Immortal X-Men #17 Spoiler Recap and Review

[HomoSuperior]

Well. I guess this issue at some level explains why Professor Xavier has a long history of being a jerk.

There was a foreboding symmetry in this issue: Xavier being led by Sinister, and Jean being literally led on a leash by another Sinister.

With so much symmetry and rhyming, maybe Jean’s most recent death and now afterlife experience are another manipulation and attempt to corrupt the Phoenix. Her inner monologue toward the end seemed to be increasingly focused on Dark Phoenix moments.

If I had to hazard a guess: Mother Righteous is the Sinister that achieved Dominion. She knows Phoenix is most vulnerable when it (Jean) is respawning in WHR. So she is manipulating Jean / Phoenix to prevent it from resetting reality.

[Captain Nash]

An interesting issue, but I really feel like they're dragging out the fate of Jean here. Will she continue to be in the real world outside of the WHR once this is all over, or not? Was hoping for an answer with this issue, since the miniseries sort of set it up

[HomoSuperior]

10 characters

[MythicalChicken]

I think this was another excellent issue - the Charles/Sinister part was strong and easily the highlight. I loved the callback to Project Black Womb, that was a fun deepcut from Gillen.

Exodus and Hope were also a lot of fun. I wish we got a bit more of Jean and in a way that was a bit more straightforward since we're coming off 4 months of her talking to herself in the White Hot Room... but I can't deny I'm extremely intrigued by what's happening and I can't wait to find out what Mother Righteous' exact plan with the Phoenix is.

You said it for me, pretty much. This run has been incredible though.

[JB]

I enjoyed this issue particularly because we got confirmation that Forge's cure worked and now we're moving towards the dominion plot. I'm also happy that it's now clear to everyone that Mother Righteous is crap as I had grown tired of the mutants trusting her. I'd like to see Jean tear her apart soon.

[Devaishwarya]

While as written she's very frustrating and tedious I do wonder what Destiny was warning her about. I hope it's something that will kill MFnR. Like...she thinks she wil control Dominion but it turns out Dominion consumes her entirely, like the Borg eating hors d'oeuvres at a banquet, before wreaking death and destruction across the 616.

I know Gillenister isn't given to such simplistic plotting but...sigh.

[The Thunderbird]

It's too bad that there wasn't much advancement with Jean other than Mother Righteous capturing her for something. Hope she gets better in the next issue. The narration was a clever idea however and it's clear Gillen did his homework. I know Ryp isn't the best artist he made some of the characters really stand out. Mother Righteous and Apocalypse look menacing and villainous and Mr. Sinister looks fantastic. Glad to see that Forge's machine worked.

[RAWRlrus]

An earlier issue of Uncanny Spider-Man seemed to imply that all the missing teleporters (like Lila) were actually killed in the initial onslaught from Nimrod and Orchis. Idk how much I buy this and I would have much preferred they just show them in Immortal and say they can’t teleport out of the White Hot Room because of it’s unique properties.

My thoughts on the issue as a whole:
I feel like every time I start to really like this book it takes a turn that doubles down on the things I didn’t like about it in the first place. I was so HYPED for this to be a Jean centric issue, since it apparently needed a four issue mini-series to set up. But instead we saw Jean speak in old quotes and get dragged around like a rag doll.

In it’s place we once again returned to the Sinister well, which I personally think has dried up. Even when SoS didn’t wrap up all the Sinister’s it seemed like we could at least shut the door on Diamond Sinister. At this rate Gillen will make the conclusion of the era ABOUT Sinister when that clearly wasn’t the original intention. I just feel like there are so many interesting characters (both on the heroes and villains side) that can be driving the plot without always going back to Sinister.

I think that's been one of my biggest issues with Immortal. The concept of a more political book is interesting, but this was ultimately a Sinister book and really just a vehicle to get Gillen to SoS and RoTPoX. IMO most of the "focus issues" had a couple pages at most about that character before reverting back to Sinister. Probably why my favorite issues were the ones between SoS and FoX when Sinister was in the pit and before MR got really involved.

