Marvel Comics 2015
Written by Dennis Hopeless
Penciled by Mark Bagley
Inked by Andrew Hennessy
Coloured by Nolan Woodard
Lettered by VC’s Cory Petit
So I was at the store to pick up my one comic of this week and decided to take a chance one this first issue. I have stayed away from Marvel for over a year and with titles like Hercules and Black Knight keeping my interest and with the creators involved here it seemed safe enough. I have to say that while i’m completely lost on a few points this was a very strong first issue to me. I can safely assume Scott’s dead, for now, and somehow young Warren lost his wings neither of these things really prevents the reader from being able to pick this up and read it and enjoy it.
So this issue opens up with shades of the original Warren and his life that I remember from reading comics in the 80’s. A house in Vail and downtime skiing just having fun with his girlfriend, who happens to be Wolverine now. We then see Hank who is traveling with Kid Apocalypse and Idie Okonkwo, a girl whom I have no knowledge of, and Hank worried about Scott and the fallout of his older douchebag self and the ramifications of his death.
The world has changed in the time i’ve been away and with Scott’s death young mutants have rallied around him memory and become gangs of violent kids playing turf war. It seems that this series will for now focus on how the kids deal with the legacy Scott has left behind, most noticeably upon his younger self. I’m okay with this too, since the kids are stuck in the future with no way home for the foreseeable future let’s get into some heavy duty characterization that essentially redefines who they are.
Working with new kids who more than likely have issues of their own that fit right into these guys, and yes i’m including Laura in this. The dynamic has changed a lot without Jean around and the addition of the other three, not to mention the fallout of young Bobby coming out of the closet so that once again these are viable, fun, interesting and completely new yet familiar characters. Yes they have the traits that made them icons but they are in situations that are irrevocably changing them.
It kind of feels like gone is the angst ridden crap we’ve been getting since sometime in the 90’s to now and we’re going back to the days when the team was as much family as anything else. For me this means that no matter bad things look so long as you’ve got your friends there to help you get through it everything will work out the way they should. For me this is the kind of storytelling we’ve been missing and yes the kids from the past being in the present still feels like a gimmick but that aside it really does brighten up the field.
Yeah problems and issues will always be around but this feels different to me. It almost feels like while the characters remain the same they are brand new. Strong writing and characterization make this one to watch.
Mark’s pencils with Andrew’s inks and Nolan’s colours really help bring that nostalgic feel to it as well. The look and feel of these characters have this incredible feel of optimism to me. The use of pages, panels, backgrounds or lack thereof all conspire to really showcase some great work.
This could get back to being an X-Men fan again.