Immortal X-Men was announced to huge intrigue. After all, a book about the Quiet Council and how they scheme behind each other’s backs has been all readers have wanted for ages. And so far, Kieron Gillen and Lukas Werneck have succeeded to those high standards and beyond.
Immortal X-Men #3 is one of those comics where you can just tell the writer did their research. A lot of the early scenes with Raven and Irene are reminiscent of portions of Claremont and Simonson’s Chaos War: X-Men. The bit about how Irene was the only one who could ever make Raven smile feels pulled right from the X-Factor Annual #6 backup story, “Tribute the Third.”
Gillen will likely go down as one of the seminal writers for Irene, as he seems to understand that she is never truly honest –not even to Raven. She’s always playing a greater game, working a different angle, but the increased focus on Raven/Irene as a couple does her character so much justice.
Marvel Comics
It feels great to finally see canon content of Raven and Irene as wives after all these years, knowing that for so long, we lived on vague implications of the two. Their official coupling has done wonders for their characters, adding a new layer of great drama to the mix. Irene’s shiftiness is directly because of how much she loves Raven. And oftentimes, she’s protecting her.
This is a beautiful romantic story with Irene doing all she can to prevent tragedy, but it’s also an incredible setup for Judgment Day. Additionally, Irene as the focal point is a genius move for how she’s able to figure out Sinister cloned Moira, harkening back to what we learned about how Destiny sees Moiras powers from House of X #2.
Werneck is the perfect artist for this book, making every page really stand out and feel like a work of art. The expressions, the poses, the scenery – it’s all perfect. The pages with Mystique and Destiny kissing will be fondly used in articles and fan edits for years to come. The page that reveals all the names of possible future events will be brought up in fan circles for years to come, as fans try and piece together which events are happening next and what each event could be about.
Immortal X-Men #3 is a sly and smart way to set up an event, as well as a deeply interesting character study of one of the Krakoan era’s most interesting characters.
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