I think the actual plan was to finish this before December and then start the next era but then Brevoort was announced as editor and so they decided to stretch this for another six months.

This could be the case. Its weird to me that we go from FoX, which was positioned as a possible end to the era, immediately into the actual end of the era. Like why not have Fall of X be the actual end. I almost wonder if they had more plans after FoX but the Brevoort announcement forced them into the endgame after they were too far along with FoX.

I enjoyed this issue particularly because we got confirmation that Forge's cure worked and now we're moving towards the dominion plot. I'm also happy that it's now clear to everyone that Mother Righteous is crap as I had grown tired of the mutants trusting her. I'd like to see Jean tear her apart soon.

These are probably the only two parts I cared about here. Gillen going word of god that its been dealt with (although I can see a future writer saying Sinister lied)

[Mercury]

This issue excelled in the three things it set out to do: (1) Give us further insight into Xavier, (2) inch us closer to Sinister's day of reckoning, and (3) serve as an esoteric deep-dive into Jean's psyche, overall history, and, ultimately, metaphysical identity. Moreover, it's great to realize how much thought and effort Gillen has put into writing Jean. From underscoring the point he made about her during Judgment Day—"You are the Phoenix, now and forever"—by having Exodus note that "Jean has a connection to the Phoenix" to all of the eras he directly referenced and quoted, ranging from Uncanny X-Men and X-Factor to New X-Men and Phoenix Endsong, the work he has put into this has left me quite pleased. Lastly, I love that he, with help from Simonson, has continued to underscore Jean's identity as Phoenix and clarified Jean and Hope's positions in the Phoenix mythos hierarchy, particularly with that opening quote from The Book of Apocalypse and Jean's half-quote, half-new dialogue: "Jean is the house where I live--and I am the house where Jean Grey Lives. The White Hot Room is where the Phoenix lives. You'll learn more about me, boys, in time! I hope I wasn't too rough..."





On a side note and for the sake of discourse, I want to share this interpretation of the issue I found on Reddit. I think it's brilliant.

[Del torro]

Hmm. Immortal Xmen was good 8/10 issue for me.
Enjoyed the Xavier and Sinister segments and where it's leading. Mother Righteous stabbing them in the back was good to see, looking forward to knowing how her plans play out (a bit disappointed, i thought she would do Somethibg with the souls of all the mutants she captured,but I guess that will be something else.)
I liked the Hope and Exodus vs Apocalypse fight at the beginning. This era continues to portray Poccy as a threat and not a jobber. Love how X and Essex are working towards dealing With the Dominion, while M.R is working towards becoming one
Lol one thing that annoyed me was Jeans lack of coherent narration in this issue where she's supposed to be the narrator.
Like i get that Gillen has said that the character narration is a device he would abandon if he felt the story he was telling didn't require it, I'm just annoyed that it was at Jeans story that he had to do that.

[Del torro]

Immortal Xmen issues have spotlight the character narrating the story and given us insight into their mind, motivations, thoughts and feelings.
Xaviers, Emmas, Exodus, Nightcrawler, Destinys were all very good and definitive character studys. Helping you to boil down to the core parts of what makes the character tick. They shape how most modern fans view these characters.

So when we have an Immortal Xmen book with jean on the cover and supposed to be the narrator, people are expecting to have a character study or atleast narration that gives insight into jeans mind.

She doesn't even have to be an active player. She could be physically incontinent on panel, while her mind can still give narration to the readers and showcase her thoughts and feelings.

If you check, other people have noted disappointment that Jean did not do much in her own issue. That it focused too luch on xavier and others. Having the narration be a confused jean mumbling bits and pieces of old dialogue that barely strings into a vague narrative of some connection to the phoenix doesn't build or develop jeans character. It doesn't tell us much what her thoughts on the situation (FoX, MR plans, the WHR situation with mutants) and doesn't do anything to make you feel like jean is a 3 dimensional character and not just a plot device.

Yes, the story is about mother righteous using jean as an object to obtain power, but jean fans that will buy the book to read her voice, will obviously be disappointed. Having jeans coherent narration would have atleast given her a form of functionality/agency.

