as expected we have spinoffs from the main X-titles, after the bright idea of putting all mutants in the world in one island and have their own country that isn't named Genosha.
and what do you know? this title seems much more appealing than the regular series.
one thing i kept missing from the X years of yore are the little stories like Christmas ghosts or baseball games that our merry mutants used to have in their Westchester grounds. with much change executed in the direction of the
X-Men in the last decade, none has been a lot more intriguing than uprooting them from New York and moving them west. although their San Francisco tenure lasted less than expected, at least the
Marvel brain trust didn't send them back and instead got them their own island. as to how long this is going to last, your guess is good as mine. but the potential for new stories is huge.
take for example the incorporation of
Magneto finally as a valuable ally and a vital component in running their own country instead of fighting for territory and philosophy. i always missed having him as a wise, grizzled teacher of the next generation (with the rug getting pulled out from under me twice - alleged brain surgery by
Moira and that
Xorn nonsense), but i wouldn't say those years of fighting him were wasted (he probably now laughs at "Brotherhood of Evil Mutants") because it made him who he is and left him respecting the
X-Men. we can't have him fighting them all the goddamn time until i'm dead. goddammit, this is the way to grow and you better not turn back the clock,
Marvel. i'm warning you.
my favorite part is the
Iceman story. the always happy-go-lucky
Bobby Drake, who thankfully got over his long episode of emo crap after hooking up/breaking up with
Mystique. does anybody remember that he "hooked up" first with
Emma, when she was first brought into the X-fold and she controlled his body and powers, leading him to the realization that he's a fucking Omega-class mutant, and snowballs and ice slides are for losers? now he's back to being the sole joker of the team -
Hank has gotten his own case of emo and thinking about ditching the team, while
Warren cuts the checks and cuts the bad guys, moonlighting in the
X-Force black ops team. he has the young ones to torment, but the best, priceless target? nobody else but the stuck-up
Namor. we can make a sitcom out of this.
in one volume, we get a lot of layers -
Logan and
Kurt fetching apparently a truckload of fuel for Utopia, and making a fun road trip out of it,
Magneto coming to grips with his past, and his admission of weakness and impatience in the negotiating table (he probably started more wars than the US did), the stupidity of throwing your weight around as a 'supervillain mutant' (the
Toad, still living in 1963),
Iceman throwing the jokes but also reining it in as his carelessness with words gets the better of him. by the way, is
Dr. Kavita Rao the only human on the island? i liked the construction of
Hank's science team over the last two years and bringing back my favorite character from the long-dead
Alpha Flight,
Madison Jeffries. however, if
Hank leaves, it won't be the same.
also, the specter of the dead is touched on.
Colossus, as expected, still pines for the lost
Kitty Pryde. at least he's not blaming Scott this time,
just like he did when Illyana died. as
Illyana returned from the great beyond, and even himself,
Piotr still has to believe that someday
Kitty will too (yo,
Agent Brand, any updates on this?).
Jean Grey? well, who knows? the thing about this is that, without her death,
Scott would not have become the ultimate leader (hah! that's the next book in the
Ultimate Comics line) that he is today, taking the reins from
Xavier, making all the right gutsy calls (and earning Wolverine's respect) and banging a hotter babe. sorry,
Jean; thanks for the sacrifice (and by the way, you pushed for it anyway) - this time its a lot more meaningful than the first time around.
this anthology of stories makes a lot more sense than
Necrosha. even if this series ended up with just more
Iceman razzing
Namor in 198 different ways, it'll be worth it.
