FAMILYFANS Books & Comics

UNCANNY X-MEN #492: Messiah Complex, Chapter Two

by Ed Brubaker and Billy Tan

(Marvel Comics)

Reader Appeal: Teens to Adults

Genre: Superhero comic

The X-Men are probably the hottest piece of comic real estate in America right now. With three successful movies already out and more on the way, public awareness of this franchise is at an all-time high. It’s odd then, that in their native world, comics, there haven’t been any major events for a while. But all of that is changing with X-Men: Messiah Complex, a major franchise event that is set to redefine and determine the future of the X-Men for years to come.

The state of the mutant world is critical. After some disastrous mangling of the fabric of reality by the mutant Scarlet Witch, mutantkind is on the brink of extinction. Thousand of mutants worldwide suddenly find themselves without their powers; only a few hundred are left now. Worse still, no more mutants are being born. It looks like it’s the end.

But then a miracle happens, a mutant baby is born in Alaska, and the race is on. The Purifiers (an anti-mutant militia) are out to kill the child, believing it to be the “mutant antichrist,” while the Marauders (agents of Mr. Sinister) are out to capture it for their own purposes. Meanwhile, the X-Men are trying to play catch-up while a humongous monster named Predator X chases the child, apparently in hopes of finding a nice snack. And that’s essentially what’s going on in this comic. Since this is the second issue (and it’s not very long), most of the time is spent setting things up, rather than having things happen, and raising questions, rather than answering them. Frustrating, perhaps, but necessary.

The plot at this point isn’t very developed, to be honest, but it’s developing. At the moment it’s a little unbalanced. There are some OK fights here and there, but nothing important. You know that they’re not important, just a little action the writers felt they had to put in so the whole issue wasn’t all talking. As such, you find yourself just sort of skipping through without paying much attention. In the talking realm, though, things are a little more interesting. Xavier and Cyclops are having some conflict, with Xavier taking a back seat and feeling bad about not really being the leader any more. Cyclops, meanwhile, is busy trying to recruit help from different quarters of the mutant world (help being a little thin right now), including people who aren’t exactly fans of the X-Men. Unfortunately, this issue doesn’t get through much of it before it’s over, which is too bad, since it really just whets your appetite.

The art in this book certainly isn’t anything to complain about. The panels are big and easy on the eyes and manage to pack in a nice amount of action and detail without becoming confused. There are some blur effects and lighting effects that are particularly good in here, too. Some of the main characters are so buff and intimidating, though, that I found them not to be personable. Wolverine in particular looks more like a monster than a person (mutant or no). The female character models show the same level of overdevelopment too. The White Queen looks like a porn star from outer space (I can’t think of any plainer way to put it).

Particularly with the Xavier/Cyclops situation, this comic raises some interesting issues. Xavier is a father figure, but he’s not perfect, and both he and Cyclops are having to deal with that. Cyclops is all grown up now, too (has been for several decades), and now he’s really becoming the leader while Xavier fades into more of a support position. There’s definitely some interesting material to be mined here about growing up and the changing of roles. There’s also the whole “messiah” aspect of the story, a murky quagmire of Biblical allusions and adaptations that, frankly, I can neither praise nor condemn at this point. Maybe it’ll yield some interesting material, maybe not. At the moment, it’s neither spiritually positive or negative.

Really, my only true complaints against this book are its brevity and the fact that so little actually happened in it. More than anything, it left me tantalized and wanting to read more of the series. I did feel just a little gypped, though. If the authors want me to keep reading, they’re going to have to start giving me a little more meat and a little less set-up and filler.

If you’re a fan of the X-Men, you should probably read this story. The Messiah Complex event is the first big event for the franchise is quite a while, and it looks like it’ll probably be pretty cool. On the other hand, if you don’t jump on until a little later in the story, I don’t think you’ll find that you’ve missed much.

FAMILYFANS RATING: B-

--MV

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