CYCLOPS #1
"Odyssey, Chapter One: If Looks Could Kill"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Pencils: Mark Pexeria
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colors: Transparency Digital
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Mike Marts
Price: $2.50 US/$3.75 CAN |
Though I wasn't terribly enamored of the limited series, X-Men: Search for Cyclops planted some interesting seeds for future characterization. Cyclops has always been a thoroughly virtuous character, seemingly an ideal example of heroism and ethics, but that Joe Harris-written limited series brought out the character's dark side. Brian K. Vaughan touches on that darkness here, but it's only the barest of hints. I'm hoping future issues will delve deeper.
Professor X insists that Scott Summers, AKA X-Men leader Cyclops, takes a few personal days for introspection, so he decides to take a road trip to his native Alaska. On the way, he's beset upon by the Juggernaut and Black Tom Cassidy, hired to kill him by a mysterious new enemy holding a major grudge. Cyclops must rely on his tactics and a newfound sense of ruthlessness to survive the encounter.
I've always enjoyed Texeria's gritty, cinematic art, but when I saw his stuff on Marvel Knights' Black Panther #s 1-4, I was utterly blown away. Sadly, the same level of detail, clarity and atmosphere is not to be found in Cyclops. It seems as though he pencilled this very loosely, and Palmiotti's inks don't bring enough definition to the art to compensate. Mind you, there's still a palpable, inky atmosphere that suits the tone of the story.
Readers of Vaughan's Swamp Thing know he can be something of a "talky" writer, but on that title, with its emphasis on ethics, it works. But Vaughan gets a bit too wordy here in Cyclops. He hammers home his themes in the narration and dialogue. Vaughan tells us Cyclops is a great leader and tactician, but he needn't have done so. We see the evidence.
Cyclops is very much a story about identity, and there's great potential in the ideas Vaughan is exploring here. Scott Summers is a man who allows his "job" to define him, and time away from that role should serve to spotlight other aspects of his character.
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