Writers: Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
Artists: Paco Medina (p), Juan Vlasco (i), Brian Reber (colours)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
This could well be the most enjoyable issue of New X-Men since Kyle and Yost took over the reigns of the title just over a year ago. Of all the X-books to come out changed by House of M, New X-Men has been my least favourite to read over the last year. That’s not to say that all the issues were bad or that I don’t like the overall direction this book is headed in. It’s just that for the last year all we’ve had is doom and gloom, with copious amounts of death thrown in for good measure, and nothing “nice” has happened to our poor teenage mutants.
These kids just haven’t been able to catch a break. I know that part of the reason that they’ve been put through the grinder is to show the reader that these characters “matter” (whatever that really means) and that being a young mutant, especially in the wake of House of M, is a dangerous, and sometimes fatal, thing. The previous incarnation of this book, written by Defilippis and Weir, was an entertaining teenage soap opera with superpowers but did lack any real drama; the only notable villain they went up against was the Blob for Christ’s sake! So in a way, this new high octane stuff was a necessary change to keep the title alive, but I seriously think Kyle and Yost overdid it a bit, happily killing off previous lead characters they didn’t want to use.
This issue, finally, marks the beginning of a whole new storyline. The kids get a brief bit of downtime in which Hellion gets to explore his newfound power levels, Surge and Prodigy tell Scott Summers what an arse he is (about bloody time someone did!) and Elixir manifests an interest in medical sciences. Even though things get rough again before the end, any amount of downtime in this book is welcome. One of the problems I’ve had so far with this run is managing to care for the characters. Though they had perfectly well fleshed out personalities when the previous writers left the book, since the new team came onboard they’ve felt two-dimensional and in no way engaging.
The two main characters this issue are X-23 and Mercury. When Marvel first announced the post-M-Day line-up for the team, I had a dreadful feeling that this would turn into a book for the Wolverine clone with the other New X-Men acting as a supporting cast. Instead, X-23 has been kept in the background, with her leaping into the fray when needed and saying very little. Till now that is. This issue is about the two girls, who develop an unexpected bond when Mercury realises that X has the hots for the team’s resident arsehole, Hellion. After giving Emma Frost a piece of her mind (about bloody time someone did!), they nip off for an attempt at girl-talk and a coffee. Of course, this being New X-Men, this doesn’t go as planned.
The young mutants don’t get much time to talk about school and boys before they’re once again attacked by mutant-hating villains. It would be nice, for once, to see a villain turn up in these pages who’s fighting the X-Men for the sole reason that he’s the bad guy and they’re the good guys. Why do they all have to be racist bigots? (Or is that "speciest" bigots?) These goons have links to the Facility responsible for cloning X-23 and are after someone. The writers do quite a nice job trying to misdirect the reader then throw in a twist at the end. But this is a bit spoiled by the title of the story.
I don’t know if Paco Medina is now this book’s regular penciller, but I hope so. The art chores on this title have been passed around a bit this last year, but whoever’s been on duty has always delivered the goods. This issue is no different. Medina’s style suits a book whose main cast are adolescents. The pencils are neat, slightly exaggerated, tell the story perfectly and are just nice to look at. One quick quibble: in the scene in the Danger Room control booth, X-23 has a larger chest than Emma Frost. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t be noticing such things as fictional teenagers’ bust size but still, Emma has always been portrayed as rather well endowed, so this just looks a bit odd.
Even though this issue doesn’t give the characters much of a chance to rest, it’s still a welcome let-up from the last year of craziness these kids have been through. I feel this title really does have the potential to become something big within the confines of the X-Universe: it has an interesting and, at times, engaging cast and is set in a Marvel Universe where being a mutant is more special and dangerous than it has been in recent years. Here’s to hoping Kyle and Yost can bring a bit of humanity back into this title.
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