Review by Karl Verhoven

X-Men Forever is a coda to the Krakoa era X-Men titles. The finale was complex, involving alternate timelines, alternate clones of Nathaniel Essex and multiple threats, but glossed over was how Mr. Sinister, himself a clone of Essex, came to be working with Professor X. Kieron Gillen and Luca Maresca here supply a continuity implant explaining all.

As with that finale, it’s complicated, and probably won’t make a great deal of sense as a standalone graphic novel. It could also be asked whether this was a story that needed telling. After all, other aspects of Fall of the House of X/Rise of the Powers of X needed to be taken on faith. It’s a redundant question, though, for anyone who’s enjoyed Gillen’s intelligent application of the X-Men’s potential. Who wouldn’t want more? Especially accompanied by Maresca’s fluid, clear and attractive art.

At one point Gillen mentions skipping between raindrops, and it’s what he does, dancing around moments presented in assorted graphic novels following Hellfire Gala: Fall of X, eventually stitching together a credibly cohesive set of explanations. The icing on the cake is the consistently witty dialogue as antagonistic characters prod at each other, the likes of “Excellent. And I didn’t even threaten torture! Character growth for everyone.” resonating. Another valid question is whether there shouldn’t have been some way that much of X-Men Forever shouldn’t have been incorporated into Fall of the House of X/Rise of the Powers of X, yet the answer is the same as above, don’t you want more of Gillen and Maresca?

There is the downside of the complexity requiring both ethical and technical explanations, presented as scenes of arguing mutants, and they can be a slight drag on events, especially in the second chapter. As compensation, though, Gillen additionally ties up some longstanding mutant mysteries, such as Nightcrawler’s parentage and planned purpose, and someone else’s parentage best kept a secret here.

Once the dominoes have all been placed in position everything plays out thrillingly, and this is a story worth telling. Like so much of Gillen’s X-Men it plays with big ideas very satisfyingly, bringing them home with no fudging. Wonderful.