Immortal X-Men by Kieron Gillen Vol. 3 is mostly a product of its place within the larger story Gillen has been telling. Coming just after the Sins of Sinister crossover, and spanning the three months before the ominous Fall of X, the three issues of Immortal X-Men (#11-13) plus the one-shot X-Men: Before the Fall – Sinister Four are basically meant to bridge the gap between these two major X-Men events. So, it’s kind of amazing that Gillen and his creative teams crafted such a meaningful three-issue arc with a satisfying payoff.
Still, the story starts with the Quiet Council of Krakoa dealing with the fallout from Sins of Sinister. Everyone on the Council knows what happened in the aborted timeline thanks to Mother Righteous, and how they were corrupted by Mr. Sinister. In fact, these three issues of Immortal X-Men show us how the Quiet Council falls into a state of corruption – a fall that started with Sinister. Mother Righteous apparently has a major, mysterious influence on what’s going on, but it’s the members of the Council themselves that create their downward spiral. For this reason, I consider this story arc to be the real start of the Fall of X rather than just its prelude.
Gillen continues the political chess game among Krakoa’s rulers that increasingly favors the more villainous members, most particularly Sebastian Shaw. Almost everything takes place in the chambers of the Quiet Council. And there is lots of talking – so much talking that Gillen even has Doug make a meta-joke about it in issue #13.
All of the talking, all of the broken trust and all of the political maneuvering ultimately lead to a very satisfying payoff at the end of collection. But I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t read these issues, yet.
Lucas Werneck continues as series artist on the three Immortal X-Men issues. He’s a very good artist for superhero comics, even if I don’t find anything in his style that makes it stand out from the rest. Unfortunately, too many panels and pages in this collection look rushed. Background characters sometimes look more like doodles. You can really tell which panels he took his time on – they look very good – compared to what he did in a hurry.
Gillen also continues the narrative conceit that he used from the very beginning of this series – having each issue told from the perspective of a different member of the Council. I was worried that it might be difficult to find a different voice for each of these characters, but instead, Gillen masterfully uses this device to create very good character development.
Issue #11 is told from Storm’s perspective, as she is now in many ways the only uncorrupted member of the Council. It’s nice to see her step up as the leader among leaders. But, most of her story is told over in X-Men: Red.
Issue #12 gives us an interesting take on Colossus, who is actually being mind-controlled. So, the mind-controller is the narrator, while also revealing Colossus’ attempts to break free. But, his story is being told over in X-Force.
Since the Council has twelve members, I also wondered who would narrate issue #13. I applaud Gillen’s choice to use Doug – I don’t think any character grew in importance on Krakoa more than Doug, especially when written by Jonathan Hickman. So, it was nice to see Gillen add to Doug’s character arc. Doug once again steps up into an influential, leadership role, as the downward fall of the Quiet Council approaches its natural end.
This collection also includes the one-shot X-Men: Before the Fall – Sinister Four. It’s probably not necessary to the overall story, but does include interesting tidbits on the origins and relationships of the three remaining Sinister clones – with a focus on Mother Righteous and Doctor Stasis. The art by Paco Medina is solid for most of the issue, but some panels are hit and miss – sometimes the anatomy is bad.
The one-shot continues to build up Mother Righteous and Doctor Stasis as the main villains going forward. It’s also quite crazy that Marvel published an oversized X-Men comic that doesn’t actually have a single X-Man or X-Woman in it, only the Sinister clones. If anything, it’s a well written, auxiliary issue with a few good – but not necessary – reveals.
Finally, I have to admit, I often felt sad witnessing the corruption of the beautiful Utopia that Jonathan Hickman introduced in House of X/Powers of X. But I also knew – considering the lies and secrets upon which the mutant nation of Krakoa was founded, as well as the villains who have been on the ruling Quiet Council from the beginning – this collapse from within was inevitable.
In conclusion, I can’t imagine anyone buying Immortal X-Men by Kieron Gillen Vol. 3 as a standalone story. But, if you’ve been keeping up with (or trade-waiting) Immortal X-Men, Sins of Sinister and most of the X-Men series of the past few years, this is a must-have collection. The character work, important reveals and satisfying finale of this short collection elevate it to more than just a bridge between Sins of Sinister and Fall of X.
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