Immortal X-Men #1 Destiny of X officially begins with Immortal X-Men #1, and the fate of Krakoa is at stake…but then again, isn’t it always?

Set after the explosive events of Inferno, Immortal X-Men finally puts a spotlight on the Quiet Council and their efforts to contain all of Krakoa’s dirty little secrets from their constituents. Now that Xavier and Magneto’s secret alliance with the since-depowered Moira MacTaggart has been exposed to the rest of the group, the Quiet Council is on shaky foundation—and each of its members have their own vested agendas to protect. Some more altruistically than others. And then we have Mister Sinister, the perennial, dastardly wild card of Krakoa who’s certainly up to no good, narrating the proceedings with giddy enthusiasm. What could possibly go wrong?

Keeping with the trend of the best Krakoa-era titles filling some sort of logical niche, Immortal X-Men is about mutant politics. The Quiet Council is essentially an oligarchy: an exclusive power elite wherein power exists solely within the closed circle. In other words, it’s Big Brother with higher stakes. And as a fan of that show, it means I’m predisposed to gobble up every page of this series. Some of my favorite bits of Inferno were the sequences of council deliberation and debate, and I’m glad to see that writer Kieron Gillen (making his grand X-Return here) is apparently of a similar opinion. He also clearly has an affection for Mister Sinister, and framing him as the narrator of the series—or at least this first issue—is just the red diamond on top. He’s usually right in his assumptions about others, but he’s also sometimes not (i.e. a relatable, messy king). Also, rejoice: Sinister Secrets are back!

Artist Lucas Werneck, recently of The Trial of Magneto, also returns to Krakoa as the ongoing artist of this series. I was hot and cold on the former title, but his art consistently remained one of its high points, so I’m not at all complaining to see more of it here. Immortal X-Men requires a skilled artist who can sell character beats and quieter moments—this is definitely not an action-packed book—and Werneck excels at that. Gillen’s script is very dialogue-heavy and doesn’t exactly call for dynamic pacing, but Werneck finds a way to make each exchange exciting and suspenseful.