After X-Manunt, X-Men #14 Returns to a Lackluster Status Quo (Review)

With “X-Manhunt” in the books, it’s time for the “From the Ashes” X-Men line to get back to where it was before the crossover put everything on pause. The “From the Ashes” line has been remarkably uneven, which brings us to the newest volume of X-Men. This book follows a more militant Cyclops and his X-Men doing their best to carve out a new world for mutants after the end of Krakoa, pitting them against the threat of 3K, a concept which takes two New X-Men ideas — Cassandra Nova and the U-Men — and fuses them. X-Men #14 picks up with the X-Men out on a hunt for a young girl from Merle, Alaska, the town where the Orchis facility that they commandeered as a headquarters is located. This is pretty much the entire plot of the issue, and it’s definitely not one that’s going to hook new readers.

This is the most basic an X-Men comic can be, and technically a good place for new readers to jump in. Writer Jed MacKay sets up all the things that a new reader would need to know to understand the X-Men’s newest status quo, and he does so in a way that never feels like exposition dialogue. A new comic can be a daunting thing for a new readers, so it’s great that MacKay is able to get everything that readers need to know in the first pages in a natural way. The relationships between the characters are also nicely laid out. Reading X-Men #14 reveals everything a reader would need to know about each of the characters and their place in this X-Men team. This is the best way to write an issue coming after a major crossover; any new readers that picked up the book after that story are definitely going to get the team dynamic by reading this issue. All of this is very good for the book.

Ryan Stegman returns as artist after several issues away, and everything about the book looks fantastic. Stegman’s style is pretty cartoony — and his Cyclops doesn’t really fit who the character is, looking too young — but his eye for detail is outstanding. Page six, for example, opens with a large panel showcasing new mutant Jen Starkey and it’s breathtaking. Jen, much like Beast, is a mutant whose powers are animalistic, and Stegman does an amazing job of rendering the detail of her new form. His character acting and facial detail is also outstanding, especially in the pages with Magneto and Ben Liu, another new mutant, and he truly sells Temper’s sadness when she thinks that Quentin Quire is dead. The reveal of 3K’s newest member, the former Alpha Flight villain Wyre, is another fantastic page, making the villain look much cooler than he ever has. Stegman’s art is an exercise in detail and textures, and it looks phenomenal.

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While the issue definitely does a lot right, the problem is that there’s really very little of substance here to make readers want to keep reading. For instance, the reveal of Wyre. It’s treated like some massive moment that is going to resonate with every reader, but no one knows who Wyre is or why we should be scared of him unless they read Alpha Flight in the ’90s. It’s endemic of one of the biggest problems with MacKay’s X-Men in general — the idea that this is must-read X-Men that is going to appeal to any fan of the team just by existing. While the conversation between Magneto and Ben feels important, it’s rather predictable. There’s really nothing about this story that ever actually feels special. This is a bog standard X-Men story, albeit one with frequently brilliant art, and it never really sells itself as anything that needs to be there. This issue could have taken place at just about any time in X-Men history and the only way to tell it didn’t is by the quality of the printing.

This issue is yet another example of why “From the Ashes” just doesn’t work. The X-Men are Marvel’s most important team, dealing with a massive societal issue. The X-Men work best when there’s ideas behind it, but there’s no ideas behind “From the Ashes”, and this issue fits into that. This issue is basically just set-up for the next part of the 3K story, but it never really sells the idea — that Cassandra Nova is making regular humans into mutants to broaden the hatred of mutants — or why the readers should care about it. This is just the X-Men doing standard superhero stuff, and even then it never really does that in a great way. MacKay is Marvel’s current golden boy, but neither of his A-list team books — Avengers or X-Men — really make the argument for him as the next great Marvel writer.

X-Men #14 is an example of a comic that does everything right yet still falls on its face. MacKay and Stegman put together an issue that is meant to wow a new readers who has maybe decided to try X-Men after reading “X-Manhunt”, but it has no wow. It’s well-structured as a story and has some cool moments, but it just doesn’t have any meat to it. Any new readers picking this comic up isn’t going to be left with the burning need to read the next issue to find out what happens because nothing in this issue interesting. As for the readers already with the book, it’s perfectly fine for what it is, but what it is isn’t exactly much.

Rating 2.5 out of 5

Published by Marvel

On April 2, 2025

Written by Jed MacKay

Art by Ryan Stegman

Inked by JP Mayer

Colored by Marte Gracia

Letters by Clayton Cowles