Marvel Review: X-MEN BEFORE THE FALL - SINISTER FOUR #1
Credit: Marvel
Continuing the BEFORE THE FALL preludes to the upcoming Fall of X event (catch my review of last week’s HERALDS OF APOCALYPSE), SINISTER FOUR #1 hits shelves today. The one-shot, written by Kieron Gillen with art by Paco Medina, showcases the four major Essex clones we’ve been following over the current Destiny of X story arc — Mister Sinister, Doctor Stasis, Orbis Stellaris, and Mother Righteous. Full disclosure: Krakoan Mister Sinister has been one of my FAVORITE Marvel characters so this review will be influenced by that!
‘SINISTER FOUR’ is a slightly misleading title as the main story in this one-shot primarily focuses on two of the clones, Doctor Stasis & mother Righteous, and their attempts at wining, dining, and intertwining each other to gain insights into each other’s endgame plans. The book opens in a flashback to the OG Nathaniel & Rebecca Essex courting each other in Victorian London. We see their romance blossom into a marriage proposal and it’s a weirdly touching moment for a character who we have not seen show true emotion very often.
Credit: Marvel
The story then shifts to the present were Doctor Stasis, who has kept the original Nathaniel’s undying love for Rebecca, is planning a dinner “date” with Mother Righteous. Readers observe a tit-for-tat conversation between two clones who we initially think might actually be rekindling some version of the long-lost romance between their original selves. Ulterior motives are the norm for any good Essex and by the end of the issue we see that both Stasis and Righteous were using the time together for their own agendas, including connections to the broader Orchis plans.
Credit: Marvel
Throughout the book, Gillen’s writing offers readers a complex and character-driven narrative that fills in plenty of background and motivation for what’s ahead. Stasis is given a backstory and motivations that make him almost an ideal anti-hero, while Righteous is given much needed depth as a major player. Both of these characters have suffered through lengthy periods of being one-note caricatures, but Gillen has seemingly redeemed them both and given some much needed momentum to the plans that will likely unfold in (hopefully) short order.
Medina’s art is equally on point in this book. The back and forth conversation over dinner is displayed as a quasi-fencing match featuring a wonderful mix of close-up shots to highlight detailed facial reactions and wide-angle shots of the full room that elicit a level of tension building with each panel. The color choices by Edgar Delgado and Fer Sifuentes-Sujo provided a perfect balance to the drama, with bright, bold colors on every page.
While the Krakoan Age is on it’s last legs, I can’t help but wish we were witnessing it through the lens Gillen is offering for the Essex clan here. SINISTER FOUR and HERALDS OF APOCALYPSE are almost diametrically opposed stories that represent the fun yet complex political drama that Krakoa’s arrival offered (SINISTER FOUR) vs. the drawn-out, unnecessary rehashing of ideas without resolution that have come to plague the Hickman-less Destiny of X arc (HERALDS OF APOCALYPSE).
Rating: 8.5/10
