having 3k’s x-men suddenly brutally beat schwarzchild to death in #24 was such a fantastic moment to me and it made me so incredibly excited. of course it was well written, but also with the execution by the art team it was truly fantastic. the juxtaposition in the scene is just. mwah. now hear me ramble about it
the scene is set is a beautiful sort of haunting sky with red clouds and a white plane for a floor, but like, we can see dawn breaking, with the clouds turning from red to pink and the sun appearing from behind them to light beast, like? stunning?
but aside from when the sun breaks through the clouds behind beast, we’re not even looking at them because in the foreground, beast has ordered schwarzchild killed.
and. holy shit. this is in my opinion the most visceral and brutal scene this team has drawn. it’s not superhero-y, it looks and feels like we are watching a man being beaten by five people using their bare hands for no fucking reason.
there is nothing heroic happening here. there isn’t a super dramatic wound or a super pretty corpse. we don’t see any powers used, but we do see where his teeth were knocked from his gums.
and the 3k continue with their conversation as if nothing’s happening, with each line of dialogue we watch schwarzchild just die. it’s two and a half pages, but it feels so fucking fast.
and then the issue ends on this absolutely stunning splash of a beautiful mountain landscape with their headquarters floating serenely in the sky. but we can also see schwarzchild’s body falling from it.
in general i really love how this issue feels like what if 3k were the protagonists and this was their comic while also emphasizing their ruthlessness. this is the kind of writing i love mackay for and holy shit i cannot emphasize enough how well the art team pulled through. (that includes cowles on letters!)
