Exceptional X-Men vol. 1: Duty Calls

Kitty Pryde is done being an X-Man.  After everything that went down towards the end of the Krakoan Era, and what she became during that time, she just wants to live a normal life free of mutant drama.  Which is why she’s currently slinging drinks in a Chicago bar.  The problem is that mutans are natural drama magnets and trouble is going to find her whether she wants to or not.  Except that this trouble comes in the form of some new mutants looking to find their way in this brand new world that hates and fears them, and how do you think Kitty is going to respond to that?

I wasn’t planning on reading this series because its premise of Kitty trying to find a life away from mutant drama didn’t make a whole lot of sense.  It was obvious that she was going to find her way back into X-Men business, so what was the point of trying to hide from it?  As it turns out, this issue wasn’t the dealbreaker I thought it was going to be.  Writer Eve Ewing does a good job of getting into Kitty’s headspace at the start of the series and makes it clear why she needed normalcy at this point in her life.  Except that she can’t just let injustice and racism pass her by, which is how she winds up helping out a few new mutants over the course of the first two issues.

These mutants, Alex, Trista, and Thao, immediately glom onto her as a potential role model and want her to teach them how to properly use their powers and survive in the current anti-mutant landscape.  Seeing this happen in the space of the comic is cute as its a natural extension of Kitty’s basic nature, even as it goes against what she thinks she wants right now.  Better still is how it attracts the attention of one of the last people she wants to deal with on a regular basis:  Emma Frost.

The volume really kicks into gear once the White Queen shows up because now Kitty finds herself having to commit to the role of a teacher, lest she leave them in the hands of her best frenemy.  We get training sequences, a guest appearance by Iceman that ties things into the wider X-continuity, and a sincere effort to try and reconcile Kitty’s time as a take-no-prisoners assassin during Fall of X with her current status.  Through all of this we get learn more about all three of these new mutants who wind up becoming interesting characters in their own right and ones that you want to see succeed at their training.

This makes “Exceptional X-Men” a much better book than I was expecting it to be, even if it goes against superhero convention in a way that might leave others cold.  You see, aside from the occasional overzealous security guard or random bigot, there’s no real superhero action in this volume at all.  It’s just about this group of characters with powers coming together to learn more about themselves, with any drama arising from their clash of personalities and histories.  However, if you want your superhero comics to focus more on intense action and high-stakes plotting, then you’re not going to find that here.

The book’s character-driven approach does suit artist Carmen Carnero quite well here.  I’ve seen plenty of work from the artist elsewhere and her work has always struck me as resolutely fine.  Here, Carnero displays some excellent character work with her ability to convey the feelings of the cast coming across quite well.  That’s key for a series like this, and the overall level of detail she invests in each issue helps to draw the reader in further.

While other launches from this current era of “X-Men” have already flamed out – RIP “X-Factor” and “X-Force” – but “Exceptional X-Men” looks to have bucked that trend.  It’ll actually be continuing on beyond the current ten-issue limit Marvel has for its new titles and it’s not hard to see why.  With the flagship titles delivering quality superhero action, this one quietly succeeds at showing another side to mutanity that’s engaging and charming in its own way.  Even if it’s light on superhero action, I think that’ll be less of a problem in vol. 2 when things become decidedly more Sinister.