After having their thunder stolen from them in the most horrific way possible, the newly elected and recently resurrected X-Men squad returns this week in Dead X-Men #1. Dancing between seconds at the helm of this issue are Steve Foxe, Jonas Scharf, Bernard Chang, Vincenzo Carratù, Frank Martin, VC’s Cory Petit, and Jordan D. White. The series wears its ambition on its sleeve, and this opening salvo firmly plants its foot on the gas pedal: get in loser, we’re going Moira hunting.
The third Hellfire Gala will live in infamy among mutantkind for years to come. The results of the X-Men vote were more shocking than ever as all fan-vote candidates were elected to join the new roster alongside team leaders Talon and Synch. Shortly, audiences were horrified to realize that the actual election winner, Juggernaut, would be the sole survivor of the new recruits that night. However, mutantkind’s resurrection protocol has survived in exile in the White Hot Room, and Frenzy, Prodigy, Dazzler, Cannonball, and Jubilee have been brought back to life for a mission spinning directly out of Rise of the Powers of X #1.
That backstory is only half of Dead X-Men #1’s premise, which indicates rather decisively that this issue is not meant to be someone’s first Marvel comic. This book is for fans who have been tapped into the past few years of X-Men storytelling at least. The lore pulls keep on coming as we follow the team through dead-end timelines created by Sinister’s Moira engine: the two featured in this issue are the Darchilde apocalypse Destiny glimpsed in Immortal X-Men, as well as a timeline where Abigail Brand’s X-Men Red scheme came to fruition. Where many fans have feared a rushed end to the Krakoa Era as of late, Foxe’s storytelling is a generous offering for us to see this new team play in the cosmic sci-fi side of the current status quo.
The mission at hand is to find a version of Moira after 2021’s Inferno but before Sinister reboots the timeline or she goes full robot a la X Lives/X Deaths of Wolverine. While most of the team is needed for defensive roles, Prodigy is the key player: putting him in proximity to a post-Inferno biological Moira X would allow him to passively absorb the necessary memories and experiences for Professor X to use as a psychic map of all of Moira’s lifetimes. In Foxe and Scharf’s previous title, Dark X-Men, Madelyne’s band of misfit mutants find a way to fail at nearly every turn. This makes the Dead X-Men’s completion of their mission in issue one a fun reversal while still opening up new potential conflicts.
Credit: Marvel Comics
Frenzy serves as the informal field leader, but Askani is revealed to be their mission director. This reveals one of the mystery crew members aboard No-Place X with Cypher and Professor X. Rachel’s telepathy and chronoskimming abilities are formidable, but transporting the squad to and from the White Hot Room to these other timelines suggests that she may be working with an as yet unrevealed universal shaper (looking at you, Manifold). Though her team achieves their mission, by the end of the issue, it seems that meddling with this timeline has granted a cyborg Moira X the opportunity to hack her way back to her very first life and throw all reality into jeopardy. But hey, who among us hasn’t been there, huh?
The other bold creative choice of Dark X-Men #1 is to not only rotate through artists throughout the series but also in each issue. Scharf, Chang, and Carratù each tackle a separate spacetime locale in the story, while Martin succeeds in the unenviable task of uniting all three art styles through coloring. Each artist finds their own place to shine: Scharf’s Darkchilde, Chang’s Askani in the burning bush, and Carratù gets to flex through action, Acanti, and Prodigy’s mind meld splash page with Moira X.
The issue does leave us with questions, some intentional and others maybe not. For example, David being impaled in the chest despite not feeling any pain or suffering any apparent injury is meant to raise eyebrows. More likely than not Foxe will tease this out. On the other hand, cyborg Moira X collects the glowing red fragment after the team departs. From what is shown, the piece appears to be a fragment of Orbis Stellaris’ M’Kraan Crystal shard that was smashed to bits. However, Moira X clearly believes it to be mysterium, the final piece needed to complete Weapon M. Is this an art error, or has this Moira spent a decade searching for mysterium without knowing what it looks like? Only timelines will tell.
In Dead X-Men #1, the long-awaited return of an all-new X-Men team arrives. Their mission is complete, but their story has only just begun. It’s like an Exiles book by way of the Fall of X, and the action is almost nonstop. As Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X form the core of the X-Line, Dead X-Men has quickly established itself as an essential companion to the maddening web that Gillen is weaving with his side of the story. X-Fans, make sure you don’t miss out on this.
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!
You must be logged in to post a comment.