X #1 (of 4)

There’s a scene in Kevin Smith’s Clerks where the two main leads are discussing the construction of the Death Star and the moral implications that must have been felt from the construction crews. Do they know they are working for the bad guy? Did Han Solo just waste a buncha innocent labourers? And so on. Now, there’s a scene in X #1 where the titular hero jumps through a window and kills a lot of security guards, very violently and this perfectly sums up the conflicting nature that surrounds the book; a violent vigilante tale that offers no heroes and no apologies, for better or worse.

Picking up right where the Zero issue left off, X #1 follows an ace reporter who is out to expose a massive police cover-up and whether or not the X vigilante exists. With both and the mob and the police force teaming up to defeat X, Leigh, the reporter, just may be X’s only hope.

Like I mentioned before, X is a violent book and knows it. In fact, it revels in it. But violence for violence sake is nothing short of pornography. Just because you can kill someone in a number of violent ways doesn’t make it interesting. Like the aforementioned security guards, who appear to be helpless civilians, average Joes earning a pay cheque, who are brutally murdered, not even offering any opposition for X. They are simply there to be killed and to make X look cool. This is the hero of our story and unfortunately, this story has been told before and better. Just check out IDW’s Judge Dredd, written by Swierczynski as well, for a better example of this.

The art is very well executed helping save the book a bit. Similar to how Michael Bay movies look amazing, but are in fact just prettied-up vomit on celluloid, except for The Rock, Nick Cage was the bomb in The Rock. While this book is nowhere near as bad as any Michael Bay movie, it does bear the weight of a summer blockbuster; all style, no substance.

I feel I’m coming across a bit harsh on the book, while it does have its problems X #1 was still an okay read. It had good action and even better art, there just isn’t much else. But Swierczynski is a great writer so hopefully he can turn it around in the next issue.

Writer: Duane Swierczynski

Artist: Eric Nguyen

Colour: Michelle Madsen

Cover: Paolo Rivera

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics