Review: X-MEN: WORST X-MAN EVER #1

X-Men_Worst_X-Man_Ever_Cover

X-MEN: WORST X-MAN EVER #1
Written by Max Bemis
Art by Michael Walsh, Ruth Redmond
Published by Marvel Comics
Release Date: January 6, 2016

Max Bemis, Michael Walsh & Ruth Redmond tell the tale of Bailey, a kid who desperately wants to be a somebody. Will he get there?

Max Bemis drops some humour and gives readers a kid who just can’t catch a break, but I will say right off the bat that the character never stuck for me. He felt to me like a generic kid who has everything go wrong, but other than a couple chuckles, I didn’t get much depth from the character or his situation. Could be that I’m a cynical guy, but this teen with his Peter Parker down on his luck schtick just didn’t grab me, and when the cliffhanger hit, I found I really didn’t have much of a reaction at all. When the big reveals hit with a thud for me, it kills any momentum leading to that point and I found that X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever #1’s lead character and his story never grabbed me and the final page was a thud rather than a bang.

The artwork was better than the script as far as my engagement was concerned, but I did find throughout that Walsh’s style leaned too far toward “unfinished” for my liking. The first name that came to my mind when I saw the style of the artwork here was David Aja, but without some of the flair and finishes that I expected. The artwork isn’t sloppy, it’s just very flat and while Walsh does hit the comedic beats, there isn’t a lot of visual flair that stuck with me. Walsh doesn’t have much to work with as far as huge events go, and while his style fits this down on his luck kid, I just didn’t find it engaging. Ruth Redmond’s colour work was the most dynamic part of the issue for me, and I think her work was solid.

X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever #1 didn’t hit the mark with me, both in concept and execution. The crux of the issue is feeling sympathetic and rooting for the kid, and he just didn’t grab my attention. There’s really just not a lot here to move the story along or make me care.  There was a couple chuckles, but there wasn’t enough to keep me reading Bailey’s adventure. I wish the kid all the best, though.

The Verdict: 5.0/10

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