Editor's Note: NYX: No Way Home #1 arrives in stores tomorrow, August 6.

NYX: No Way Home marks the return of a rather brutal series from a few years back. It's like a mash-up of X-Men mutants with lives like teenage runaways. Well, not really like The Runaways… more like a group of kids, banding together in NYC in order to live life. Whether or not readers will be hooked on this series is something that probably won't be answered until the second issue.

The book starts out with Kiden, the main character, strapped to a hospital gurney having obviously been tortured. She lays there, in pain, and delivers some pretty standard, opening babble meant to get readers freaked out about her situation. She talks about pain and wanting to save someone; it's all a bit lost on me, I'm afraid, and while it's not bad writing by any means, the drama and intensity just is not there. We spend a couple pages in this scene and then flash back to "48 Hours Earlier." I'm not normally against this method of storytelling as it's a way to quickly engage the reader and then bring them back for a nice round of catch-up and exposition. And I was fine with the rest of the book, but this opening scene seems almost trivial by the time I reached the final page. I won't spoil it beyond this: we don't return to the torture scene in this issue. The cliffhanger makes us think, "okay, maybe she'll somehow get caught up in something that would lead her to being tortured alone…?"

I don't know. Maybe it was just me here, but the dramatic intensity that should have been delivered seemed misdirected by like an entire issue. I'm sure we'll get to the torture scene in issue #2, but we didn't get back in issue #1 and that's left me a little wanting. Maybe Liu succeeds there; I do actually want to know where she goes from here. But if she was searching for a way to get me some thrills, well, it didn't work.

All is not lost! The characters Liu presents are very interesting. Kiden seems like a devious trouble maker with a good heart, something that is rather typical but the way she is presented by Liu actually makes her appealing. Her immediate friends all seem like family, and it's a tight group that most will immediately identify and engage with. The moments of character development here are solid, so Liu succeeds.

The art is also a success. Andrasofszky draws polished yet simple characters that pop in a detailed world. The full page splashes portray a lot of emotion, and the posture and positioning of Kiden in particular brings a level of attractiveness to the character. She leaks confidence throughout, which is a good thing for her; she never really seems smug or cocky. Andrasofszky's art does nothing but help the book, and some will probably pick up the title simply for its look.

NYX: No Way Home #1 isn't bad. It's not great yet, but it isn't bad. This first issue has its moments of beauty and wonderful simplicity, but in the end it doesn't make good on the promises of the first few pages. It sort of wanders a bit and serves up a nice distraction to make you want to pick up the next to find out more about the opening's provocative situation. You'll have to wait a while on that one, however. Only time will tell with the series as a whole.

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