X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #1 (of 5)

Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciler: Nick Dragotta
Inker: Mike Allred
Colors: Laura Allred


A mysterious (and deceased) villain calling himself The Pitiful One is temporarily resurrecting dead heroes and villains to help him attack the living world. His demands? To escape from Hell permanently. His actions attract the attention of a somewhat bored and despondent Dr. Strange. The challenge reinvigorates Strange, but he discovers that in order to tackle the problem he’ll need someone who is familiar with the land of the dead. Someone named Dead Girl.

Yay, X-Statix is back! Sort of. Back when Peter Milligan and Mike Allred took over X-Force (which then became X-Statix) it was my absolute favorite X-book. Witty, satirical, weird, surprising and sometimes deep, it was definitely a welcome change amidst the crowd of depressing and tired mutant superhero comics. But, as is the case with most critically acclaimed and unique comics, it was eventually cancelled. So it’s really a treat to see the original creative team revisit the characters yet again, this time in a different way. See, the whole team is dead. They died, fittingly, in the final issue of their series. But death never stopped a Marvel character before.

Seeing as this series is called Dead Girl I was somewhat surprised to find that she doesn’t even show up until the final page. The majority of this first issue centers on Dr. Strange as deals with depression, loneliness and doubts about his place in the universe. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. This issue is miles above the standard first issue set-up you get with most mini-series. I found that I’ve never liked Dr. Strange more than I did while reading this comic. I also enjoyed Milligan’s tongue-in-cheek portrayal of the character, and of superheroes and villains in general.

Nick Dragotta and Mike Allred’s art is another plus. Honestly it wouldn’t be a true X-Statix book without Allred whose style is so much fun to look at. And the lovely Laura Allred rounds out the team with her amazing coloring skills. If you’re a fan of the original X-Statix, a fan of Allred or a fan of just plain fun comics then Dead Girl is something you definitely don’t want to miss.
 

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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