Well, I am bored at work, so I am going to a little write-up on District X vol. 1. This is the "Mr. M "storyline. I was originally going to say something along the lines of, “I don’t know why I didn’t initially buy this series…” Actually, I know exactly why I didn’t buy this series at the time even though the idea intrigued me. 1. I’m not the biggest fan of the X-universe in general. 2. It stars Bishop, and I’ve never cared for him much at all. Like I said I did like premise of the story. There is a section of New York City that mutants have gathered in making it their own, in Manhattan specifically. Which given NYC’s past makes perfect sense considering its history of ethnic neighborhoods (Little Italy, Chinatown, the Irish, etc.). There is a bunch of crime there (the highest in the nation), so this is a police procedure series wrapped up in the mutantverse.
We begin with Officers Ismael Ortega and Gus Kucharsky as a couple of patrolmen in District X. Kucharsky is one of those stereotypical cops who hates the people he has been tasked to posses. The story moves quickly as Kucharsky is controlled by a mutant woman being held hostage by her human husband to kill her and her husband and then turns the gun on himself. Office Ortega covers up the episode by putting the gun in the husband’s hand, and claiming he grabbed Gus’ gun and doing all of the shooting himself. The feds have gotten concerned about the high crime rate in District X and has sent an agent familiar with mutants to check the area out, and Ortega has been assigned to show him around. It is of course Bishop.
Well District X has two crime lords who are constantly taking jabs at each other, both mutants naturally. We have “Filthy” Frankie Zapruder who emits a noxious odor when he gets worked up, and Daniel “Shaky” Kaufman who builds up a lot of energy when he gets mad that he has to physically beat on something to release. His normal punching bag is Mr. Punch, who has no pain receptors. Kaufman learns that Zapruder has total control of a new drug called “Toad Juice”, he also learns its sole source is from a mutant named Toad Boy. His secretions are the drug. Zapruder steals Toad Boy from Kaufman and begins putting Toad Juice out on the street himself. Igniting a huge turf war between the two crime families.
Meanwhile, we have Mr. M for the most part passively observing what is going on around the neighborhood. We seem him repair a toaster with his powers, and the ability to turn intangible. We also know he knows what really happened with Officer Kucharsky.
Next, we learn what happens when a non-mutant takes Toad Juice. They basically sprout, what looks like a bunch of flesh “tree limbs” from their bodies in all directions, and their eyes turn black. Then they die. Zapruder know that he has to get that drug off of the street before it kills anyone else, but another human boosted one dealers entire supply. Unfortunately, the police are unable to track the guy down before 17 or so teenagers die from the stuff. Mr. M steals Toad Boy and his mother away from Zapruder, and turns Toad Boy into a human with his powers.
The war between Zapruder and Kaufman reaches its climax. Zapruder launches a
bazooka at Kaufman, and Mr. Punch takes the hit, and that he feels as he dies (I think he
dies). The cops come and arrest both crime bosses and whoever else happens to be
participating. Mr. M sees what is going around in District X and he decides he needs to destroy it, and he has the power to do it. Bishop and Ortega trick him into thinking he does destroy the area with the help of a local mutant named Lara the Illusionist.
Ya know I really liked this initial arc. You get to see a lot of mutants who don’t have the butt kicking powers of a Cyclops or Jean Grey. They have minor mutations like their body rooting down to a spot whenever they fall asleep, or Zapruder’s Pepe Le Pew-ness. I know I didn’t illustrate it accurately, but Mr. M was a very powerful mutant. So much so, that he impressed Bishop, as he hasn’t seen anyone with such fine control over his enormous power. He had the ability to overload Bishop and kill him if he had wanted to. I did find it hard to believe that they couldn’t keep him locked up if the wanted to, but they figured they wouldn't be able to. Finally I a book I could get behind with all of the mutants running around! I kind of wished the book could have continued, but with Scarlet Witch getting rid of almost all of the mutants that won't be possible. I will definitely keep an eye out for the second volume.
Now to the art. First, I think that Steve McNiven did a fantastic job on the covers. All 6 look really great. With number 3 being my personal favorite. David Yardin supplies the art for 4 of the six issues, and I liked it for the most part, but there is something I just can't quite put my finger on with his faces. Lan Medina has the penciling chores on issue 4, and Mike Perkins wraps up the arc with issue 6. He has a much more realistic style which was kind of jarring after seeing the more cartoony Yardin and Medina books. Still quite good. I thought Mr. Punch had a very simplistic yet appropriate look which was just a really scarred up body. The creepiest panels to me were the ones show the Toad Boy's mom licking him trying to get high:
Replies