Honestly speaking X-Men # 1 was one of the books I've been patiently waiting ever since it was announced during the initial moments of the Marvel NOW phase. And why shouldn't I be excited for this one, it's got all the variables that's interesting. Firstly they have Brian Wood as writer and Olivier Coipel as artist. Secondly its a fanboy's dream - an all-woman squad of X-Men including Rogue, Psylocke, Storm et al. Thirdly it's an ongoing. Surely you can't go wrong with that.
So here's a breakdown of some of the stuff in this issue.
There's a returning villain here in this issue and his name is John Sublime; that might not be much but there's something going on between him and something/somebody from his past.
There's also Jubilee who's returning to the fold after a short absence. She was last seen in Wood's X-Men book where she went toe-to-toe with the super-vampire group The Forgiven. And now she's suddenly returning with a baby in tow. It's not her biological child but Wood's written her to be attached to the kid. Which got me into thinking why can't the X-women and men have kids. Surely by now they're already around what late 20's to late 30s.
Wood's writing here was great especially since he plays around with key concepts and characteristics for the X-Men members. Totally loved the bit about Rachel Grey teaming up with Psylocke as they try to find out what Sublime's plans really are. Speaking of Psylocke, much props to Betsy's appearance here as she's acting as the mansion's resident psychic sniper. It's nice to know that Wood hasn't forgotten about continuity and how Psylocke's taken it up to herself to go and become the chief-of-security for the Jean Grey School.
People might be wondering if the creation of this team was forced, well I regret to inform you that it's not. Much like how the original Avengers were formed, this team came about as a necessity, in fact, there isn't even any subteam to speak of in this issue as it felt more like a rescue mission for Jubilee.
The art here is just plain gorgeous. I spent a better half of an hour just looking at the pages and appreciating how beautiful Olivier Coipel's art has evolved ever since he joined Marvel a few years back. Explosions look beautiful, Rogue trying to derail a train is beautiful, hell even Beast (who makes a short cameo here) looks like great. I'm almost nearly wishing that all X-Books have the quality of the workmanship done in this book. I mean, no offense to the other X-book artists though.
One last thing on the pro side, it's nice to see some of the 'New X-Men' girls like Bling and Surge make a short but sweet appearance here. It's actually been a while since we've seen any of those guys and since the chances are slim with Jason Aaron and Brian Michael Bendis playing favorites over in 'Wolverine and the X-Men', 'Uncanny X-Men' and 'All New X-Men'.
Overall, I loved X-Men # 1 and i can certainly say that I'm going to be a repeat customer as long as Wood and Coipel deliver the goods. Plus that ending...
VERDICT: 10/10
Massive thanks to COMICX HUB AND CASTLE GEEK for this one. Please like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CastleGeek https://www.facebook.com/COMICXHUB
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