Imagine reading all the previous issues and getting character breakdowns for all these Xcharacters, then its your favourite characters turn and the writer just gives you, "she's babbling and incoherent again"

And notice i said again, because it's a problem that jean always has with writers. Endsong, here comes tomorrow, phoenix Resurrection, the recent jean grey solo.
We go through multiple issues of jean being not in sync, out of her mind, incoherent or not being able to function properly as a character, then a finale issue of jean as a character with minimal character work being done(also notice how its always in phoenix stories). Its why i love the teen Jean grey solo, new xmen, revolution era xmen, Xmen red and the Judgement day issue. Jean is given agency, able to talk and convey her thoughts clearly, and grow as an Interesting character.

Yes, i get it. They are waiting for the big finale for jean and phoenix to do something. They are not giving jean action now because they are waiting to use her later as a big gun. That is the story they are telling and i get it.

But that's not my main point. I am annoyed at jean being only a plot device or tool in her Spotlight issue.

The Xavier issue is my favourite Immortal Xmen issue. It didn't have charles running around,saving the day. No, it had the xmen hunting sinister and taking him down.
All Xavier did was provide narration that gave insight into who he is, his motivations, his fears, the reason he formed the xmen, his arrogance and his self hate. Heck gillen did it again with Judgement day preludes, having the characters and plot move forward with the mysterious voice of the unborn celestial watching and commenting without actively interfering.
He did it in some issues of Eternals where the Machine narrated the issues and gave insight to his feelings while the characters and plot did their own thing (a reason why the death/rebooting of the Machine into a monotonous A.I at the end of Judgement Day really hurt)

When Gillen said he did a deep dive into Jeans history and would be doing an Al Ewing style issue for Jean (Ewing being someone who is great with character work and tying threads of a characters disjointed history into a coherent tapestry), I was expecting a story or narration that would open a door into jeans mind and tell us "this is what makes jean grey tick, this what makes her who she is".
So i think its quite understandable to be disappointed that what i got was quite less than that.

I love the issue, the stuff with xavier, hope, exodus and sinister. But jeans function as only a plot device left me disappointed. I was expecting a 10/10 issue and got a 8/10. Gillen is one of my top Xmen writers and i get what he was going for with Jean, he did something similar with dark phoenix scotts mind going in and out of time in AvX and narrating his thoughts as the final battle happened. But even that still showcased scotts personality and gave insight to the way he was feeling then netter than this issue did for Jean. Plus, like i said, with the standard set by the previous issues of Immortal Xmen, I was already expecting a character study on Jean.

[PhoenixStudies]

Yeah, but Jean just got an in-depth character study in Jean Grey 1-4 which tied into this story, so it wouldn’t have made sense to repeat that here.

[Alex.]

Probably the weakest Immortal issue

[OG Storm]

The only good things about this issue was sinister and Charles everything else was so mundane. Like how has Exodus grown as a character or Hope? All he has done is pick another person to worship. He needs some other Schick. Hope is no different from when he brought her into the title.

[Kingdom X]

I think that's been one of my biggest issues with Immortal. The concept of a more political book is interesting, but this was ultimately a Sinister book and really just a vehicle to get Gillen to SoS and RoTPoX. IMO most of the "focus issues" had a couple pages at most about that character before reverting back to Sinister. Probably why my favorite issues were the ones between SoS and FoX when Sinister was in the pit and before MR got really involved.



This could be the case. Its weird to me that we go from FoX, which was positioned as a possible end to the era, immediately into the actual end of the era. Like why not have Fall of X be the actual end. I almost wonder if they had more plans after FoX but the Brevoort announcement forced them into the endgame after they were too far along with FoX.

My favorite issue was #13 when the QC finally had a conversation about the state of Krakoa and the cracks that have formed underneath the surface and we didn’t have to hear about a random new Sinister plot.

I agree w/ you about the timing of FoX. I never got the vibe everything was supposed to end in December. If anything they could have done a full blown “Rise of X” era before concluding, but once Brevoort got announced it seemed like they cut to the chase to have things wrapped by mid-Summer.