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Mystique
Dead Drop Gorgeous - Part 1
1 /JUNE/2003
Publisher: Marvel/Tsunami
Writer: Brian K. Vaughn
Pencils: Jorge Lucas
Inks: Jorge Lucas
Colors: Studio F
Letters: Paul Tutrone
Price: $2.99 US/R35.00 SA
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This is the second book I’ve taken a look at in Marvels’
new ‘Tsunami’ line of comics that’s
seeing a number of new releases hitting stands over the next few
months.
Charles Xavier is forced to look to Mystique as an ally when he
finds out that his best undercover agent is killed in Moscow. A
play on the James Bond theme, a new saga in the X-Men
universe begins as Mystique takes a lead role in Xavier’s
clandestine secret operations force, a unit that is so underground
the X-Men don’t even know of its existence!
Over the past year there have been many great writers bringing forth
some of the best stories in years. One of these stories was Y-The
Last Man [DC/Vertigo] and one of these
great writers is Brian K. Vaughn.
There’s no doubt that I am buying this book solely on Vaughn’s
talents, if you haven’t yet looked at his definitive work
on ‘Y’ then make sure you run, don’t
walk, down to your comic shop and buy it immediately. Mystique has
never really grabbed me as a stand-out character in previous X-Men
books, although my interest was sparked by her roles in both ‘X’
films.
Vaughn unfortunately pens a rather normal start to Mystiques legend,
I think after a few issues however I’ll be able to judge more
fairly. A nice touch was that Vaughn manages to keep us guessing
which character will ‘morph’ into Mystique next and
vice versa. This could and probably will be used very effectively
later on in this title to weave some really twisted and intricate
stories. So look out, I’m sure Vaughn will step up to the
plate soon enough.
The art chores are taken up by Jorge Lucas. I read
an interview with him where he stated that he didn’t want
this to be a T & A book, but frankly so far that’s exactly
what it looks like with Mr.Lucas starting out his panels with a
half-dressed blonde falling over and showing us way too much leg
and finishing with a ¾ naked hooker. One struggles to take
the book seriously as we should be doing. The art highlights are
the super-technical drawings of Forge’s inventions and the
realistic human depictions that seem to be Lucas’ strengths.
One funny point I noticed is that Lucas tends to elongate and ‘stretch’
his figures somewhat and tends to struggle with rendering hands
throughout the book.
With great crime/spy titles such as Gotham Central
and Queen & Country out there, I would hope
that Mystiques art would reflect the story more. They almost seem
at war with each other in this first issue, with a little more seriousness
and less cleavage and a toned down colour palette the world of espionage
and assassination could be taken to new levels.
Not really anything great yet but the elements are there for a good
story and with Vaughn at the helm it can’t be far away. Lucas
seems an odd choice but hopefully his art can start reflecting the
reality of espionage soon instead of a James Bond skin show.
Score 6/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan
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