Read our review of Dead X-Men #1 from Marvel Comics, written by Steve Foxe with art by Vincenzo Carratu, Bernard Chang, and Jonas Scharf.
We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!
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Dead X-Men #1 Review:
In this new series, the X-Men who were killed at the Hellfire Gala are very much not dead and combing the multiverse for information on Moira McTaggert. So, basically a stealth Exiles reboot.
Host Alex Zalben noted he was surprised and a bit “taken aback” to discover that the X-Men are “just alive at the beginning,” as he expected some sort of explanation. Instead, the setup came via the recap page, which seemed “a little too much.” But on the more positive side, “I love Exiles. If this sticks with them jumping through the multiverse, trying to track down Moiras… Great, super into that.”
Justin Tyler was on the same page, finding the packed recap page “intense and unnecessary,” particularly since the rationale for using this team of X-Men provided later in the issue was “really good… That’s what I want, a crack team of underdog X-Men that come in and encounter a team of Starammers where Juggernaut is a cool teen with cool hair. You got grown up Lockheed. You got Sunspot, who looks like Mr. Fantastic. I want all of that. So my big note here is just simplify the front end, and give us this mainline s**t that we’re dying for.”
That said, Zalben wondered whether we had “skipped an issue” here, as certain plot points left at the end of Rise of the Powers of X #1 seem to jump forward exponentially with this issue; though thought perhaps it would be picked up in the second issue of that series.
Dead X-Men #1 Official Synopsis:
DEATH WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING! When the world turned against Krakoa, these five mutants lost their lives…but their mission as X-Men is just getting started. To preserve Xavier’s dream, they must accomplish the impossible – or die again trying! Spinning out from RISE OF THE POWERS OF X, discover…who are the DEAD X-MEN?!
