X-Men United #1: School Daze

Class is once again in session for Marvel’s Merry mutants. Thanks to Emma Frost and her newest students the brand-new Graymatter Lane school has opened its telepathic doors to all who are invited to train and control their mutant gifts. However, the biggest threat to this new endeavor might not be a mysterious villain, but a friend from within. Hopefully they survive the experience. 

The school is an aspect of X-Lore that the franchise seemingly outgrows, but every so often manages to circle back around to. This time around brings with it some interesting ideas and concepts on the surface, but digging a bit deeper might reveal the opposite. We see a glimpse of the potential cast of characters through cameos in the opening pages so hopefully they add a bit of fun to the proceedings as the book continues, but the overall concept might be too much of a step back in an already divisive era for fans. With all the set up that happens, the biggest in this opening issue is it’s treatment of Scott Summers. This is clearly in line with the end of X-Manhunt (which is where this school idea initially came from) and the Age of Revelation so it makes sense that Scott is apprehensive about the school opening up again, but he feels unnecessarily hostile here. Almost to the point of being a complete lunatic. This will no doubt be expanded on further in the series, but it is still a bit jarring.

Eve L. Ewing’s writing, while solid, feels less like a brand new series, and more of an extension of her Exceptional X-Men title. The kids from that book (Axo, Bronze, Melee, and Rift) are the focal characters here, and while that’s fine for the most part, it does seem a bit farfetched that a group of kids that just started training with their own powers are now key members of this school faculty along with the adult X-Men and longtime character Prodigy. There was also a bit of a missed opportunity to get all the new characters introduced in Uncanny, X-Men, and Exceptional together in one book (the Outliers from Uncanny are absent here), but perhaps that will be saved for down the line.

Tiago Palma’s pencils are standard fare with nothing really sticking out too much to draw the eye, but Brian Reber’s colors are vibrant; giving the book the fresh feel it needs out of the gate.