REVIEW: A.X.E. : Judgement Day No. 4

Most event books usually end up leaving a bad taste in comic book heads mouths, because though the most outlandish occurrences tend to happen within those pages, the effects aren’t always lasting.But somehow Kieron Gillen has been able to put some milestones into this one issue of Judgement Day, and after having to read through three issues of Eternals rhetoric, I can acknowledge that things are finally getting good.

The judgements in this issue are more heart rendering (see : Professor X) or humorous (see : Doctor Doom) than anything that has came before in this event. Which makes sense, because this is the climax in the plotline. Amazing that it had to take Ewing to pull the heart out of Magneto over in the revival of “X-Men Red” to finally pump the adrenaline within this series.

The action is crazy, with Valerio Schiti creating glorious spreads of the Hive-Mind personified, the telepathic depictions of the X-Men in a purplish haze (that Marte Garcia must have received inspiration from via the late Jimi Hendrix) and these full body shots of Starfox that could only be compared to Gross’ renderings of Desire. Yet, Schiti’s art as hellfire hits upon Cap’s shield are only accents to Gillen’s richly disparaging language towards the attitude of humanity as a whole.

Gillen, a writer who’s lived in this physical realm for however how long has found a way to reach a catharsis through speaking through this judgmental Celestial, and the beauty of it is not within the dragging of humanity on Earth 616, but what can be gleaned from the judgements and applied to the reader’s personal life here on Earth-1218.

In Judgement Day No.4, Gillen has written more than just a comic, he’s written a self help book, and to think all it took was to finally have Captain America lose hope.

Score : 5/5

by Kieron Gillen & Valerio Schiti, cover by Mark Brooks