A bleak and tragic alternate reality or future has been a hallmark of X-Men storytelling since 1981’s Days of Future Past. Something goes wrong at a pivotal point of history’s development—the loss of an influential individual, the rise of anti-mutant technology, the ascendency of a major villain.
It’s this last scenario that brings us Krakoa’s own dystopian future. Last month’s Sins of Sinister was a sort of conceptual flood, at points hard to pin down. This week’s Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants sets us more concretely into the aftermath of Sinister’s powerplay.
Specifically, ten years into the tragic future. After spending a quarter of the issue detailing the cataclysmic events of the destruction of Arakko, we’re introduced to the survivors: Storm’s brotherhood.
Immediately, the book dives into thinly established action, as if it understands its own short window of effectiveness. The whole of this story has to be set up, acted upon, and concluded in those remaining 20 pages because the following issue will send us 90 years into the future.
This fevered pace is concerning, in this issue and in the rigid structure of Sins of Sinister as a whole. If Brotherhood illustrates what readers can expect of the event, then the whole thing might feel overwhelmingly airless—strong bits of action left without room to settle and process.
This isn’t to say that Brotherhood #1 fails to maximize its limits. Al Ewing and Paco Medina are dynamic in establishing each character and concern, threading action and exposition together so that there is no wasted panel or line of dialogue. Everything serves to streamline this brief snapshot of time—the lone moments we will have with these characters at this point in this tragic future.
The book not only sets up Storm’s unique placement in these proceedings, but also quickly sketches out the trajectory of Mystique and Destiny’s shadowy opposition, leaving us with a lingering and driving curiosity as to their purpose.
It’s a powerful, effective issue, and troubling questions of its effectiveness are borne from the nature of the larger event.
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