You know I love my mutant books, and this past week saw the release of some strong titles well worth picking up. Here’s a rundown on two of them:
Children of the Atom #1
I didn’t know what to expect from this new series written by Vita Ayala and illustrated by Bernard Chang, which follows the story of a team of young mutants who have not made their way to the island nation of Krakoa. Their reasoning seems simple enough – they don’t want to leave their families. However, by the end of issue one we discover that’s not quite the case. I’m not going to ruin it for you, if you haven’t already read the big reveal. I will say that Ayala’s writing of teenagers feels spot on and while the book essentially focuses on all-new, all-different characters (see what I did there?), I was immediately engaged with them both in and out of costume. Children of the Atom reads very differently from nearly all of the other crop of X-titles, and feels refreshing because of it.
X-Factor #8
Another book that feels slightly off (in a good way) from the high-faluttin, political bent of the X-titles is Leah Williams’ X-Factor. The title is extremely LGBTQ-friendly, but never in a way that feels forced or unnatural. It’s just a great book featuring characters that represent the world we live in. The latest storyline finds the members of X-Factor Investigations looking into the repeated deaths of Siryn, who readers have discovered has been possessed by the dark force known as the Morrigan. This latest issues (with art from David Baldeon) sees deaths and some unexpected turmoil between the team and Professor Xavier, who since the beginning of the Hickman age every mutant has pretty much cow-towed to. I enjoy how Williams is dealing with X-Factor’s core story, but throwing in that piece with Xavier is a definite building block to the future which I look forward to reading.
