The Mutants are in an unprecedented time. They’ve spent the last several years building their island sanctuary of Krakoa and in the last few months, they’ve seen everything com crashing down. With things hanging in such a delicate balance, even the slightest action can tip the scales.
“Immortal X-Men #1” takes us into the room where it happens for the Mutants of the Marvel Universe. While many are accustomed to seeing the X-Men deal with their problems on some kind of battlefield, today’s mutants handle business in a futuristic boardroom.
Krakoa’s governing body know as the Quiet Council is in shambles after a recent betrayal was uncovered during the events of “Inferno.” And that was only Exacerbated during “X Lives/Deaths of Wolverine.” And now, things are about to get shaken up even more.
However, this particular story is being told from the perspective of Mister Sinister, and things are going exactly according to his plan… sort of. The evil genius is watching things unfold around him as he subtly pulls strings for things to work out in his best interests, rather than the interests of Krakoa and Mutantkind.
And now the Council is facing the task of once again finding a new member, after the departure of one of their most powerful and most trusted leaders. With so many great candidates presenting themselves, the Council has a decision to make and Sinister has a game to play.
Make no mistake – Mister Sinister is a wildly fun character. There is something great about a character who is so evil and so dangerous and he’s absolutely hilarious at the same time. And to have him in such a position of power, despite his history with so many of our favorite characters, only adds to his very interesting dynamic.
The downside of having this story be told from Sinister’s perspective – he talks A LOT. This is a very wordy first issue. The nature of this political drama already lends itself to being a long, slow read, but when to add Sinister to that mix it only gets longer and slower.
That’s not to say that a political drama set in Krakoa can’t be a very interesting read. It absolutely can and we’ve seen it before. The Mutants are trying to build their utopia and with so many big personalities at play, establishing a government of sorts can be very difficult. That can often lead to some fun stories and some big character moments.
In this first issue however, there is really not a whole lot happening. This is a political drama framed by an evil genius who is secretly playing his own game. Unfortunately, a lot of his secrets are also kept secret from the audience and we’re left wondering what his next move is while the council votes on who their new member should be.
You can check out “Immortal X-Men #1” now.