In a lot of ways, Madrox reads less like a five-issue miniseries and more like a five-issue arc introducing an ongoing. The good news is, that means there's a lot of strength in this series, and it's one of the few books in the bloated X-line that I'd actually like to see continuing. The bad news is, it is just a miniseries, which means there's just one issue left, a shame since David has made Madrox a fascinating character with infinitely interesting powers and cooked up a pretty good mystery besides. The miniseries aspect means that the "B" plot featuring Rahne and Strong Guy feels a little tacked on, mostly fan-service for those who remember David's X-Factor run, but the good news there is that the "B" plot is still well-written with neat ideas, and all of it is served up with stylish and gritty artwork by Raimondi and the rest.
OK, hands up, everyone who thought the ability to duplicate yourself by kinetic impact sounded remarkably lame. Yeah, my hand is up too. But David has found a way to make this a really nifty power, and he has extended further from the clever ideas he came up with for Madrox in X-Factor and made him a legitimately viable protagonist. By tweaking the powers just a little, giving each dupe a personality that differs from the main one and allowing Jamie to gain knowledge from re-absorption, David has turned this goofy, Silver Age power into a versatile tool for character development and nifty little plot tricks. Case in point this issue, a really terrific scene where Madrox uses himself to break a fall, or another where a falling bit of timber causes him to spawn a duplicate, who then fails to provide any sort of help whatsoever.
While it's the power stunts that make Madrox really stand out to me, however, David has also crafted a pretty nifty little plot for his hero-turned-detective. The involvement of a crime boss and his beautiful wife takes another couple of turns in this issue, and while the ending seems reasonably obvious in retrospect by process of elimination, I certainly didn't see it coming. That's the essence of good mystery writing, and David plays fair with the readers and provides a surprise, which is not an easy tightrope to walk. The "B" story, featuring Rahne and Strong Guy tracking down an astral cheater, is also predicated on a neat idea, but it does seem like a bit of extra story that doesn't belong, there mostly to include a couple of characters who don't intersect with the main story at all. It's a good story, but it feels unnecessary in the context of the rest of the series, although oddly, I'd be OK with it if David were setting up this detective agency as a new status quo for a new ongoing series.
With any luck, there will at least be a follow-up miniseries, because it's clear that David has plenty of ideas for these characters, and he's found a great collaborator in Pablo Raimondi. Raimondi, with inks by Hennessy, has a clean, realistic style reminiscent of former Crossgen greats like Greg Land and Butch Guice, but he doesn't fall into the trap of being overly photo referenced and stiff as some of those guys did. There's some great twisted perspective in the "re-absorption" scene, although some credit there might also go to colorist Brian Reber for the digital effects and there's some terrific action with Rahne's short-lived battle sequence in the issue as well. Whether Madrox gets another life as another miniseries or ongoing or not, I hope we'll see more of this art team together in the future.
It's miniseries like this that give all of us the false hope every time Marvel announces another seemingly wasteful spinoff of the X-line. The truth is, for every one success like Madrox, there are a dozen ill-conceived and poorly executed failures, but a strong miniseries like this makes the argument for the "throw it at the wall and see what sticks" method. On the other hand, there's also a strong argument here for "put a strong creative team together and let them run." Either way, it's a shame that Madrox has reached its penultimate issue while Gambit, Rogue and others remain theoretically ongoing instead. Whether you're an X-fan looking for the diamond in the crowded rough of the X-Books, a fan of Peter David's writing or just someone who likes dark yet witty superhero comics, Madrox is well worth a look. 9/10
