Featured Review: X-Men #1

Writer: Gerry Duggan

Artists: Pepe Larraz

Colors: Marte Gracia

Letters: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Designer: Tom Muller

Cover: Larraz and Gracia

For the last two years, Jonathon Hickman has been playing a mean joke. He wrote a comic titled X-Men, not because it was about the eponymous group but because—as was revealed some issues sin—it was about the resurrection of the team and the place it occupies in both mutant society and the larger world. The joke is finally over, and the X-Men are back and better than they have been in some time!

Following on from last issue, a new team starring Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine (The Laura Kinney variant), Sunfire, Synch, Polaris, and Rogue have moved back into Central Park. Ok, it’s more like next to Central Park. As opposed to transplanting a mansion, this time they built a rather large treehouse. Around the treehouse are a small memorial to lost mutants and Seneca Village and another smaller park as a way to give back to the city.  It is noted multiple times in the issue the air in that part of town is cleaner and smells better than before. Also noted, the team’s new headquarters is the greenest building on the planet since it is, y’know, a tree.

The fact the X-Men have integrated themselves in this way is interesting. As has been true throughout this era of mutantdom, they are keenly aware of the space they occupy and wish to pay tribute to those who came before. They continue to show a deep respect to both the Eartha and those with whom they occupy it. It is also, of course, an incredibly smart way to ingratiate yourself to your new neighbors and landlords.

Most this issue is focused on a battle with a giant Evangelion-esque monster. This battle allows the creative team to have some bombastic and establish the various characters. Everyone gets a moment to shine, either with their creativity, powers, or personality. Synch and Polaris are especially great as he forms the plan to fight the monster and is most important in executing it. By the way, that plan is to build a giant robot. This is done in a way that has been common, but no less impressive, in which a group of mutants combine their powers in a creative to accomplish a task. Think the Five running resurrections or the Six mining mysterium.

Every page in this issue is a chance for Larraz and Gracia—who are an unfair advantage for any comic—to put on a clinic, but the big kaiju battle allows the pair to flex on every other art team out there. The fight is incredibly dynamic and full of cool ideas like the robot’s giant laser attack just being Cyclops with little to no filter. Every page has new panel shapes and sizes, creating a sense of chaos without disrupting the flow.

Larraz goes for a slightly different style than usual in this sequence. It is scratchier with far more lines and crosshatching left visible. Everything is muddier with more shadows, in sharp contrast to the clean lines (and brighter colors) of the scenes focused on the treehouse. The murkier approach extends to the opening and ending sequences, which introduce a trio threats our heroes will need to contend.

First is Feilong, a scientist that planned to colonize Mars before it became Arakko, even go so far as to change his body to be suitable for life there. Next is Dr. Stasis, a scientist attempting to gain immortality. He has noticed some dead mutants are no longer dead and plans to get to the bottom of that.

Finally, there is Cordyceps Jones, the head of a gambling planet centered on the mutants. Jones was the one that sent this issue’s threat to Earth and seems set up to be the immediate threat. More importantly, it is weird. This is a character that feels ripped out of a Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely joint. Cordyceps is a (somewhat famous) fungus and this one is sentient and lives in the skeletal remains of an astronaut. Just an incredibly fun concept.

X-Men #1 is a very good comic that gives the titular team a new status quo, bas of operations, and mission. The level of creativity on display here is exhilarating and presents a promising future. Given the comic is headlined by the X-line’s best art team and one of its best writers, that is not a surprise. The only negative is that not enough time is set aside for character exploration, though that is where Duggan tends to excel most. It is a bright new era for Marvel’s best team.