Colossus crushed. Psylocke driven to tears or is that panic sweat?. Storm keeping secrets. Brian Wood and David Lopez’s X-Men #31 is tight, tense and clean storytelling about a nasty secrets coming to light.
After investigating a monster attack Storm’s covert security force encounters a bigger behemoth. Using her own secret network of human scientists – Storm discovers a genetic secret so scary she hides it from Cyclops. Ororo’s team even fears the truth could cause an even more violent rift that the events in the Schism event.
This book is a refreshing change from the other titles but it’s focused on a small team where everyone gets screen time and every character is part of the story.
I have to again state how this book reminds me of the Chris Claremont/Paul Smith in terms of tone, storytelling and art. David Lopez is an excellent fit for Wood’s crisp clean pacing and the expressions. Instead of a big screen action stuffed with characters on top of characters, we have a small cast uncovering a scientific mystery, burdened by the knowledge and tactically moving at the small covert unit their set up to be. You might call this a Torchwood (minus the sex but it’s only their second issue) X-Men team?
If you love the old school Storm when she was a confident, commanding, tactical and thoughtful leader then you’ll enjoy this book for that reason alone. Lopez conveys her powerful presence and steely looks perfectly.
Giant monster, strong women, freaky scientific mysteries makes this one badass X-book.
By Editor
