Immortal X-Men #2
The Quiet Council has to deal with Selene’s fit of pique in Immortal X-Men #2, by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Lucas Werneck, colorist David Curiel, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This issue is a phenomenal, action-packed mini-epic full of great art and some wonderful little character moments.
Simply put, this issue sees the Quiet Council takedown Selene’s Kaiju. With Storm and Magneto being stopped from eradicating it by Destiny because of the dangers of destroying the External Gate, Sinister using an early chimera formula to wrestle with it before the giant body exploded, and Hope and Exodus using their powers in concert to slow it down. Destiny tells Hope how to take care of the problem, and she does so pragmatically, with the rest of the issue dealing with the consequences.
Gillen does such an incredible job with this issue. It’s a fast-paced, action-packed issue that also does a fantastic job of setting up some great things about characters, teases the future, and basically just goes a long way in being the best title with the word X-Men in the title. It’s the kind of comic that makes a reader mutter about how awesome it is several times.
Hope is the narrator of this issue, and her caption boxes are great. Gillen has written her before, so her voice feels right in a way it hasn’t in a long time. Gillen builds the relationship between Exodus and Hope in this issue and even reveals a little secret about Exodus’s power that even he didn’t know. Sinister does great Sinister stuff. Destiny is proving to be just as integral as everyone imagined she is, both with her helping Hope solve the problem and the tease for the next issue at the end. Cyclops wrote an info page about handling Kaiju that is both informative and funny because, of course, Cyclops would write a dry instructional text about how to deal with threats. The script of this book is amazing, and Gillen is quickly proving himself the best X-Men writer.
Werneck and Curiel knock it out of the park. The pencils are clean and detailed, and the colors match them perfectly. There is a lot of great imagery throughout this comic, from the action of the Council battling the External Gate kaiju to Hope punching Exodus’s shoulder in friendship at the end. Werneck has seemingly hit the next level with this issue, and it’s a joy to look at. Curiel’s colors are never anything short of beautiful. The coloring in this book is slick, even when it’s in a dark scene. Curiel brings the pencils to the next level.
Immortal X-Men #2 is the total package. Gillen’s writing is brilliant, and the art from Werneck and Curiel is beautiful. This is pretty much the premiere X-Men book, and it’s only two issues in; it shows a creative team hitting on all cylinders, presenting great art, plot, and characterization. This is the flagship book, and no one can say otherwise.
