By Zack Quaintance — Since Jonathan Hickman launched a new era of X-Men comics back in late July with House of X #1, there have been quite a few surprises in store for fans of Marvel’s mutants. Chief among these surprises is the entire concept of the new era, wherein guided by the lessons learned through Moira McTaggert’s reincarnations (she too is a mutant), Professor X, Magneto, Apocalypse and everyone else (pretty much) have unified, creating a separate mutant state on the living island of Krakoa, where they have also figured out how to revive any mutants that are killed….there is some tension between the newly-empowered mutants and humanity, however, and it is played out through the ongoing development of AI and robots. Phew.

This issue, X-Men #1, is meant to essentially be the first traditional ongoing comic of this new era, with the two previous Hickman series — House of X and Powers of X — being mini-series. In that context, it is maybe not as heavy with surprises as all that has come before it. Hickman is a master at making his comics interesting via expert use of the rate of revelation, rarely going more than a page or two without showing his audience something wholly new...something new about his high concept sci-fi ideas, the world his characters inhabit, the problems they face, etc. In this book, the world has been built, and so instead, much of the surprise here actually comes in the moments between characters.

The revelations are things like watching Cyclops interact with his dad, Magneto praised by the youth of Krakoa, or a map in the back that shows us that Cyclops, Wolverine, and Jean Grey are living in connected bedrooms (ahem). In this regard, it is perhaps a bit lighter than the mini-series that set it up. It’s a tone that works really well. I’m a huge fan of Hickman’s writing, but I do see people knock him at times for characterization. Within the context of his massive ideas, however, he does a fine job using a sort of less is more approach to characterization (see the Thor-Hyperion relationship in his Avengers). And that’s what powers this issue as well.

But it’s (obviously) not all light. The seeds of conflict are planted here (that’s a Krakoa reference, btw...please clap) on a few fronts: the first is in the reveal of a blind seemingly-human antagonist now working to continue developing robots to counter the mutants in space (yesssss), the next is with Magneto’s hero worship (no way that doesn’t lead to something), and the last is with Cyclop’s father, Corsair, expressing a nugget of concern that what the mutants are doing now (the immortality, the living island nation, etc.) is perhaps even more dangerous than what they’ve done in the past. It’s ominous, and if we’re going to be dancing around in these fun character moments, it’s exactly the type of thing we need to ensure that the new status quo doesn’t start to rapidly feel stale. It’s great.

In the end, this is really just a great comic book. The art team of penciler Leinil Francis Yu, inker Gerry Alanguilan, and colorist Sunny Gho are expert visual storytellers. Yu’s linework is realistic and fantastical at once, brought into focus here by Alanguilan in a way that never feels too heavy or dark. Gho’s color pallette, meanwhile, really helps accentuate the lighter tone of the comic, embracing the bright colors that have long been a part of the X-Men’s world, be it in the scenes backlit by the sun or in royal blues and bright greens of their uniforms. As a new #1 issue, I’m not sure this is an ideal entry point, in that it’s so heavily informed by the status quo set up in House of X and Powers of X...but let’s be real, you’re not picking up this pick without having read (or at least Google) those series, like most of the comics world.

I remain incredibly bullish on the X-Men line of comics moving forward, and, although it’s just one issue, I see this as an anthology series of one-shots that will keep pushing forward some of the larger narratives set up in HoX / PoX (likely leading to another massive weekly story at some point in the next 12 months) as the other X-Titles orbit around it, bringing it focus some of the more nuanced questions inherent to such an ambitious re-working of the X-Reality. And, I love it.

Overall: X-Men #1 has some fun in the House of X that Hickman and his collaborators so expertly built. At the same time, it stokes the narrative tension we need to keep this world fresh. Another must-read X-Men comic for 2019. 9.7/10

X-Men #1
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Inker: Gerry Alanguilan
Colorist: Sunny Gho
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99

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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.