X-Men #1 & 2, by Brian Wood (writer), Olivier Coipel (penciler, inker), Mark Morales (inker), Scott Hanna (inker #2 only), Laura Martin (colorist), Matt Milla and Christina Strain (colorists, #2 only), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - That baby looks really grumpy, but I'd be grumpy if someone dressed me in that, too. I mean, footy pajamas with a hood with ears? Yeesh. It's a good thing most of us don't remember things from that earlier, or we'd all want to take revenge on our parents.Jubilee's headed for the Jean Grey School, baby in tow, with some mysterious fellow on her tail. Turns out he's John Sublime, which means nothing to me, but the X-Men recognize him when he shows up on their door. A few of them rescue Jubes and the baby when the train they're on gets out control. That turns out to have been caused by Sublime's sister, who was inhabiting the baby and can control machines. So she jumps to an inert body of an Omega Sentinel and wreaks havoc until Kitty damages her enough to force a withdrawal. Then Storm leads a team after the ancient, intelligent bacteria, but neglects to bring the one person who had some success against her, leaving Kitty behind to repair the School, and in all likelihood, keep the students from being killed by what appears to be a bomb.
I don't understand why Arkea (that'd be Sublime's sister) caused the train to get out of control. I can imagine she doesn't give a hoot about humans, but if the X-Men don't show up and the two trains collide, that kills the body she's using, and all the others around it, which I assume would be bad for her. There are a lot of little things that don't quite add up. How does Sublime know she has an affinity for possessing technology, given he supposedly ran her off a really long time ago? What was there for her to possess back then that let him make that determination? As far as we know, she'd only possessed a baby before she got to the school, so there's nothing there to suggest it. Why does Jubilee not appear to be a vampire any longer? How much has Wood downgraded Rachel's powers? I know she hasn't had the Phoenix Force since before War of Kings, but she seems practically useless. When Sublime shows up, Psylocke's asking Rachael if she wants them to go get some Omega-level telepaths. Well what is Rachel then? So far she seems to have been placed as the person who stays calm and talks, but nobody trusts her to handle things on her own.
On the plus side, Wood was able to provide enough clues for me to understand Sublime and what he is, when I had never even heard of him prior to this. Props for that. As it stands, I can't decide if these are deliberate things Wood's setting up to deal with later, or if it's some flaws in his story I'm just gonna have to roll with it.
Enough kvetching about the writing. Might as well discuss Coipel's art for the 5 minutes he's gonna be on the book. That last page of issue 1, the shot of Arkea in the up-and-running Omega Sentinel, it reminds me of Skottie Young's work. Some of it is how slim her arms seem, the swirl of the mist around her, and
the shading a little. Its the only page that gets that response from em, so I thought it was worth mentioning. I like it. The green and the black are striking, and shots of characters facing us with their eyes hidden are a way of making the scene feel ominous I really like. I always find that a little creepy, because it lets my imagination run wild about what I'd see if I could see their eyes.
Beyond that, I thought Coipel did some great work with the expressions and body language, especially on Jubilee. The middle panel when she's on the plane, as the baby cries and the stewardess checks on them in particular. There's exhaustion on her face, the strain of caring for this kid, but also embarrassment because she knows everyone's irritated (witness the guy next to her plugging his finger in his ear), and nobody likes having that scrutiny. Nice touch of the creative to have include the caption box stating 'alienation, shame, and seclusion' in that panel. All things I imagine Jubilee is either feeling, or wishing she could have right then. The smile he gives Arkea/Karima near the end of issue 2, when she leaves the school was appropriately creepy, though the coloring and shading in the eyes helps there. The blank look to the eyes makes a little smile more unsettling.
I will ask, is that what the Beast looks like now? Jeez, I thought the cat form that nobody could draw consistently for the last 10 years looked bad. His face is too small for his head, and his hair/fur looks like it's forming little Daredevil horns, which I think bothers me because it suggests a receding hairline. Not that heroes can't go bald, someone has to take up the mantle from Xavier, but it doesn't make a lot of sense on someone still covered head-to-toe with fur.
My overall impression is there's potential here, certainly some things I like, but I'm not convinced Wood thought this story out ahead of time. Maybe some of these things nagging at me will be resolved, but right now I can't be sure of that. Coipel's art is working well, but his aforementioned 5 minutes on the book are almost up, so I'm not sure it matters.
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