While Krakoa continues to build power, the Quiet Council hasn’t been idle. As the Sins of Sinister event continues, Kieron Gillen, Andrea Di Vito, and Jim Charalampidis have come together to present a truly sinister universe. Immoral X-Men #2 explores the second century of Krakoan rule as mutants continue to explore the strengths of chimera while engaging in open warfare.
SPOILERS AHEAD for Immoral X-Men #2!
“Our Side is Genocide” — the title of the issue — is enough of a summary of its introduction.
Marvel
With Hope narrating, Immoral X-Men #2 presents a mutant society that has perfected chimera. Unfortunately, they aren’t exactly being used for benevolent missions. Together, Hope and her loyal lackey Exodus are conquering worlds and priming the Kree-Skrull alliance for its complete destruction. After butchering the Super-Skrull, the L-Bomb chimera (infused with the powers of Lila Cheney, Firestar, Leland, and Micromax) devastates worlds while Hope looks on.
With the Quiet Council estimating that organized resistance will only last another two decades, they continue to look for other ways to wreak havoc and continue their conquest. Storm remains at large, which presents a threat, but Mystique has been captured and copied by the Sinister society.
To make matters worse, Krakoa has seen material improvements in Immoral X-Men #2. The Five have been duplicated, allowing resurrection on a massive scale. A repurposed and newly improved version of The Marauder offers an opportunity to continue to spread Krakoa even further. Sinister has even developed a five-gene chimera, Rasputin IV. Rasputin was last seen in Powers of X #3 and hinted at in Immoral X-Men #1, but is finally making her comeback.
Marvel
With Hope (somewhat erroneously) comparing herself to Genghis Khan, the intentions of the Krakoan empire have never been clearer. Conquest — at all costs.
Yet, as so many empires are set to fall to the Sinisterized Krakoa and with Sinister’s use expended, the Quiet Council is running out of opportunities to expand. With the enemy gone, the time to turn on allies has come.
As Hope and Exodus arrive on another planet to prepare for genocide, Immoral X-Men #2 presents a shocking betrayal. Exodus, having decided to martyr Hope, leaves her behind. Intending to expand his church, he demands that her body be brought back after her death. Hope goes down fighting — the first of the Council to fall, after Nightcrawler.
Meanwhile, after Mother Righteous reveals the truth about the four Sinisters, Krakoa’s Sinister is left desperately searching for ways to stay alive. He even goes so far as to remove Rasputin IV’s Sinister gene, just to ensure that she turns on Krakoa and brings the Moira clones back to him. Sinister ends the issue by promising only five years of searching, though it will take another 900 years before the story progresses.
Immoral X-Men #2 raises many questions, but it doesn’t actually seem to answer anything presented in the previous issue. While Hope’s narration is certainly fun, she doesn’t have a perspective that raises much besides the obvious. Instead of spending time with Hope’s idealizations of mass murder, time with Exodus’ point of view could have made his sudden betrayal of Hope less baffling.
Marvel
The art remains consistently good with excellent new designs for each member of the Quiet Council. Sinister’s facial expressions also help to make his heel turn seem somewhat believable, even in spite of his transparent plans.
Unfortunately, from a writing standpoint, Immoral X-Men #2 and the Sins of Sinister event as a whole continue to lack a general perspective of what a mutant society now looks like. With Nightcrawlers and Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants both serving to showcase forces rebelling against Sinister’s rule, Immoral X-Men remains the sole natural opportunity for the day-to-day life of Sinister’s regime to be explored. Unfortunately, it is largely failing to show what Sinister’s “utopia” is actually like.
Outside of a few details about a new calendar and the new resurrection techniques, the book just hasn’t fleshed out the worlds of Sins of Sinister well. It makes the atmosphere feel somewhat hollow, which is disappointing. Considering that a common criticism of Krakoa has been somewhat lackluster worldbuilding, the underwhelming development of Immoral X-Men‘s setting feels like an emblematic problem.
Still, for anyone enjoying the Sins of Sinister event, Immoral X-Men #2 provides a nice continuation that helps prove just how terrible the X-Men can be if they set their minds to it. With their moral restrictions utterly erased, the island of Krakoa has been showing off just how terrifying the mutant race can be. In all likelihood, that’s exactly what will lead to the Fall of X. Though there were some issues with the story, Immoral X-Men #2 is a compelling issue that offers some interesting notions and a very unique development for Sinister. Whether his changes stick remains to be seen.
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