Immortal X-Men #18 - Review/Spoilers

[HomoSuperior]

They dragged the story of Dominion for so long that at this point of time Jean being a statue character is the least of the worries. Its is as if though Gillen is writing himself in all those monologues. It feels lazy.

Agreed. Breaking the fourth wall, by ascending to higher plane that is a literal piece of paper, points to a navel gazing writer out of ideas. Marvel seems to be doing a lot of this in the last ten years. In Hickman’s Secret Wars, the Beyonders seem a lot like Marvel Editorial. Ewing’s Defenders, is a tour of meta commentary that seems to go nowhere.

Summing the universe up as the work of a writer’s imagination is overdone and pretentious. Seems telling that Illiteracy is never featured as their supervillain.

Let’s hope original, inspiring character-driven stories are ahead.

[yogaflame]

I find it interesting that some of us scoff at Gillen's work, while others think it's incredible. I suppose everything is a matter of taste.

[Exodus]

I find it interesting that some of us scoff at Gillen's work, while others think it's incredible. I suppose everything is a matter of taste.

Why people dislike his work is beyond me.

[Kingdom X]

Why people dislike his work is beyond me.

I feel like I dislike some of the story choices he makes (a fifth Sinister being the endgame antagonist of this era does not excite me), but the writing has always been good and entertaining.

[Malachi]

I feel like I dislike some of the story choices he makes (a fifth Sinister being the endgame antagonist of this era does not excite me), but the writing has always been good and entertaining.

As someone who doesn’t read it but occasionally browse the summary threads I find his choice of characters very uninteresting. The fifth Sinister being a prime example of this. Him doubling down.

With 24 issues he made his choices on which to write and what to write about. The execution might be impeccable but it all sounds rather boring for me who doesn’t read it.

[Grinning Soul]

As someone who doesn’t read it but occasionally browse the summary threads I find his choice of characters very uninteresting. The fifth Sinister being a prime example of this. Him doubling down.

With 24 issues he made his choices on which to write and what to write about. The execution might be impeccable but it all sounds rather boring for me who doesn’t read it.

I'd say it depends on what you call execution. It's usually written well and presented well.

I think the problem is more fundamental.

Who are the protagonists of this story? I'd expect them to be the QC, but I can't make the case that they are.

I guess those were supposed to be the protagonists, but they don't have enough agency to fulfill the role in practice. Things are happening to them and they react to it, but they're not the ones who set anything in motion or resolve anything. They're just watching the characters who are supposed to be the antagonists upping each other.

That doesn't make a story compelling to me. Perhaps that's also why you find it boring?

[JB]

I'am curious, how the X-Men Can Hope win against the Dominion who seem Invincible ?

Any ideas ?

That's the most interesting part for me because it's not a physical foe but rather an AI which has now reached Dominion. I'm wondering if this is a matter of going back in time and preventing it from coming online, but without the Dominion itself noticing? Destiny was forced to stay quiet about it because it was always watching her. I think in Rise we'll see Xavier recruit Rachel and the Dead X-Men team for their time-traveling journey. Considering Destiny was able to speak more freely about it in the WHR, perhaps Rachel can identify other pockets (?) where they can execute their tasks.

Also, it's been said the Phoenix (and Galactus) can defeat a Dominion so they'll need to get Jean up and running again.

[jwatson]

I feel like I dislike some of the story choices he makes (a fifth Sinister being the endgame antagonist of this era does not excite me), but the writing has always been good and entertaining.

I don't like how plot leads story and how heavy handed it is. Storm thanks MR on behalf of all mutants because MR needed it. Sinister was able to get into the dna of those on the council because it needed to happen. Storm handed over reigns to colossus because one point needed to happen. Mutants are deviants. Eternals must attack mutants and destroy arrako. But none of the stories seemed to focus on anything but the plot to destroy the council, krakoa, arrako, etc. I can't think of one growing aspect of the story. Then there was sins of sinister which was an entire plot that didn't really add much either. it has just been spinning on plots imo. Jean is now being dragged around like a dog on a leash because MR needs it to happen. Just too many plots and too little story.

[MythicalChicken]

I feel like I dislike some of the story choices he makes (a fifth Sinister being the endgame antagonist of this era does not excite me), but the writing has always been good and entertaining.

