I rather enjoyed many elements from the original Marvel Mangaverse event, released more than a year ago, and that's saying something, since manga stories don't often appeal to me. The X-Men one-shot from that event didn't completely hook me, but it did offer some different spins on Marvel's mutants, with some inventive new designs to boot. Unfortunately, this return to those concepts stands out as some fairly standard, oversimplified super-heroics... accessible for new readers but of little interest to regular X-readers since nothing really new is done with these familiar figures.
Jean Grey is being pursued by a trio of ninjas, but she's defended by a different triumverate of heroes. Wolverine, Storm and Cyclops offer Jean Grey a chance to better herself and her skill with her powers. Meanwhile, the woman who hired the ninjas -- Emma Frost -- still wants to "recruit" Jean Grey into the malevolent Hellfire Club. By bringing powerful young mutants like Jean on board, Frost hopes to rise in the club's ranks, as she strives to achieve the title of White Queen. Given the interference of the X-Men, though, she turns to other avenues to reach that goal.
Nakatsuka tells the story clearly, and offers plenty of visuals to appeal to both X-Men fans and manga enthusiasts alike. At times, the style reminded me just a little bit of Chynna (Blue Monday) Clugston-Major's, but it's not until the issue's climactic scene that the visuals really take on that more extreme, manga look. The new designs for Iceman and Pyro accentuate a more inhuman tone. Overall, the art, while capable, never really grabs me either. On the other hand, the cover -- illustrated by Tommy Ohtsuka -- is done in a Dragonball style that I don't care for at all.
The opening sequence here mirrors the scene in the first X-Men movie in which Wolverine and Rogue were introduced to the team of mutants. It seemed as though plotwise, Torres was really walking along a very familiar path, and the real appeal of this non-continuity stories is the ability to really do something extreme and different with these carefully guarded characters. Sure, we do see a different spin on Iceman and Pyro here, but the main plot -- good mutants versus bad -- stood out as generic.
Now while I'm not a manga fan, I wonder why the book doesn't delve more into Japanese culture. I know the creators involved here have an interest in it, but that culture really doesn't factor into the plot.
