X-Men #39: Alaska Under Siege

I have had a more tantalizing time reading the menu at an Olive Garden than I did reading X-Men #39. There is almost nothing in the issue that warrants anything beyond it being a rough draft on the Marvel cutting room floor.

Being on a biweekly book puts a lot of pressure on the entire creative team. Creating comics can often be a time crunch, so doubling the workload without giving any additional time to complete the work can have a serious drag on the quality of a book.

The current X-Men run is one such book. Every other week there is a new half-baked issue that seems to have an interesting premise held back by an uneven presentation. Occasionally, like with X-Men #37, Jed MacKay puts on one of the bangers that match his skill level as a writer. Unfortunately, those are few and far between lately.

X-Men #39 has a fairly simple idea. Take a break from DNX, go back to Alaska, and show these two characters who have barely been developed lately handling a side crisis. The factory is invaded by Z*E*R*O, which is a painfully shallow counterpart to O*N*E (Office of National Emergency). Led by a forgettable character with no personality whatsoever, Abbie Bennett, who introduces herself as if she’s a major antagonist (she’s not).

There really isn’t much to dig into with the story of this issue. None of the dialogue is earned or particularly memorable, none of the characters do anything distinct or fresh, and all of the paper-thin plot that is set up goes nowhere.

The idea that some random run of the mill anti-mutant bums could sneak past one of the X-Men’s most powerful telepaths and just shut off the power in the factory is absurd.

Both Xorn and Greycrow are needlessly reduced to the stereotypical archetypes of the zen stoic, the tough guy, and the macho hunter type, almost as if Wolverine simply wasn’t available and MacKay wanted to use him anyways.

Netho Diaz and Sean Parsons’ artwork carry an otherwise mediocre story. While some of the pages show the characters as being a bit blocky and visual distance is slightly inconsistent, there is a noticeable attention to detail on other pages, and the pair uses a couple of interesting panels, such as looking through Greycrow’s scope or breaking up one panel into multiple to show the flash effect of bullets being fired.

A few obvious liberties are taken, which have become common in recent X-titles. I am, of course, referring to the use of single-color backgrounds in some panels to save time and effort. These are inconsistent with the rest of the issue’s artwork and take away from the overall immersion and quality every time they appear.

Arthur Hesli’s colors capture both the light and grime of the issue. The disuse of the Merle factory and the flickering blues and reds loom over the issue’s visuals.