I think the thing with Gillen is the sum is greater than the parts; I think the "thank you as fuel" power is a wee lame as others mentioned, and I liked the simplicity of all unearthly all-white space actually being paper (like it would be in real life), but in how the whole thing comes together, and how that was clearly planned from day one, is impressive, masterful, still a little surprising how far it seems to stray from the story's beginning even if inevitable we winded up there.

In contrast, many talk about Hickman like he's God, but with every page I feel a heavyhanded "See? I have a *long range plan* aren't I smart? I am an architect!" suffocates the whole thing. With Gillen, you get that same thoughtful plan, but it/and "We" can breathe.

Also, Judgment Day is my favorite crossover since Messiah Complex.

[Master of Sound]

Great Idea for the next event: Fall of the Sinisters. In it all Sinisters will be hunted down and killed forever.

[Rift]

I'am curious, how the X-Men Can Hope win against the Dominion who seem Invincible ?

Any ideas ?

If the Dominion represents AI, what defeats AI in real life? People who purposely feed it the wrong information and troll it until it's useless. People who devolve its purpose to memes and jokes. People who can bully it, essentially.

Now think about it? Who's the one expert at bullying others? Especially non-mutants? Hellion. Who also happens to be in the White Hot Room, according to Jordan White? Hellion. Who would be immune to Mother Righteous because he'd never say thank you? Hellion.

So the mutants can put all their faith into Hellion and have him ascend into Dominionhood while they're in the White Hot Room, so the previous Dominion might not be able to stop them. Hellion will have the power of being a bully, being a Dominion, and possibly have inherited some of the Phoenix due to his unique circumstances. See? It all comes together.

[JamJams]

I think Gillen did a magnificent job of setting up the final push towards the conclusion of the Dominion storyplot. I can understand people rolling their eyes that it's anotehr Siniter but the final bad guy from the jump was always going to be either: Moira, Nimrod/Technocracy or Sinister with the premise they had set up. And I appreciate that they didn't divert too far from that premise and added to it by showing there was more than one way to reach Dominion everyone was just working off of what Moira knew which was just the technological path to ascension.

However, the Krakoa era itself has been lackluster and justifiably lambasted for how much potential it set-up and then squandered over the last three years. So having a really good meta plot pay off doesn't mean a lot when the whole era feels like they only put effort into telling us the big picture story while neglecting the characters (aside from Sinister) the entire time.

[charliehustle415]

Agreed. Breaking the fourth wall, by ascending to higher plane that is a literal piece of paper, points to a navel gazing writer out of ideas. Marvel seems to be doing a lot of this in the last ten years. In Hickman’s Secret Wars, the Beyonders seem a lot like Marvel Editorial. Ewing’s Defenders, is a tour of meta commentary that seems to go nowhere.

Summing the universe up as the work of a writer’s imagination is overdone and pretentious. Seems telling that Illiteracy is never featured as their supervillain.

Let’s hope original, inspiring character-driven stories are ahead.

That's exactly how I would put it, navel gazing and pseudo-philosophical nonsense that would impress a 14 year old.

I find it interesting that some of us scoff at Gillen's work, while others think it's incredible. I suppose everything is a matter of taste.

Why people dislike his work is beyond me.

His creator owned works are amazing hands down, hell even his first Uncanny run was great; but recently just like Hickman (see G.O.D.S.) he's leaned into his worst in aspects as a writer.

Why can't people just talk like normal human begins? Why does everything have to be written like everyone is faery from a distant land, remember when the X-Men were people and went to the mall?

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

Why people dislike his work is beyond me.

I like most of what he writes (except Uber) but he does tend to wallow in the emo/shoegazing side of things.

That's exactly how I would put it, navel gazing and pseudo-philosophical nonsense that would impress a 14 year old.

Sinister-Prime's monolog about how stories have no value until they've been stripped of everything that made them unique is one of the coldest things I've ever read. It's an observation that can be applied to anything, from how corporate comics won't let profitable characters stay dead to how Disney shamelessly pumps out re-makes of beloved animated features. Every part of the corpse gets used. That is good writing. He should have saved it for one of his creator-owned books.

[Devaishwarya]

Why people dislike his work is beyond me.

And I couldn't care any less that his work is lauded and appreciated.