The first couple issues of X-Statix, while intriguing, have left me with a bit of a feeling of "been there, done that" and I was starting to wonder if the shock of the new was wearing off for this take on the team. However, as "Good Omens" continues, it becomes clear that Milligan and Allred are exploring the changes wrought in the team by the death of one of their most popular members in a new way, while also continuing the character development that's been going on and throwing in a few winks and nods to the camera along the way. The loss of Edie has actually strengthened the book, shifting character dynamics and allowing a few of the background players to take a more prominent role in the spotlight.
X-Statix is a book that has an odd tone, comical in some respects but serious in others, and it's interesting that this story can be read in one of two ways. You can read it straight, as a fairly straightforward take on super-hero cliches and melodrama, or as a self-aware parody of those cliches with plenty to say about the genre and the mass media manipulation of the real world. In fact, I'd bet that if the artist had been someone more like Jim Lee than Mike Allred, the complaints from the old-time fans might not have been so loud, as the book could pass for an X-Book if someone isn't reading beyond the surface.
Mind you, that would have been a shame, and it speaks to how much of this book's success belongs on the shoulders of Allred. The look of the book, strange and pop with a touch of retro, is as important as the style in Milligan's scripts. Allred captures the slick fashions that dress the team with the opening scene, as well as the MTV fake alternative style that they sport in public with the "Tike Alicar and Dead Girl Road Show." The weirdness of the heroes' appearance is what first clues in the reader that X-Statix is not really a book about bickering teammates and rivalries with another super-team, but also about how those story elements comment on super-hero storytelling in general.
While this is a parody book to some degree (Myles seems aware of it, at least, making his witty Chandler Bing-esque comments to the reader and not to Guy), that doesn't mean it's all about making the reader laugh. Milligan has managed the difficult task of making us care about these characters, who are marked by their circumstances for death, torture physical and mental, and worse. Guy's struggle with his feelings in the wake of Edie's death and his almost delusional conviction that Arnie is worthy to judge whether he should live or die is very strong, as is Tike's slow degradation back into his more "out there" Anarchist persona. The relationship between Myles and Billy-Bob has grown from a joke into an interesting examination of both characters. And Doop, seemingly nothing more than a visual joke, may be something far more sinister, if Myles's rantings and writings are to be believed.
The revamp of X-Force was a gutsy and borderline crazy move by Marvel, taking one of the epitomes of 90s "kewl" and transforming it into one of the best examples of the new Marvel. Now that the success of the direction has been established, X-Statix doesn't feel quite as revolutionary or brave, but it's still just as entertaining and well-executed, in writing and artwork.
