X-Men #15
The X-Men return to the Vault to find out what Forge has been doing to stop the Children of the Vault's threat in X-Men #15, by writer Gerry Duggan, artist Joshua Cassara, colorist GURU-eFX, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This is theoretically better than Duggan usually is, but his style still stinks up the writing of this comic.
Forge takes Cyclops to the Vault to show him what he was working on for Xavier; he built a giant gun that would fire a black hole at the Vault if it opened. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and the Children attack, killing both of them, Krakoa, Earth, and the universe. However, all of that was a simulation, and Forge shows Cyclops what he actually did: he built a dome around the Vault that makes the Children think they conquered the universe. With the X-Men, he tells them he's going in to rescue Darwin, using a special suit that works with Mystique's powers to disguise. They help him get in, and he, along with Caliban, who he made a part of the suit, look for Darwin but are being watched.
The Vault issues were among the best parts of Hickman's time on X-Men. Unfortunately, Hickman is gone, and Duggan has to finish it off. Duggan hasn't been a good writer for a lot of reasons on X-Men; the last issue was the best the book has been in a long time, but it was an outlier. With Duggan's writing, a big problem is the ideas are good, but his execution is terrible. He also makes dumb mistakes that editors should catch. This book is a prime example of that.
Take the beginning; it's a shock, but it's such a cliche way to begin this story. It's obviously a trick to connect with the audience, but readers have seen this a million times by a lot better writers. Then, he has Fuego, a Child of the Vault, use his fire powers to drain Ghost Rider's flame. Ghost Rider's fire isn't really fire, and he's a literal demon. This is dumb, and is doesn't matter how much the Children of the Vault have evolved; it's impossible. The bait and switch then goes to the actual plot, which is fine, but Duggan's humor and dialogue is as bad as usual. Also, why is Duggan already revealing the secret of what Forge was doing? That was pretty much the only interesting plot he set up by X-Men: The Hellfire Gala, and he's doing it already. This book continues to circle drain because of Duggan's writing.
Luckily, the former X-Force art team of Cassara and GURU-eFX are fantastic together. As dumb as the beginning is as a sequence, the team makes it look amazing, as they do with pretty much every panel in the book. It seems like GURU-eFX modified his coloring style a bit; it looked better in X-Force, but it's still great here. X-Men succeeds because of the art, and Cassara and GURU-eFX do a great job.
X-Men #15 is yet another Duggan-written book. There's a good plot, but his execution of it is as poor as always. Marvel needs to stop putting A-list artists on this book and see if Duggan's writing can survive without amazing artistry. Cassara and GURU-eFX are brilliant, and Duggan does give them some cool stuff to draw, at least, but it's still a mediocre comic, and they deserve better.
