• X-Men: Before the Fall - Sons of X #1

  Writer:

  Si Spurrier

  Artist:

  Phil Noto

  Letterer:

  VC's Clayton Cowles

  Cover Artist:

  Phil Noto

  Publisher:

  Marvel

  Price:

  $4.99

  Release Date:

  2023-05-03

  Colorist:

  Phil Noto

After the end of the Sins of Sinister era, a thousand-year cataclysm precipitated by Mister Sinister meddling in the Krakoan resurrection process, the X-Men timeline has righted itself, but not without resonating consequences. Fresh off writing back-to-back Nightcrawlers and Legion of X runs, Si Spurrier returns with X-Men: Before the Fall - Sons of X #1, with art and colors by Phil Noto and lettering by VC's Clayton Cowles. Prior to Sinister's meddling, Nightcrawler's team of Legionnaires were unraveling an Orchis scheme that was exacerbating X-genes and turning mutants into monsters, before their untimely disappearance.

X-Men: Before the Fall - Sons of X #1 opens with a rough recap of events, hitting the key beats of Banshee trying to unpick his missing recent past, Legion preparing to rescue Nightcrawler and battle Nimrod and the ongoing experiments being run on mutants. All roads lead to Mother Righteous, mysterious MVP of the aborted Sinister timeline, who fields a mission to Orchis headquarters, and unintentionally kickstarts a new chapter for herself, Nightcrawler and Legion.

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Spurrier's writing in X-Men: Before the Fall - Sons of X #1 has an immediately operatic, high-stakes quality that builds the cosmic scale of the narrative directly into the tone. Spurrier works excellently in microcosm, with great dynamics between characters, particularly the interplay between Mother Righteous and Legion, which is buoyed by tension and wit. On that note, Spurrier really pushes through with the crystallization of the power and intentions of Mother Righteous, finally giving her character a concrete sense of ambitions and limitations. Overall, the writing makes great use of its characters and motifs, threading together a plurality of stories and timelines, to compose a set of really important turning points for fan-favorite characters like Kurt Wagner and David Haller.

X-Men: Before the Fall - Sons of X #1 feels unique in terms of its illustrations. Noto breaks out of the expected aesthetics of a Marvel book to create a profoundly novel comic that scans closer to classical painting than pop art. There is a distinctly soft and mellifluous feel to the work, bereft of harsh lines, hatching or shading, which gives the art a stunning sense of confluence and an almost dream-like quality. This fluidity lends itself positively to Noto's wonderful sense of proportion and anatomy, particularly in regard to his deeply expressive characters and capturing of dynamic motion. There are also some stunningly cinematic moments towards the close of the book, elevated by gorgeous architecture and natural landscapes, that drive home the beauty and tragedy of this story.

Noto double-features as the colorist and artist for X-Men: Before the Fall - Sons of X #1, utilizing colors to unlock the dimension and depth of his illustration, rather than shading with inks. Using contrast and masterful understanding of light and perspective, Noto lifts his art off the page and creates a world that feels visually sumptuous and incredibly novel. The expert use of color drives home the alternative style of the issue, creating a softening effect that is almost reminiscent of watercolors, occasionally bleeding through or away from the inking lines in a way that adds to the oneiric, almost psychedelic feeling that permeates the comic. Cowles delivers solid lettering throughout X-Men: Before the Fall - Sons of X #1, using a variety of text sizes and emboldening and italicizing to create emphasis and rhythm in the dialogue with an impressively consistent sense of clarity. Cowles also dabbles in some alternate balloons, that are brilliantly expressive and add some great visual variation.

X-Men: Before the Fall - Sons of X #1 definitely feels like a storyline finding its way back to the center, a touch oblique at times, and littered with references to ideas that came before it and may materialize in the future. Although somewhat inaccessible to new readers in places, nothing about the comic feels unimaginatively bleak for a comic explicitly portending a great fall for the X-Men: rather it feels open-ended, brimming with potential for interesting character developments, infused with an arresting philosophical earnestness. Visually stunning, this comic traces the opening notes of a swansong, beginning to set up an endgame in the shadows without showing any of its hand.