Willkommen to another edition of the Marvel Rundown! For our main book this week, we’re covering the debut issue of the latest entrant into Krakoa, Si Spurrier and Bob Quinn’s Way of X #1, an issue I’ve been anticipating greatly since its announcement earlier this year. Hot on the heels of a near-perfect run on Hellblazer over at the distinguished competition, Spurrier has certainly won me over and at this point I’ll read anything the man writes.

We’ve got a review of that book, ahead in this week’s Marvel Rundown!


Way of X #1 

Way of X #1
Way of X #1

Written by Si Spurrier
Art by Bob Quinn
Colouring by Java Tartaglia
Lettering by Clayton Cowles 
Cover by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Marte Gracia

With the first year of the new X-Men experiment having come to a close recently, it was only natural that the next wave of books offered a more analytical approach to Krakoa. It’s certainly the case in Children of the Atom, where we see what everyday humans think of mutantkind’s little paradise that they can’t get into. Similarly, Way of X offers an outsider’s approach, but from the inside. Doubly interesting, it’s from a character I don’t think I expected. Nightcrawler has been a part of this story from the beginning, uttering that iconic line in House of X about mutant procreation. We’ve also seen him welcome newcomers into Krakoa, where he witnessed Kate Pryde’s discovery of her inability to enter her people’s new home.

Way of X
From Way of X #1

I mention all this because it’s honestly quite interesting to delve into Nightcrawler’s perspective on everything that’s been going on, which up until this point is something I didn’t realise we haven’t gotten. Frankly, he articulates everything about Krakoa that a lot of us have found disturbing. The meaning of resurrection and the very nature of the Crucible (where mutants affected by the Decimation prove themselves to be resurrected as they were before Wanda Maximoff’s actions) clearly deeply trouble Kurt, in addition to some readers. A redesigned Doctor Nemesis posits that Nightcrawler is at a loss, philosophically speaking, because all the questions that drive his faith have more or less been answered or made meaningless. It doesn’t matter if souls exist or not because resurrected mutants are functionally the same as they were before death.

Opening up a little corner of the X-line where Nightcrawler, the most overtly devout mutant, deals with and processes all facets of this new society, in a frankly rather intelligent way thanks to Spurrier’s plotting and dialogue, is exactly the kind of thing I didn’t know I needed. It doesn’t just feel investigative and standalone, but also offers up a few interesting hints about a recent enemy that Krakoa has been facing, and I’m rather excited to see all of it pay off down the line.

Way of X
From Way of X #1

All this is brought to life by artist Bob Quinn in what truly might be on of my favourite-looking books in this whole line. The artwork is so expressive and fluid, with the characters and environments in particularly looking fantastic. I’ve read a lot of his early work when he first came on the scene but not much since then, which is mostly why I’m just blown away at how far he’s come in such a short time. It’s got big action, fun character moments, a little bit of horror, some interesting and funny setpieces, and even a horrifying Crucible moment that really highlights how demented the whole thing is. Quinn can do everything! There’s even a fantastic cliffhanger page to boot.

Final Verdict: Buy. This is easily one of the strongest debuts of this entire line of books and I’m eagerly anticipating the next issue. It’s gorgeous and a necessary reflective look at the mutant know that the Reign of X has fully kicked in.


Next week, Black Widow returns, and Miles Morales’ Clone Saga kicks in!