Review by Frank Plowright
Dark X-Men is another tidying up exercise leading into Fall of the House of X, initially focussing on the mutants living in Krakoa’s Limbo embassy, which is connected to New York, but stuck there after the events of Hellfire Gala: Fall of X. Events orchestrated by Orchis have resulted in a massive death toll among mutants, while the survivors have been outlawed.
That alone would ensure Dark X-Men lived up to its title, but Steve Foxe takes it to darker places still by having Madelyne Pryor as the primary focus. Queen of Limbo, she’s also a cloned version of Jean Grey, and her partner is now Alex Summers, Havok, brother of Jean’s partner Cyclops. That must make family reunions supremely awkward. Madelyne can call on demons, while Orchis employ a pair of technicians combining occult knowledge with cybernetics. The results are disturbing in the context of Madelyne and her team of X-Men attempting to rescue mutants in need around the world who’ve so far survived.
Jonas Scharf provides page after page of imaginative illustrations, but doesn’t shy away from the violence, which is at adult levels. He captures the dark mood, though, making extensive use of shadows, and has an awareness of what can be conveyed in small details, such as transmitting Rogue and Gambit are meeting in a cold place via showing their breath. He’s better than the artists of the short back-up strips, although both are early in their careers. Nelson Dániel works on a lighthearted strip showing life in the embassy, and Rosi Kämpe illustrates a solo tale for Gimmick before her change of name in the main story, and it’s not visually imaginative. Neither does Foxe stretch himself as Gimmick describes a hard day at the office in hindsight.
The thing about provoking people who’re not very nice to start with is that revenge is righteous, long and painful, and that’s what Foxe works toward in the main story. There are no light moments, hence the comedy back-up, but vengeance is full, final and bloody. If that’s what you like, Dark X-Men is for you.
