X-Men: Regenesis - Mobile Edition

Marvel Comics
X-Men: Regenesis
By Andy Frisk
October 14, 2011 - 23:39

Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Kieron Gillen
Penciller(s): Billy Tan
Inker(s): Billy Tan
Colourist(s): Andres Mossa
Cover Artist(s): Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend
$3.99 US

“This isn’t a fight” declares Scott Summers/Cyclops, but the metaphorical frame story that X-Men Regenesis takes place within is definitely a fight, and yet another excuse to showcase the various X-Women half naked. Logan and Scott slug it out within a ring of tribal fire while decked out in prehistoric garb for the allegiances of X-Men young and old. Each time an X-Man is recruited they’re shown, also dressed in prehistoric garb (which means very little for the women—guess animal skin bikinis were all the rage back then), standing on one side or the other of the circle behind their new leader. The real story, as it plays out in the non-metaphorical and contemporary Marvel Universe, is much more interesting. Each character is briefly, yet effectively, showcased and some pretty sharp insight is given into their mindset and why they choose the side they do. Several characters also have conversations (or minor conflicts), but the confrontation between Laurie/Transonic and Hope Summers over the future of Idie is the most poignant. Laurie wins the argument, but walks away with a better understanding of Hope and her motivations. Idie will go with Logan and Laurie to Westchester.

The teams are split, pretty evenly, although the two pages that showcase the teams as they will appear leans a little towards Cyclops’ side in number. Each side has an effective number of heavy hitters and complicated personalities though. X-Scribes Gillen and Aaron, who will be writing Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine and The X-Men respectively, will have plenty of fodder for plot ideas involving their casts of characters. X-Men Regenesis ties up the events of SCHISM pretty nicely while setting the stage for the future effectively. Regenesis is a little ahead of X-Men Legacy though in the story department. The team showcased in Legacy, who are, as of the writing of this article, still battling evil in deep space along side the Shi’ar, are safely back at home in Regenesis. It really doesn’t matter, we all know that they’ll come out just fine at the conclusion of their little jaunt across the universe. What is most important about the characters in Legacy, is that they are all coming back and are going to be involved in the new X-Men direction of stories. These characters include, Alex Summers/Havok, Lorna Dane/Polaris, and Rachel Summers/Marvel Girl, all of whom have been absent for some time. For me, the inclusion of Rachel Summers as a regular reappearing character in the X-Books is a long awaited and much anticipated development. Aside from Rachel being my favorite X-Men character of the 1980’s (alongside the much beloved Wolverine), she is the character who really gave inception to the whole “alternate universe-child of Scott Summers and Jean Grey from an apocalyptic future” thing. She is also: a powerful telepath/telekinetic who once wielded the Phoenix Force, a treasure trove of complication and heroism, one of the currently most underused characters in the X-Lineup, a major comic book crush of my adolescent years, and displays some really cool facial tattoos (her "Hound" marks) when in full battle costume. Yeah, I’m stoked that Rachel is back. Hopefully, Aaron will put her to good use. I don’t want to see here languish in the background over in Wolverine and The X-Men.

The many faces of Rachel Summers.

Artistically, X-Men Regenesis is surprisingly solid. Personally, I find that Billy Tan’s work often vacillates between brilliant and horrible. Here he is much closer to the brilliant side. He does a fantastic job of portraying each and every X-Men member showcased here very solidly, and there are several of them. He captures each of their unique look and quirks effectively.

There is one character who is glaringly left out of the festivities, so to speak. One has to image that Charles Xavier will be returning to his roots, but Gillen doesn’t give us a hint as to where he is or what his takes on these events are. Xavier is the founder of the original school, and of the original X-Men as a team and concept. It is hard to imagine that he will be left out of the limelight yet again as this new era of X-Men stories moves forward. Maybe Gillen, Aaron, and the rest of the X-Scribes are simply saving him up for something special? Who knows, but like Rachel, who’s finally getting back into the picture, Xavier is massively underused and overlooked. He needs a major role, and he needs one fast. Overall though, in X-Men Regenesis more questions are answered than posed. The tables are now set for the next era of X-Men stories. From the looks of things, they’re shaping up to be pretty interesting.

Rating: 9/10

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