Marvel Comics 2017
Written by Marc Guggenheim, Greg Pak & Cullen Bunn
Illustrated by Ken Lashley, Ibraim Roberson, Leonard Kirk & Guillermo Ortego
Coloured by Morry Hollowell, Frank D’Armata & Michael Garland
Lettered by VC’s Joe Caramagna
Returning to Earth after a series of adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy, former X-Man Kitty Pryde discovers that she’s not the only one starting a new chapter. In the aftermath of their war with the Inhumans, the X-Men find themselves out from the threat of extinction and with and uncertain future stretched out before them…
It’s been a long time since I was a fan of or following the X-Men, the time displaced kids caught my attention when they appeared but have me since lost me. So what was once Marvel’s mightiest book because a myriad of titles that spread the mutants too thin and created such a diverse grouping that wherever you looked you couldn’t NOT see a mutant. Meh too much too often and too convoluted with bad storytelling and really bad artwork. So now it’s time to revamp the franchise, though still too many damn titles for my tastes. So how is this going to bring back readers who left 2 decades ago?
Not sure that’s what Marvel even cares about but that’s neither here nor there. Storm has been the face of the X-Men for as long as Scott has it seems and it’s time her run at the helm ends. The way this issue goes about that, passing the mantle, with Ororo and Kitty well it’s extremely well thought out and executed. Kitty has been in and out of the X-Men since she was thirteen seen the ups and downs, separated herself from the madness and been on adventures with others, Guardians of the Galaxy, Excalibur etc. So who better to bring back with a new and different, not mention a more mature outlook on the X-Men than she?
Not only is the writing here incredibly alluring but the art just kills it! Though Kitty looks like her Days of Future Past self when at the diner with Ororo. I like that each segment seems to focus on a different book and aspect of what will be the new X-Verse and all of them have this really nice attention to detail in them. The characters are easily recognisable and identifiable and how in at least one instance a group of supposed loners form a team well that’s conceivable from what this shows us visually.
The inherent problem with the X-Men these days is there is no real way to streamline them. With children at the mansion attending school and with a cast of a thousand coming and going it’s literally like a revolving door. Unfortunately I do think the kids time traveling has run it’s course and could allow for a new future to emerge where things aren’t as dire as they are now or at least resurrect characters (yes again). While the school will get a new book and we’ll have a myriad of teams for adventures to follow, though no New Mutants among them which as the second generation X-Men really sucks hard, so we can pick and choose which team sounds like the one best suited to our individual personality.
This book gives you a glimpse at what the future could look like. It’s interesting and well done and shows that while we may not exactly like all of it the future of the X-Verse is going to be strong once again and follow a new path.