Salutations, Marvel Faithful! We have a stacked week here at the rundown as we go down to Gray Matter Lane with X-Men United #1. In the rapid rundown we journey across the Marvel Universe with reviews of Alias #1, Magik and Colossus #2, and Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant #2
X-Men United #1
Writer: Eve Ewing
Artist: Tiago Palma
Color Artist: Brian Reber
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino
From the pages of Exceptional X-Men, comes X-Men United #1. I deeply loved and appreciated Exceptional X-Men and often cited it as my favorite X-team book of the past 18 months. It was the one book that really explored teaching new mutants how to use their gifts and the reality of being mutant in an increasingly hate-filled world following the Fall of X storyline. When this recent set of titles were announced for the Shadows of Tomorrow line-up, I was most excited to see that writer Eve Ewing got a chance to expand on this concept of a mutant school from 4 kids in the Chicago suburbs to something far larger.
As the issue stands, X-Men United #1 shows that the title is a worthy successor to Exceptional X-Men and easily the most deserving of the books to get a relaunch instead of just being Exceptional X-Men #15. Despite the scale and scope expanding, Ewing is still able to effectively capture the voice and tone of the young mutants. The growth of the core kids from exceptional has been fantastic to see play out. However, for all of Ewing’s excellent characterization with the younger cast, there’s a real lack of characterization in some of the more established X-Men, namely Cyclops.
The Cyclops here in this issue is a shallow rendition of the character. Throughout the issue he is abrasive, dismissive, and aggressive towards the school’s existing. While being in-line with Cyclops characterization the level of subtlety and nuance to the character is practically nonexistent. I know I am the Rundown’s resident Cyclops fan, and I am okay with the character being a jerk. That’s what I like about Cyclops. What I am not a fan of is when he is presented as a shallow jerk just to serve as the plot’s antagonist. This level of mischaracterization along with Rogue’s weird offhand remark about traitorous X-men being the real threat made the issue feel off. To be clear, these issues are more about the challenges of being a part of a larger shared universe where characters have differing levels of personality. It just stands as a stark outlier whose existence persists because the X-office demands the X-men to always be at each other’s throats. None of the fans want this and yet we still must endure this apparent editorial edict.
Tiago Palma’s art is fine if uneven. There are moments where they play around with the layouts to convey the surreal nature of the mindscape of the school. Palma excels there but when it comes to some of the character acting there is a real rigidity to the characters. There is a distinct lack of polish one would expect from something that is presenting itself as a flagship X-men book. The art is workman like and acceptable, but definitely weighs the book down some.
Overall, X-Men United #1 is a fine book that successfully builds on the foundation of Exceptional X-Men but at the cost of nuance and characterization of the larger shared universe. This is even touching the lack of common sense in some of the plot points. Using Sinister Tech to build up the school is never a great idea, but yet we are doing it again. This is obviously going to be a problem down the road, it just feels like a big ask for suspension of disbelief. All this factored alongside the art just being serviceable really brings the book down from a must-buy to just a strong browse. I am sure the book will improve though and I do look forward to where it goes in the months to come.
