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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » X-Men: Mutant Genesis

X-Men: Mutant Genesis

1 rating: 4.0

Marvel Comic/Graphic Novel

In 1991, Marvel revised the entire lineup of X-Books, centered on the launch of a second X-Men series, simply titled X-Men. With the return of Xavier and the original X-Men to the team, the roster was split into two strike forces: Cyclops' "Blue … see full wiki

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And it began... Yet again... For the third time???

Aug 11, 2011

by Madpenguin
posted in Speech Bubbles: Comics & Graphic Novels

Rating:

The Mutant Master of Magnetism Magneto, lives a life of solitude above the Earth on an asteroid he dubbed Asteroid M. A ship that is being pursued lands on his asteroid with rogue mutants aboard led by a man named Fabian Cortez. The group swears their allegiance to Magneto, and begs for him to lead his kind into the battle against mankind. Completely unaware that Magneto has given up that lifestyle, they urge him to carry on regardless. Magneto returns to the Earth and enters into a battle with the X-Men, who some of the members only see Magneto as the man he used to be. This confrontation reminds Magneto why he should be fighting in the first place. -summary

X-Men: Mutant Genesis is the result of the X-Men: Muir Island Saga, which took place in the pages of Uncanny X-Men issues 278-280, and X-Factor issues 69 & 70. The outcome of that storyline ended with the original X-Men, who were currently the mutant team X-Factor, rejoining the current X-Men who were once again lead by Professor Xavier. Now, with their numbers greatly increased they separated into two teams; Gold Team which was led by Storm, and their stories took place in the pages of Uncanny X-Men, and Blue Team which was led by Cyclops, and their stories took place in this series, the non titled X-Men which began its run in 1991. The first three stories were written by legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont, with the artwork being done by Jim Lee. This trade paperback features X-Men issues 1 - 7, therefore, you're getting two complete stories with the second introducing a new villain, and revealing the whereabouts of two lost X-Men.

The first story was a splendid way to close the books on the reformed Magneto, who tried so hard to follow Xavier's dream when he was on the side of the X-Men, and was the headmaster of the New Mutants. His character is given an extra amount of depth that reveals another, more compassionate side in regards to his enemies that he slain years ago. I thought his reaction to witnessing the bones of the crew in the submarine he sank back in Uncanny X-Men # 150 was one of those "wow" moments. His new faction that go on to call themselves the Acolytes are given a decent amount of exposure, but they come off as mere stock bad guys. This also goes for many of the villains in the second story, as almost no one came off the slightest bit interesting. I always thought the twin duo Fenris were lame.

The plot moves at a nice pace with a good plot twist, and the readers are given a little to think about, when it's revealed that Magneto's very essence may have been tampered with. Which drove him into a fury, because this put his entire life since his rebirth in Uncanny X-Men #104 under questioning. Eventually, the climax built into a possible X-Men vs. X-Men confrontation, and the ending was put together well and fitting for Magneto. The second story is focused more on Wolverine, as a small group of the X-Men are ambushed by the ninja organization called the Hand. This sees Wolverine kidnapped and pitted against an enemy from his past Omega Red, who's abilities are every bit a match for Wolverine's. During this chapter several things occur; there's a bit more revealed on the faction called the Upstarts, Wolverine's secret agent days are examined a little, Sabretooth raises an eyebrow on Gambit's mysterious past, and finally Dazzler and Longshot's whereabouts are revealed.

I have heard of the pacing issues that take place, and the segments involving former X-Men Longshot and Dazzler, as well as Mojo's world takes a lot of heat for this. But to understand the importance of this side plot, one has to understand that Dazzler and Longshot were among the most popular third generation X-Men. And fans had been screaming for months on what happened to these characters after Longshot quit the X-Men, and the team disbanding by crossing over through the Siege Perilous to avoid the Reavers. However, I will admit that those segments threw things off though, but I can't think of any other way it could have been injected.

Jim Lee's artwork has always been amazing, and I think it became a little better by this time. The character designs have a great amount of detail, and I liked the civilian outfits for the characters. The action panels also had some good moments, and I had no trouble keeping up with the dialogue bubbles. Now speaking of the dialogue, it has those bad moments with a few weak lines here and there, but some decent lines as well.

X-Men: Mutant Genesis was a good start that could have been better. Still, it's something I can read again and I recommend to serious X-Men fans. The book is 196 pages with some fantastic artwork included.

Pros:
-Lee's artwork, good amount of action, background on Wolverine

Cons:
-Weak dialogue at times, Some uninteresting villains

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