Immortal X-Men #12 - Review/Spoilers

[JB]

This was an emotional whirlwind, riveting and crazy at times. Heartbreaking and worth reading for Colossus' narration. It's dense so I'll cover the main developments.

We open with the preview pages, first being a data page describing a secret meeting between Peter and Shaw. Between shots a deal is made and we're told both will get what they want. Shaw says he's surprised and impressed at Peter. This is what Peter wants, hoping that someone will see how unlike himself he is acting. Shaw knows Storm will be absent and he'll call for a closed session so the potentially Sinisterized four will not be allowed to attend.

As the four leave the chambers Shaw tells the few remaining QC members that Sinister's seat has been empty for too long and should be filled. He calls a motion to immediately proceed with a selection. He of course votes yes and so does Peter, which counts as three votes. That only leaves Kate, Mystique, and Destiny so Shaw automatically wins. He calls for the candidate and Selene enters looking fabulous. Kate is beside herself. "Pete! For @&$#% sake! What are you doing?" Peter is glad Kate is calling him out. He so badly wants her to notice he is not himself.

Selene gloats about being alive again. "You should all know it takes something a little less tawdry than a bullet to get rid of the goddess Selene." She walks over to Sinister's seat asking if that one is hers. Shaw says yes but Destiny says no and that Shaw is working with Orchis. He denies it and says he's open to a psychic search but that they can't trust the "possibly wicked four" in the back room. He says Rachel and Jean would be biased so Mystique suggests Rasputin. Rasputin enters and roughly searches his mind, stating he has no relationship with Orchis. Peter says they should proceed with the next order of business.



"... and Piotr hopes that someone will do the wrong thing." In the Green Room, Hope can't believe none of the three telepaths are listening in on the meeting. Xavier says prying would be a breach of trust and that kind of behavior led to the Sinister timeline. To act like that now would show they are likely compromised. Emma disagrees and says the longer they stay out of it the more Shaw will take advantage of the island and eventually turn it into a tourist attraction. Hope walks closer to the telepaths and says she's doing it. She listens in, pauses, then immediately runs through the gate leading outside. She's running towards another gate to reach the QC but it's guarded by Rasputin. She tells Hope the meeting is closed and to calm herself. Out of nowhere we see Mother Righteous in a dark room somewhere, performing a spell. She has a Krakoan gate flower and a feather. She speaks some magic words and Rasputin suddenly goes from calm and collected to lunging at Hope with her sword, calling Hope a monster.

Emma quickly stands up. Feeling her mind move Xavier tells her "Don't!" She says she's reading Hope's mind to find out what she learned so she's still following the rules. Emma tells Xavier that Selene is back and has been voted onto the council. She then learns about the plan to release the Sins of Sinister information to the public and she says she's going to put Colossus to sleep. "NO!" says Xavier as his psychic self lunges at Emma who blocks him with a shield. "Even now. We can't."

Hope and Rasputin are fighting and Hope asks Exodus for help. He's standing quietly and thinking. "I cannot stop this. Who can? Ah." His TK signature starts to glow all around him.

Kate hears the fighting outside but Peter says they must continue. Kate says this can't just be sprung on the council like this, it has to be properly debated because it's complicated. Peter tries to emphasize some of his next words. "Do the right thing, Kate. Be honest. It's not complicated." He's fighting hard not to call the vote, for Kate to understand him.



It seems his delay may have worked. Storm appears in the middle of the QC chambers and says, "STOP!" It was Exodus who brought her over. She demands to know what Peter is doing and he says he's being her proxy when she's unavailable as he's supposed to. He says tensions are high right now and he moves for them to take a break while things cool down and everyone has time to consider his proposal. In his mind, Peter is relieved that Storm's arrival has allowed him to call for a delay and that she'll be voting.

During the break, Destiny and Mystique start bickering as Destiny feels Mystique didn't support her during the meeting. Mystique says she wanted Destiny's vision to be proven and asks if she lied about Shaw working with Orchis or if she was wrong. Destiny is not sure. Since the destruction of the Moira clones all the futures were reborn. The "map" is much bigger now and she only knows the old map because she hasn't fallen into a vision-coma so she doesn't have that wider perspective. She's more blind than she ever has been before and she feels weak. Destiny asks Mystique why she's been distant the past few weeks and before Mystique can answer, Destiny sees a vision of Mystique killing her. She tells Mystique this who replies that she would never do that. However the reason she's been distant is because of the Destiny message from Sins and she plays it for Destiny.

Destiny is of course taken aback but says Mystique would have burned Krakoa to the ground for her and she would keep hell going for Mystique. Mystique grows angry, feeling patronized. "I am Mystique. I am a tiger. You do not keep me in a cage." Destiny says Mystique doesn't know what it's like seeing her die over and over. Mystique takes her hands and says their love is immortal but they are not, that for Destiny to love her she must accept that one day she will lose her. They stand in silence then embrace, making up. They're hugging while Mystique says, "See... you and your visions. Are they visions or just your fears? I would never kill you."



Mystique stabs Destiny through the chest and out her back then suddenly looks shocked and confused as Destiny falls back, bleeds out, and dies. Mystique holds her lifeless body, crying and screaming in emotional agony.

