The Mystery Begins
Overview
Battling the humans for survival takes it toll on all the mutants in different ways. They each struggle with the loss of another mutant, especially Legacy who wants to be seen as more than the "Reaper". Despite the Force Walls constructed by the Force Warriors, a stranger has slipped through. The mysterious X quickly organised a strike-force to deal with the stranger, whom Magneto reveals to be Katherine Pryde. All events are observed by Legacy, who wants to help investigate. However, there appears to a hidden agenda deep inside the Brig of Fortress X, where all telepathic mutants are held prisoner.The Good
The pace of the Age of X story starts with a bang. The whole issue races ahead, where even the quiet moments are moving with such momentum that it' impossible to grow bored. It's a tidal wave of details, characters, cameos & exposition. While the Age of X Alpha helped to lay out the foundations of exposition, there's still time to explain who the Force Warriors are, who's sleeping with who, and why Wolverine wont be a major ground-shaker But the details are revealed in such a way that it goes with the flow & never slow you down.While it's fun to play 'spot the mutie' (like with episodes of the X-Men: The Animated Series and Wolverine & The X-Men), Mike Carey cleverly focuses on sets of mutants. By grouping them off both on the battlefield and in the Rat Run bar, Mr Carey is able to manipulate relationships and interactions with more ease & realism. The narrative at the start is clearly Legacy, and she doesn't start to play an active role till about half way through the issue giving another chance to focus on the others. Yet it seems that Legacy will be our detective as the mystery begins to unravel in front of her eyes. Despite all the exposition, this sets up more mysteries: Why is Katherine Pryde a criminal? Why are the telepaths neutralised? Why is Xavier presumably comatose? Who sent Pryde outside the walls of the Fortress with a camera? And who, or what, is X?
The art is consistent & strong. Clay Mann seems to instinctively know what angles to push, which characters to emphasis, and how to handle large group scenes without being too cluttered. His style isn't as instantly recognisable or as desirable as that of Mirco Pierfederici in the previous Age of X Alpha. However, he has a genuine talent for capturing subtlety in facial expressions. His art has a sort of subliminal attractiveness.
The Bad
From the start it's clear that the events are all observed from Legacy's point of view and as such this starts to feel like an elongated X-Men: Legacy story. Obviously this was originally pitched as just an X-Men Legacy story, but it's worrying that even in another universe the emphasis will be on 'Rogue' yet again.Perhaps it is because this is a cross-over, but I see no reason why Clay Mann couldn't have drawn the cover too. I strongly dislike the popular trend of having a cover artist who is nowhere to be seen in the interior of the issue. The main cover for this issue is actually very beautiful & striking. Leinil Francis Yu has captured a level of detail & gritty darkness which serves as the perfect poster for the Age of X. But I would like a little consistency with cover & internal artists, and some covers that aren't recycled promo pieces.
