By Title: X-Men: Gold #19
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writers: Marc Guggenheim
Artists: Diego Bernard
Story Rating: 9
Art Rating: 9
Color Rating: 10
Overall Rating: 9
Marvel Comics brings forth the ultimate evil as the God Scythian is on verge of annihilating the planet Dartayus. The X-Men must find a way to defeat the immortal deity before his power casts the world into dust and ash.
Marc Guggenheim finishes the war on Dartayus with a great battle as the alien troops and the X-Men fight the God Scythian. After the defeat of Kologoth the team turns their attention to the immediate danger. The mighty powers of Wolverine, Kitty Pride, Prestige, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Storm isn’t enough to stand against the great enemy.
Scythian’s strength devastates the people and the military resources. The only force strong enough to stop Scythian is the Negative Zone portal. Therefore, the X-Men launch the god into the deep space portal and the gravitational force traps the God into the unknown forever.
Unsatisfactory elements of the issue come from how quick the X-Men defeated the God of this magnitude all within the single issue. The story decision rushed the build up to what was promised in Scythian.
Scythian may have caused destruction but his short demise did not leave a lasting impact for the story. Every member of the X-Men walked away unscathed or seriously injured at the hands of this deity. Therefore, the story choice lacked an emotional impact.
Diego Bernard develops a new atmosphere in the making of artwork. His method of art puts the majority of skill through color providing an assortment of tones that blend together. The major portions of color come from red, blue, purple, and orange.
Characters do not wield too many detail lines or dark ink. Individual appearances are complete but do not have anything that delivers an iconic image or panel. Background and settings have basic shapes that offer complimentary color to bring focus to the character within the environment.
A cliffhanger leaves questions for the readers of this book. Once the great God Scythian is defeated the only functional spaceship to the X-Men is destroyed. Now the team is stranded on the planet within the Negative Zone.
What will happen to the X-Men? Will they ever leave Dartayus or rebuild on this alien planet? Will an even more powerful threat make its way to the mutants? Find out as the X-Men continue their journey in further issues in the far reaches of outer space.
