Welcome back True Believers and X-Men fans!
After an exceptionally long (but very well justified) hiatus, we have finally returned to the magnificent annals of Marveldom Assembled to see if the mutated air has become a little bit more breathable since the last time we checked in on the X-line.
For this review, I will be your host: The Duke of Awesome, the Don of Agitation, and the Dread of Authoritarianism, the ever-‘dashing’ Dante Aaricks, at your service.
Now, let’s catch up with some old friends as they start anew!
The Krakoan Age has ended. It was an era of pure chaos, polarization, and it’s safe to say that plenty of Marvelites weren’t sad to see it go.
Brought to us by writer Jed Mackay (Moon Knight, Black Cat), artist Ryan Stegman (Uncanny Avengers, The Superior Spider-Man), inker J.P. Mayer (Superman, Blue Beetle), and colorist Marte Garcia (Empyre, X Of Swords), the first book in the From The Ashes relaunch line, opens ‘X’ months after the fall of both Krakoa and the Orchis organization.
Having lost their paradise, mutants now find themselves once again displaced in a world that continues to hate and fear them. To this end, the X-Men have relocated to an abandoned manufacturing facility outside of the fictional town of Merle, Alaska (Thanks, Google!), in service of their mutant-protecting operations.
Seeking to foster better relations between themselves and the locals whose hometown they just moved into, Commander Cyke (Cyclops) invites the Merle police chief to come visit their new base.
Unfortunately for her, a field emergency draws Cyke away from their meeting, leaving Base Director Beast to give her the ‘tree fiddy tour’ of their new residence, the benchwarmers he gets to babysit, and their overall plans to rebuild a life for their species.
Unfortunately, their presence has stirred the ire of the local herd of homo sapiens, especially as the base they currently occupy used to provide work to the entire town, and with its shutdown, their livelihoods are now lost.
Even less fortunate for them is the reality that the factory was not a regular manufacturing plant, but one specifically meant to build Sentinels, meaning it’s safe to assume that the people won’t be returning to work anytime soon (They could always try to build new and repurposed Sentinels to make life easier for everyone up there in that frozen tundra, but that’s a possible solution for a later time.)
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Ultimately, the tour ends with the Chief meeting Magneto. That’s when the soft blue touch of neighborly benevolence shown by her tour guide gives way to a warning as cold and hard as metal regarding the X-Men’s refusal to compromise on their mission.
Suffice to say, there goes the neighborhood, folks.
Meanwhile, in between all the exposition, Cyke – believe it or not – is up to even hairier business.
Leading the team’s latest roster of Magik, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Tempest, and everyone’s favorite telepath, Quentin Quire (aka Kid Omega) on a mission to rescue Wolverine from the worst organ donation plan of all time, Cyke comes across a new enemy ‘The Fourth School’, a villainous group who seeks to reach the next stage of human evolution by infusing mankind with A.I. and mutant components.
(Not the most impressive for a first villain, but I’ll take it!)
So, that’s what happened in X-Men #1. Now, what do I think about it?
The introductions (or lack thereof) might be confusing to a new reader who’s unfamiliar with the characters, but hey…that’s why encyclopedias were invented.
Then there’s the dialogue between Juggernaut, Tempest, and Kid Omega.`
It’s cornier than a bag of Fritos, but admittedly doesn’t go overboard into cringe. It’s just the usual mindless banter that comes out of the mouths of all dumb teenagers, and that’s a welcome relief over adults trying to force their own rotten words into them (though Kid Omega is still obnoxious, and still looks like a bad ice cream flavor).
Stegman’s artwork feels like an old favorite t-shirt that both still fits and still looks cool. It’s a classic vibe with a modern touch, and all of the characters look good – even Kid Beta (I mean ‘Omega’) and most definitely Psylocke,
Unfortunately there is one exception: The poor unfortunate Dr. Henry McCoy.
It’s obvious that Stegman was trying to capture the furry mutant’s more retro look, but something clearly got lost along the way.
As a result, he looks like Sully from the Disney film Monsters Inc., but that’s if Sully bred with an Orc from Tolkien’s Middle Earth, and they dumped the abominable progeny on Xavier’s doorstep. He looks like Willem Dafoe as a roided-out Smurf who might also be a furry. Like the Genie from Aladdin if he was bitten by a gay werewolf.
Aside from that hyperbole, this was a good issue.
No preaching, no messages, no snowflakes (well, except for maybe Quentin), no safespaces, and absolutely no sentient islands. The book could have had a few extra pages of action to reduce the frantic pacing, but it still ran smooth from panel to panel.
For those who have been waiting for the long storm to end with Marvel’s X-books, X-Men #1 provides a glimmering hope that maybe, just maybe, the next era of mutant stories will be something worth checking out.
In a time where so many have given up on these books, it would be great if this leads into something momentous that brings us all back together again. But until then, let the optimism remain cautious.
Excelsior!
X-Men #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.