Fallen Angels #6 is bad, please don’t read it. Fallen Angels #6 is bad, please don’t read it. Fallen Angels #6 is bad, please don’t read it. Fallen Angels #6 is bad, please don’t read it. Fallen Angels #6 is bad, please don’t read it. Fallen Angels #6 is bad, please don’t read it. Fallen Angels #6 is bad, please don’t read it.
Fallen Angels #6
Frank D’Armata (colors), Bryan Hill (writer), Szymon Kudranski (artist), Tom Muller (design), VC’s Joe Sabino (letters), Ashley Witter (cover)
That was going to be my full review of this train wreck of a comic, but apparently search engines don’t like it when you just repeat the same thing 38 times. That said, this book is a stumbling dumpster fire of bad characterization and terrible decisions. If the rest of the Dawn of X line wasn’t so remarkable, this book might have be able to burn all my interest in the X-Men, like has been done so many times before.
The failure of this book to fully realize its themes is extra pronounced for me as I’m currently reading my way through the entirety of X-Men and related titles, and I just read the original Fallen Angels mini-series. Both books have themes of not knowing where you stand as a hero due to your own temperament and actions, except the main character of the original was actually written in character. Sunspot never acts like someone else; his own doubts and fears are what drive him to the original Fallen Angels outlaw group. He finds himself by the end of the series, and realizes that despite his doubts, he can be a hero if he wants to be. In comparison, we leave Kwannon pretty much where she was when the series started.
Confusingly, for a book that was supposed to move her past her history with Betsy, Fallen Angels does nothing to reach that goal. She’s still using Betsy’s name. She’s still wearing Betsy’s costume. She’s still using Betsy’s butterfly imagery. She’s still somehow using Betsy’s telekinesis (a power Kwannon doesn’t actually have). No part of this series has moved Kwannon into her own character. Let’s hope Hellions delivers on that (I’ll be covering that book starting in March).
The action of the book is also confusing, as we skip any lead-up to the final conflict, and just jump into it in progress. It remains clear that there was no point in adding Husk and Bling! to this book, as they serve absolutely no purpose. Laura seems a slight bit more in character this issue, but she pales in comparison to X-Men where Laura felt unmistakably like the character she’d grown into during Tom Taylor’s All-New Wolverine.
This book’s finish is like all it’s other chapters; boring, confusing, and full of terrible art and even worse characterization. Save yourself time and money and skip this book. I highly recommend the original Fallen Angels mini-series, which can be found on ComiXology or Marvel Unlimited, and actually understands its characters. Plus there are two super smart telekinetic lobsters, something this book sadly did not have. Fallen Angels #6 is bad, please don’t read it.
