Review by Karl Verhoven
During Hellfire Gala: Fall of X, the mutants of Krakoa were attacked with devastating consequences. Professor X was forced to control the entire mutant population with his mind and march them toward teleportation gates that he didn’t know were booby-trapped. Realm of X is among the graphic novels picking up from that moment.
Torunn Grønbekk’s viewpoint is Magik, who awakens without her powers in a world where a group of other female mutants are in a forest fighting against giant monsters and their accompanying creatures, the location later revealed as Vanaheim. The locals fear someone they call the White Witch, and their prophecies predicted the arrival of the mutants, which instigates an endgame.
Mutants in a group are really trapped anywhere, but Magik being disoriented and largely incapable is Grønbekk’s method of removing the easy option of her teleportation getting everyone home. There’s an interesting use of otherwise underused young mutant Curse, who can make bad things happen, but too much else seems padding to fill out four chapters, and there are very few meaningful character moments. Typhoid Mary is aggressive and grumpy, Curse is naive and childish, and Magik lost and subdued. Unfortunately for comics, Grønbekk saves her best writing for the old diary and prophesy text pages, which are intriguing.
Just look at the surface and primary artist Diógenes Neves produces some attractive pages. He doesn’t shy from detail on costumes or surroundings and there’s considerable imagination applied to the layouts, building toward pin-up pages. However, all too often you’ll find a head placed oddly on the body, an arm that’s way too short, or a leg twisted at an impossible angle. However, that’s infinitely preferable to what Bruno Oliveira dashes off for the third chapter, which has no finesse, bizarre expressions, cross-eyed people and relies exclusively on figures.
With “they return to another fight. Another kind of war. (and adventure)” it’s all over and everyone goes home. Unless you’re really invested in one or more of the characters and a fantasy world, this isn’t worth your time.
