Comic Review: X-Men Blue
The release of the new X-Men Blue was a bold but light-hearted move for Marvel. X-Men, as we've seen in the past, has absolutely no problem playing around with time, whether that means changing and sometimes even completely rewriting the past (thanks, professor X); or as we see in X-Men Blue, bringing characters into the future. However this isn't just the characters we know and love going into to the distant future or another time dimension as we've all witnessed over and over again, how can we forget the Mojo universe. Instead, we get to see some of the core X-Men personalities as the complaining, rebellious youngsters they once were.
While you may have thought you knew Jean Grey or Hank McCoy, the pages of these books give you a whole new look into their mentality, temperament, and the young personalities that shaped the characters we all know now.
Writer Cullen Bunn, does an excellent job of capturing the essence of what we would expect from a young Bobby Drake or Scott Summers, who's bickering will bring you right back to your 14-year-old self. Bunn's lighthearted writing style allows for quick-witted jokes, keeping the overall feel of the the book young. Which is applicable as this comic feels as though it's meant to reach a younger group of readers. In a time when many of our favorite character's story lines have turned dark and geared more toward adults, X-Men Blue is reaching out to those younger fans who may be looking for someone to relate too; and who better than the X-Men to fill that role? It was these original set of younger characters who, in a world where all other heroes were adults, allowed children a more relatable role model of their own. X-Men made space for a community of younger readers to find commonality with those original personalities. This is not to say, however, that these new comics are solely for the youthful generation of comic readers. Those of use who grew up reading the originals or who have found new solace in the X-Men today can absolutely enjoy this read.
If we're going to talk original though, who better to bring back then (spoiler alert!)
Magneto! It's a partially expected move, I mean if you're going to revisit the X-Men, as the young heroes they once were, there is no better option than to resurrect their oldest foe. However bringing Magneto on as the “leader” of the team is an interesting choice. Magneto has always had the forces of good and evil pulling him in different directions. I for one will be keeping a close eye to see how his character evolves and how his role in this comic changes throughout these future issues. Bringing on board a man who has believed, almost exclusively, that mutants and humans could not co-exist, and making him the man to help fulfill Charles Xavier's dream of peace; is either a brilliant and slightly political move by Marvel OR it's the recipe for a disastrous showdown later on between the team and Magneto.
Speaking of bringing back interesting characters, Bunn has made a quite possibly one of the most clever decision ever.
Who's ready for some Daken action; or what we can assume from a couple pages of wordless Wendigo fighting, is Draken, Wolverine's son. With so much talk about the All New Wolverine comics, as well as the release of Logan earlier this year, the focus has been largely on Laura a.k.a. X-23. This is the perfect time to reboot Daken. While it's still unclear what his role in this series will be; based on the sneak peak Bunn gives us in the back of issue 001, I think we have a lot more to see of Daken, as well as some other classic charters.
It's still early to tell which direction X-Men Blue will be taking us, as it has the potential to cover a lot of different ideas and plot twists; but so far it has been a fun ride. So if you're like me and still reeling from the death of Logan this is a nice light-hearted change of pace. If you're looking for something a little darker...well we'll get to that next time.