Interesting start!
X-Men is back! While other X-Men titles are also good, I missed having the iconic X-Men comic. A strong Plot set up by Brian Wood, excellent art by the amazing Mark Morales, Olivier Coipel, and Laura Martin, and a great promise of a good comic!
What Went Down:
We meet Jubilee with a baby of all things coming back to the X-Men mansion from Bulgaria. Some man, presumably rich, is following her so she calls up the current mentors of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, who are her family, and lets them know what's happening. Rogue, Storm, and Kitty Pryde all fly to her rescue as a familiar foe, Sublime, surrenders himself to Rachel Grey and the X-men. He tells us his sister Arkea has returned to destroy the planet and wants their help to stop her. We learn that the baby was an orphan that Juilee found, but it turns out to be Arkea herself. Stealing a body, the identity of which is a Mystery, is ready to take revenge on the planet that cast her out.
The Good:
I liked the progression of the plot set up. Unlike many comics it wasn't "Bam, there is a problem, there is the bad guy, fix it" it progressed as a mystery getting the reader to really think. As I mentioned before the Art was brilliant as always when it comes to those involved. I also really liked seeing the subtle chain of command in the X-Men and group relations. The X-Men related comics tend to tell you what's going on with personal relationships (friendly or romantic) pretty bluntly, which does work for those comics, but it was nice seeing it play out in this comic. Seeing Kitty and Rogue, best friends, banter with each other while still staying professional, seeing Storm in wise mentor mood, and Rachel in commanding leader role was very well done and I enjoyed it. It introduced the plot with out giving it all away and made me at least ready to see what happens next!
The Bad:
While I do love the conscious effort to make the characters as relate-able as possible and keep up with "current lingo" I got a tad annoyed with the over usage of "OMG." It was only Kitty, but almost everything she said for four pages started with that phrase. Don't get me wrong, she is one of my favorite characters and I love her, but too much is just that.
Bring it all together:
So in conclusion I really did enjoy it. I am very excited to see what happens next and I certainly recommend reading it!.
