I am happy to report that somebody at Marvel must have read one of my reviews and changed the format of these, “Where are they now?” books. Or at least that is what I am going to convince myself of.
Despite the numerous attempts of various writers, the mutant population in the 616 Marvel Universe is still substantial. When I was much younger, I always wondered what all of those Avengers that were not actively serving on the team were doing. It was like most of them dropped off the face of the Earth when they weren’t serving on the team. The same thing could be said about the various mutants that have made appearances in X-Books. Of course stories like Mutant Massacre, Legacy Virus, Genosha and M-Day all played their part in culling the number of mutants, there are still too many to track in the current X-books. Addressing this need: Nation X.
This is not Marvel’s first attempt at this idea. But I would have to say that this is their most successful. Now, don’t get me wrong. By no means is this a homerun. I mean hey, whenever you pile four different stories together with four different artists and writers, you are bound to have some weak material. All-in-all though, I find this kick at the can very entertaining.
The first story is absolutely brilliant! It is written by CB Cebulski and drawn by mike Choi. Let me preface this by saying I am not a fan of Jubilee by any stretch of the imagination. This however, is all the more reason to listen when I say, “This is a fantastic story!” I don’t want to do any injustice to this short story by trying to describe it. Let me just say that is all about a girl who is on the outside looking in. And boy, did this one ever tug at the heartstrings of this long-time X-fan.
The second story is almost as good as the first and involves another character I always thought was beyond stupid. For me, the floating brain in a jar known as Martha, was the epitome of Grant Morrison’s contribution to the X-Men. This story though, has me thinking I should dig out those old New X-Men books for a re-read. Martha gets a chance to play a role which has avoided her, that of the hero. She faces off against another familiar foe from X-lore, and comes out victorious. This was a great story with an unsung hero. I have to say that I want to see more of this psychic anomaly.
The last two stories are mediocre, and star Northstar and Gambit. I’ll be honest, I think the Northstar story is ridiculous. It seems to be an attempt to tell a story about Northstar being gay, period. And the Gambit story is just plain boring. None of that matters though, because the first two stories are well worth the price of admission.
X-fans, buy this book. You will not be disappointed!