REVIEW: X-Men Red No.6

As far as “Judgement Day” titles go, “X-Men Red” has been where the most action is. Ewing has made sure of that since the last issue where every character was ripped to shreds by the Celestials with green blasts that looked like photon beams, and then Magneto was left for dead that looked like something out of a Mortal Kombat fatality.

Though Stefano Casselli is able to capture the violence in a way that looks makes this title look like it could revive the Marvel Max line with just an added tag, Ewing has always been able to balance sheer violence with a plotline that always teeters the fine line that is the metaphysical : introspection combined with outward reflection on the realm one attempts to thrive in daily as a whole.

Here in the sixth issue of “Red”, Ewing tackles all of this, bringing on another inclusion to the many rings that make up both Krakoa and Arakko with a new ring consisting of seats for Nowhere, Nothing, and Nobody – another slice to police this already policed faction of mutants.
Just as in this physical realm that humans’ are subject to live in while reading this tome, shadow governments are always an interesting topic of discussion – the only thing is that on Arakko, humans actually get the opportunity to peek into this and it is more fact than speculative fiction, ironically in this work of pure fiction.

Now I find it amazing that Magneto was able to use his powers to keep his body running and trick that very body into thinking he still had a functioning atrium. Do I think that Storm needed to supercharge it in such a sensual way that her heart literally skipped a beat? No! I mean did she ever have that reaction on record while she was married to Black Panther? Maybe during their many arguments before and after AvX but certainly never in pleasure. Casselli captured Storm’s fuck face in three panels : from frustration, to orgasmic release, to a revelation of satisfaction ending the page with a grin before her and Magneto ended up blasting the Celestial to shreds on the next page.

With Magneto being embroiled in battle with Storm for so many years this scene … makes sense. I’ve cringed over the years as I’ve had to play voyuer and watch this woman screw her teammates from Wolverine to Forge and eventually screw over Black Panther, but this Magneto sequence, especially when he died in the very next installment of the main title of this event, what was Ewing’s point of this, other than to show and prove the negative stereotype of the Westernized melaninated woman being the most sexually adventurous yet always choosing the wrong person to mate with?

Arakko is literally an entire planet filled with mutants, someone else could have been chosen to supercharge Magneto is a sensuous manner other than the only Kenyan native on the damn planet. Despite my quarrel with this particular sequence, I do have to say Ewing and Casselli played with my emotions perfectly, so even though I don’t approve of Storm’s actions, it doesn’t mean I didn’t like it …

The foray into the romantic side of fanfic is successful in this issue because it is balanced so well with the violence and inevitable doom that the mutants face throughout this event, but here Ewing and Casselli have turned “X-Men Red” into the frontlines – and I don’t believe the Arakkians would have it any other way.

Score : 4.5/5

(W) Al Ewing (A) Stefano Caselli (CA) Russell Dauterman