Inferno #4
Professor X and Magneto battle Omega Sentinel and Nimrod as Mystique, Destiny, and Moira have their final confrontation in Inferno #4, by writer Jonathan Hickman, artists Valerio Schiti and Stefano Caselli, colorist David Curiel, and letterer Joe Sabino. This is the last Hickman X-Men comic and it can’t help but impress but it’s also kind of bittersweet.
This isn’t going to be a traditional review. By now, if someone wanted to read this comic, they have by now and anyone who is reading a review of the last issue of an event comic they want an opinion on it. The first line of this review is pretty much all of the recap anyone needs for the plot of this comic. That’s the basics of it- Mags and Xavier battle Nimrod and Karima, while Mystique, Destiny, and Moira have a last conversation. Are there other factors? Yes, but we’ll get to that.
There will be SPOILERS. Beware.
So, as the last issue of the Hickman era, this is a great issue. Anyone looking for closure isn’t going to get it. That’s one of the problems with Hickman leaving. This is an endpoint for him but not for the story. While it doesn’t really match the big surprises of the last issue, it does have a few of its own. For example, Moira. Anyone who was trying to figure out how Mystique and Destiny could get their revenge on her should remember X-Men history. Mutant powers can be taken away and this issue brings a weapon created by Forge that lets the lovers set things up for their revenge. They also get a confession out of her, something that was foreshadowed in the first issue of this comic- Moira with notes, possibly from her second life, the one that ended with her death. Moira wanted to cure mutants and one can see that Hickman was probably going to play with that later on. However, this revelation seems like it’s going to play into things later, especially seeing as how Doug shows up midway through the confrontation. He doesn’t allow Mystique and Destiny to kill Moira and they actually let her go. She’s no longer a mutant but now she’s holding a grudge and is trying to recreate her mutant cure. It’s easy to see where the other X-Men writers are going to take this, but they may not. It’s possible.
The meat of the issue is the big confrontation between the women but the action comes from the Xavier and Magneto section. They have been rather passive this entire era, so it’s fun to see them finally get to fight. Honestly, they do way better than one would expect against two perfect Sentinels but, of course, Cerebro gets destroyed. This isn’t a fight they can win and seeing as how this isn’t the end of the Krakoa/Orchis war, there’s only one way for this to end for Mags and Xavier. Again, this was foreshadowed by the first issue, much like the deaths of the X-Men was foreshadowed in House Of X. It’s still an exciting fight but it’s also kind of predictable because the reader knows that Nimrod and Karima aren’t going to die. This issue is so well done but the problem is that it’s not an ending and that means that readers know nothing is going to be solved here.
In that way, it’s a pretty typical Marvel event book except it’s that much more frustrating because readers know that Hickman is gone. It’s up to others to pick up the slack and unfortunately, that’s going to be the book’s legacy. This is a well done comic, even if the ending is predictable, but that’s expected from Hickman. Schiti and Caselli help as well. The action scenes are visceral and exciting with some great moments within. The sections with Mystique, Destiny, Moira, and Doug Ramsey are probably the best looking though. It’s all about the character acting and it’s perfect throughout. Between the art and the writing, this is a pretty amazing comic but, again, it’s still just a typical Marvel comic, just done way better than any other one.
Hickman’s legacy on the X-Men isn’t going to be nearly as good as his legacy on Fantastic Four and Avengers/New Avengers. Part of the problem is that he didn’t get to personally finish his story; part is that too many of the writers he handpicked dropped the ball that he gave them. Multiple X-Men books have been straight up bad and Hickman’s own work on X-Men often felt like it was treading water as well. X Of Swords was not a good story by most metrics. Inferno is the best the X-Men or Hickman has been since HoX/PoX. However, the problem comes in that, once again, it’s just a really well done typical Marvel event book. It tells a story and sets things up for the next publishing initiative. The creative team does a great job and this is a wonderful read. It doesn’t save Hickman’s run from being kind of disappointing, though.
