Review - X-Men #3

Granov Cover

X-Men #3
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COVERS:     Adi Granov, Marko Djurdjevic & Paco Medina

WRITER:      Victor Gischler
PENCILS:     Paco Medina
INKS:           Juan Francisco Velasco
COLORS:    Marte Gracia

With the exception of the Kyle/Yost X Force series, I haven't been reading any X titles for quite a few years. That being said, I'm not feeling entirely overwhelmed or lost by this new X-Men series. Probably the biggest surprise is how much Jubilee seems to have... filled out. Did I miss something? Is she supposed to be so... buxom? I am a big fan of Medina's art, his version of Wolverine is probably one of the best out there at the moment and I think his art is a great fit for the current storyline. The panels of Wolverine slicing through swathes of vampire in the underground were great fun.

Gischler has done a great job of creating a familiar tone while establishing his own original storyline. In this issue, Wolverine embarks on a solo mission to rescue Jubilee from the clutches of the vampire. During his travels he works through a monologue explaining why this particular mission is so important, which in one word, is Jubilee. This sequence was great and gave a human element to Wolverine in contrast to his usual gruff exterior. It's also good to see him out solo, hacking and slashing with no Jiminy Cricket on his shoulder.

Gischler has also excelled in integrating the somewhat foreign Vampire world with that of the X-Men. Even though Storm and, of course, Blade have long running back stories involving the odd blood sucker, many readers wouldn't instantly associate the mutant world with that of the vampires.

Djurdjevic Variant

To me, these two worlds feel like natural bed fellows, both are superhuman races shunned and cast out from the outside world. It will be interesting to see who, if any, mutants decide to join the vampires voluntarily, not including Jubilee who has joined the vampire due to the incidents from issue #1.

In this issue Cyclops finalises his plans to bring back THE Dracula. Although this seems entirely illogical and certainly makes no sense in the real world, the proverb "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" should make more sense of the matter. But if you still find yourself questioning the logic perhaps you should take a step back and remind yourself that you're reading a book about a man with a metal skeleton and a bloke who shoots lasers from his eyes... not entirely logical in itself.