Review: X #1

This week, we get to see X return, and while I was a little trepidatious about what I’d find, it turned out better than expected.  When I reviewed X #0, I enjoyed X’s bad-ass rating of over 9000, but I did wonder where they could really go with it.  X #0 was fun in its gratuitous violence, but after a while, nothing but blood and gore would undoubtedly get boring.  X #1 shows that writer Duane Swierczynski has more planned than just horrible violent deaths.

I started following X in Dark Horse Presents some months ago, and while the character was a bucket and a half of awesome, there was little to no plot in the zero issue.  Bad-ass kills three guys using gratuitous violence.  Simple.  While I won’t spoil the details, we see a lot more happen this time.  Things I will mention, because they don’t spoil much: the police find the mess X made in the previous issue, a blogger starts investigating, and X has announced his next victim.  All of that is just on Dark Horse’s page for the comic, and that doesn’t even cover the couple major twists!

I didn’t really talk about the art in the last review, but Eric Nguyen is the artist for both X #0 and #1, and his art is grungy and dark, which makes it great for this kind of comic.  He does a lot of shadow play, covering X’s face in the few scenes we get where he’s not in costume, and using a lot of darker backgrounds to bring out the action.  It’s smart: the comic is not about where things are happening; it’s what’s happening that holds the emphasis.  Also, and I don’t know if I just missed it in issue #0 or if this is truly new, but the red X motif exists on far more of his costume than just the big X on his face.  Honestly, I don’t really like that he does this, as it draws too much attention away from that face and de-emphasizes that mystery a bit.  I would just have him in all black, with the X on the face and that awesome torn up cape, but not on the belt, vest, gloves or anything like that.  But what do I know?  I have trouble drawing a decent bunny.

I really want to comment on a number of other things that are going on, but I don’t want to give away any more about the plot.  Here’s what we’ll do: go buy this comic, and read it. It’s good (definitely worth the $2.99 cover price), and I’m very interested in seeing what happens in issue 2.  When I review issue 2, I believe many of the points I want to make now will still be relevant, so I can comment on them, referencing this issue. Until then, just trust me on this one: it’s worth the read.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes is wondering if next time we’ll find out why Dave Wilkins seems to like putting strip joints on the cover.  Because there’s like two or three this time and a couple next time.  This whole series could take a major genre shift.  You can follow Holmes on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.