This isn’t a book about X-Men. This is a book about mutants living past the end of their world and into a new beginning. This is Ms. Marvel embracing her mutant life in the neon streets of the Lower East Side. This is Anole trying to keep his head above water. This is Wolverine in the shadows of Bushwick, protecting her own. This is Prodigy writing history as it happens – and Sophie Cuckoo finding her own way. The news reports are bleak. The streets feel dangerous. There’s something lurking underground. Evil coming from every direction. But they’re determined to make it. This is mutant community. This is mutant pride. This is NYX. NYX #1 takes the post-Krakoan era to New York City where some of the younger mutants are trying to live their lives.

NYX #1 is an interesting debut of a comic. Mostly from the perspective of Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel herself, the comic feels like a series of short introductions to the key characters from this series. Kamala is in school where she bumps into Sophie. Prodigy is now a professor. Anole is a bartender. And Wolverine is doing her thing. All of it is a setup for what’s to come, a story that feels more like a throwback to classic X-Men when they were a clear parable about the racism and hatred experienced in the real world.

A new organization is driving up the hatred towards mutants who have integrated back into society and doing what they can to live their lives. The organization wants to get rid of them, blaming them for incidences they may not be behind and lying about their rate of crime in the age of misinformation and social media. At its surface, the story feels like its taking on the anti-immigrant hysteria and exaggeration of the current reality of crime in the United States. But, writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly don’t make it so neat and clear as it turns out there’s a new Captain Krakoa who wants a return of the mutant nation and is in fact terrorizing the city. It feels like a rather odd ploy but the end of the comic reveals the whole gang behind the current state of things, all of it teasing an interesting direction.

The art by Francesco Mortarino is solid with color by Raul Angulo and lettering by Joe Sabino. It’s not a comic that has a lot of flashy fight scenes, there’s a few, but instead there’s a lot of different moments and settings with a lot of characters packed in. It does a solid job of balancing all of that and making it all flow nicely so it feels like different worlds but at the same time, the same city. All of the characters look good and there’s no surprising deviations when it comes to designs and the art. It’s very good overall.

NYX #1 is an interesting start and it’ll probably take the first arc to really sus out some of it. Lanzing and Kelly raise some intriguing points with writing history and doing so, so soon after events. There’s also the anti-immigrant feel to the mutant plight, but then there’s the twist as to who is causing the attacks. There’s a lot of questions raised with this first issue but so far, it feels more like a throwback to what has come before.

Story: Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly Art: Francesco Mortarino
Color: Raul Angulo Letterer: Joe Sabino
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – Kindle