X-Lapsed, Episode 042 – X-Men #5 (2020)
X-Lapsed, Episode Forty-Two
X-Men (vol.5) #5 (March, 2020)
“Into the Vault”
Writer – Jonathan Hickman
Art – R.B. Silva
Colors – Marte Gracia
Letters – VC’s Clayton Cowles
Design – Tom Muller
Edits – Bissa, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $3.99
On-Sale: January 15, 2020
Fallen Angels isn’t even over yet, and X-23 is already joining another team? Well, I guess that’s just a sign of the times. Today we join her, Synch, and Darwin as they attempt to infiltrate the Children of the Vault’s… well, vault.
It’s another strange one-off issue of X-Men (vol.5)… listen to me try not to complain that it’s not everything I wanted it to be!
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@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com
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Following this book along with X-Lapsed really changes it because you become aware of where it sits with the other books. In retrospect the continuity of this issue is a real mess. I'm reading along with you so I haven't read Fallen Angels number 6 yet but clearly Laura just resets back to where she was before the series.
As you say it was a treat to get RB Silva and Marte Gracia back on the art. This issue looks amazing but I have to admit that I have no idea what is going on. This feels like one of those stories where Hickman is leaning too hard into the sci-fi and losing clarity.
I am excited for the next couple of issues. X-Men 6 and 7 are both fascinating issues that have a lot to dig into. And the next episode is Marauders 6 which really ramps up the storyline.
As for the issue 5s. My top place is still Marauders, followed by New Mutants. Next it's X-Men primarily for the art. Then X-Force and Excalibur with Fallen Angels at the bottom. It's not a smooth curve though as the top 3 are quite considerably ahead of the bottom three. And at the bottom Excalibur is way ahead of Fallen Angels. I genuinely wonder how it got published. I imagine there is some story behind the scenes about this. You usually only get something this bad when editorial and the creative team are working against each other and the book is getting rewritten.