfire Gala issue, certainly since we learned the details of the White Hot Room and their presence therein. The staging here is a bit cliche, and while Luca Maresca does a decent job aping Lucas Werneck, he’s no Lucas Werneck when it comes to figure work, but this moment still landed for me. Xavier basically collapsing to his knees at the news might be trite, but Maresca manages to sell it.
Tony: The coloring made the page turn on this moment feel incredibly disjointed for me, but otherwise, completely agree. It moves Charles into a better place for what he’s about to pull off.
Nimrod Variations Redux
Austin: Let’s go back to the beginning of X-Men Forever #1, which opens with Destiny and Mystique on a double date/secret “just them” date to attend the premiere of Elgar’s Ninth Variation (Nimrod), during which Destiny learns of Enigma when it manifests itself during the performance. This, in turn, leads to a reprise of the opening of Immortal X-Men #1, in which Sinister alluded to Destiny causing a scene during the performance (a scene we have now witnessed firsthand) and Destiny tells Sinister something, then he dies.
Let’s just say, revisiting that sequence now, with everything we’ve learned about Dominion and Enigma and whatnot, is trippy as hell (in a good way). Yet while the reprisal in X-Men Forever #1 offers additional context to the original scene, some things, pointedly, remain a mystery.
Tony: And I’m OK with that.
From this sequence though, it sure seems that Enigma is original Essex, which fits with the crown we see on his forehead, rather than the spade, heart, diamond or club.
Austin: It’s fascinating to go back to Immortal X-Men #1 and read that sequence now knowing that Destiny is having an entire conversation with an invisible floating head that we’re not privy to. It basically reveals that there are an additional nine panels of events wedged in between panels 4 and 5 on Page 4 of Immortal X-Men #1. I love comics.
Tony: Irene interacting directly with Enigma is a huge deal. It colors everything we’ve seen her do for the past two years, and I think it’ll be fascinating to see how that shakes out. Just as much as HOXPOX centered Moira in the X-Men mythos, Inferno and Immortal have centered Irene. She’s not a character I ever had interest in, and now she’s becoming one of my favorite parts of the franchise.
Austin: So we now know that Sinister (or at least this clone of him) is killed by Enigma, but we still don’t know what exactly Destiny told Sinister that triggered the attack. It could be that it doesn’t matter, that it’s simply a mundane bit of exposition about Enigma that prompts Sinister’s execution. But it sure seems like Gillen is doubling down on the mystery here, revealing other aspects of that scene that bring new meaning to it while holding back that piece of information.
The other notable piece from this revisitation is the Mystique of it all. Enigma taunts Destiny with the knowledge of why Mystique (someday) leaves her.
Tony: The unraveling of Mystique and Destiny’s relationship has been one of the more interesting arcs of the Krakoan era. After every flashback and exposition points to them being one of the most rock-solid couples in comics, Destiny’s secretive nature being the thing that causes their unraveling is just right on the edge of being ironic. It’s such a good story point, and to see it start to actually happen is heartbreaking.
Austin: This then leads to the conclusion of the “flashback” portion of the issue, in which Xavier tries to set up a three-way call between White Hot Room Destiny, himself and Mystique, but Mystique refuses to answer because “she’s read the book.” It’s worth noting that this presumably isn’t a reference to one of Destiny’s diaries, because everything related to Enigma came after she wrote them, and this is, again presumably, tied to whatever it is Enigma told her regarding the end of Destiny and Mystique’s relationship.
Tony: A hidden diary, if you will, which is perfectly in character with the Destiny we know and love.
No Place Like Rise of the Powers of X
Austin: From there, X-Men Forever #1 jumps to something more akin to the present day, just before the events of the Gillen-penned Rise of the Powers of X #1 and the Xaver/Sinipher plot to kill Enigma. Most of this is a boilerplate recap of what this group is up to with the added wrinkle, that leads us into the cliffhanger, of Rachel’s involvement.
Tony: I mean, I think after four years of Krakoa avoiding the Phoenix, the twist is both inevitable and coming in extremely late. The X-Men are about to resurrect the Phoenix (who I didn’t realize was dead). Or are they?
I was both unsurprised and intrigued by it. Is Xavier’s plan to resurrect Phoenix, plus a surprise? Is there more to it? I don’t know. But I like it.
Austin: I am admittedly not quite sure where this is going — to your point, I think the last we heard of the Phoenix Force in the present day is in Jason Aaron’s Avengers (where it bonded with Echo), and I don’t think that story ended with Phoenix being destroyed. That said, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the X-books are just ignoring all that (nor would I blame them), but even then, I’m not sure why a “resurrection” would be necessary. Unless the idea is supposed to be that Xavier is talking about resurrecting “Jean Grey codename: Phoenix” (whose consciousness is chilling in the White Hot Room) as opposed to “Phoenix the primal force of life in the universe” (though Rachel does say, “the Phoenix”).
Either way, it’s clear that while Xavier may be purged of Sinister’s influence, he’s still in a harsher “for the greater good” mode, as he’s fully prepared to accept Rachel’s dismay about whatever they have planned.
X-Tra Facts
- Also in his newsletter, Gillen mentions that three issues of this series basically take place between Rise of the Powers of X #4 and #5.
- Shaw flip-flopping between Krakoa and Orchis back to Krakoa based on whatever is most advantageous to him is so delightfully in character.
- It’s a little unclear, but it’s suggested here that the Sinister who was thrown into the Pit has been “absorbed” into Sinipher, effectively making this version the “main” Sinister, for whatever that’s worth, going forward.
- We may have glossed over it quickly, but Maresca’s art is very good through the issue (arguably better than the rush job Werneck has to do over in Fall of the House of X). It’ll be fun to watch him develop.
Buy X-Men Forever #1 here. (Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.)
Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
