Now here’s an interesting book. There aren’t many X-men books that I follow on a regular basis, so I thought, with a new, continuity-free number one, that X-Campus could be worth checking out. The idea behind it is different enough. This is an entirely fresh re-imagining of the X-men mythos as envisioned by some new creators, all from Europe. Having European creators isn’t too special as Marvel loves to use both writers and artists from across the pond, but having them come up with their own take on an established franchise, in the vein of the X-men Evolution television show, definitely is. After reading the first issue, I’ve concluded that the idea, so far, is a mixed bag.
The first oversized issue is broken up into two chapters that basically serve as the new class of students getting oriented at their new school, The Worthington Foundation, in the first chapter and the early weeks there in the second. Personally, I found the use of the two chapters entirely unnecessary as they flowed together well enough. It was basically an excuse to change artists, though the art is so similar, I doubt I would have noticed if I hadn’t known there were two artists from the credits page. As modern retellings of the X-men seem to so love doing, this is issue focuses on Rogue as she discovers her powers and is brought to the school. This is such a tired gimmick for these scenarios. I understand that Rogue is a good choice to follow as she has a power that limits social interactions and really emphasizes the isolation being a mutant brings, but it has still gotten old and there has to be a more unique way to frame this story.
There are, however, some interesting twists to the typical X-men story to be had here. I enjoyed how The Worthington Foundation was much more a school than Xavier’s ever felt like and it was rather refreshing that the mutants weren’t brandishing their powers all over the place. Instead, no one is aware that anyone else has special abilities to begin with and no one is quite sure why the people at the school are as special as they are told they are. It adds a new appeal to the characters as they all try and keep their secret to themselves. It was also a nice twist that it is Magneto, though he is never called this in the issue, is the head of the school and that Xavier is merely a biology teacher. It’s kind of nice to have Xavier on more of an intimate and closer level to all of the students as opposed to being the headmaster. Beyond these elements, the story is nothing special. Magneto is forming a brotherhood, Logan is a rebel and doesn’t like Scott Summers, and anyone who knows anything about X-men will figure out who Carol Higgins is almost immediately. Yawn. There’s a very “been there, done that” feel to most of this, despite the few tweaks to the formula. The rather bland, uninspired, and sometimes just plain terrible dialogue by author Francesco Artibani doesn’t help this feeling any either.
As I said before, there are two artists, Denis Medri and Roberto di Salvo, on this book and they look almost eerily similar. It’s nice that there is consistency in the changing of artists between chapters, but it just makes me feel like there is no reason for there to have been two artists, or even two chapters, on this book for that matter. It doesn’t help that the art is entirely unremarkable, sometimes bordering on ugly. Out of all the talented artists in Europe, I would’ve hoped Marvel could’ve gone two, but preferably one, other artists to handle duties on this series. On the upside, the characters do actually look like teenagers and not like they’re in their mid-twenties (*cough*Ultimate X-men *cough*).
The tweaks made to the traditional X-men stories made here were interesting enough to bring me back for the second issue when it comes out. I’m really hoping that Artibani will be able to kick the story into a higher gear now that all the characters have been introduced. If he can really focus on what makes this X-men story different and emphasize that, theirs is potential for this book to really become something fresh and that I would want to follow on a monthly basis, despite the artist’s on the book. I just need X-Academy to be different enough to deserve my attention.
Overall: 6.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment