X-Men Gold #1 Review

Writer: Marc Guggenheim / Artists: Ardian Syaf, Jay Leisten, Frank Martin / Marvel Comics Issue #1 of X-Men Gold starts in classic style: with a bigot and a fist fight. The bigot being the ever-present anti-mutant talk show guest from the Heritage Initiative who speaks of Homo Superior as “human beings of mass destruction,” the fist fight being Kitty Pride and team standing among a pile of rubble. The juxtaposition is striking and just goes to show that despite and through all the fighting, infighting, and overfighting that has been done in the X-Men universe over the years, no one knocks down a building like a team of 6 superhumans supposedly trying to save NYC from ruin.

The whole opening sequence ends with Kitty really showing off by phasing an entire skyscraper *through another skyscraper* so as not to destroy more stuff. (Not that we’re privy to what happens when the fallen building re-materializes inside the other, but whatever, this is X-Men land and you’re not going to burden me with your reality.) She then, looking very Captain Marvel and sounding very Professor X, gives the “I’m a mutant and I’m here to help” speech to a crowd of skeptical survivors. It all feels so throw-back — easy, fun, predictable. And I say that without a touch of bitterness or cynicism (yet). Maybe when the other half of the house is busily turning Captain America into a Nazi, throwback heroism is what we need in a mainstream comic. Each scene builds on this theme — Kitty and Old Man Logan …