The First X-Men #1

Last week I stopped by Titan Comics here in Dallas and snagged a copy of The First X-Men #1.  The book is the first installment of a new mini that serves as a prequel to the founding of the mutant superteam known as the X-Men, written by Neal Adams and Christos Gage, and penciled by Adams. 

The book finds Sabretooth and Wolverine working together to find and recruit mutants in order to gain some strength in numbers and fight mutant persecution.  In the first issue, they find a powerful young man by the name of Anthony, and a woman named Holly Bright (aka Holo).  They also encounter a young Charles Xavier, currently attending university at Oxford and dating Moira Mactaggert.  Xavier is not (yet) the least bit interested in having his life's path dictated by his mutant gift.  It should be noted, this title takes place even before Xavier and Magneto meet.  

Okay, so here's my rundown:

The storyline is pretty cool, and serves to fill some gaps in the X-titles' continuity.  It's set about "thirty years ago" but not tied to any particular year.  As has been said, the writers aren't referencing cell phones or the internet, but they also aren't referencing disco, either.  

That said, honestly, I don't care for the art.  I know Neal Adams is a comic book legend, but frankly, I don't think the art on this book is up to par with what I've seen of his earlier work.  Also, the pacing of issue 1 felt really rushed.  It was as if they were trying to pack so many thing into the issue, parts of it felt rather glossed over.  I believe this has something like a 5 issue run, so it remains to be seen if this is merely to cover some standard "set-up" ground, or if the whole run will be this...quick.

Shortcomings in pacing and artwork notwithstanding, it should serve as a decent mini in the X-universe.  It wasn't the greatest, but again, is an interesting historical look at the beginnings of the modern mutant era.  The book is basically saved, in my opinion, by the sheer intrigue in the premise.  Flaws and all, I'll still probably pick up issue #2.

The cover alone looked interesting enough to warrant that:

- Johnny Decibel