Devils Reign: X-Men #1 (of 3)

Writer – Gerry Duggan

Artist – Phil Noto

I braved the cold weather in Pittsburgh last Thursday to visit Eide’s Entertainment for the first time in the New Year. I was looking at a few new books to pick up and the cover to Devil’s Reign: X-Men #1 caught my eye on the comic rack. Wilson Fisk, Elektra, and Emma Frost beautifully rendered by Phil Noto.

Mayor Wilson Fisk has had enough of costumed vigilantes wreaking havoc in New York City and has assembled his own team of Thunderbolts to round them up and bring them to justice. The X-Men have established a base of operations in Central Park and their Treehouse is surrounded by police. When U.S. Agent John Walker has trouble removing the X-Men peacefully, backup is called in. Emma Frost has a plan that can help the mutants but it will raise the ire of the former Kingpin of Crime. Just when Kingpin thinks he’s been outsmarted by the former White Queen, he has an insidious and masterful plan to put Emma in her place.

I have two more volumes of Daredevil to read before I am all caught up and then I can start the main Devil’s Reign miniseries. I took a chance reading this tie-in and luckily I wasn’t spoiled on any developments. I did find out who Captain Krakoa is, and I was pleasantly surprised by their identity.

I really enjoyed the beginning of this issue and the look at the Kingpin’s past and his involvement with both Elektra and Emma Frost and how both were in his employ but used in vastly different ways. Emma has struck the first blow by protecting the Treehouse and preventing the X-Men from being seen in a negative light by engaging with Fisk’s Thunderbolts. The end of the issue shows Fisk and his attempt to win the war and how he’ll go to great lengths to destroy those that cross him, by any means necessary.

One fateful night for Elektra and Emma in the past will have an impact on the X-Woman’s future and could cause some chaos for the newly burgeoning relationship between mutant and humankind. How much trouble remains to be seen and I’m really invested on how this plays out.

Next Issue – DEALS WITH THE DEVIL! Turns out attending Hellfire Club soirees was not the naughtiest thing Emma Frost was up to in the time before she joined the X-Men… And the dirty deeds she did for Wilson Fisk are coming back to haunt her. In Stores February 23^rd, 2022.