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That’s the real war, isn’t it? Ensuring you’re on the winning side?

After decades of struggle, the Mutant race has achieved utopia, and built an empire that spans the galaxy. Together, they have transcended scarcity, disease, and death itself. But what is the true cost of this paradise? And what becomes of it when the many secrets, compromises, and hidden agendas that built it are finally brought into the light?

Brought to life by Valerio Schiti, Stefano Caselli, David Curiel, RB Silva, and Tom Muller, 2022’s Inferno is so much more than a crossover. It’s the ending to a saga that writer Jonathan Hickman began in the pages of House of X and Powers of X, transforming the X-Men, their world, and the Mutant metaphor behind it all. While the “Krakoan era” would encompass every title and creative team on the x-line of comics it would all be in service of Hickman’s vision for the title, uniting Mutants, both good and evil, in a desperate mission to stave off extinction and build a sanctuary for the species.

“I think what happened after Grant and Frank did their thing is that you got that version of the X-Men and then there’s been this nostalgic version of the X-Men…Playing the old hits kind of stuff,” muses the writer. “And those two things have been fighting with each other, probably since that run. You don’t want to do archaeology or nostalgia tropes. My job is to do new stuff with it, and launch us into a newer age of X-Men.”

As each new corner of this sanctuary is explored, Hickman and his collaborators craft a larger picture across the line, putting the nation of Krakoa on a path that would end in its ultimate reckoning. While a number of factors influenced the event’s production, including top-down editorial decisions from Marvel Comics and input from the other creatives on the line, Inferno is the definitive end of Hickman’s vision for the X-Men, as countless threats spark back into being, threatening to burn down everything the Mutants have built. After years of storytelling, Inferno delivers what would become Hickman’s legacy for X-Men: one last trial by fire for the Mutant race.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

[Read more…] about Inferno: The X-Men’s Empire, Destroyed

The dream team of writer Al Ewing and penciler Stefano Caselli, previously working together on S.W.O.R.D., continues to make ­X-Men: Red the Destiny of X title I’m most excited about (alongside Immortal X-Men, of course). Issue #2 is a killer follow-up, building Brand’s new “X-Men” threat and overall nefarious schemes, as well as underlining Vulcan’s explosive instability, with clues as to how this happened being revealed a little at a time in what feels like an inevitable build toward this omega timebomb going into full meltdown on Arakko—just what the bigoted and secretly anti-Arakkii extremist Abigail Brand wants, as she burrows deeper into her role as director of Orchis’ “Infrastructure and Influence.”

What hasn’t been stated outright yet in this new series is that as all her experience with interstellar threats and Machiavellian politicking, she’s bringing her own far-reaching network of mercenary contacts and alliances to the otherwise astronomically provincial Orchis. In other words, Abigail Brand is just about Orchis’ single most important asset (and anyway, Nimrod and Omega Sentinel don’t really count as assets any longer😉).

Ewing also continues a story that fans have been wanting, in some form, for many years now: not just something where Storm is the central protagonist but a narrative that delves into her character, advancing her into 21st-century superstar status among mutantkind. This is the promise of X-Men: Red at its core.

The thematic tension between (just two of) Storm’s identities (perhaps the most ambiguous ones), being queen of both Wakanda (starting with Black Panther vol. 4 #18, 2006) and, much earlier, the Morlocks (from Uncanny #170, 1983)—has clearly been one of Ewing’s central interests in Storm since he recast her as Regent of Sol in S.W.O.R.D. #6 (the “Hellfire Gala” issue). I believe that was the first time he really had, as a storyteller, to write her character, but right off, he seemed to have clear direction for her trajectory.

No doubt, Ewing is revitalizing Storm with an energy and clarity that we haven’t seen since Claremont, and who knows—but I’m hopeful he takes the evolution of Claremont’s most cherished character even further.

[Read more…] about X-Men: Red #2 Review – On Fire