X-Men: Red #13 // Review
Lycaon is addressing the Great Ring of Arakko. It’s quite eloquent and articulate--referring to itself as the voice of cool thought and noble compromise. It’s a large wolf with the torso of a man. Large tusks stick out of human hands that rest on the ends of arms that serve as its sixth set of limbs. It’s got two heads, which popular wisdom suggests is better than one. Someone throws a sword at it, which skewers one of its eyes. Things are off to a strange start in X-Men: Red #13. Writer Al Ewing continues his epic tale of godlike power with artist Jacopo Camagni and colorist Federico Blee.
Genesis returns to the island she had ruled for such a long time so many years ago. She wields a powerful artifact known as the Annihilation Staff. The Great Ring is going to need to figure out how to handle her arrival. The Fall of X is closing in, and they’re going to have to be careful about how they are going to handle the situation. Genesis is a very powerful being, and if they decide she’s a threat, they’re going to have to come up with a plan.
Ewing’s distinct fusion between the X-Men and ancient mythology continues to be impressively tolerable. All of the different personalities that tie into the ensemble create a dynamic that is not necessarily all that boring. It would be nice if there was more of an active plot that relied a little bit less on superhuman posturing and a little bit more on all of those deeper themes that the X-Men family of books have been so good at addressing over the years. There is such power behind the characters. It’s so weird to see them cast in something that feels like glorified pro wrestling.
Camagni and Blee deliver godlike power to the page with a very matter-of-fact form. Camagni works in a straightforward fashion that matches the tone and style of Ewing’s writing. It lacks the sense of wonder that could make it FEEL like an awesome series of scenes between beings of godlike power. Blee does his best to immerse the reader in the action with mood and tone. It does feel immersive in places, but so much of it feels like it’s got the tone and spirit of a corporate meeting room. It’s kind of difficult to punch up and amplify a bunch of procedural drama.
When a huge amount of story moves glacially towards a massive crossover event, every now and again, an issue feels like it's just connecting out major moments rather than existing as a compelling story in and of itself. That’s the case with X-Men: Red #13. There seems to be a lot of waiting around to make sure that everything is in place before Ewing can move on to more important stuff that's going to be much more consequential than this issue.
