Review by Karl Verhoven
As this collection begins the X-Men have received a distress call from Corsair, leader of the Starjammers, and father to Cyclops. Readers saw Corsair making that call at the end of Vol. 3, witnessing him impregnated by the Brood, and looking to be well on the way to birthing, which will kill him. The situation is complicated by former ally Broo now being king of his species, so such incidents shouldn’t be happening.
Gerry Duggan provides an ingenious solution in the opening chapter of three for the main story. Throughout his run on X-Men there’s a feeling that he’s considered assorted X-Men and what they’re capable of more than the average writer does, and with the entirety of mutantkind at his disposal Duggan’s thoughtful. The impression is confirmed when he has the true villain of the piece monologuing and making worthwhile points. Well, if you’re a megalomaniacal control freak, that is. However, there’s also the ethical issue of the Brood being cannon fodder. Yes, they’re hyper-aggressive and instinctively feral, yet the X-Men have no compunction about slaughtering them by the dozen. It rather makes a hollow caption of “The X-Men didn’t save them all, but they saved everyone they could. That’s the job. That’s what it means to serve on the team”. However, this ethical hypocrisy isn’t a matter Duggan’s ignoring, and it’s addressed.
Dealing with the Brood is counterpointed by Forge and Penance’s mission to the space station Knowhere, where a nasty surprise awaits. Duggan has a clever solution to the Brood’s renewed ferocity, one tying in neatly with the other mission.
Artists Stefano Caselli and Joshua Cassara each draw three chapters, and their different approaches sufficiently define what’s going on. Caselli’s figures and environments are looser, yet provide everything necessary, while the greater detail of Cassara’s pages is equally welcome.
Cassara’s three chapters dot around the X-Men’s universe, but their primary concern is building the menace of Orchis, showing who’s behind the organisation, the threat they can be and how difficult they are to stop. Each of Cassara’s chapters is an individual story involving an individual threat, but the ramifications play out in Hellfire Gala: Fall of X, which you’ll need to read before coming back for Vol. 5. Duggan’s threats are varied and interesting, the character moments significant, and an extremely large amount of people are given scenes. It all makes for very satisfying X-Men.
