A classic Marvel tale: X-Men in the future. As someone who buys almost every single X-Men title currently on the shelves (about 9), and who loves the old Claremont and Morrison runs, I’ll jump on the chance to buy an X-Men future story. I’m also a large fan of the current era of Cyclops (Yes, I own a “Cyclops Was Right” Shirt) and the Uncanny X-Men comic by Brian Michael Bendis is one of my favorites. So when I see a future where Cyclops ends up on top I’m even more excited.
This book was written by some creators who I hadn’t heard of previously to reading this book, other than Jason Latour who drew the cover for this one. This was written by Robin Furth, drawn by Jason Masters, colored by both James Campbell and Vero Gandini and lettered by VC’s Cory Petit.
Plot Rundown
When you open this one up, on the first page where you can see the creators and the recap you usually skip over, is a recap actually worth reading which catches you up on what’s happened between the current Uncanny X-Men and the point in time where this issue begins.
The anniversary special picks up with Cyclops as President married to Emma Frost on the night of a large party at the White House (kind of an excuse to show us a bunch of fan favorites in the future). In classic X-Men style though it’s not going to be for Cyclops and of course there’s a large anti-mutant riot outside. Sadly a large battle ensues as the riot becomes violent and it all ends a little Meta and slightly disappointing for what I like in a future story.
How’d the Newbies Do
This was written and drawn by two people completely unknown to me and if this was their first work for Marvel it was pretty impressive (Ed: Furth is best known for her work on Stephen King’s The Dark Tower comics, while Masters work includes Batman Inc and Guardians of the Galaxy ~ Did-the-Research Dave). Of the two, I took more issue with Robin Furth mainly because I felt that the story played the future a little too safe. I never particularly like that in stories like this where you can take more risks since it isn’t really an in canon story (I do cut her some slack since she’s new though).
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The art by Jason Masters was pretty standard super hero fare although there were definitely some wonkier moments that felt a little weak as far as Marvel goes. I thought that he did a decent job with the reimagining of mutants in the future; although that’s another spot where I felt that some more risks could have been taken.
Should I buy
X-Men #1 100th Anniversary Special
All things considered, an ok start for two newer creators but, definitely not a must as far as X-Men stories go. I’d recommend if you had some extra cash to spare or just like to support new creators at Marvel.
CBH Score: 3/5 Stars
While President Cyclops looks like something impossible, I’d say, his new ability is something that future writers can work on. His younger self’s ability to bend the trajectory of his beams at one point during his solo space exploration with his dad and the arcing blasts he used to have, along with his growing control over the damage levels, range, intensity, and speed of his beams, and what happened recently, got a head injury and slipped into a coma just like in his past.
I like the art from the page shown here, but I can’t get excited about single issue one-shot stories. You know it doesn’t matter in the long run so it might as well be fan-fiction. Eh.