After the tragedy of Sins of Sinister, Mister Sinister is finally facing justice. Unfortunately for Krakoa, there are three other Sinisters playing their games, and the Fall of X is still on its way. X-Men: Before the Fall — The Sinister Four #1 is here to usher it forward.
Kieron Gillen, Paco Medina, and Edgar Delgado have teamed up to put together the next of the original Nathaniel Essex’s plan. The four Sinisters have been scheming for years, and it is finally time to see their efforts come to their natural conclusion. Unfortunately for the Sinisters, only one can truly earn Dominion.
SPOILERS AHEAD for X-Men: Before the Fall — The Sinister Four #1!
170 years before the Fall of X, Nathaniel and Rebecca Essex open the issue with a proposal. Rebecca agrees to the marriage, and the two begin what they expect to be a long life together.
170 years later, Dr. Stasis is planning a dinner. As Mother Righteous saunters in, he is frantically considering what their reunion means. He’s a lovesick puppy, and Righteous plans to play him like, well, a deck of cards. They talk business, Righteous agrees to a stunning task, and Stasis convinces her to stay for dinner.
The two don’t exactly get along. Stasis radiates sexism and Righteous is filled with sheer contempt for him. It’s quickly revealed why. Righteous reveals the existence of Orbis Stellaris, and Stasis is visibly dumbfounded by the revelation. It’s a somewhat weak note, considering that the three Sinister clones that he did know about have playing card symbols etched into their foreheads. If there were only three of them, it might have been even more surprising than there being four.
Marvel Comics
After a quick glimpse into their varying pasts, the two discuss how they met and the fate of their children. They then agree that their memories of their rebirths were fabricated. Stasis’ origin compelled him to seek vengeance against mutants and machines. With that reveal, Righteous offers him a book.
There’s a very useful data page that clears up any questions about Essex. Seeking a chance to stop the machine dominion, he created four clones with varying niche interests — all to take down the future machine threat. It raises an interesting question, considering that Stasis has been playing a role with machines like Nimrod for far too long.
Righteous demands a thank you from Stasis, before he reveals that everything he does is in service of her. Righteous is surprised enough to thank him back. It will be interesting to see how that returned thanks will play into her powers. Will she still be able to control him?
The two visit a few sights from their shared — and imagined — past. Before long, Righteous draws on one of her orbs to summon a rift between life and death. Charon attacks and Stasis saves Righteous from his blows. He kills Charon, and Righteous fulfills her obligation to Orchis. Selene is back to life.
Just as it seems the issue is set to end with that cliffhanger, there is a quick page featuring Orbis Stellaris plotting with Stasis. His shock at Stellaris’ existence early was a — very obvious — feint, meant to trick Righteous. The two are working together, after all. Stasis is fighting for Righteous, but he thinks he’s fighting for what she needs. What she wants is inconsequential.
Marvel Comics
X-Men: Before the Fall — The Sinister Four #1 is a challenging issue for any artist, but Paco Medina gives it his absolute all. There aren’t many opportunities to blow readers away, since the issue is composed of heavy dialogue scenes. Yet Medina manages to keep the book engaging by treating Righteous and Stasis as if they are in the midst of a battle. The back-and-forth between them feels as tense as it truly is, and the emotions of each character are clearly written across their faces.
The main issue with X-Men: Before the Fall — The Sinister Four #1 is a problem at the very center of this entire era: The Sinisters. After Sins of Sinister and the past year of X-Men comics put the Sinisters squarely in competition with the mutants, they have just become too big of a presence. The overexposure of the Sinisters takes away the mystery of the characters.
Is there truly any reason to explore Nathaniel Essex’s entire life? Sinister was a threatening X-Men villain primarily because his motivations were clear, but his backstory was never put in the center of the story. That three different new villains can now trace their origins back to Sinister is making the characters feel too prevalent within the narrative.
After all, how many times can an issue provide a meaningful reveal that is just two Sinisters meeting? The quality of writing in X-Men: Before the Fall — The Sinister Four #1 is superb, but it’s hard to make anyone care for this long about the same set of villains.
Marvel Comics
Another standing issue is the question of the Selene cliffhanger. It’s meant to be a shocking moment, but Immortal X-Men #12 already revealed that Selene was back in action. To have this issue end with her revival, while also directing readers to Immortal X-Men #12, is frankly bizarre, given that the issue came out a full month before X-Men: Before the Fall — The Sinister Four #1.
If the intent is to stun audiences by showing that Selene is secretly an evil Orchis agent, Gillen picked the wrong X-Men villain. After all, Selene is always evil, and it was already shown that she was affiliated with Shaw and Colossus. It just isn’t too surprising.
X-Men: Before the Fall — The Sinister Four #1 provides an interesting look into the dynamic between Mother Righteous and Dr. Stasis, but it is just contributing to the oversaturation of the Sinister brand. The art is superb and the writing remains a high point of the X-Men: Before the Fall series, but it never manages to hit the notes that it is desperately trying to achieve.
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