Giant-Size X-Men: Fantomex #1 by Jonathan Hickman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Hickman is definitely up to something. What’s slowly but surely becoming clear is that all of these Giant Size one shots are intertwined and building towards…something. What that is, well, we don’t know yet. But I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Hickman weaves a tale of Fantomex through the decades, from his creation in a lab to his ten yearly visits to The World to break in and try to convince what I assume is his identical clone twin to leave. He recruits various teams to aid him in this: Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos, The Hellfire Club Inner Circle, The X-Men…the…uh…Humonganauts? Not gonna lie, I kinda wants to write a comic about them…but I digress.
Fantomex is a character I’ve never really connected with. Mainly because I’d dipped out of reading the X-Men during Morrison’s run, before Fantomex was introduced, and I never went back and read those issues. Nevertheless, I’ve read plenty of stuff with him in it, but he never really seemed to fit with the X-verse. Hickman uses that to his advantage here, telling a tale of someone who lives in the world, but is not of it…because he’s of “The World.” Hence his unplaceable accent. Maybe that was always the point with Fantomex but I never really got it before?
Anyway, I’m waffling, the art here is superb. Reis is fast becoming a favourite of mine and I’d like to see him on a more regular book.
These Giant Size issues may seem like inessential reading right now, but it’s clear that before long you’re going to wish you’d been reading them if you’re not.
Random Ramblings Of A Ragamuffin 