Sinister’s Six #3 impressions — From tragedy comes revelation

It’s safe to say that things have not remotely gone according to plan for Mr. Sinister’s team of unlikely allies. Not even close. In the previous issue, the Havok-led six —consisting of Domino, Black Cat, Omega Red, Lady Fantomax, and Venom— infiltrated an abandoned lab supposedly belonging to Revelation himself in order to obtain information about the X-Virus. Their mission came to an abrupt end, however, as an alarm was triggered and they found themselves face-to-face with a group of Revelation’s forces joined by none other than Wolverine, now brainwashed into Revelation’s angel of death. The battle that ensued was decidedly one-sided, with Revelation’s mutants quickly subduing Havok’s team before Red Omega was slain by the brainwashed Wolverine. His death was quickly overshadowed, though, as the group suddenly found themselves confronted by the Heir of Apocalypse himself. Things aren’t looking good for the six —or, should I say, five now—, and it will be a miracle if any of them make it out alive.

*Mild spoilers ahead for Sinister’s Six #3* 

Picking up immediately from the ending of the previous issue, Havok and the remaining  members of the Six stare up at the Heir of Apocalypse himself. The man who reshaped the world. Who seemingly unleashed the X-Virus upon the world, changing millions and killing millions more. 

Revelation. 

Once a member of the X-Men named Douglas Ramsey, AKA Cypher, now the most dangerous being in the world. And his attention is now focused upon Mr. Sinister’s unfortunate team. 

After a bit of back and forth between Havok and his former comrade, the group manages to escape thanks to the timely actions of Lady Fantomax, who subdues the Seraphim restraining them, Chrome, allowing the others to break free of their bonds. The group isn’t out of the woods yet, however. Far from it. They’re still trapped in a subterranean room with Revelation, who’s exhibiting zero signs of feeling even remotely merciful. 

The battle that follows is even more intense than the one in the previous issue, but with the addition of Revelation, it’s admittedly even more one-sided. And just like the last issue, writer David Marquez holds back no punches. One by one the remaining members of the Six are taken down, until only two remain: Havok and Venom. One whose motivations for working with Sinister are all-too-clear, the other whose part in all of this has remained an enigma. Only one of them can make it out alive, an unfortunate fact they both know and accept. 

To say this issue didn’t go as I’d expected would be a bit of an understatement, but also wouldn’t be entirely truthful. The previous issue showed that Marquez is more than willing to sacrifice characters for the sake of the greater plot when he killed off Omega Red only two issues into the run. At the same time, with this being a limited run I suppose there isn’t really time to spare. Marquez doesn’t have the luxury of dragging out the story across a dozen or so issues, which on the one hand keeps the story from feeling burdened by stretches of filler, but on the other makes it feel a bit rushed. Coming off of the first issue, I certainly wouldn’t have expected the group to already be going up against Revelation, much less any of them dying by issue 2. 

My bigger problem with the issue is the way it ends. So far as I can tell, this is the final issue in the mini-series, and yet it didn’t feel like anything really came from it. The individual character’s storylines don’t go anywhere, nor does the core plotline so far as I could tell. While I did enjoy reading it, I still came away from it wondering what it was all for if this is how it ends. So far as I can tell, the events of the series have very little effect on the larger event, and with the exception of the cliffhanger reveal on the final pages, it doesn’t appear that it will.

There is an interesting reveal in the second half of the issue that provides some small payoff for the plot, but even that ultimately felt a bit shoehorned in thanks to the limited run allowed to the story. Had Marquez been given even a single additional issue to work with, perhaps the reveal could have been built up to a tad more to make it more satisfying, but as it stands I found it surprising mostly because there was so little lead up to it. 

That’s not to say that there aren’t good things about this book, however. The battle with Revelation’s forces, while brief and a bit premature in my opinion, was pretty cool, especially considering that Revelation used to be a fellow X-Man. Seeing the members of the Six that once knew him attempt to reason with him showcased how far gone he truly is. Likewise, seeing how the others regard him helps to showcase the power he holds, showing how far he’s come from the “weakest X-Man” moniker that his, shall we say, less-than-impressive mutation earned him. But are these enough to save the series overall? 

Ultimately, this issue took a concept that could have been interesting and brought it to a screeching halt. While it remains to be seen whether the events of it will have any effect on the larger Age of Revelation event, as it stands right now Sinister’s Six feels like a rushed premise that failed to deliver on what was promised. Yes, the moments with Revelation were cool, but the story isn’t meant to be about him. It was meant to be about a group of unlikely allies brought together by an even more unlikely leader to find a cure for the X-Virus. And yet, when the series ends, it feels like that plot point was all but forgotten. The biggest reveal of the issue offers nothing towards this premise, nor truly does the teaser we get in the final panels. Leaving me to once again ask myself “what was the point of all of this?”

Sinister’s Six #3 is available now from Marvel Comics.