X-Men Messiah Complex Opening Coverage

If you follow comic books with any degree of effort it has been near impossible to escape excitement about Messiah Complex, the first old-school X-Men crossover in nearly a decade. The event spirals out of the current threads in the various X books, kicking off with this opening one-shot release. Starting next week and continuing for the following three months the story will unravel in the pages of Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, New X-Men, and X-Factor. The event is said to result in massive changes in the mutant world and once it is finished 'things will never be the same.' That's fine for then, but what about now? Below are some thoughts on the opening of this hugely hyped crossover and some of the discussions surrounding it.


Messiah Complex One Shot
Marvel
Written by: Ed Brubaker
Art by: Marc Silvestri
4/5

I'm going to come out the gate admitting how much I'm anticipating this event. I believe in it for a number of reasons.

• It's restricted to a concise storyline and doesn't wander about in spin-offs and needless tie ins.
  
• It isn't just about stopping a seemingly unstoppable villain who will be killed in the finale only to resurface unspectacularly six months down the line. There's a complex web of characters each with unique motivations but presented without the convolution of the classic 90's crossovers.
  
• It takes a pre-established situation and lets it develop itself into something natural and believable. The event is taking place because storylines up to this point made it inevitable, not because someone just decided to have one and invented justification for it.
  
• It brings the X teams together which has needed to happen for a while. The X titles need a new status quo. They needed to be reminded the X-Men are a family and instead of running in various directions with dozens of of new unrelated characters they need to re-establish some consistency and weight to the dealings in their pages.

In their own complicated way the X-Men have never made this much sense. Say what you will about Marvel's editing team and current blunders like One More Day but they are unquestionably focused on character, plot and story. They understand the value of giving creators freedom to work in their own fashion as well as the need to restrict writing in ways that keep things logical, consistent and relevant to the greater picture. I've never found a comic universe to be as tangible, developed and accessible as Marvel has been in the Initiative era. Hopefully, this story will be a shining testament to that.

This opening one-shot gets things off to a decent start. I'm not going to hang it out to dry as so many others have solely because it doesn't present anything we don't already know from reading previews and online interviews. I don't read comics in the context of my obsessive hounding for info and insider peeks, but rather considering someone reading them five years from now. My son, for example, won't have read months worth of previews, interviews, solicitations, hype, spoilers and forum predictions. At best he'll have read the series leading into this event. How would this read if you've been following the X books without any warning or hype that this one-shot was on its way? In the general timeline of the X-Men releases, how good is this issue? For those who don't follow or dig for information online, this is an entirely different experience and quite frankly I believe that to be the experience we should use in gaging how good an issue is. Would it have been better for them to have simply blown through the solicited info? Would that have been a better approach to storytelling? Everyone's reactions in this regard only tells me people are prepared to be excited and/or even blown away by this series. I don't believe those feelings have changed, but simply that people want satisfaction delivered now, and they're frustrated at having to wait another week.

So while yes, you may not be shocked by any of the events here, that shouldn't lessen our opinions of them. This is a strong opening and serves as a fantastic jump-on point for anyone not currently following these books. After reading the entire one-shot, as well as the aftermaterial in the back, I can't imagine most people not feeling comfortable in their capacity to understand the story from this point forward which, ultimately, should be the measure of success for an opening issue.

There were a few kinks along the way. Silvestri's art is very hit-and-miss and while he nails some moments, others are victim of being truly ridiculous. Far too often facial expressions completely contradict what characters are saying, and other times they just look plain silly. Less explosive t&a would be welcome, as would some toned down muscle definition. Comic illustrations shouldn't leave one feeling dirty, uncomfortable and/or annoyed unless they're intended to. I could also have done without certain attributes of D'Armata's coloring. The reflectivity on all the characters leaves them looking to be made of porcelain and slippery wet rubber. Feel free to witness him doing the same to Tan's Cyclops drawing in the bonus pages. Throw in Brubaker's lone bungle in the horribly jarring narration on the final page and the Messiah Complex one-shot isn't an absolute victory.

Despite these things it's a victory nonetheless, and my excitement for this event hasn't waned in the least. We're about to see what these current teams of X creators can really do. I have a feeling it's going to be something fantastic.
-Tom