By Jonathan Hickman, Francesco Mobili and Sunny Gho
X-Men #20 brings us all the way back to some of the events of House of X. This issue deals with Mystique, and as we all know, Mystique is never an easy character to figure out. She wants her partner Destiny back and moved to the front of the resurrection line, but it’s clear that Magneto and Professor X are not interested in her being brought back. This is essentially the meat of this issue.
Jonathan Hickman has done such an amazing job with the X-Men, that every issue feels like a treat. We follow Mystique as she seeks out some help from Forge. Hickman does a great job of writing Forge. He give Mystique a little dialogue about how he sees things, and of course it comes off well written. Hickman gives us a Charles and Erik that just kind of seem like dicks this issue. They set Mystique up and humiliate her later in the book for it. Hickman brings us all the way back to some of the seeds he planted earlier in the series. Mystique is a bad person to have angry at you, and Charles and Erik may be making a huge mistake stringing her along and degrading her.
The pencils this issue are handled by Francesco Mobili with colors by Sunny Gho. Mobili does a fine job with his art for this issue, and his work reminds me of Leinil Francis Yu. Well drawn pages, like Mystique taking on a Nimrod sentinel make this issue stand out. The lines are smooth, and Nimrod grabbing Mystique by the face shows that he is a no nonsense villain. The colors by Sunny Gho are simply excellent. Pages where the Nimrod comes alive, Gho uses light pink backgrounds or pink over the panel. This technique really works out well for the book and is something that makes the colors stand out. Earlier in the issue, close ups on Mystique’s face are colored just right. Gho uses the the exact right shade for Mystique’s skin tone. The pencils and colors rocked this issue, you couldn’t ask for a better combo on art duties.
X-Men #20 gives readers what they want to see, more turmoil on Krakoa. Jonathan Hickman absolutely slays every issue he writes, and this one is a true killer. The pencils and colors fit effortlessly with the story and just go together well. X-Men is the benchmark for how all superhero books should be written.
Review
X-Men is the benchmark for how all superhero books should be written.
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