X-Men #1 Review
Reclamation
Writer: Jed MacKay
Pencils: Ryan Stegman
Inks: JP Mayer
Colors: Marte Gracia
Letters: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover: Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer & Marte Gracia
Variant Cover: George Pérez & Edgar Delgado; J. Scott Campbell & Tanya Lehoux; John Tyler Christopher; Peach Momoko; Scott Koblish & Rachelle Rosenberg; Skottie Young; Tony Daniel & Marcelo Maiolo
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: 5.99
Release Date: July 10, 2024
North To Alaska
The post-Krakoa era begins in earnest with X-Men #1. The creative team comes out swinging, taking the first shot at introducing a whole new status quo. Everything is different now, and this group of mutants isn’t going to be pushed around anymore.
Police Chief Robbins of Merle, Alaska journeys to an old, nearby sentinel factory as X-Men #1 begins. Beast meets him at the front door, hoping to assuage the town’s representative that the recently arrived group of mutant refugees poses no danger. Meanwhile, a team consisting of Cyclops, Quentin Quire, Psylocke, Temper, Magik, and Juggernaut are attacking old Orchis agents who are imprisoning and experimenting on mutants.
The new post-Krakoa X-Men series gets off to a bumpy start with X-Men #1. MacKay chooses to intercut an exposition filled introduction to the team’s new base with an action packed rescue mission. Once the issue’s action story begins, the switches back to Beast and Chief Robbins are almost whiplash inducing. One problem is that there is very little story to the Beast/Chief Robbins thread. It’s a literal tour and a couple introductions of Robbins to mutants who can’t pass as non-mutant humans. MacKay is attempting to set up everything about the series’ new status quo–local environment, team goals, new enemies–in a single compressed issue. He succeeds at conveying the information, but not in delivering a fully captivating issue. The final pages try to add extra tension and urgency for future issues, but there is a “been here, done that” quality to these dialogue exchanges.
Readers looking for character continuity from the Krakoa era, or at least from the issue that ended it (X-Men #35 / Uncanny X-Men #700), may be disappointed. The high minded goals Magneto spoke of in X-Men #35 are nowhere to be found here. X-Men #1 sees him back in a role of borderline antagonism toward humans (though not of violence and villainy). Quentin Quire remains petulant, but comes across as particularly weak–at one point having to be lectured by Cyclops to act like the omega level telepath he is. Cyclops doesn’t get much focus, but his depiction here feels like a reversion to his handlined depiction prior to his death.
This is not to say that X-Men #1 is a failure. It introduces several potential story threads and themes that are quite interesting. MacKay plants the seeds for a complex relationship with the nearby town resulting from residents’ past work in the sentinel factory. The characters (as seen in a vacuum rather than a continuation) offer the potential for interpersonal conflict even as they have a similar overarching belief in mutants’ place in society. The new villain makes sense as a logical extension of what Orchis was during the Krakoa era and in some ways rehabilitates Duggan’s wrap up of the Orchis storyline. These are the best takeaways from the issue.
The New Look
The art team creates a whole new look for the series’ main characters. Visually this is a definite reset for the characters involved.
Stegman’s style results in every character having a youthful, energized appearance. It does have the effect of seeming to de-age Quentin who at times looks on the younger side of the teenage range. But largely the style works, especially to introduce the team that’s on the mission. The characters are dynamic from the start, grabbing readers.
Beast’s depiction is similar to his pre New X-Men appearance. But at the same time he has an unintentional almost reptilian look. Much of that owes to Stegman drawing him with a very wide mouth. But Gracia’s coloring comes into play. He uses yellow to fill in Beast’s eyes, and when he transitions Beast’s coloring from darker shading into lighter, he gives the transition a mottled appearance. Obviously Beast is not being made into a reptilian mutant.
Stegman and Mayer deliver a striking and detailed final page. The tension and urgency for future issues that isn’t quite achieved by the characters’ dialogue in this sequence is helped along considerably by the strong art here. This last page provides an effective bookend for the first page which is another very detailed image, this one showing the X-Men’s new factory base.
One of the action sequences begins with an homage to a classic Uncanny X-Men cover. The entire art team delivers here, and it is a fun moment.
Gracia uses a vivid color palette. There is a significant amount of contrast throughout, and it very effectively plays into the higher energy sequences that Stegman delivers during the action oriented sequences.
Cowles’ font and color choices for sound effects adds extra flair to Stegman, Mayer, and Gracia’s work. They bring fun and heft to the big action moments.
Final Thoughts
X-Men #1 doesn’t turn back the clock all the way to the 90s as some feared before its release. But on first blush it does feel more representative of past X-Men eras than a fresh direction logically following Krakoa. However, it’s important to look at the new series and new storylines in a vacuum to judge it fairly. In that regard, this is an ambitious first issue. MacKay combines a lot of exposition with a fast and furious action story. The art is rich and energetic. Stegman, Mayer, and Gracia really drive the issue with their new designs and solid detail.
But the issue isn’t a complete success. Ironically, in a time when comic stories are often very decompressed, the creative team tries to shove as much as possible into this single issue. The result is an X-Men #1 that doesn’t quite stick the landing on its own but carries a lot of potential for the future.
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