Review by Karl Verhoven

Immortal X-Men Vol. 4 doesn’t continue directly from Vol. 3 as might be expected, but from Hellfire Gala: Fall of X, in which pretty well everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The dream of a mutant society on Krakoa is dead. There have been other deaths, many other deaths, and Professor X is alone on Krakoa believing himself responsible. He’s not the only one who’s disappointed, though, and others are discovering their own place in a new world.

Whereas previous volumes of Immortal X-Men focussed on the Quiet Council and its bickering, that no longer exists, so Keiron Gillen concentrates on a few members and how they’re coping. The big surprise is Exodus, previously a grumpy threatening presence who’s given a Biblical role leading the mutants out of the wilderness and has now found his place. Gillen also supplies an intelligent codifying of how nebulous villain Mother Righteous works: “Mainly I trade belief and power. Buy low, sell high and use the power when I really need it”. Professor X is the protector, and Sebastian Shaw, almost a comedy villain so far, is restored to a viable threat.

This is a very jumpy collection with some matters only explained when the text pages clarify what’s been happening. It means either the full explanations are occurring elsewhere, or that’s the chosen method of delivery, neither of which is very satisfactory. Behind everything is a very clever idea as to how mutants survived what happened in Hellfire Gala: Fall of X, and Gillen does have a bigger picture in mind, but it never quite gels until the final chapter.

That’s not the fault of the artists. When the alluring pages of Paco Medina are the least notable, the quality level is exceptional. Lucas Werneck (sample art left) has really grown over the series from a decent artist to an extremely good one, and Juan José Ryp (sample art right) reached that stage long ago. But why couldn’t it have been arranged that the single artist drew all five chapters of a continued story?

When everything is revealed, it’s clever, which might be the expectation from Gillen’s work, but not quite clever enough that the rocky path is worth the revelation.

Although this volume concludes the main Immortal X-Men series, there is a sequel of sorts under the same title as Vol. 5.