X-Men Red #10
As Storm fights for Arakko, Cable and his team take the fight to Orbis Stellaris in X-Men Red #10, by writer Al Ewing, artists Stefano Caselli and Jacopo Camagni, colorist Federico Blee, and letterer Ariana Maher. This is yet another excellent issue of an excellent book.
Vulcan rages against Storm, using his power to destroy the Autumn Palace. Meanwhile, at the World Farm, Manifold is held by Orbis Stellaris’s newest creations, ready to use his power against Cable’s team. However, Cable uses his telekinesis to pull his T/O virus back to him. Brand watches the confrontation between Storm and Vulcan and realizes she’s been played. Cable attacks Orbis but is overpowered by the trio. With the help of Lactuca, Manifold takes them out, and Cable attacks Stellaris. At the Peak, Brand is confronted by Sunspot and Xandra but escapes and is confronted by the Fisher King, who’s been waiting for her. Vulcan keeps raging, but Storm calls his bluff, revealing she had help, which allows her to triumph. The X-Men triumph on all fronts. At the World Farm, Orbis Stellaris’s shell opens, and he swears revenge.
Ewing subverts expectations in the best way. Readers go into this issue expecting a big battle between Storm and Vulcan, but that’s already happened once in this book. There’s a reason that Storm is a top-notch team leader, and this issue shows why. She knows Vulcan is dangerous and isn’t going to mess around. She also knows how he thinks. She beats him because she’s smarter and realizes how to fight him. Ewing does a terrific job of showing just who both characters are in this battle. He even lays it out for readers in the dialogue. It’s an amazing set of scenes.
The whole book is like that. Ewing understands all of these characters so well, and the plots are so well set up. The book is like clockwork, a series of interlocking gears that all lead to the X-Men triumphing. It’s an interesting way of presenting a story, but there’s also something rather hollow about the story. There’s not really much emotional storytelling; there are cool moments, the plots are well done, and the characters are all real. However, there’s not really any feeling under it all. That’s always been a problem with this book and a lot of Ewing’s stuff. This is a very good comic, but it’s lacking something: heart.
Caselli and Camagni each draw different parts of the chapter. Caselli gets Storm and Vulcan’s battles and does a bang-up job. There’s not very much action in a fighting sense, but Caselli captures the power of the moment. Vulcan’s rage and Storm’s calm are all there in the art. Without Caselli’s art, these would be cool scenes, but something would be lacking. He completely knocks it out of the park. Camagni handles the rest of the book, and he’s just as excellent. His style is similar enough to Caselli’s to not jar readers, but it’s also unique enough that it does different things. All in all, he handles more of the book and does a wonderful job. The page layouts are fantastic, his detail is incredible, there’s great character acting, and it all works. Blee’s colors do a marvelous job of making both artists look even better than they otherwise would.
X-Men Red #10 is yet another great issue. The team does what they always do, presenting an awesome story. It’s a little emotionally vapid, but it’s still a fun read.