The X-Men‘s “From the Ashes” publishing initiative has had its ups and downs, and X-Men is ground zero for all the problems with it. While Uncanny X-Men has found a way to tap into the core of the X-Men and tell great stories, X-Men has been stuck rehashing the ’90s and ’00s and issue #16 keeps up this distressing tendency. X-Men owes a lot to the greatness of New X-Men, but this issue also shows a callback to a classic ’90s story. It’s definitely an action-packed comic, but it’s ultimately empty on a story level, one of the main problems with this comic over its run so far.
If there’s anything nice I can say about the writing of this issue, it’s that MacKay knows how to make a superhero/supervillain fight work. This issue pits Cyclops’s X-Men against 3K’s version of the team, and MacKay comes up with a lot of really interesting action set pieces in this issue. However, that’s basically the only good thing about the writing of this issue. It all starts right at the beginning, with the introduction of 3K’s X-Men. They’re just sort of dropped onto readers, with no introduction other than their names. In the past, we would have gotten at least a description of their powers in the caption boxes that give readers their names, but that’s not a thing here. It kind of hurts the whole fight, because despite seeing their powers during the fight, it would have been better for newer readers to get that little bit of an introduction. X-Men #15 was definitely a jumping on point, and this issue squanders all of that by explaining nothing that a new reader would needs to know.
From there, we get the rehashes. So, as a long time X-Men reader, I remember a little story called “Children of the Atom”, which pit the X-Men against a team of X-Men brought together by a villain. It’s a great story, and this issue often feels like a pale reflection of that story. It’s an evil team of X-Men trying to take the place of the main team, all while being led by an enemy who pretends to want to help mutants. Then, there’s Magneto’s use of a drug that enhances his powers and allows him control them again… which anyone who read Morrison’s New X-Men will recognize as sort of like Kick. MacKay has been generally plundering Morrison’s New X-Men, and this is yet another example of that. This book often feels like a generic X-Men comic, one that seems to know it can’t stand on its own, but is trying to fool readers that it can.
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Netho Diaz, working with inkers Sean Parsons, JP Mayer, and Livesay with colorist Fer Sifuentes-Sujo, does a pretty good job with the art. This issue definitely revolves around the central action scene and Diaz and the art team deliver a pretty good looking fight scene, taking MacKay’s ideas for the fight, and bringing them to life. The action is fluid and detailed. The last double-paged spread is pretty great, really hyping fans for the next issue’s big kaiju fight between a Magneto controlled Sentinel and a massive mutant under the control of Cassandra Nova.
However, while the art is mostly good, there’s something about Diaz’s pencils that feels very ’90s, but not in a good way. A lot of gritted teeth and pinched faces that can feel very weird. It’s never a good thing for the art when a book has three inkers, and anyone who has read comics for a while will be able to see the inconsistencies in inking in this issue. The art is the best part of the book, but it can’t save it from a lackluster plot.
MacKay’s X-Men has been something of a disappointment and this issue illustrates why. While it does everything right from a structure standpoint, it feels anemic when it comes to ideas. This is a bog standard X-Men comic that stands on the shoulders of much better runs that came before it. This is the kind of comic where you’re definitely better off just thumbing through the issue; the art is good enough that you’ll get a bunch of cool action imagery and not have to read a story that has nothing new going on under the hood. Ever since Hickman left the Krakoa Era, X-Men has become a book defined by good art and so-so writing and MacKay seems to be keeping that going. Maybe this is a good comic if you know nothing about the X-Men. Otherwise, it’s an exercise in rehashing.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Published by Marvel
Released on May 7, 2025
Written by Jed MacKay
Art by Netho Diaz
Inks by Sean Parsons, JP Mayer, and Livesay
Colors by Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letters by Clayton Cowles
X-Men #16 is on sale now.
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