POWERS OF X #5
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: R.B. Silva
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel
Rating: 10/10
Ok guys, we're in the endgame now. With POX and HOX having only 2 issues to go, how is Hickman gonna wrap this up while also segueing into his X-MEN relaunch? To be honest I don't care, hahaha. I've been loving every minute of these books, even if my wallet hasn't. After last weeks issue of HOX and learning that mutants can no longer die, it was hard for me to imagine what Hickman could possibly have up his sleeve for this week. Well guess what? In true Hickman fashion , he yet again delivered an issue that was full of those great moments we've all come to expect from these books
BEWARE OF SPOILERS
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YOU'VE BEEN WARNED
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How Else Can we FORGE This New Destiny?
As you can probably guess by the above question, I'm talking about our favorite machine smith mutant Forge. Who else could Prof. Xavier go to when trying to amp up Cerebro. He goes to Forge with is ideas of copying all of the minds of every mutant on the planet so that he will be able to copy them to their new bodies every time they "die".
It's Forge that comes up with the idea that there need to be copies of the minds. This creating back ups of the back ups. Even crazier is that they use Shi'ar technology to house all of the mutant "minds". Hickman is leaving no aspect of the X-Men's world while rebuilding the foundation of what we think we know.
While all of this seems insanely complex, Hickman ties it all together in a way that makes it somewhat easy to understand. Plus, how great was it to see Forge again?
Will You Be My Pusha Woman?
Enter Emma Frost, who Magneto and Prof. X approach to help distribute their miracle drugs to the world. The whole reason for doing this is to help leverage the establishment of Krakoa as a mutant nation-state. After witnessing the destruction of Genosha years ago, Emma is rightfully skeptical of gathering mutants all to one place. All it takes is one trip to Krakoa to sway Emma to their side. How could she not be swayed? The sheer beauty of it all is brought to life by the amazing art of R.B. Silva, who continues to amaze me with his artistic skills with each issue.
It also doesn't hurt that they offer her 2 seats on the Council of Krakoa. Wait what's the second one for? Why it's for Sebastian Shaw of course. How else are they going to distribute the miracle drugs, other than the Hellfire Club. Their intention is to use Shaw to do the dirty work. But Emma asks for a 3rd seat for an unknow person. Who she intends on giving that seat to remains a mystery.
This idea of, "The Quiet Council of Krakoa", is intriguing. So far, according to the graph that follows these discussions, consists of Prof. X, Magneto, Cypher, Krakoa and now Emma and Shaw. With 8 seats open, one can only imagine who will be filling those seats.
Come Back When You Mean It
With Xavier bringing every mutant back into the fold how could we forget Namor, the first mutant. Hickman writes Namor to perfection every time. Not that I actually thought he would join the rest of the mutants, it was still my favorite page of the issue.
Namor is seemingly impressed that Xavier, like he does, has finally realized that mutants are "superior" to the rest of the world. But he doesn't feel that Xavier truly believes that, so he shuns his invitation. Telling Xavier, "Go away little man. And don't come back until you really mean it".
DAMN!!!
Namor called him out. Thus proving why Namor is one of the most entertaining characters in comics, especially when written by Hickman. I hope Namor stays around in this new era of X-Men, he's to great of a character not to be utilized.
The Future?
The future scenes still cause the most confusion for me. I'm not really sure what the purpose is. But I'm hoping that we will get some sort of conclusion but the end of POX. What does the Phalanx have to do with anything? I know this all part of Hickman's master plan, so I'm just sitting back and waiting for some answers.
This was yet another fantastic issue. That answers questions while also leading to more, which I'm sure is what the next 2 issues leading into X-MEN #1 will feel like as well. But I can't even describe the joy I feel that the X-Men are back at the forefront of the Marvel universe and once again. This is what comic books are all about guys.