What If?  X-Men Deadly Genesis #1

Writer: David Hine
Penciler: David Yardin
Inker: Kris Justice
Colorist: Guru EFX

Part of Marvel’s latest crop of What If? specials, this one asks the question “What if Xavier’s secret second team of X-Men had survived?” This secret second team was first revealed in the recent X-Men: Deadly Genesis mini-series as having been recruited to go after the original X-Men who had been captured by the living island called Krakoa. In the original mini-series that second team wound up being killed and Charles Xavier covered up their existence until one of them returned, seemingly from the dead, and the secret was uncovered. In this alternate timeline the secret team survived and became one of the most powerful and influential X-Men line-ups of all time, even creating a new age of harmony between mutants and humans. Unfortunately a deadly secret still looms in their past.

I’m not a big fan of Marvel’s recent string of What If? specials and even less a fan of the X-Men themselves. When I noticed that three of the five current What If? specials were based on recent X-Men storylines I thought for sure that this would be yet another waste of time and money. Though I was reluctant I decided to give a couple of them a shot when I sorted through the latest pile of Marvel advanced preview books. Imagine my surprise when this one actually turned out to be pretty good.

I’d read Deadly Genesis, the mini-series upon which this particular issue was based, and though the ending left me a little flat the story was overall one of the better X-Men stories I’d read in some time. Because of that I was actually interested in seeing what might have happened had things taken a slightly different turn. Writer David Hine didn’t disappoint with a tale that’s darker and more heart wrenching than the original, with even more secrets and horrifying twists.

Another thing that made this issue far better than most of the What If? specials I have read was the art by David Yardin. His previous work with Hine on the now defunct and sorely missed series, District X, always delighted me and it was good to see that he’s even better than ever. I was drooling over his art from the double page spread of the entire alternate X-Men family to the confrontation between Vulcan and his teammates to the final haunting last page. I sincerely hope to see more of Yardin’s work in the near future.

If you’re like me and you don’t normally pay much attention to Marvel’s What If? specials then do yourself a little favor and give this one a try.
 

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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