Uncanny X-Men #18 Review – Capacity of Betrayal
I found the cover of Uncanny X-Men #18 to be rather odd, considering it had Magneto looking down upon Queen Medusa in the palm of his hand and neither character was to be found in the issue. Instead, it takes a look at war that we rarely see, something that the video game This War of Mine brilliantly (and depressingly) presented. Remember that the mutants invaded New Attilan? Took away all the Royals and imprisoned them in Limbo? What about the rest of the inhumans that surrendered in New Attilan? What has happened to them?
The inhumans are effectively prisoners of war. They’re not in a camp or a prison, but they aren’t able to do whatever they wish, either. With Magneto and the others hunkered down at their base to sort out what to do about Forge, the citizens of New Attilan need jailers of sorts. Magneto has summoned Shen Xorn, who took in the sleeper mutants for safety, and the sleepers to police New Attilan. Xorn, a mutant so powerful, he has chosen the way of peace, and the sleeper mutants who volunteered to be sleepers to escape violence and the terrigen, are responsible for keeping the inhumans in line.
Surely all will remain well.
Simply put, Xorn does not want to be there. The mutants he has sheltered don’t want to be there. The inhumans certainly don’t want any of them there. To say that tension runs high would be a gross overstatement. When one of the inhumans starts a jailbreak, the tension is unleashed on one another. The mutants who don’t want to be there brutally attack the inhumans. The inhumans brutally attack the mutants, including Xorn, who is doing his best to pacify the matter.
Thanks to Sebastian Shaw and his outburst with Xorn, both the mutants and the inhumans turn against Xorn. He understands it. The mutants under his care feel betrayed by him. The inhumans also scoff at his promise of a peaceful prison term. Xorn even finds that he has indeed betrayed himself and gone against everything he has stood for.
The war may have been physically bloodless, but as this issue clearly demonstrates, war is never truly bloodless, especially after a battle. My heart breaks for all in New Attilan. This overall arc is almost over, but the aftermath will surely be felt across both sides. It’s rather difficult to get to the end of this issue and not have chills.
Our Rating: Yep
Author: Cullen Bunn
Artists: Edgar Salazar, Edgar Tadeo, and Rainier Beredo
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Publish Date: 02/15/2017
Acquired via Purchase
