Marvel have announced a new miniseries from writer Matt Kindt and artist Paul Davidson for December, called ‘Inhumanity: The Awakening’. Obviously tying in to Matt Fraction and Joe Mad’s new Inhuman series, this miniseries has Pixie on the cover, so what are we even doing wasting time sitting here on The Beat when we could be pre-ordering this hot new Pixie comic?
Cover by Jorge Molina
Okay, sorry, carried away. The idea of Inhuman is that a load of magic mist gets spilled on Earth, turning thousands of humans into INhumans. Yes, this is the exact same premise as the X-Men, only with giant Jack Kirby robots replaced by mild lunar precipitation. But as a result of this, characters around the World are going to find that they’ve become Inhuman overnight, and their latent Inhuamn ancestry is now active.
This miniseries will see various members of the youngest superhero generation dealing with this whole deal, including and starring Pixie. Also Stryker and Finesse from Avengers Academy, along with some random girl in green. Wind Dancer? The miniseries will spin out of not just Inhumanity, but the Kindt/Steven Sanders miniseries Infinity: The Hunt, which starts tomorrow.
X-Men Legacy completes the first arc, with writer Si Spurrier taking its lead character – which, I still can’t really believe, is Professor X’s son Legion – into a new direction, having thoroughly established him as protagonist worth following. He’s joined by artist Jorge Molina, who has spent the last year or so drawing essentially every X-Men book going, and is always a pleasure to see. This has been a scattered, easily distracted book (much like its lead character), but also a very funny, wonderfully melodramatic piece of work, and the best X-Men book around right now.
The first arc has worked hard to make sure that Legion is more than just a plot device – which feels a little out of character, given that’s basically all Legion has ever ever been, but still. To do so, Spurrier has leant heavily on the character’s Scottish upbringing, giving him not only a Rebus accent but also an attitude which is surly and independent. Like Rebus! He’s an annoying lead at times to spend time with, having a lot of new-age mantras in his head which are designed to help him keep his wonky powers under control. The character balances self-help with anti-heroics in each issue, which is mainly fun but sometimes irritating. It’s obviously an important part of the story, but Legion’s road to recovery can be a little tedious to read about sometimes. Not often, but sometimes.
But more than the main character, it’s the world Spurrier has built around his lead which is where the book starts to sing. From the cameos from off-centre X-Men like Frenzy and Chamber (who, given he is essentially a comic book version of Si Spurrier, gets all the best lines) to the global sweep of the narrative and the psychological elements of Legion’s powers, Spurrier quickly make sit clear that anything is possible in his story. He can spend an issue inside Legion’s head (literally) or in Asia, and it feels like a natural part of the story. The book can go into flights of whimsy or be brutally realistic. Rather than being stuck at a school in America, the series has a more escapist approach to the X-Men, which finds new real-world analogies to play around with, dismantle, and reassemble.
The central metaphor of the X-Men has been explained and explored to death over the years, but X-Men Legacy takes some of the old ideas and views them through a more contemporary filter, which suddenly makes the threat of prejudice and anger seem much more potent. The villain of these first six issues is one of the most vicious we’ve seen in years, a new creation who is genuinely scary and horrible to see in action. Issue 5 – the standout issue of the series so far – deals almost exclusively with establishing the villain, and Spurrier makes his origin just recognisable enough to be scary whilst also making it wonderfully ridiculous. The fantasy is stripped out entirely for a moment, as we focus on the evolution of a misguided child into a fully formed adult horror. He’s ultimately dealt with a little too suddenly – issue 6 runs out of space, it feels – but he’s a fascinating new character, and one I hope to see again.
That narrative over these six issues has been talked about a lot. Spurrier’s story does get easily distracted, with many different tangents suddenly appearing from nowhere, with some leading to a more rewarding place than others. For the most part, these drifts in focus have worked in favour of the book – it helps that Spurrier has the ability to point to his multi-personalitied lead and say the story is just mirroring Legion himself – but there have been some times when the story has wandered around, a little lost, for a few pages at a time. In taking time to develop Legion, the book has had to hold off on revealing the central premise which will push the story forward over the next few months, which has hurt the momentum a little. Hopefully with Legion now established, and a proper premise offered to readers, the book will have a firmer direction as it heads into the second arc.
