Realm of X 4: Spoiler/review

[sunofdarkchild]

Since I made a 'review' thread for the previous issue, I figured I'd do one for the finale.

In the preview pages, Sif sees what's going on and alerts Thor. Saturnyne is screaming at Curse for breaking the bottled city of Kandor when Curse notices the bit of Dust that Saturnyne is keeping trapped and breaks that bottle too. The piece of Dust attacks Saturnyne, allowing Curse to get away.
Meanwhile, Magik uses the power of suffering and despair to have access to magic again and seems to hear Curse's despair.

Once passed the preview, Saturnyne decides that it's time for plan b: WAR. As Dani, Dust, Marrow, and Typhoid Mary prepare to lead the forces of Vanheim in battle, Vonos declares his love for Mary and they kiss.

A transdimensional portal opens and exactly one dozen flying cars come out of it. The fight is on.

2 of Saturnyne's men are hunting Curse with crossbows when they are turned to purple goo by Magik. Curse is shocked Illyana came back for her a second time and tells her about Saturnyne's plan. Magik says it's best to leave the power source be.

Watching the battle, Saturnyne hates that she's dealing so directly with the prophecy. Magik and Curse reunite with everyone right before Vonos is killed in an explosion, fulfilling his only purpose in life, which is to give Mary some angst.

Thor, Freyja, and Sif arrive to turn the tide of battle, with Thor yelling 'unhand that pink child!' at someone who grabbed Curse. It's not 'bring me Thanos,' but it fits Love and Thunder Thor. But even with these gods on their side, Saturnyne's infinitely spawning army can't be beaten until they cross a checkpoint like in a Call of Duty game. Curse calls Thor and NPC, so this is apparently a videogame.

Curse uses her cheat code list and wishes for Magik to have what Saturnyne has been after and gets hit by a spear as a result. But it works. Magik becomes the universe and heals the entire land with a thought before disengaging. Saturnyne runs away, calling Magik a fool for giving up so much power.

The day is saved, Curse lives, and she and Thor become best buddies. The Asgardians send the mutants back to Earth using the Bifrost, though Freyja warns things are bad for mutants right now, but that's all the more reason for them to get home.

Review: This was certainly an improvement over the previous issues. The art was actually competent this time. Plus it was more action-packed at the climax to the story. Still not exactly great, and in the end, most of the characters didn't have much to do other than Curse and Magik. Dust's severed hand had more bearing on the plot than Dani, Marrow, Mary, and the rest of Dust did combined just from distracting Saturnyne for a minute so Curse could run away. There's an ending note about how the prophecy was misread since it was assumed the clay pigeons from issue 3 would play more of a role that almost seems like meta commentary on how little the 4 prophesized heroes actually did. Even Mary's sudden romance doesn't matter at all unless it's going to affect her marriage going forward.

The stuff with Magik calls back to her origin with how she couldn't make an acorn then but can now make forests of trees while being the universe. I do wish something so symbolically significant was in a better series. There's also a possible implication that Saturnyne and Magik are now rivals going forward. At the same time, the problem with Orchis sabotaging her teleportation is never addressed, which is why they need to use the Bifrost to get back to earth. Guess that will have to happen during the upcoming stories with Orchis.

How much someone enjoys this issue will ultimately come down to how they feel about Curse and the redemption arc she gets here. And given how most people feel about Curse, that's not to the issue's benefit. I think there's a basic level of competence this time around that is harmed by how poor the previous 3 issues were and the fact that Curse is the focus rather than Dani or the rest. Even without those problems, it would just be 'good enough' and is not a must-read unless you're a diehard Magik fan due to her finally succeeding at something she so badly failed to do back during her origin story.

[Grunty]

So harshly put. A waste of time, which only benefit might have been that the main characters weren't random victims during or after the Hellfire Gala, but also means they didn't had a role in one of the better parts of the Fall of X storyline?

[JB]

I decided to pop back in for the final issue and I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by it. I liked the last art page of the mutants heading home via the Bifrost and the ominous vibe of the final data page by Frider. "Though our future stretches before us once more, theirs is clouded, and when I look into it, I do not understand the images I see. A white room. A lonely island. The anger and hurt of a family found."

[sunofdarkchild]

So harshly put. A waste of time, which only benefit might have been that the main characters weren't random victims during or after the Hellfire Gala, but also means they didn't had a role in one of the better parts of the Fall of X storyline?

They did save an entire dimension from armageddon and restored life to a dying universe, but that's pretty accurate. The only things that could be relevant going forward are that Curse is redeemed and discovered friendship and self-sacrifice, that Typhoid Mary's relationship with Wilson Fisk may be affected by her falling in love with another man, but since he died why would it, and Saturnyne possibly becoming a Magik villain going forward if their parting dialogue is ever followed-up on.

[Arachne]

I found it pretty mediocre, myself. I didn't feel there was any threat to the characters. No sense of danger whatsoever. I still think this underwent heavy rewrites. I did like the art more, though.

I decided to pop back in for the final issue and I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by it. I liked the last art page of the mutants heading home via the Bifrost and the ominous vibe of the final data page by Frider. "Though our future stretches before us once more, theirs is clouded, and when I look into it, I do not understand the images I see. A white room. A lonely island. The anger and hurt of a family found."

I didn't find that all that ominous. I kind of hope it means they're going to be split up. We know Mary's showing up in Spider-man next, right? Probably without the others.

[Dthirds3]

Curse is responsible for xmen green... why is she allowed to live

[Arachne]

Curse is responsible for xmen green... why is she allowed to live

That's the question we're all asking.

[Cyclone_Ablaze]

Thank You for your REVIEW.

I'm glad I didn't pick this up, because I just don't give a DAMN about Curse. And since we don't get an answer for Magik fixing her mutant powers. I saved some Money. Thank You. :-)

[Frobisher]

This certainly was a comic book that happened.

[CoCoBandz]

That's the question we're all asking.

Heroes never die.

Permanently.

[Arachne]

Heroes never die.

Permanently.

Curse didn't come close to qualifying as a hero until this issue.

[Grunty]

Curse didn't come close to qualifying as a hero until this issue.

Well the part about hero also applies to most villains.

Most of them will also get revived and re-used because of the constant need for opposition to the heros and using the established ones means saving time or knowing how the readers will react to them.

In general it can feel like 90% of all good stories, important character development or exploration and enemies for the popular characters have been created within the first 30 years of the X-men franchise and the past 30 were writers struggeling to find anything new for them to do that will feel as impactfull or create opponents which will be as memorable. Which then comes at the detriment of all characters created since.

[Wolverine12]

This book had me rooting for Saturnyne and against Curse. I’m sad I spent money on this mini series. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if it was only 2 issues.

[Frontier]

I hope the Brevoort era excises Curse.

[Hulkout42]

Can someone please explain to me what was the point of all this and how it is related to them getting back at Orchis?