This is it. Krakoa is gone, Orchis has fallen… but the X-Men continue on. Now, split into multiple teams, Cyclops leads a team featuring Beast, Magneto, Psylocke, Kid Omega, Temper, Magik, and Juggernaut out of their new headquarters and home in Alaska. X-Men #1 kicks off the next era for the X-Men and the result is… ok.

Written by Jed MacKay, X-Men #1 is an interesting debut and start for the new mutant era. It’s a bit mixed in the results from the writing to the art, creating a rocky and disappointing start. The issue is packed with action but splits its time between a mission and an introduction to the new status-quo and headquarters. Cyclops leads his team against a break-off group from Orchis who sees the future as a merging of artificial intelligence, humanity, and mutants into something else. MacKay teases some intriguing concepts as these adults have been able to turn on their X-Gene and register as mutants while two individuals lurk in the shadows. It’s decent action with some bad dialogue and moments but also mixed with really great moments too. It’s a swing in quality that changes from page to page and panel to panel. It packs in a lot though. There’s references to past storylines for characters as well as teasing past romances. It’s not quite as new reader friendly as you’d expect with those diving in possibly feeling like they’re missing something. It does a lot of that with clunky dialogue that doesn’t feel natural for the moment and instead feels like its only goal is to drop a factoid.

Where that also comes is a tour of the new headquarters as Beast gives a tour to the local sheriff. We get a better idea of what has happened post-Krakoa literally building off of what has come before. There’s also an interesting mix of characters with Beast playing good cop to Magneto’s bad cop. Again, it teases some potential for what’s to come.

The art by Ryan Stegman is… just not good. I usually love Stegman’s work but this just doesn’t feel like his. With ink by JP Mayer and color by Marte Gracia, the art feels like a fill-in artist you’d get in-between story arcs. The characters look odd at times with Cyclops switching between stick thin and normal look and Juggernaut being inconsistent in looks. There’s a kinetic quality to the action sequences but this isn’t what I expected visually going into this and just doesn’t feel like Stegman’s usual high quality art. It’s like Stegman mixed with Romita.

X-Men #1 is a bump of a start. There’s aspects that are good and aspects that are bad but overall it feels like a lot of potential. It sets things out well and presents something that feels new to deal with. But overall, it feels like it attempts to balance the past, present, and future, and does so at the detriment of the experience. There’s a bit too much dwelling on the past and dancing around past plotlines instead of charting a new path for what’s to come instead of saving all of that for future issues. It’s a new era that feels like it has a foot in the past.

Story: Jed MacKay Art: Ryan Stegman
Ink: JP Mayer Color: Marte Gracia
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – Kindle