X-Men United #1 is the opening salvo in a reinvention of Eve Ewing’s Exceptional X-Men, which came to a conclusion last September with the 13th issue. Joined this time by Tiago Palma as the artist and Brian Reber as the color artist, X-Men United #1 takes many of the same concepts Exceptional X-Men played with and puts them on a bigger scale.
X-Men United was pitched to readers and retailers as a new flagship title for the X-Men line, one that aimed to satisfy fans who wanted something closer to the Krakoa Era of collaboration between X-Men and mutants. The comic is premised on a psychic school, one that can bring mutants from all over together into one place and allow them to study, train, and learn from experienced X-Men.
New Beginnings
It’s a mostly logical progression from Exceptional X-Men, which debuted four new mutant characters under the tutelage of Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost, and Iceman. That cast forms the heart of X-Men United, but this time, they are also joined by Wolverine, Laura Kinney Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Beast, Magneto, Nightcrawler, and many more.
X-Men United #1 has a number of small cameos for characters, with some lesser-known mutants of the Krakoa era popping up again as students, and some older characters from the days of Academy X and Deadly Genesis getting a small look in. The bulk of the story revolves around Kitty Pryde, Bronze, Axo, Melee, Rift, and Emma Frost, however, who make up the faculty and student mentors of the new Greymatter Lane school.
An Ordinary Start
X-Men United #1 is a typical introductory issue in many ways. The bulk of it is dedicated to setting up the environment the characters find themselves in and organizing the characters in the eyes of the readers. This is done largely well, though Greymatter itself is left rather opaque, without a clear look of what is possible with it and how the overall campus appears and looks.
The student mentors of Bronze, Rift, Axo, and Melee get the most attention in this issue, building off of their mostly successful introduction in Exceptional X-Men. This quartet are well written and clearly the characters Eve Ewing feels most comfortable writing. Their sequence of finding a new mutant to recruit to the school is a particular highlight for the issue.
And likewise, a combat training session run by the Wolverines serves as a largely efficient show of how tricky and complex this undertaking is.
Unfortunately, it’s the writing of characters like Rogue and Cyclops that seems to have less thought put into it. Cyclops is once again at loggerheads with the X-Men, this time over the technology used to build the school and the idea of bringing all these mutants together in what he feels is an easy target. It’s a mostly coherent argument but a repetitive one, and the story already feels like it is telegraphing just how wrong the character will be proven to be. While a schism between Cyclops and Emma Frost is long overdue given the disregard Cyclops seems to have for Emma and the independence she has fostered since Krakoa, the reasons so far seem to favour Cyclops while setting him up for an inevitable downfall and mea culpa. It would be more refreshing for writers to concede that sometimes, characters will just disagree and not get along.
There is potential here, but the larger scale doesn’t fully seem to suit the strengths of this team; one can’t help but feel like continuing with the smaller-scale course Exceptional X-Men had set would be the better route.
The Art Fails to Bring Greymatter Lane to Life
The art of the issue is by Tiago Palma, with colors by Brian Reber. Palma has a good sense of action choreography and movement to his work, but some of the facial designs and anatomy seem rushed and unfinished. Reber’s color work works well, but the comic’s overall designis not as impressive as it needs to be to sell the reader on Greymatter Lane.
Overall, X-Men United #1 is a largely competent but unextraordinary first issue. X-Men United succeeds in the writing of the younger mutant cast but fails to truly bring anything new to the table, both visually and creatively.
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X-Men United #1
X-Men United #1 is a largely competent but unextraordinary first issue. X-Men United succeeds in the writing of the younger mutant cast but fails to truly bring anything new to the table, both visually and creatively.
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