IN THE END…AS IN THE BEGINNING

MUTANT X #1 (MARVEL COMICS)

Hello dear readers and welcome to a new thing that I’ve decided I’m apparently doing! I’ve been reviewing action figures for over a decade, but I’ve also been known to review the occasional non-figure thing. Never in a recurring capacity or anything, but hey, there’s a first time for everything. Action figures and comics have been connected for a good long while, so it’s not a crazy stretch to go from one to the other, so that’s a thing I’m gonna at the very least attempt. And why? Havok, that’s why. At the tail end of the ’90s, Havok was granted his own Havok-centric X-spin-off, Mutant X, which saw the main universe’s Alex Summers, in a near death state, shifted into the body of an alternate universe version of himself. And, aside from the general Havok focus, what’s that got to do with me? Well, I just came into a complete run of the whole of Mutant X, which I’d been looking to re-read. And if I’m doing a re-read, I thought I might just drag the rest of you along with me. So, let’s jump back 25 years, to the fall of 1998, and take a look at Mutant X #1, titled “In the end…as in the beginning!”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #1 is cover dated October 1998, and its story and art were handled by Howard Mackie, Tom Raney, and Andrew Pepoy.

Having seemingly died in the pages of X-Factor, Alex Summers floats in limbo. On another Earth, a different Alex leads The Six in a battle against a group of Sentinels. This Alex takes a blast to the chest and falls into the river, also seemingly dead. The mainstream Havok goes into to body of his alternate counterpart and is pulled from the waters by the Brute, thus universe’s version of Hank McCoy. A confused Alex, who believes this whole outing to be some sort of trick, becomes hostile towards the Six, and he’s knocked unconscious by The Fallen (Warren Worthington III). Alex awakens in Bannerman’s Castle, home of The Six, and is greeted by the Brute, who demonstrates his lack of McCoy’s usual intellect. Alex is claims memory loss from his injury and is introduced to Marvel Woman (Madelyn Pryor, Alex’s wife in the universe), The Fallen, Ice-Man (Bob Drake, who after a run0in with Loki is unable to fully control his powers and cannot touch others), and Bloodstorm (Orro Munro turned vampire).  Maddie also reveals to Alex the existence of their son, Scotty. When SHIELD, an anti-mutant terrorist organization in this universe, sets out to attack Liberty Island, The Six must intervene in order to save Scotty, who is visiting the island on a day trip. Alex is initially reluctant to help, but when an emotionally distressed Maddie shows signs of her Goblin Queen persona, Alex intervenes and assists the Six in taking down Nick Fury and his Mandroid-armored SHIELD agents. Back at Bannerman’s Castle, Alex goes to check on Scotty, who reveals that he knows that this Alex isn’t his father…

This issue has a lot of ground to cover, which is aided by the fact that it’s a whopping 56 pager. We get only the slightest bit of recap of what happened to main Alex before jumping into the whole alternate universe thing, at which point, Alex is essentially just there to walk the reader through this new universe. There’s quite a bit to exposit, but the story actually handles it alright, keeping most things from being too dry or clunky. There are a few spots where it’s a little choppy, with Scotty’s trip to Liberty Island in particular being a slightly awkward beat. The whole SHIELD change up is also a little off, with little explanation offered as to why Fury is just straight evil in this universe. Of the main team, Brute definitely gets the best showing in this first outing, actually getting his backstory worked into the story, as well as getting an immediately different characterization, and a more clearly defined deviation from his main universe counterpart. It’s also kind of refreshing to see an alternate universe take on Hank that doesn’t jump right to “evil scientist” the way so many Hank variants do. Maddie definitely shows a lot of potential for where they’re going to go with the character, but isn’t quite a full fledged character on her own just yet. Ice-Man has a fairly interesting change-up, even if it is just a slight recycle on Rogue’s usual schtick. Bloodstorm and Fallen, however, are both pretty slim on characterization at this point, both relying on being like the normal versions, but edgier. The smaller role for Scotty is also noticeable, especially with the mislead at the end where it looks like he’s distrustful of Alex.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I recall a lot of Mutant X‘s existence when it was new, and I picked up the odd issue here and there.  It was one of my go-tos when I just wanted to pick out a comic for myself, honestly.  This was one of the issues I had as a kid (though I believe I had a copy from a later print-run), and I remember re-reading it a lot at the time.  I honestly didn’t recall the whole SHIELD sub-plot, which probably speaks to how it’s the weaker portion of this inaugural story.  In general, though, I was pleasantly surprised by how well this first issue held up, and it’s made me very excited to read the rest of the run.

I snagged this whole run (and in fact my first copy of this issue as well) from my usual comics stop, Cosmic Comix, so I want to give them a shout out here, because it was a pretty great find.