New X-Men #21

Writers: Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
Pencils: Mark Brooks
Inker: Jaime Mendoza with Jay Leisten
Colors: Brian Reber


In the second part of “Childhood’s End”, the first story arc by the new creative team, the students at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning are still reeling from the devastating events brought on by House of M. Almost all the students have been rendered powerless, leaving a few dozen behind. Some are glad to be rid of the powers, while others feel they’ve lost what made them special. Amidst the infighting and reports on the return of Rev. William Stryker, the students visit their new playground, the Danger Cave.

I have to admit, I read the first issue of this series, back when it was New Mutants vol. 2 and it didn’t really do much for me. As interesting as the concept is, revisiting the idea of Xavier’s as a school for young mutants to learn after so long, well, it just didn’t engage me. I can see how it might appeal to hardcore X-fans, especially those of the original New Mutants era. New X-Men (as it’s called now) #21 is the first issue of the series I’ve read since picking up that first issue and it’s interesting to see just how much things have changed, both due to evolving characters (the kids have divided into cliques) and editorial mandate (like costumes). But it also seems that I’ve jumped on just in time for a story that changes the status quo of the entire series. This book is probably one of the most heavily effected of all the X-titles in the wake of House of M as the student body has been drastically reduced from over a hundred students to just a few dozen. Even major characters in this series have lost their powers, some leaving already, some confused as to where to go and some dead or dying. It’ll definitely be interesting to see where the characters will go from here; their lives have been thrown into such tremendous turmoil.

While the heavy drama and chaos of this story really hooked me there were plenty of ridiculous moments that pulled me right out of the story, primarily the introduction of X-23. Other than the fact that she was originally created by new series writer Craig Kyle and Chris Yost I can’t really tell what her purpose is in the book. Essentially Wolverine shows up and dumps her on the kids saying, “Here’s my kid sister (what?), she’d just as soon kill ya as look at ya, have fun.” Then there’s introduction of the Danger Cave, a new training program created by the now depowered student named Prodigy. I can see where the moment fits in the story, all the kids are so lost and this serves to distract them from the horror they’re experiencing but it really seemed silly and out of place amidst all the drama. The inclusion of Rev. William Stryker (best known as the villain in God Loves, Man Kills) is interesting and provides a nice parallel story, but as yet I can’t really tell how it connects directly to this book.

I’m interested to stick with this book, at least through this initial story arc, and see how the new creative team sets things up. Hopefully after a few issues they’ll get into their groove and the rough spots will be less noticeable. It’s certainly a more appealing book now than it was the last time I read it. Probably the best thing about this book at the moment is the art by Marvel’s latest rising star, Mark Brooks. One would hope that he’ll stick with the book for a while and give it something it desperately needs, which is a consistent and stylized look.
 

Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance preview books for review purposes.

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