X-Men # 4 Review

Heres my review for X-Men # 4 which was written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Leinil Yu.

X-Men #4
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN
Art by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
MUTANTS ARE THE FUTURE!
The Krakoan leaders attend an economic forum to show the humans what real power looks like.

It’s a pretty generic and slow burning book but it’s not without the world building and political intrigue as the Krakoans meet with a set of world leaders in X-Men # 4 by Jonathan Hickman, Leinil Francis Yu and Gerry Alanguilan.

People who rank the main X-Men book may be right with their view that the book has more talk than action. But that doesn’t mean it’s interesting. For X-Men # 4, there’s just so many dialogues between various characters.

I did find the book engaging though especially since we have the three main pillars of the Quiet Council (Magneto, Charles Xavier and Apocalypse) sharing their thoughts about the new status quo with various leaders including a representative from Wakanda who had rejected the offer to embrace the new mutant nation.

Cyclops and Gorgon are the main purveyors of action for this issue. We got some cool moments like Gorgon’s new method for dealing with the armed force that was ordered to assassinate Xavier and his entourage. Great panels done by Leinil Yu featuring Scott too.

Hickman’s exceptionally strong writing is out and about in this issue too quoting “The Island” and giving threats like no other.

But you know what, the real treat here in X-Men # 4 comes in the form of Apocalypse and his suit. I can’t believe I actually like seeing Apocalypse being a “good guy”. I guess that moment in House of X/ Powers of X with him playing leader for the X-Men was only the beginning of good things for En Sabah Nur.

I’m giving this a recommendation too because this X-Men run is also one of the last few books that Filipino colorist and artist Gerry Alanguilan worked on before his passing a week or so ago.

The appendices that come along this issue also explains the current setup for Gorgon, who has become the default Captain with for the Trinity of Apocalypse, Xavier and Magneto. It’s explained that while experience in terms of leadership is Cyclops’ forte, being one of the deadliest mutants is Gorgon’s and nobody can argue that.

Lastly it’s really nice to see what’s underneath Xavier’s cerebro helmet. Who’d have thought that we would actually want to see that after all this time.

Still a slow issue but one that’s still worth adding to your pull list is what I can say about X-Men # 4. Enjoyable from one page to the next.

4/5