| X-Statix Omnibus Posted: X-Statix (and the original X-Force issues contained in this volume) was really the first comic series focused on the idea that superheroes would almost have to be expendable, pop culture figures, complete with sponsors, fans, and reality TV coverage of their exploits. These ideas raise questions that rarely get asked in the superhero world, such as how does one afford to fight crime as a full time job? We the comic book reading public have always taken it for granted that all it would take to be a superhero is some fantastic power, but finally X-Statix shows that even to be a superhero would require some sacrifice and a lot of risk. This is all more partial to truth than most any other superhero series. Pete Milligan plays up these ideas with a cynical yet sensitive blend of writing.
One of the things that first stood out to me when reading this series is that the characters are not iconic, nor are they genuine heroes in the sense that these people are not fueled by some inner cause or overwhelming allegiance to justice. These guys are just young adults that happen to have been born with mutant powers. Most of them don't even have anything overtly special about their powers or their backgrounds, as they come from mostly middle class, suburban families. Of course they all have their own interesting trials and individual issues, but it's the familiarity of these characters that makes this series stand apart from your average superhero character. The other thing I really appreciated about Milligan's approach to this series is that characters die regularly, which makes a whole lot more sense than the standard approach of seeing superheroes continually survive under impossible circumstances time and time again. X-Statix tries to display a certain sense of mortal reality in this respect, in that making the choice to be a superhero is to choose to continually walk on the razor's edge of mortality, and if you are continually putting yourself directly in front of the most dangerous situations the imagination can come up with, the odds are that you are going to die much sooner than later, and this is exactly what X-Statix does a fair job of suggesting. But it does all this without overplaying the drama. In fact, it's rather refreshing that the characters are sort of callous about death, and there are even times when you might think some particular character will stick around for awhile, only to find them dead by the end of the issue.
I also have to give a lot of additional credit to artist Mike Allred. He brings a unique commercial art sort of stylistic approach to his illustration that is engaging and fluid. Without his artistic vision, X-Statix might only be half the book that it is.
My only complaint with X-Statix is that I wish Milligan would have taken the concepts and pushed them further. Many of the most interesting ideas of the book could be used to get much more mileage than what we are shown, but I suspect this was because Milligan was still trying to keep the book aimed at a mainstream audience. With this in mind, I don't know if X-Statix is for every fanboy out there, because the concept of the book completely goes against the grain of superhero-dom and doesn't play by the rules. Some readers might find X-Statix to be too subtle or have too centered on concept and maybe not enough flashy and gratuitous angst, or whatever, but if you like superhero stuff and also want to read something that walks away from the beaten path, this book is definitely worth checking out. |
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