Written by: Marc Guggenheim, Greg Pak, & Cullen Bunn
Art by: Ken Lashley, Ibraim Roberson, Leonard Kirk, & Guillermo Ortego
Publisher: Marvel
I always – often against my better judgment – end up getting pretty excited about new X-Men #1’s. Despite my anticipation for X-Men Prime #1, I wasn’t really going in with high hopes. I mean, it’s a one-shot designed to kickstart future books in the X-Men line. It sounded a lot like DC’s Rebirth one shots, and those turned out to be catastrophically awful ideas.
While I do think that this one-shot was a bad idea, I found myself enjoying my time with it. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a total fanboy thing – I adore the cast of characters in this book. Plus, it feels like it’s been too long since I’ve spent time in their world. In some ways, it felt like coming home, seeing all (well, most) of the X-Men in one place.
But going home always comes with a lot of frustrations. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that. And “frustrating” sums up my thoughts about this book pretty perfectly. There’s some really good dialogue here, but almost every conversation is soiled by someone deciding it would be a good idea to launch into an exposition dump.
The result is dialogue that ends up feeling clunky and awkward, more than anything else. It lacks a consistent flow, and absolutely kills the book. Scenes that should be home to solid character work fall flat. It makes the whole experience a difficult one to get through. Honestly, it would be easier to stomach if there weren’t hints at good dialogue.
Visually, it’s… fine, I guess. I mean, there are so many text boxes that it’s difficult to focus on the art a times. When I can make it out, it’s a little bland, but it does its job. It’s not exactly drawing me in, but it’s telling the story visually. I just wish it had more room to actually grow and do its thing. Reading this book felt kind of claustrophobic.
The conclusion I’ve reached here is that X-Men Prime shouldn’t have been a one-shot. It either should have been a miniseries, or been integrated into one of the upcoming X-Men books. It tries to do far too much with far too little space. It’s impossible not to draw comparisons to the Rebirth one-shots, and this feels just as poorly conceived as those were.
