The X-Men series by Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman has gotten off to a solid start. This core team has developed well with how Cyclops is trying to position the X-Men as heroes protecting mutants and humans. Recent developments with the X-Gene randomly being activated in different individuals is a big mystery. This is something we didn’t see much of during the Krakoa Era. It puts into question whether we are in a new age of mutants being born or something much more sinister going on. Let’s see if we learn more about that in X-Men #5
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Jed MacKay
Artist: Ryan Stegman
Inker: JP Mayer, Livesay, and Ryan Stegman
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
X-MEN #5 SOLICITATION
“While the X-Men engage the social-media sociopath Upstarts, Kid Omega and Psylocke dive deep into the mind of a troubled mutant. Silence: Psychic Rescue in Progress! But Quentin Quire has never been good at keeping his mouth shut…” – Marvel Comics
REVIEW
X-Men #5 answers questions about the current direction of the franchise while creating many more things to wonder about what will happen in the future. This being done while focusing on developing Kid Omega and Psylocke was a good choice. Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman maximize the two leads of this story to showcase how psychic adventures work for those not named Jean Grey or Emma Frost.
It is really on creating a psychic adventure that MacKay and Stegman were able to inject some imaginative storytelling we don’t normally see. It was certainly a risk since Kid Omega and Psylocke aren’t a duo we see interact with each other. And while Psylocke is a fan favorite the same can’t be said about Kid Omega. Which made the psychic setting even more important to getting over this duo’s adventure so that their journey stood out.
What particularly worked was that there was an understanding that Psylocke needed to be positioned as the lead in this duo. This was immediately established as X-Men #5 opened with reminding the reader of Psylocke’s relationship with John Greycrow. From there we see Psylocke’s veteran superhero status used to make sure Kid Omega stays in line, at least as much as he can be. How she utilized her powers inside Ben Liu mind further showed the experience difference. Which was an important thing to establish because while Quentin Quire is an Omega-level mutant Psylocke still has the edge because of her experience.
There psychic adventure leading to Psylocke and Kid Omega discovering that Cassandra Nova is involved with the new threat they are facing known as 3K. Bringing back Cassandra Nova back now is good timing to follow up with her elevate mainstream status after the Deadpool and Wolverine. The way it was handled showed there is an actual plan in place to make Cassandra Nova a big threat rather than forcing her into the story. That is thanks to how the entire revelation was executed to make Cassandra Nova appear as a horror movie villain in her presentation.
Cassandra Nova’s presence made it easy to establish how the 3K group was able to create psychic blocks to their new mutants to counter Psylocke and Kid Omega attempt to find out about them. Using Psylocke and Kid Omega’s fears around John Greycrow and Sabertooth, respectively, showed the different fears both heroes have. It also gave them an opportunity to show their own strength in overcoming this surprise psychic attack.
Now that the X-Men know about the 3K villain group it’ll be interesting to see where things go. Because the 3K group force activating the X-Gene in adults creates a lot of questions for the future direction of mutants. The answers to those question could have a larger impact on every X-Men series.
FINAL THOUGHTS
X-Men #5 does a good job at giving Psylocke and Kid Omega the spotlight while establishing the greater threat our heroes are facing. Ryan Stegman’s artwork stuck out with how the psychic adventure turned into having a horror movie tone with what was discovered. Now that the X-Men have learned about the threat they are facing it’ll be interesting to see where things will go from here.
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
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