X-Men: First Class #1 (of 8)

Written by Jeff Parker

Pencils by Roger Cruz

Cover by Marko Djurdjevic

 

These kinds of series have been made since the very first change/addition to the X-Men teams. The idea of the ‘lost years’ has always provided writers with tons of material for new stories of the classic X-Men team. And done well, it has always been popular for similar reasons as the Ultimate Universe: it is unencumbered with lots of continuity and character tampering. This comic takes that idea and then twists it so that the kids are firmly in the modern day (with X-box’s, cellphones, and email). This never claims to be in continuity, and the new take serves its purpose well: to bring in new and young readers.

 

This is certainly a Saturday Morning Cartoon style story, but it is the kind of story you’ll love FOR its innocence and light-hearted humor. To create that tone, the story is narrated by Iceman (Bobby Drake) in the form of a letter to his mother. He’s candid and Parker has a great handle on him. It’s a wonderfully novel way to introduce all the characters to the reader, and Iceman himself is masterfully introduced through his impressions of the other characters.

 

The story of the piece has a sentient being, that is the last of its kind, attempting to contact Xavier. Not able to control its power well, it is mistaken for attacking the X-Men and so we get our obligatory fight scene that shows off everyone’s powers. Then the X-Men figure out the truth and end it all with a metaphorical group hug, even the humans who were unknowingly hurting the creature are more than happy to stop (with a smile too). And to top it all off, we get a small child-like lesson in the harmful nature of global warming. Told you it was a Saturday Morning Cartoon.

 

I really enjoyed it, it was much better than the ill-solicited X-Men: Mythos. But why isn’t this series marketed as a children’s book? I certainly think other adults will like it too but this is almost perfect for a Marvel Adventures X-Men book. As far as I can tell there is no Marvel Adventures X-Men. Wouldn’t this be the perfect comic to fill that role? It even does done-in-one stories (as my esteemed colleague Caleb calls them).

 

Oh, and I can’t leave without commenting on the beautiful cover by the unpronounceable artist (at least by your humble heathen reviewer). This is his second cover of the week (Blade #1 being the first) and it is gorgeous. His decision to have Angel upside down on the bottom has him ‘supporting’ the rest of the characters within the composition. You can also see his style repeating itself (at least for these two issues): have the characters ‘falling’ into the frame while a single, almost transparent icon sits in the background. It is very effective though, I’d love to see him try his hand at a serial strip but that may be Cassaday/Hitch/Quitely slowness we’re talking about here.

 

Final word? Great series intelligently executed, but is it marketed to the right audience?

 

Rating - 8