By Zack Quaintance — This week’s X-Corp #1 is the newest series within the Krakoa Era of X-Men, aiming to explore yet another facet of the conceptual framework built by Jonathan Hickman and co. almost two years ago in the landmark House of X/Powers of X. This new comic comes to us from writer Tini Howard, artist Alberto Foche, colorist Sunny Gho, and letterer Clayton Cowles. While this series debut isn’t entirely lacking in execution — it’s thoughtful and possessed of a set of distinct interests relative to other superhero comics — I found this first issue to be slow and plodding and a bit forced, all of which led to me to wonder if the X-Men line as a whole doesn’t need a boost to its larger narrative.

X-Corp as a concept was seeded months ago, alluded to in the pages of another book, just as some of the other new X-Series have been of late, thinking specifically here of Way of X. It’s a concept that’s wholly dependent on the larger Krakoa narrative, wherein mutants have gained global power for their new utopian island nation by using the flora on Krakoa to create medicines vital to the rest of mankind, thereby gaining upper-hand and agency. This book, as the X-Corps title implies, wants to explore the nuances of the economics of these X-Men comic books.

X-Corps #1 certainly goes all in on incorporating business culture into a superhero story. Large portions of the dialogue here feel culled directly from company-wide meetings I’ve sat in at media and marketing jobs. The main characters sound convincingly like CEOs, concerned with profit, expansion, and how best to guide business. Within this, the major plot driver for the book is that mutants want to expand from pharmaceuticals into other areas of business.

For readers looking to see the return of favorite characters who have been relatively under-used in the new era of X-Men — specifically Warren Worthington III and Monet St. Croix — this will likely read more engagingly than for anyone interested in the latest X-Men new #1. The cast here is varied and interesting. Yet, I found this to be a convoluted comic, heavily dependent on a presumption of deep investment in the most minor specifics of the Krakoa story. The business focus didn’t contribute to the book’s sense of stakes as much as it did to an oppressive self-seriousness, making it hard to enjoy this comic much at all as a contained read.

In a larger sense, I’ve started to lose my grip on where any of these X-Men comics are headed. Two years ago, they were focused on Moira MacTaggert, on the revelation that she was a mutant experiencing many lifetimes, which the books were extrapolating into chimera mutants and exponential timelines in distant futures. Last year, we had a sword-fight tournament that was light on sword-fighting. This year, we’re getting what looks like a fashion show (powered by incredible art) and an event that has already had the broader strokes of its ending spoiled by Marvel marketing and promotion. I’m sure there’s misdirection in play here, but still, why not save all your story for the actual story?

And now this newest X-Men comic is asking, hey what if X-Men but with market prices, IP valuations, and memos. What results for me is an odd and disjointed comic that feels like its initial idea was better in theory than practice. Way of X #1 suffered a bit from the same, yet the comic itself powered through on the strength of a concentrated and satisfying mirco story about Nightcrawler. X-Corp goes broader with its first issue, and it suffers for it.

Overall: X-Corp #1 is built on blending the X-Men’s Krakoa Era with Wall Street, and it all feels too heavy on jargon and too light on entertainment. The issue struggles to satisfy, which is perhaps a symptom of the X-Men comics as a whole losing momentum. 6.0/10

REVIEW: X-Corp #1

X-Corp #1
Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Alberto Foche
Colorist: Sunny Gho
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics
KRAKOA IS FOR CLOSERS! The deals have been made. Mutantkind is safe on Krakoa. As the Reign of X continues, what are the wants of the mutants who have everything? Leading the charge is X-CORPORATION, headed by CXOs Monet St. Croix and Warren Worthington, a duo as cutthroat and ruthless in the boardroom as they are on a battlefield. But X-Corp needs more than just its figureheads. As Monet sets out to staff their team with some of the brightest and most deviant minds in mutantkind, Warren finds himself in a tense meeting with one of Krakoa’s first allies who wants to know the truth: on Angel’s wings, will X-Corp crash or soar?
Price: $4.99
Buy The Most Recent Dawn of X Trade: Dawn of X, Vol. 16
Read This Issue Digitally: X-Corp #1

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.