The challenge of a five author crossover storyline comes to fruition. My criticisms of the previous issues were focused around padding and filling and is not unusual in the current world of comic selling. The five writers are Marvel’s heavyweights and for the most the work is good. Brian Bendis wrote this issue and has produced a great comic. There are landmark scenes involving many different characters all related to Scott. Ultimately it is a giant battle scene but the few lines of dialogue add to the intensity and the importance of the fight. Bendis has a perfect balance between the varying characters especially the most important of all, Charles Xavier.
Oliver Coipel has performed astoundingly on this comic. He draws detailed faces and impactful action sequences. There is a fine balance of inking and colouring in this book by Mark Morales and Linda Martin. The close up shots have lovely skin shading for the expressions on display but during action scenes these are replaced by definite edges, which adds to the sharpness of battle. The colouring is beautiful as amongst the displays of violence, there is a beautiful sunset on a beach. The flickering fire of the phoenix power with the sandy beach blur backdrop is gorgeous. The imagery of Scott and the Phoenix is epic and Xavier standing side on to Scott with his hands in his pocket is simply stunning.
I have written about my love of Scott Summers in my eulogy to him. I honestly feel that this is a ground breaking issue and is the long awaited demise of Scott. It has been building for years and you could see that there would be a time when all would go awry. I was devastated at the end of this issue and I give ultimate kudos and credit to the authors and writers.
Excellent 10/10
House Of Flying Scalpels 