X-Men #6
Mystique makes a startling discovery about Orchis in X-Men #6, by writer Jonathan Hickman, artist Matteo Buffagni, colorist Sunny Gho, and letterer Clayton Cowles. Hickman does a great job of setting things up this issue, showing how Xavier and company may have made a huge mistake denying Mystique.
This issue alternates back forth between the past and the present. It starts while Destiny is still alive. She tells Mystique that she has a vision to share with her. In the present, the Orchis Initiative has bounced back from the X-Men’s attack, with Director Devo sending Doctor Gregor a special component… one she puts in what looks like a Nimrod unit. In the past, Xavier gives Mystique a special mission to fulfill during the raid on the Mother Mold- planting a Krakoan Gate plant on the station, which she succeeds in doing. Her price is simple- she wants Mystique back. After she’s resurrected, Xavier and Magneto tell her they’re not sure she succeeded because she was out of Cerebro range when she died, and they won’t give her Destiny back until she proves the gate is there. She does so and learns about the almost completed Nimrod. She thinks about killing Dr. Gregor but doesn’t. Back on Krakoa, she tells Xavier and Magneto what she witnessed. They get into another argument about her wanting Destiny back, but Xavier and Magneto refuse again, telling her she has more to do. The issue ends with Destiny’s prophecy to Mystique- telling her about the island of Krakoa and how they would deny her the one thing she wanted- to bring Destiny back. If she couldn’t get them to, her path was simple- burn it all to the ground.
There’s so much to unpack with this issue. Sure, it’s a big development that Orchis is able to build a Nimrod without the Mother Mold and that they have more going for them than just the Forge station, but the real meat of the issue is what goes on between Mystique, Xavier, and Magneto. Mystique’s desire for Destiny, her wife, is quite understandable. Mystique never loved anyone else in her life like she loved Destiny. Knowing that she can have her back and being denied it is heartbreaking, both for her and the reader.
Xavier and Magneto have no intention to bring Destiny back. Moira warned them against having any precogs on the island, and so far, they’ve followed her wish. They’re basically manipulating Mystique, using her desire, her love, to control her. Even though readers know that Mystique is going to do something terrible because of this, it’s hard not to feel sympathetic towards her. She’s being used and manipulated by people who have no intention of giving her what she wants. It shows an ugly side to Xavier and Magneto that isn’t out of character, but still sad to see. Whatever happens next is as much their fault as it is Mystique’s.
The art by Matteo Buffagni is simple and clean. It’s detailed when it needs to be, but where it really works is in conveying Mystique’s emotions. A great moment in this issue is the close-ups on Mystiques face as she dies during the Mother Mold raid. Tears freeze in the cold of space as she dies, and it’s wonderful. Elsewhere, when she angrily demands her wife back, the rage and anguish in her expression jump off the page.
X-Men #6 is stellar. Hickman sets up a lot of things in this issue, but the most important parts aren’t the set-up for future plot lines, but the sheer emotion of the whole thing. Mystique’s desire and the anguish she feels about its denial are palpable to readers, in no small part thanks to Matteo Buffagni’s expressive pencils. Hickman highlights the worst of Xavier and Magneto in this issue, showing that readers that both men are as shady as they’ve always been. Krakoa is a powder keg, and X-Men #6 has provided the spark that may blow it all away.
Grade: A+
