Written by Victor Gischler
Illustrated by Paco MedinaSomehow, the X-Men have weathered the vampire raid on Utopia, but mutants can’t claim total victory yet. Jubilee still needs the X-Men’s help, and Xarus still commands an overwhelming force of bloodsuckers. Will Dracula’s intervention be the final nail in Xarus’s coffin…or will he make even more trouble for the X-Men than his upstart son ever could?
I’ve been dubious on this book since it launched. Not only was I not sold on another X-Ongoing but I was REALLY not sold on the idea of mutants vs. vampires. Frankly, if this was just another storyline, three issues max, it would have been fun and okay (since the X-Men HAVE interacted with Dracula in the past so its not forcing square pegs into round holes) but to have it go on for half a year and be an “event”? That was a little too much and caused me to initially write off the book completely and hope for early cancellation so that I wouldn’t feel bad about not buying it. That said when it did launch it ended up being surprisingly enjoyable. Now that the first arc and “mutants vs. vampires” has come to a close, click below to see where the book stands.
In all honesty this issue pretty much encapsulates everything that works and everything that doesn’t work about this series. At its core, this was a 12 page issue stretched out to 22. The complete pages of nearly identical panels with no dialogue are evidence of that alone. On top of that, nothing really happened. Dracula killed his son (like a boss) and had a wordy stand-off with Cyclops. Blade was made to look like a chump (and an out of character one at that since if anyone believes that he’d actually come back to Utopia and cavort with the X-Men after getting optic blasted in the back rather than wake up and cut Cyclops’ head off is an idiot) and the Wolverine/Jubilee mini-series was seeded. That’s it.
Frankly, I am surprised I made it this long with this series. I bought it initially, despite my misgivings, because my long history as an X-Fan ultimately prevented me from not passing on a brand new, in-continuity X-Men book. And while I will admit that it was not nearly as horrible as I (and EiC Matt) anticipated it being, there really was nothing that stood out about this book. While some great comics have filler issues, this whole book was a filler SERIES. An in-continuity book with isolated circumstances that are meant to be far reaching and yet never mentioned in any other title…a bad echo of the 90s market flooding publication practices. In short: this book is not needed and adds nothing new or even particularly exciting to the tapestry of the ongoing mutant story. Now, granted, X-Men Legacy can also be described as such, but at least that book is telling interesting stories with its little slice of the universe, whereas Victor Gischler is in every way a “by the numbers” writer. He is good at writing every kind of comic book that has ever existed and terrible at actually making new waves himself.
The only truly redeeming factor is Paco Medina’s art. While many don’t like his “cartoony” style, I’ve always been a fan of his unique character designs and immediately recognizable facial constructions. Most “non-photo realistic” artists often have a tough time conveying true emotion with their work, yet Medina manages to recreate all the blunt machismo of Gischler’s script admirably. With artists like Humberto Ramos and Rob Guilory getting so much of the spotlight, Medina deserves better than a second rate, boring X-Book. Who knows, leaving him on Deadpool might’ve helped that book stay buyable.
Overall, this is probably going to be my last issue of adjectiveless X-Men. I tried, I really really did, but I just can’t dig it and there are so many better uses of my 3.99. While Spidey’s Brand New Day had some low points, the idea behind it and the current Big Time model is sound. In short: pay Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen more to write Uncanny several times a month and axe the other “core” titles. You want my money, Marvel? That’s how you get it.
Final Verdict: 6.4 – Browse