Mystique is still covered in blood as she’s present for Destiny’s resurrection. She throws her arms around Destiny as she rises from her egg and says she doesn’t know what came over her. Shaw is standing nearby and gladly breaks the news that because Hope was part of her resurrection, Destiny may be compromised and cannot vote. Mystique pulls a gun on him but Destiny says, “No, my love. Don’t. And really…”

[JB]





Final page, data page:

He is trapped in a Russian novel.
It is not a place for hope.

Chronicler

My heart is hurting so badly for Peter. I pray that Ororo actually did notice something is wrong with her "little brother" but feels she needs to regroup before acting on it. And I'm actually hoping Krakoa steps in next issue to block the release of the Sins timeline to the world. The title of the next issue is "Deadlocked" so maybe there's a chance. Otherwise humanity will definitely fully turn on mutantkind and some mutants may even turn on each other. Things are getting worse by the week and X-Men Red is up next.

[Diammandis]

Why do i have a feeling that cypher and krakoa will vote to tell humanity omg

[Triniking1234]

Next issue is Douglas. Let's go.

[StormBorn06]

Obviously Storm won't notice this. She was given a very limited choice of either Krakoa or Arakko. And we already know that she will choose to stay in Arakko against Genesis.

[Itchpfork]

I dug this issue (Immortal X-Men is probably my second-favorite X-book right now), although I'm really ready for the plot to stop thickening and for things to start happening.

Also, this is a nitpick but:

He is trapped in a Russian novel.
It is not a place for hope.

Has...has Gillen ever read Dostoevsky? Crime and Punishment ends on the note of the possibility of redemption. The Brothers K ends with "Ah, children, ah, dear friends, don’t be afraid of life! How good life is when one does something good and just!" These books are austere, but not hopeless. Far from it.

[gonnagiveittoya]

I still don't understand how Storm misses all these meetings when Kate is the one who can't use the gates

[JB]

Why do i have a feeling that cypher and krakoa will vote to tell humanity omg

Oh lord please no. I want Krakoa to pull out a gavel and a judge Judy wig and call the council a farce. “Get off my lawn!”

I rarely think about Peter’s predicament because it’s been going on for so long but with one issue Gillen has me fully invested. His narration was tragically beautiful and I need him to be freed soon. As others have said I think Kate’s transformation to Shadowkat may be in part because she learns what’s happened to him, especially because he makes a point to differentiate Kitty and Kate here.

[Diammandis]

With MR pretty much tampering with the krakoan gates, which would possibly give her the ability to manage who gets to come through or not and with Storm pretty much on Arakko now I can def see that the next time she leaves to Arakko she’s not going to be able to get back, especially not in before Orchis strikes.

[Cyclone_Ablaze]

This was REALLY GOOD. 8/10 for me.

I liked the Internal Struggle with Piotr. Trying to pass subliminal messages to his friends hoping they would notice, but they can't. And Shaw that sneaky Bastard.

[JB]

Obviously Storm won't notice this. She was given a very limited choice of either Krakoa or Arakko. And we already know that she will choose to stay in Arakko against Genesis.

I’m hopeful she noticed something is wrong specifically because Emma called her out for it taking 5 years for her to realize Kurt wasn’t himself. I think it would be a really nice full circle moment for her to catch another of her original teammates being in trouble. But if not then my heart will continue to be broken.

[Rift]

I dug this issue (Immortal X-Men is probably my second-favorite X-book right now), although I'm really ready for the plot to stop thickening and for things to start happening.

Also, this is a nitpick but:



Has...has Gillen ever read Dostoevsky? Crime and Punishment ends on the note of the possibility of redemption. The Brothers K ends with "Ah, children, ah, dear friends, don’t be afraid of life! How good life is when one does something good and just!" These books are austere, but not hopeless. Far from it.

To be fair, the Brothers book also ended with an innocent man being framed for murder, and the real killer getting away with it. (Albeit through suicide.) Since the author has been dead for over a century, I don't think we'll be getting those sequels to get the intended ending.

[StormBorn06]

I’m hopeful she noticed something is wrong specifically because Emma called her out for it taking 5 years for her to realize Kurt wasn’t himself. I think it would be a really nice full circle moment for her to catch another of her original teammates being in trouble. But if not then my heart will continue to be broken.

The biggest problem is that she hasn't been idle for five years, she's been in the middle of a war, and Genesis and her demon army are a very big threat. The Genesis War was going to happen in any timeline, and it was clearly something she was destined to face.

[Jackraow21]

This was REALLY GOOD. 8/10 for me.

I liked the Internal Struggle with Piotr. Trying to pass subliminal messages to his friends hoping they would notice, but they can't. And Shaw that sneaky Bastard.

Agreed. Great issue. Heartbreaking to see what Piotr’s going through internally. Gillen took Percy’s subplot and did it far better IMO.

[Triniking1234]

I still don't understand how Storm misses all these meetings when Kate is the one who can't use the gates

Ororo has to rebuild Mars and Kate is on Earth chilling most of the time.