Tag: X-Men

[Review]: “Marauders” Is a Fun Story of Liberation

Kitty Pride — I mean Kate — is a badass. After the Central Park gate to Krakoa effectively punches her in the face (see below), she channels her frustration at being unable to portal to Krakoa into something productive. She’ll help those who can’t get to Krakoa get there, even if Kate herself can’t pass through* the gates, for reasons unknown.

(*It’s strange, because Kate can physically be on Krakoa, she just can’t conveniently travel to there through the gates.)

When Emma of the Hellfire Trading Company learns about Kate’s unique predicament, she naturally has a business proposition. After some mind-reading conversations, it’s decided that Kate will captain a massive ship, sail around the world, and liberate mutants who are unable to access the gates. It’s on these pages where the art really shines. Kate looks like a hologram/ghost as she discusses things over with Emma, with colorist Federico Blee responsible for that sucessful effect.

Most of the time, the mutants in this predicament are political prisoners of some kind. This issue focuses on Russian mutants who are under military capture. It takes a nine-page, highly choreographed (and weirdly patriotic) fight sequence to bring them down.

Like all of the books of Hickman’s X-Men universe, this issue is tacitly political. But because it’s a tie-in, the creators are allowed to have more fun with it. And writer Gerry Duggan and artist Matteo Lolli did just that. There’s plenty of banter and scrunched facial expressions to go around.

This series isn’t something I’d continue with, but if you like pirate-style adventures, zany X-Men characters, and watching mutants kick communist butt, then this is just for you. The story is about mutant liberation just as much as it is about Kate’s liberation; that is, becoming her own woman.

[Review]: X-Men #1 — Humankind and Mutantkind Aren’t so Different

In 2019, it’s easy to say that a comic is about fascism, white nationalism, totalitarianism, communism, or whatever brand of worldview has captured the general population’s attention, for better or for worse. For Hickman’s work in “House of X” and “Powers of X,” this was especially true.

After all the buildup in those two prequels, “X-Men” #1 is decidedly not for or against any of those ideologies listed above. It doesn’t even allude to them. Instead, it shows people on two sides of a conflict making the best decisions they can to embrace life and protect the people who they love.

“X-Men” #1 focuses on Scott Summers, who has long been one of the most controversial characters in that world. Although he’s the most classically heroic of the X-Men bunch, he’s also had a lot of negative publicity. Issue #1 is told mostly through Scott’s perspective, meaning that you’re reading everything through rose-colored glasses.

In “X-Men” #1, you see the key moments in Scott’s journey from someone afraid to open his eyes to someone “choosing to spend [his] days focused on the things that make [him] want to live.” In the Summer House, situated on a Krakoan biome located adjacent to the Blue Area of the moon (with a bitching view of planet Earth), Scott, Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean, Vulcan, Havok, Calbe, and Rachel live together in an expansive mansion that also serves as a tactical base for mutants. This communal, family-oriented living situation harkens back to the living situations of immigrant families in America during the early 1900s.

Similarly, you have Director Devo, who controls the orchis Forge, humanity’s great doomsday weapon created to save them from extinction. Like Professor Xavier’s face, Devo’s is covered by a device that enhances his powers. In this case, Devo was born blind, but uses the headgear to see — much like Scott Summers.

Though the similarities mentioned above are mostly visual, they harken to some fundamental truth: both men are searching for a way to save their people. This is only possible if they believe in something bigger than themselves: whether that be the weapon that is a community of mutants, or a giant weapon floating in the sky.

“X-Men” #1 is all about finding the commonality between two opposing sides of a major conflict. It’s about discovering how fear, vulnerability, and hope can unite two very different kinds of people for the exact same reasons. And that’s why “X-Men” #1 one of most brave and potentially controversial comics of the year. You won’t want to miss this.