Writer: Marc Guggenheim / Artists: Ardian Syaf, Jay Leisten, Frank Martin / Marvel Comics
A lot has happened in Marvel Comic Universe since we last talked. The artist for this comic, Ardian Syaf, has been fired from Marvel for slipping Indonesian political references into issue #1 (he’d already submitted the art for Issues #2 and #3, so he’ll still be in the credits for a little while yet). There is the unnecessary “They’re all Nazi’s here” mess of Secret Empire. There is the ongoing argument over what impact “diversity” is having on Marvel’s sales.
But none of that is in the pages of the comic. Interesting how far from real life comics plots can be sometimes. Following the theme of “Back to Basics”, the opening of the comic has our heroes fighting old-school villains with the old-school team name of “The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants”.
Being smart evil mutants, they split the team up, drawing away Nightcrawler and Old Logan and leaving the remaining members to face the official scrutiny of Captain America (Evil yet? I don’t know) and SHIELD. This gives Kitty a chance to talk shop with Cap. But what about Nightcrawler and Logan? Mesmero has them in his sights, using his mind control powers to send Nightcrawler off on a world spanning bamph-ing spree, while he interrogates Logan. How does that go?
I was warned that Logan might be the best character in this comic, and I’m starting to agree.
Meanwhile the rest of the crew gets embroiled further into the plot. The UN attack was a decoy (duh) for the Evil Brotherhood to kidnap the Mayor! All this has the anti-mutant league, in this setting called the Heritage Initiative, flamed up and talking mad crazy. Scaring the students at the institute of mutants by threatening to deport them all! Deport them…how do you deport Americans…and where do you send them…guess the comic isn’t has divorced from our reality as it may at first appear.
This comic is setting up nicely to be a solid superhero team book, with just enough super-powered action to keep it humming along. Let’s see if it can manage to stay out of the drama swirling around much of the Marvel line.
Mutant Question of the Issue
Who’s the mutant shooter on page 13? Do New Yorkers really just let anyone put on a mask, pick up a gun, and shoot people?
Reading X-Men Gold? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.
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