X-Men: Forever #4 - Review/Spoilers

[Factor]

Why cant Rachel be used to pluck individuals out of the WHR?

So many holes in the narrative :/
I wish Krakoa had gotten a better ending.

[Mutant X]

We had a lot of conclusions on this issue.

Considering this story as a cycle closure to Hope's journey started in Messiah Complex, it was nice.

But looking at it as the last issue of Immortal X-men, the ending of the Quiet Council, of Irene's visions and conflict with Sinister, of the Five and their Ressurection Protocol, of the Krakoan people. I feel very disappointed.
I was confident Gillen could succeed Hickman. And the first stories were fantastic.
We had some low points with A.X.E but after Sins of Sinister, was when I think he completely lost his magic touch between too many characters and the complexity of the Dominion plot.
And these four X-men Forever are the worst work Gillen has ever done. Lacks the youthful creativity with believable characterizations of his great books.
The Mystique and Destiny invading Orchis for their memories is Duggan's level of lazy writing.

I know we still have RoTPoX 5. But zero expectations.

[NewMutant]

I like they we completed the cycle of Hope. I was a advocate for years that Hope should have been Jean and never a fan of the direction that ended up happening.

I fail to see how Rachel was necessary or why this wasn't Xaviers first option if he seemed to know about it.

I look forward to rereading when everything is done. Its just too bloated and rushed to digest weekly and try to form a valid opinion on.

[Rift]

It's kind of funny that the era ends with the death of hope, leading to a future of misery.

[Havok83]

It's kind of funny that the era ends with the death of hope, leading to a future of misery.

With Hope's sacrifice there would be no future though

[Dipter]

I wish Gillen would’ve given us a clearer tally of how many went home and how many were left behind in the WHR. It was like 70-80% of the global mutant population that walked through the portals, wasn’t it? Does that mean mutants are back to being an endangered species again?

[cranger]

I wish Gillen would’ve given us a clearer tally of how many went home and how many were left behind in the WHR. It was like 70-80% of the global mutant population that walked through the portals, wasn’t it? Does that mean mutants are back to being an endangered species again?

As long as humans keep getting born with the "x-gene" there is no end to the number of them that any given story wants to say are out there, so whatever vague number the population might be at now is not really all that different than it was before Fall of X.

That is to say, yes they are probably smaller in number but no this is not post M-Day where the population was endangered.

[Hi-Fi]

From the last issue I can recognize:

Tempus
Elixir
Egg
Proteus
Legion
Jumbo Carnation
Kafka (the winged kid)

I'm not sure if the others are even named.

Looks like Rockslide as well.

[BobbysWorld]

Oh I see. You'd think they'd have prioritized the Five. A reality warper would have come in handy.

Yup. Course you'd also think a reality warper of Proteus' caliber would be able to do something about the tubers they're complaining about being the only thing they have to eat. Or the water they could barely gather enough of to drink. Etc, etc.

The weird nerfing of Eva, Elixir and Proteus in particular, all of whom should be able to do a TON of things to ease life for the Krakoans in the WHR beyond just being part of the resurrection circuit, has been jarring for awhile. And now we're supposed to accept that Legion....who this very issue referenced being an omega level power generator.....is also left behind in the WHR, with nothing he can do to get them back from there to Earth.

Tbf this has been a complaint I've had of Gillen since Judgment Day. He waffles back and forth between wanting to depict the majority of mutants as virtually helpless noncombatants with no real effectiveness to their mutations or abilities....but then turns around and makes them able to withstand the Eternals' might, be an existential threat to the universe within a hundred years and so on, whenever he wants to lean on the 'and this is why ppl are afraid of mutants' angle. There's no internal consistency and when he defaults to acting like in a population of 250K, only Hope and Exodus and a handful of unnamed others have any kind of useful ability at all, it just....doesn't work, IMO. And we're left with the same kind of questions that plagued the rest of the era like 'why couldnt a circuit of omegas smite the Orchis Forge ages ago instead of just siccing Logan, Domino and Quire on it over and over to no success.'

Sigh.

[Factor]

Looks like Rockslide as well.

I thought I saw someone who looked like him, but I don't know if it really fits with where they left Wrongslide. I'm not sure they could bring Rockslide back through the WHR. And it's weird to have him return without any character acknowledging it. His death was supposed to be a big deal.
I guess it's just another decision that doesn't really make sense. Have him back only to bench him harder lol.

[mugiwara]

Looks like Rockslide as well.

Wait, what? Rockslide, not Wrongslide? I thought the only relevant info from that comics was an old X-Woman leeching the life out of a young X-Woman. But this is huge too!

Unless, of course, the artist just draw a bunch of random mutants and didn't check if Santo was supposed to be dead or alive.
So, if he's really alive, he's stuck in that white room of boringness. Better than being dead, I guess. Maybe somebody needs to kill the space chicken once for alll, open its belly like the woodsman did to the big bad wolf, and free all the mutants traped inside.

[IllusiveGorn]

Essex being mistaken for New Yorker by Louise is a more cruel thing than what Phoenix did to Sinister at the same day in X-Men '97. By the way, it seems like a confirmation that being roasted by the bird way back in AvX tie-in is what gave comicsSinister some level of self-reflection (albeit until recently restrained by Enigma's programming), enough to give Destiny a good advice.

[Exodus]

As a Jean Grey fan, I consider everything Gillen has written in the course of the last months as a personal goodbye present. And I take it and say thank you for it!!!

I Love everything about it. Jean taking her time napping (classical Jean!) and makes sure that Avengers vs X-Men and Hope’s entire arc now makes sense in retrospect.

[Rift]

With Hope's sacrifice there would be no future though

And what a future it is. A future devoid of hope.

[Alex_Of_X]

As a Jean Grey fan, I consider everything Gillen has written in the course of the last months as a personal goodbye present. And I take it and say thank you for it!!!

I Love everything about it. Jean taking her time napping (classical Jean!) and makes sure that Avengers vs X-Men and Hope’s entire arc now makes sense in retrospect.

His work with Hope in Krakoa was the first time I connected with the character, really. A worthy exit stage left, imho

Wish Maresca had more time to make the art sing...grrr