By Neal Adams & Christos Gage with Andrew Currie (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-522-2
By now you’re either aware or not of mutant continuity, so in the spirit of this high octane, terse, and immensely enjoyable prequel, I’ll forego the usual catch-up scorecard and précis to simply state that new readers can jump on with the minimum of confusion and, by the skilful use of banter, be readily brought up to cruising speed.
Presumably designed to appeal as much to fans of the movie franchise as comicbook aficionados, the drama is set in those Cold War days when Charles Xavier was a college student – and latterly American G.I. – whilst immortal beast Wolverine and feral manhunter Sabretooth both worked as spies specialising in wet-work…
Even in the Marvel Universe today not all Children of the Atom are found and mentored by heroes, villains or the ever-vigilant Federal Government, and in the long-gone era revealed by this tale (originally released at the end of 2012 as 5-issue miniseries) we learn a few harsh secrets about the early moments of the burgeoning and isolated emergent mutant race and the tragic way today’s draconian status quo was established.
In a fast-paced romp from co-writers Neal Adams and Christos Gage, fully illustrated by the living graphic legend and artistic associates Andrew Wildman & Matthew Wilson, the action begins in the eponymous first chapter when the cagy mutant Logan meets with the son of an old friend.
Young Anthony is “special†in the same way Wolverine is, but just as the elder metahuman makes contact in the heart of Harlem, the boy starts glowing and explosively detonates…
When the boy’s remains are quickly shipped away the veteran spy realises it was by fellow spooks – American FBI agents.
Shocked and shaken Logan talks things over with savage sometime-partner Victor Creed and convinces him to help in hunting down, protecting and training all those other freaks popping up everywhere – before the government scoops them up as guinea-pigs or weapons…
However when Logan and Creed break into FBI HQ at Quantico they not only discover Anthony’s body in a lab but also files and plans for the capture of all mutants. Their own names are on a list…
Although ambushed by agents in robotic armour they easily escape and head for WashingtonDC to foil the next planned rendition – a young girl named Holly Bright – completely unaware that Anthony has revived…
Holly is living on the streets and has the ability to take thoughts and images from minds and cast spellbinding illusions, which comes in handy when a full compliment of robo-agents arrive just as Logan and Creed locate her.
The next name takes them to OxfordUniversity in England where brilliant PhD student Charles Xavier is planning his marriage – to Moira MacTaggert – and a rich, happy, uncomplicated future. When the trio of bizarre, brutal creatures turn up they tell him a preposterous story of hunted beings and ask him to join as their leader. He refuses and sends them packing, but he has to believe that he’s on the FBI’s catch list… after all he read it in their minds.
Disgusted with the telepath’s refusal to join or even acknowledge the problem, Logan, Creed and Holly head for South America and the next name – a magnetic mutant and determined killer named Erik Lehnsherr…
First however they find ‘Common Cause’ with a monstrous teen in Colorado, rescuing Ben Goldendawn – Yeti – from common hunters rather than Feds, before joining him in another assault on Quantico. Ben was in mental contact with his equally empowered brother, but when the mutants reach Virginia they find the government facility abandoned and reduced to rubble.
It’s not a complete disaster however. Buried in the debris is the now fully recovered Anthony who gratefully joins the refugees as Logan takes a time-out and trains his kids in the basics of combat, survival and living under the radar…
Meanwhile in Argentina, Lehnsherr is increasingly active: tracking Nazi war criminals and exterminating them in the same ruthless manner that they eradicated his family and people. When Logan and the team find him, Magneto spectacularly refuses to join, declaring a war against oppression is no place for children.…
Somewhere in America, anthropologist Bolivar Trask stridently advises his FBI employers to renew all efforts to locate and destroy all “Homo Superior†beings before they supplant mankind, overruling the suggestions of senior Agent Fred Duncan who advises working with, not alienating and eliminating, the coming race…
Their Director Hartfield has his own short-term solution however: using their own pet mutant to enslave and subjugate the worrisome freaks…
In ‘A Place to Belong’ the government’s ghastly mind-controlling monster Lyle Doorne, AKA Virus, is deployed even as Wolverine’s pack tackle and fail to recruit a demented, super-strong and very crazy water-breathing wino in Manhattan (a sly tip of the hat to Fantastic Four #4, for all the long-term fans. Look it up if you want…). They are inexplicably aided by Agent Duncan, covertly and independently testing his policy of cooperation…
Later at their wilderness hideaway, the unwise relationship between Victor and Holly takes a major step forward even as, at the Pentagon, Private Xavier is removing all suspicious flags against his name and scrubbing his own government record via his psychic gifts before arranging his own transfer to the top-secret Federal Project Chimera in Pennsylvania…
Things are going badly: no one realised the full extent of Virus’ abilities nor that the horrific monster might have his own agenda for both humanity and Homo Superior, and when Logan’s heroes raid the facility to rescue Yeti’s long-lost brother, nobody realises it’s all part of Doorne’s game plan…
Secret origins lead off ‘Things Fall Apart’ before the team – now comprising nine mutants of varying age and ability – starts to disintegrate from internal tensions, ably abetted by the Trojan Horse that Virus has planted amongst them. The FBI’s shaky solidarity is also fracturing, with Duncan and Trask – who advocates using robot hunter/killers to utterly exterminate all mutants – constantly clashing.
Hartfield prefers the latter option and a flight of prototype Sentinels is launched to capture the rogue misfits. Desperate to see his toys in action, Trask and his driver Xavier head to the fugitive’s hideout in time to see Virus’ scheme come close to dreadful fruition before the subsequent horrific battle scars all the surviving outcasts forever, turning Sabretooth into Wolverine’s most vengeful and implacable foe forevermore in ‘I Dreamed a Dream’…
Clever and powerfully engaging, this sharp, gritty and very pretty exercise in dramatic in-filling skilfully operates as a prequel to many themes and events of the later overarching continuity whilst never losing sight of the principal objective of entertaining both devotees and newcomers alike.
This thrilling rollercoaster ride also includes a stunning selection of covers and variants from Adams, Ryan Stegman, Mike Deodato Jr., Shane Davis, Daniel Acuña and Adam Kubert for all art-lovers to enjoy.
™ & © 2012 and 2013 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd. All rights reserved.