New Comics!: The "X-Men Get in Touch with Their Feelngs" Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Both X-Men issues covered in this review were pretty emotional affairs.  From David giving us some insight into powerless "superheroes" to Gage pondering the meaning of transformative friendships, the X-Men got in touch with their feeling this month!

X-Factor #235:  I had a weirdly emotional response to this issue.  I thought David did an amazing job making the the vigilantes feel real, to the point where I felt that I was watching a documentary rather than reading a comic.  First, David sets the emotional bar high with his depiction of Shutterbug's mother telling X-Factor about his brutal killing.  David really tugs at the heart strings as the mother describes finding her son covered in blood on her doorstep and telling them how he dragged himself to the front door to make sure that he deposited his camera with her.  But, it's Kirk who really punches you in the gut.  He devastated me with the photo of the mother and her son hanging next to the door in the scene where she discovers his body.  Death is so often a trope in comics (see the "X-Men Legacy" #265 review below), so it was powerful to have David and Kirk remind us that this kid isn't a superhero and he's not coming back.  Moreover, David, ever the plotter, doesn't just rely on this moment to sell us the story this issue and the next will tell, but also employs it to advance the series, using it as the device that leads Alex and Jamie to come to an understanding of their roles.  Infuriated that Alex wants to send the mother to the police, Jamie informs him that he'll be handling these sorts of cases, leaving the cases that the X-Men bring X-Factor's way to Alex.  It's brilliant, because it perfectly encapsulates Jamie's independence and Alex's obsequiousness.

Similarly, I thought Shatterstar touchingly telling the kid's mother that her son was a warrior who will be avenged was a key moment.  First, it remnds us 'Star is a person, too, even if he sometimes shows it in a weird way.  David continues with that theme later, showing 'Star insisting on coming with Jamie to Seattle when Longshot is rendered comatose after "reading" the camera, noting their "personal" connection.  'Star is often played for laughs because of his lack of empathy (such as his comment earlier in the issue about knowing how many quarts of blood the human body has), but David never lets him fall into caricature, showing us moments like this one that remind us who he really is.  Moreover, this moment is important not just in terms of characterizaiton, but also in terms of the plot.  It shows a reverence for the victims on the part of X-Factor, a respect that these guys don't normally get.  Shutterbug's mother notes the fact that no one took her son and his friends seriously; 'Star, of all people, telling her that they were warriors who need to be avenged tells us, the reader, that we need to pay attention to them, because they're not just jokes.  It's a small scene, but I really feel like the whole issue pivots off it.

But, David doesn't slow the pace for these moments of characterizations, returning us quickly to the story at hand by showing us (or, at least, X-Factor) the brutality with which Shutterbug was killed.  Madrox and 'Star head for Seattle, and it's here where David really shines, as "Multitask" and "Starface" go on patrol with the X-Ceptionals.  David makes us care about the characters, with Lord Defender priding himself on helping a junkie, Alfonse, stay clean, only for us to see Buzzkill minutes later find drugs on him.  David gives us a sweet moment, if you can call it "sweet," when Alfonse tells Buzzkill that everyone knows that Lord D is a joke and Buzzkill tells him that he doesn't know and they're going to keep it that way.  It's this moment that makes you like Buzzkill and realize that he's the backbone of the X-Ceptionals, something that makes it all the more devastating when he's killed moments later.  David leaves us hanging, promising 'Star unleashed on the vigilantes' killer and, because of the work he's done humanizing the victims of this killer, I really want to see nothing more than 'Star go to town on him.  Yet another amazing issue.  Seriously, how does David do it?

X-Men Legacy #265:  OK, I'll admit that I was waiting for Mimic to plant one on Omega by the end of his speech at the end of this issue.  But, even if he went a little overboard with the bromance, Gage still delivers a really moving issue, with Mimic telling Omega how he helped him get through his dark times and realizing that his best times were with the X-Men.  First, I didn't see the twist at the end of the issue coming.  For most of the issue, I kept thinking, "OK, sure, they're living bombs, but, c'mon, Rogue is going to die."  As such, I assumed whatever solution that they developed to the problem would be a solution for all of them.  But, instead, Gage got me when it solved only Mimic and Rogue's problem.  On some level, it had to be done, because, if they had all been saved, it would've reduced the impact of the story, leaving us rolling our eyes at yet another brush-with-death story.  Instead, we're left with Omega appearing to be on the verge of death, something he wants.  Of all the moving moments in this issue, I thought Omega whispering, "Can't you just let me go?" was the most moving, the most meaningful.  It goes to the entire core of the X-Men:  they don't let each other go.  After "X-Men:  Schism," I feel like Gage is specifically reminding us of that fact, using it to have Rogue remember who she is.  Speaking of Rogue, Gage continues to do great work with her here, having her come to the realization that, despite all her growth, she's still just looking for someone strong to give her direction, after so many years of worrying that she wasn't behaving the way she normally would, but instead being influenced by one of the personalities that she absorbed.  It's a great epiphany, in part because it not only truly encapsulates who Rogue was (and remind her how far she has come), but also manages to really flow naturally from the story Gage is telling here:  you can rely on your friends to help be who you're supposed to be, but you still have to have an idea of who it is that you want to be.  In the speech to which I allude at the beginning of this review, Mimic tells Omega that he can be strong without him, because he had been strong with him.  It's a great testament to friendship, even if it's a little mushy.  I'm glad Mimic is staying, because he's exactly the type of person that I think Logan had in mind when he re-started the school, someone trying to find his way again.