Review: Midnight X-Men #1 (Marvel)
The children of the darkness.
Midnight X-Men #1
Writers | Jonathan Hickman |
Illustrators | Matteo Della Fonte |
Colorists | Arthur Hesli |
Content Rating | T+ |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
Spoilers Ahead
Of the three announced Midnight books from Marvel. the one that is arguably the marquee book, Midnight X-Men, was the one I was least excited for. Krakoa sucked, and it sucked from the outset (I hated the concept), and worse, Hickman couldn't even see it through to the end. I have mixed feelings about Hickman as a writer. He has talent and a flair for the dramatic that I appreciate, but he can also become repetitive and obtuse. Big concept books are fine, but when everything is communicated in vagaries and equivocations it all just starts to sound like gobbledygook. Where Hickman's Fantastic Four run mostly worked, others, like Krakoa, were either too outlandish or too abusive to the source material to be readable. Of late, Hickman's track record hasn't been great, so would he be able to start making a comeback with Midnight X-Men #1?
As of right now, I'll say maybe, because it was a good first issue. In the Midnight Universe, the X-Men have been decimated by vampires, presumably led by Storm. Now, she's Queen of the Empyres, which are mutant-vampire hybrids. Thus in this world there is a wholly different dichotomy between mutants and humans, as now there are mutants, mutant-vampires, vampires, and humans all contending with one another. The Empyres (Mutant-Vampires = Em-Vampires = Empyres, lol) are in a tentative peace with the vampires, darkly referenced with the line "the peace must hold." Presumably because if the vampires and Empyres go to war, it will be bad news for everybody. And also, presumably, the peace will not hold, because otherwise it wouldn't be a very interesting series, now would it?
The issue begins with a congregation of church officials meeting with Father Wagner, AKA Nightcrawler. Midnight Kurt is a priest and hasn't been turned by the vampires, but that isn't stopping some members of the church from doubting his ability to remain loyal as a new "crusade" has begun; the church is led by Cardinal Stryker, who commands the Purifiers, a group set on destroying the Empyres. Kurt's days as an X-Man are coming back to haunt him, as a bunch of former teammates are part of the Empyres. Kurt claims he can be impartial, but the end of the issue casts some doubts on his sincerity.
I rolled my eyes a bit at the inclusion of the church here, because it's pretty clear, especially with Cardinal Stryker at the helm, that these are the de facto bad guys. Stryker even uses the line "God loves. Man kills..." at one point. Throw in reference to the Crusades and Hickman's politics are pretty blatantly being worn on his sleeve here. I'm willing to be patient and see how it plays out, but the typical progressive disdain for Catholics and Christians gets genuinely tiring. Hickman wouldn't dare make these new crusaders Muslims, I'm sure. Instead, the church is seen as "safe" to do whatever progressives want, so it's fair game in their mind to make the big evil bad guys.
Of course, I don't know for sure, and as I said, I'll wait it out, but it was my least favorite aspect of the issue. Fairing better were the portions of the story exploring the human resistance group, Magneto and his House of X, and the Last X-Man. All of these plot points were genuinely interesting. Starting with the human resistance group, they stumble upon a cache of Strongholds, which are high-tech coffins. Inside are normal vampires that are in the process of augmenting themselves with new technology to take on the Empyres. The vampires, unfortunately for the humans, are far from asleep, and quickly lay waste to the group except for one.
In the House of X skyscraper, we see a whole host of familiar mutants, including Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Polaris, Havok, Toad, Unus, and Magneto (now in matching gray-toned costumes). Pietro tells the group that the humans have stumbled upon some vampires and wants to save them, but the group reminds Pietro they can't disturb the peace arrangement. Magneto says to send someone who isn't part of the compact. Enter Gambit, Psylocke, Glob, and Empath to do the rescuing. Begrudgingly. Because as Gambit points out, they're not heroes—just there to do a job. These familiar faces are now all Empyres and have no love for humans.
These sequences with Magneto's House of X and Gambit's guns for hire help give readers a good sense of the different factions in the Midnight world. Magneto appears to be the leader of the remaining, unturned mutants. Gambit and his people demonstrate that there are Empyres who have their own agenda separate from Storm. And the appearance of the Last X-Man reveals even a third faction that wants to wipe out the threat of Empyres and doesn't care about the compact. That X-Man is, naturally, Scott Summers, who makes a hell of an entrance in this issue. Cyclops lays waste to Gambit and company, and their interaction is capped with a truly haunting image of what appears to be the moment Scott failed to save the X-Men. This is a Scott Summers on a mission of vengeance and I can't wait to see what he's up to.
The issue concludes with Kurt and Storm talking about Stryker's plans. During the conversation readers learn that Kurt is protected by Ororo. It appears that Kurt did some great favor to her that she feels she owes it to him to keep him safe. All of this is good setup for future issues, as this concluding talk between the two of them left me really wanting to know what Kurt did that she would grant him such a mercy. The issue ends with Kurt asking Ororo what will happen if the peace doesn't hold, to which she answers with a wordless, sinister smile.
Good stuff. This first issue of Midnight X-Men is rife with Hickman's signature world-building. We know roughly who the different factions are in the Midnight X-Men's world and what role they seem to play in it. We have a sense of who has survived, but naturally not everyone was revealed. I hope that Hickman takes his time bringing in some of the big guns, especially Logan, Charles, and Jean. Waiting to see what happened to them, if done right, can be as satisfying as the actual reveals. I'm also curious to know why Scott isn't partnered with Magneto's team; I'm assuming it's because Erik seems content with peace while Scott wants to wipe out the Empyres, but I don't actually know. All of these mysteries are a good foundation to build on.
Matteo Della Fonte was born to draw this book. His realistic style makes all of the vampire horror scenes horrific and gruesome. The vampires emerging from their Strongholds is a really frightening sequence, and watching them decimate the humans is stomach-churning. Della Fonte uses shadows to build up a lot of his figures and backgrounds, which, needless to say, works perfectly with the material Hickman is giving him to draw. There are a couple of drawings, like the group shot of Magneto's team, that are slightly less impressive, but overall I was digging the art. Colorist Arthur Hesli is a new name to me, but man is his color work gorgeous. It's subtle and moody, with just enough pop of color to make certain moments, like Scott's fight with Gambit's crew, really stand out. I hope this team sticks together for the whole of Hickman's run.
If there's any downside to this story, I did scratch my head a little at the idea of the Empyres. So there are mutants, mutant-vampires, and vampires all warring, with the Purifiers of the church determined to wipe out all of them. The vampire angle feels like an odd inclusion; I mean, I get it, I know that the X-Men have a history with Dracula, for instance, but to base an entire new take on the characters around vampires is a very particular choice. It can really work, though; Howard Mackie's late-'90s series Mutant X played around a bit with the idea of Storm (dubbed Bloodstorm) becoming a vampire, along with Gambit, and featured a dark fate for multiple members of the X-Men far different from the 616 universe. Midnight X-Men is giving me similar vibes, so my hopes are high.
If Midnight X-Men can avoid turning the church into the usual caricature that progressive writers like to make it out to be, then I see a lot of potential for this series. Marvel must, however, resist the urge to mine these books for money and let writers like Hickman focus on telling the best stories they can. We don't need the Midnight Hellfire Gala, we don't need Midnight Spectacular Spider-Man, and so on. No event books. Just let these stories breathe. So far, with Midnight Spider-Man #1 and Midnight Fantastic Four #1, we have three distinct, interesting comics to look forward to every month. Fingers crossed that Marvel is on the comeback trail.
