MARVEL MANGAVERSE: X-MEN #1
"X-Men: Equinox"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: C.B. Cebulski
Pencils: Jeff Matsuda
Art assist: A.J. Jothikumar
Inks: Andy Owens
Colors: Liquid!
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Brian Smith
Price: $2.25 US/3.50 CAN |
Creators working this special Mangaverse skip-week event have been taking one of two paths. Either they stick with the core concepts behind the characters they're working with (as is the case in the Avengers Assemble! and Spider-Man books, for example), or they're completely redefining the characters for the new manga-inspired settings and circumstances (a la Punisher one-shot). C.B. Cebulski takes the middle-of-the-road approach, though, doing a little of both.
Confused and looking for relief from her powers, Rogue leaves the X-Men and turns to dark sorceress Amanda Sefton for help, but what she doesn't know is that she plans to use Rogue to exact revenge on an electro-magnetic demon named Magnus. Storm and Wolverine lead the X-Men to put a stop to Sefton's dangerous plan, but they encounter some opposition in the form of the bloodthirsty mutants known as the Azure.
When reading this book, it occurred to me that the Mangaverse event has boasted a nice variety of manga art. Often, the perception is that the style is all big eyes and school girls, and the various creators -- and perhaps especially Matsuda -- have proven that perception wrong. His designs for the tweaked mutant characters were fun for the most part. The colors for this story were far gaudier than I would have liked, though, and the action doesn't flow all that well either at times.
Nightcrawler as a villain was easily my favorite deviation from mainstream Marvel continuity in this book, reinforced by the slightly altered design. Cyclops's unwieldy appearance really set him apart as well. To my disappointment, though, others -- notably Wolverine and Rogue -- remain practically untouched by the manga treatment, save for some slight visual alterations.
One thing that Cebulski pulls off nicely is that he gives the reader a clear sense of who many of these characters are. Some of the other Mangaverse books really don't delve into characterization (or don't have the space to do so), but there was more of a sense of personality in this book. We get to know a lot about these alternate versions of Storm and Amanda Sefton, for example.
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