PIXIE PARAGRAPH: There’s been a swarm of British writers towards Pixie over the last few years, with the pink-haired wonder attracting the attention of Kieron Gillen, Mike Carey, and now Spurrier. It’s meant that the character now actually has a Welsh accent, although she has yet to ask anybody what’s occurring. She appears in issue #6 for a page or two, and I am of course utterly furious with Spurrier for what he does to her. I won’t say what it is, but I will say that Spurrier at least manages in about six words to nail the character’s dialogue. She sounds just like Joanna Page, which is unanimously agreed to be the only way people should ever write Pixie. So well done for writing her properly, Spurrier – but I remain furious at her treatment. Compensation is demanded!
Issue #6 of X-Men Legacy is an incredible read, filled with fully-developed characters, funny jokes, exciting drama, and genuine tension. I don’t really know how Legion has become the centre of the best written X-Men book… but X-Men Legacy is one of the triumphs of the Marvel Now initiative, and the best X-Men book you can buy right now. It’s a wee wonder.
Steve Morris is… trying out one of these things where you self-promote yourself after an article you wrote. I have a webcomic! It’s called Stardark City. It’s lovely and I hope you might want to read it maybe sometime? You can also shout at me on Twitter, @stevewmorris.
This is the final art from the sketch I posted
here.
The hair color is wrong, but I think that’s Coat of Arms?
Or, because of the jacket color and style, Leah? This is a fun game.
It is! It might be Trance, with longer hair?
Matt Kindt is everywhere! Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
Now check out MIND MGMT.
Coat of Arms is a good call–I think she might have been mentioned in relation to The Hunt.
So, this is like Spider-Island? Or Invasion! ?
Interesting, in that mutants get a temporary boost from the Terrigen mists, like Quicksilver.
Can the mists be artificially created? What’s to keep someone from blowing this “Pixie Dust” (heh) into a school or stadium, or weaponizing it? (Forget about super soldier serum! Just test every soldier who enlists!)
Will Marvel explore the more rudimentary aspects?
A bullied kid in junior high who gets hulkified?
A pregnant mother worried about the health of her baby? (Another amniocentesis test for abnormalities! “I’m sorry. Your baby tests positive for the super-gene. “) Or possible activation of the baby while the mother is pregnant. (See: Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex)
Reed Richards “threat” made to the Congressional Committee during the “Acts of Vengeance”, where perhaps members of Congress might be gifted with the X-gene?
Is the “Civil War” and “Secret Invasion” zeitgeists still active in the general populace? Will we see internment camps? Days of Future Past? Age of Apocalypse?
Seems to me, there are two reasons for doing this:
Marvel Studios gets the X-Men theme without having to pay Fox any money.
Marvel Comics gets to correct the House of M decimation by populating the world with lots of genetically gifted super powers.
@ Torstein – as of the end of AvX, Marvel has corrected the House of M decimation. They can bring on lots of genetically gifted super folk without the Inhumans. I think the reasoning is to try and promote the Inhumans and make them a steady seller. They have longevity and were created by Lee/Kirby, but they’ve never had the kind of popularity that their contemporaries like Namor/Surfer/Black Panther/etc have had.
It’s to build a franchise for a movie.
In terms of limiting the mists, does it not turn x percent of those it touches into alpha primates?
brand, rather, not franchise.
The mists turn anybody with Inhuman ancestry into a full-blown Inhuman. It’s a superheroic version of the ‘one drop’ rule
“Marvel Studios gets the X-Men theme without having to pay Fox any money.”
This right here.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in Avengers2 are “Inhumans” which means we’ll get some sort of retcon in the comics too probably.
I dunno if a comic retcon is forthcoming. Plenty of stuff has been taken from the movies, but plenty of stuff has been left alone. It’s not as though Widow and Hawkeye are now founding Avengers, for example.