Written by Vita Ayala
Art by Bernard Chang
Published by Marvel Comics
Have you ever wondered: Why aren’t there more mutants in X-Men comics who have the exact same powers as the actual X-Men?
Yes, I’m sure a bunch of real X-fans can tsk-tsk and well, actually me about that, but it’s something I never really thought about.
I mean, what percentage of the human population are mutants, anyway?
Even if it’s just 0.01 percent, that would be 800,000 people.
And there can’t be 800,000 different manifestations of the X-gene.
And so that brings us to Children of the Atom, in which we meet a new team of teenagers in suits calling themselves the X-Men: Cherub, who resembles Archangel; Marvel Guy, with psionic abilities similar to Jean Grey/Marvel Girl; Gimmick, who dresses like and has Gambit’s energy powers; Daycrawler, who can BAMF! like Nightcrawler; and the narrator of our story, Cyclops-Lass, who’s rocking a retro ‘90s-chic take on Cyke.
These are the kids who grew up with Storm and Wolverine posters on their walls, and now they have powers and hope to one day be like the real X-Men.
Mutants are effectively outlawed here. Krakoa, the mutants-only island, exists, and tensions are high about what they’re doing over there.
We’re reminded of that fact soon enough. After a run-in with the Hell’s Belles, actual X-Men members Pixie, Magma and Maggott arrive with praise, and a critique for not teleporting far enough from the cops.
We learn a bit more about the kids’ civilian lives at a Brooklyn prep school and the classically Marvel tangle of emotions and romances both platonic and not.
Meanwhile, our more famous OG X-Men are shooting pool and debating whether to reach out to the youngsters.
It would help, in this instance, if Bernard Chang could draw Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine Nightcrawler to look like adults. Even twentysomethings. But it’s a small quibble.
And just when these mutants are ready to walk though one of those mutants-only gates to arrive on Krakoa … it doesn’t go as planned.
Vita Ayala builds several mysteries in just this first issue, with characters that are engaging enough that you’ll want to see more of them. Something tells me we’re not supposed to take these kids are face value yet, but we’ll see.
