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Written by: Jed Mackay
Art by: Ryan Stegman, J.P. Mayer, Livesay
Colors by: Marte Gracia
Letters by: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover art by: Ryan Stegman, J.P. Mayer, Marte Gracia
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: October 2, 2024
X-Men #5, by Marvel Comics on 10/2/24, sends Quentin Quire and Psylocke into the mind of Ben Liu to bring him out of his coma and find out who activated his mutant powers as an adult.
Is X-Men #5 Good?
X-Men #5 is a mixed bag. If you’re a fan of The Cell (2000), writer Jed MacKay delivers a similar concept with a mildly gory trip into the mind of a comatose man, so horror fans may dig the vibe. That said, the pacing of this series, particularly with the reveal and motivations for who will presumably be the main villain, is slower than molasses in winter. MacKay doesn’t appear to have a particular destination in mind, and he’s taking all the time in the world to not get there.
When last we left the team in X-Men #4, a subset of the X-Men, led by Magik, was sent to stop the latest incarnation of the Upstarts to stop the livestream murder of adult-turning mutants found on the street. Ultimately, the Upstarts fled, but we now know that the Upstarts are sponsored by Sugar Man.
In X-Men #5, Cyclops tasks Psylocke (isn’t she also in X-Force?) and Quentin Quire to enter Ben Liu’s mind. He’s the adult-activated mutant they rescued in issue #2. Cyclops wants the duo of psychics to bring Ben out of his coma and find out how his mutant powers were activated.
We’ve heard Ben’s name mentioned in passing more than once since he was brought back to the factory, but this is the first time we’ve seen anyone address the situation. You’d think a curious problem, such as adults suddenly gaining mutant powers, would be handled with more focus and urgency.
Psylocke and Quentin join hands and enter a meditative state to enter Ben’s psyche. At first, they see the vision of the same alien invasion Ben accidentally conjured in San Francisco, but the psychic duo confirms the vision is a response to trauma. The psychics dig deeper into Ben’s memories, where they see the moment he is abducted by a group of humans and subjected to torturous experiments to activate his mutant potential.
The issue ends when a psychic “booby trap” activates to prevent further prying by confronting Psylocke and Quentin with their worst fears. They escape the bloody horrors, bringing Ben’s comatose psyche to the surface, and hear the name we haven’t heard since issue #1 – 3K.
And that’s that. Cool-ish things happen, and Ryan Stegman has returned to draw Quentin Quire like a college freshman lesbian, but other than that, you don’t learn anything you didn’t already, and you don’t see any consequences or progress from Psylocke and Quentin’s actions.
What’s great about X-Men #5? Again, if you like a little bit of bloody, psychic horror just in time for Halloween, you’re in for a treat. Quentin and Psylocke get assaulted with gruesome attacks from the mental booby trap left by K3, and the horror vibe is well done… for an X-Title.
What’s not great about X-Men #5? The pacing is abysmal. We’re at issue #5, and this issue contains only the second time the infamous K3, which is supposed to be the story’s big bad, is mentioned. We don’t know who they are, what they want, or why they’re manufacturing adult mutants.
At some point, MacKay needs to get to the point. Let’s hope he does it before readers lose too much interest.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Final Thoughts
X-Men #5 gives readers a mildly interesting horror comic in the same vein as The Cell (2000) to find out how Ben Liu became a mutant. Ryan Stegman returns to deliver perfectly decent art, and Jed Mackay’s script has some surprisingly effective scares, but the issue accomplishes almost nothing in an arc that’s going nowhere.
5.8/10
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