Final Verdict: Strong Browse
The Rapid Rundown
- Alias #1
Alias #1 - Marvel’s best private eye is back to celebrate 25 years of sleuthing, sort of. Becoming Mayor of New York City gave Luke Cage a chance to work within the system to help people, but it cost his wife, Jessica Jones, her career. As a superhero, Jones wasn’t the best, but as a PI, she was a force, and that’s the big draw of this book, as Jones’s resentment at being sidelined by Cage’s position as Mayor adds discord to their relationship. Adding to their marital tension is the public spotlight placed on her as the Mayor’s Wife, she’s not a fan of paparazzi following her around, especially when one photographs her at the scene of her old neighbors who were brutally murdered. Writer Sam Humphries and artist Geraldo Borges do an amazing job capturing the tone and vibe of the original creative team, Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Gaydos, and update it to the Woman she is now. Knowing the trouble, it will stir up for her and Cage, she teams up with the former First Lady of NY, Typhoid Mary, to track down the killer the best way she knows how. After all these years, I’m still not sure I care for her and Cage as a couple, but Humphries does put some heat in their arguments about their standings in this relationship, definite triggers were pulled. But it’s not all superpowered Marriage Story, this is a Red Band book, there is a graphic edge that Borges and color artist Arthur Hesli lay out with their work. Borges’ storytelling is clear, the naturalistic anatomy of the characters, and a color palette that uses minimal tones and shading to produce a pseudo-noir vibe that grounds the book in the dark and disturbing world of serial killers. – GC3
- Magik and Colossus #2
Magik and Colossus #2 - Magik and Colossus #2, with the creative team of Ashley Allen, the writer, and artist German Peralta, is a decent follow-up to the first issue, though if you aren’t a fan of the Rasputin siblings, this issue may not be the best seller for them. They fall into rather simple sibling-dynamic cliches, even when they’re kids, which doesn’t make them the most interesting to read about. Hopefully, in further issues, Allen can find a way to make their dynamic more interesting. What I did enjoy was the main fight between the siblings and the sirens. It’s not often that a fight underwater happens and seeing how Illyana handles the threat while saving civilians really showed Peralta and Allen’s great storyboarding and writing techniques. Piotr was there. However, it is difficult to make his powerset any more interesting than punching and being strong.
I’m excited to see where the next issue takes the siblings. But not overtly excited. If Magik and Colossus haven’t hooked you from issue one, then issue two may not do it for you either. Issue 3 may be the issue that really seals the deal for this series and its fans.- LM
- Magik and Colossus #2, with the creative team of Ashley Allen, the writer, and artist German Peralta, is a decent follow-up to the first issue, though if you aren’t a fan of the Rasputin siblings, this issue may not be the best seller for them. They fall into rather simple sibling-dynamic cliches, even when they’re kids, which doesn’t make them the most interesting to read about. Hopefully, in further issues, Allen can find a way to make their dynamic more interesting. What I did enjoy was the main fight between the siblings and the sirens. It’s not often that a fight underwater happens and seeing how Illyana handles the threat while saving civilians really showed Peralta and Allen’s great storyboarding and writing techniques. Piotr was there. However, it is difficult to make his powerset any more interesting than punching and being strong.
- Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant #2
Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant #2 - There’s a lot going on in this comic, and in bouncing around to try and service all of its disappeared plot elements, Storm by Murewa Ayodele and Federica Mancin feels completely disjointed. Why is Scarlet Witch in two pages? Where does she disappear to? What is this War Above All, and what does it have to do with the FBI or exploding heads, or the mysterious pantheon seeking vengeance for their captured storm deity? I fully admit to missing the first volume of Ayodele’s Storm but I’ve been reading superhero comics for more than two decades, I can roll with plot points from previous stories I don’t understand—I’ll accept that Storm has a roaming space station and giant robots under her command. But where this issue loses me is in its construction and lack of clarittt as it bounces from scene to scene, timeline to timeline, dimension to dimension. It doesn’t allow us to sit with Storm’s emotions or feel the weight of any one calamity. It’s as if Ayodele and Mancin are frantically trying to throw every idea they’ve got into a single story. It’s ambitious but self-defeating. I’ll see a comic trying for something lofty over one treading water any day, though, and these first two issues have been full of compelling ideas that just don’t have enough room to breathe. Federica Mancin’s art is flat-out gorgeous, Storm exhudes confidence and power, the battles are grandiose. Java Tartaglia’s colors bring the best out of the linework, making details pop and drawing focus to key moments on the page. VC’s Travis Lanham has a lot of dialogue to get onto the page and makes it flow effortlessly, with charmingly silly SFX like “FREEZE” or “INHALE” punctuating the page. I don’t quite know what to make of this series two issues in, but I know that it’s got me thinking a lot about it since closing the pages, which I can’t say for every Marvel comic I read these days. – TR
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