Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Review | Tagged: Dawn Of X, fallen angels, marvel, x-men, X-ual Healing - The Weekly X-Men Recap Column

More of Apoth's Evil Plot Revealed in Fallen Angels #4… At Least Someone Has One [X-ual Healing]

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2019 15:00:39 -0600

by Jude Terror

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Six X-books hit stores last week: New Mutants #4, X-Force #4, Marauders #4, Excalibur #4, Fallen Angels #4, and one surprise book no one was expecting. As a Christmas present to myself, and since I've written over 3,000 words about them collectively (but get paid per article, not per word), I'm going to publish each recap as an individual article, and then reveal the Wolverine's Weiner X-Pick of the Week at the end. Will X-ual Healing continue that way into the new year? Maybe. Maybe not. They'll collectively get more clicks this way though.

In any case, if you don't feel like waiting for each article, just wait until the end of the day and read the finale. Now, let's get on with the show…

Sworn to sell comics for Marvel executives who feared and hated the fact that Fox owned their movie rights, The Uncanny X-Men suffered great indignities, but thanks to a corporate merger and a line-wide relaunch, the X-Men can finally get back to doing what they do best: being objectively the best franchise in all of comics.

What happened in Fallen Angels #4?

FALLEN ANGELS #4 DX
OCT190911
(W) Bryan Edward Hill (A) Szymon Kudranski (CA) David Nakayama
APOTH APPROACHES! PSYLOCKE'S PAST THREATENS HER NEW TEAM!
Psylocke's past continues to haunt her as she molds her companions into a fighting force… But can they take on the children of Apoth?
Rated T+
In Shops: Dec 18, 2019
SRP: $3.99

After another flashback revealing the former Kwannon's twisted upbringing, Psylocke and X-23 meet with Apoth through more possessed children. X-23 tells Psylocke that, since Apoth killed her daughter and obviously knows more about her than anyone else, maybe she should talk to Betsy Braddock, who fits into a similar category. Psylocke doesn't want to though. Meanwhile, a half-human, half-machine monstrosity who captured Kid Cable last issue and either is or is working for Apoth, lectures Cable about how machine-man hybrids are filling the evolutionary hole left in humanity by mutants. It then tells Cable that Cable will carry a message back to Psylocke, who it refers to as the mother of God (God being Apoth). So is thing Apoth? Part of Apoth? Working for Apoth? It's all very confusing.

While this is happening, Psylocke and X-23 meet with the children so she can speak to Apoth. Apoth tells Psylocke that she gave it life and demands she read the child's mind or it will kill Cable. Apparently, Psylocke was once sent to destroy Apoth, some kind of AI technology of some sort, but she decided not to, and so Apoth joined the internet and learned all about the world. After reading the Bible, it realized it was God. Apoth wants to make all humans part of itself, and then there will be peace on Earth. It also considers Psylocke its mom and has clear mommy issues. It lets the children live and frees Cable as a show of good faith, but it wants her to join it or it will kill a bunch of people. The issue ends with a nude, bald, silver man floating above Psylocke that only she can see. It looks kind of like the Silver Surfer, but presumably, it is Apoth?

Was it any good?

I can't really figure out what's going on in this comic half the time. The art is murky and the plot is murky, and that's on top of the massive character regression of X-23 to make her Psylocke's sidekick and protege. An AI villain isn't exactly a fresh concept, but it could have potential if it wasn't executed mainly through pseudo-intellectual mumbo jumbo. I don't want to hate Fallen Angels because I've been a big fan writer Bryan Hill's work at DC, but it just doesn't work here, for whatever reason, and it's definitely the worst of all the X-books.

Keep checking back as we recap all of last week's X-Men books today, and pick the best at the end for the Wolverine's Weiner X-Pick of the Week.