Review – “The Immortal Men #6”: Caden’s Final Test

The Immortal Men #6 – James Tynion IV, Writer; Tyler Kirkham, Artist; Arif Prianto, Colorist

Ratings:

Ray – 5/10

Corrina: Wasted Potential

Ray: The Immortal Men comes to an abrupt end with Immortal Men #6, and so what we’re left with is a series that never got off the ground and still can’t quite stick the landing. James Tynion IV, one of DC’s most talented writers, spoke about this book with a lot of excitement but what showed up on the page bore little resemblance to the hype. Essentially a generic original superhero team book straight out of 1995 Image Comics, it’s barely had time to introduce some of its heroes before some die and others get thrown into elaborate battles. As the issue opens, we’re given our first hints at the larger mythology of the series, as big bad Infinite Woman makes contact with the other leaders of the houses of immortals. With one house without a leader thanks to her killing the Immortal Man, and one other house in hiding, she tries to form a pact between the three remaining houses – only for the House of Action and its new leader to show up on her doorstep. That new leader would be young Caden Park, who inherited the house’s knowledge a “spirit guide” named Communion last issue.

What ensues in the rest of the issue is pretty predictable.

Various members of the Immortal Men and the Infinite Women’s crew do battle, with Caden and the Infinite Woman themselves facing off. We get some side stories during this time, including Roderick meeting with Amanda Waller and getting his suspicious confirmed. Turns out that Waller has known about the existence of these immortal beings, or at least suspected, for some time.

Where the issue takes what could be a potentially interesting turn is with the battle erupting into the public eye. The issue is that this is a world with five hundred Superheroes in the public eye – do a few more mid-powered immortals even make a splash? The issue ends with Batman calling a council of the League to discuss this big reveal, and the question is…so what? It’s not an earth-shaking event in DCU terms, and it’s unlikely we’re ever going to see any real follow-up here. So what we’re left with is a pretty generic comic that doesn’t even really get to finish its own story.

Corrina: There are flashes in this issue of what could have been. Caden training to become the leader of his clan is as interesting as he’s ever been. The series spent too much time teasing who he was and what he was destined to be instead of having him answer the call to action. Then there’s the teamwork within our main group, which is terrific, and I really love some of these character concepts. I also love the five-person council idea (though it feels very much like The Hand from Marvel.)

But the series itself was too muddled to explore a single concept well. Was Caden destined to be trained at an immortal Hogwarts? Nope, it’s gone. Was he gaining these mentors? Nope, they’re dead. It’s like if Harry Potter went instantly from his letter from Hogwarts to Dumbledore, Lupin, Tonks, and Remus dying.

Tynion is a tremendously talented writer. Maybe the concept was never fully worked out with editorial or maybe it was something else. But it’s disappointing.

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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.