After the resounding success of the X-Statix 1 comic, comes a continuation of its millennial-style story with Marvel’s rarest mutants. Meet the Ex-Cellents!
The origin of X-Statix
X-Force It was at the time (specifically between 2001 and 2004) an unparalleled story that received the applause of the public. It was scripted by Peter Milligan and drawn by Mike Allred, and was eventually renamed X-Statix.
The X-Statix mutant team brought their adventures to the set, becoming characters in a reality show that appeared in all audiovisual media. In these reality shows they lived, but they also died, and not exactly pretending. The actual deaths shocked the public and it made them feel that what happened really made sense, so there were more and more viewers.
Milligan and Allred return to the charge
Although the X-Statix collection ended its collection with bloodbaths, it was in July 2019 when a sequel called Giant-Size X-Statix came out in September 2019. Its success was resounding, and it also gave rise to a new story arc in the form of a series that would go hand in hand with Milligan and Allred. This would give continuity to his plot of the Marvel universe so peculiar, but it was not until 2022 that the series began to air. ohThe X-Celentes have arrived!
mutants on tv
In the volume called «The Ex-Cellent ones. New sap, new world» the X-Statix story takes a new turn. The introduction of the story takes us to the present time, in which influencers are up to date in the news and social networks. In these digital spaces, which connect all users, actors, entrepreneurs and influencers aim to get visits to their content on their profile pages, and the more followers, the more the content spreads.
a great introduction
Although the volume has the first five issues of the Ex-Cellentes, we need to read Giant-Size X-Statix One-Shot USA to understand how X-Statix comes to be. We have a teenage girl, a very common profile in these stories, who begins to experience supernatural powers. Katie Jones has the ability to teleport, but she uses her power unconsciously.
One night, without warning, he uses it to get to a place he didn’t expect to get to and where he she gets a revelation that dismays her. Now that you understand why she has her ability and why she is sought after by the former group whose reality shows she watches on YouTube: los X-Statix.
The path of a mutant heroine
Like any good walker on the hero’s path, defined very well by the writer Christopher Vogler, she rejects the call to adventure, but an altercation that harms her and which is due to his mutant genetic inheritance He takes her out of her ordinary world to put her in a situation that makes her understand, once she has managed to free herself from the clutches of her enemies, that she is no longer the same.
Now that you have understood your potential and the good side of the offer that was made to you at the beginning, the X-Statix team is complete and they can fight their new enemy, the Ex-Celentes, whose goals no one expected and involve such interesting elements as espionage, conspiracy, manipulation, and magic.
In this volume of six issues in total, the characters on both sides demonstrate a reality: many they are so strange that nobody wants them on their team. For example, we have a character, Uno, who is a floating eye without more, it could not even be said that he is a superior homo, or a man who can mutate the fluff from the navel of anyone in any matter.
The most attractive and disgusting of X-Statix and Ex-Celentes
His atypical appearance and powers are, whether he wants it or not, a criticism of the same audience, which always pays attention to the usual powers: heat vision, super strength, teleportation or flight, among others. They are good powers, but they are very versatile and are valid for a large number of situations. In addition, the appearance of many of these characters is always humanoid, even if they are from other species.. This is the case of the Skrull, Thor, the Celestials or the Beyonders themselves.
In the Ex-Celentes we are shown some characters with atypical aspects, somewhat unsightly by popular opinion, and with far-fetched abilities that end up giving battle, because more than adapting the situation to the characters, it’s the characters who look for opportunities to show offeven though we know they don’t have free will because this is creative writing.
Marvel characters in reality
Another strong point of this creation is the realism of the personalities. A man who can play it on you by talking to you about your own pain or a young man teleporting his companions while disintegrating them in the process, or a love disappointment after a strong emotional dependency, by a woman with whose power she has deceived herself , reminds us that these characters are imperfect. Everyone believes that their actions are the best way to reach their goals, but they have a lot to learn and make many mistakes.
The reader can feel reflected in this imperfection and empathize with many of them, coming to feel, with the right character, that they are part of the story and that the same thing could happen to them. This is something that has become repetitive with characters like Iron Man or Hulk, so find new faces that give that fresh air to the Marvel Universe helps readers reconnect with Marvel comics without getting bored of reading the usual.
A very well done script
Argumentally, the script paradigmatically complies with what is expected of a good domino effect in the story. It perfectly lays the foundations on which the story is spun and introduces characters and elements that lead, with coherence and cohesion over time, the characters to pursue their objectives, leaving no more loose ends than those necessary to invite the reader to continue reading future publications. Considering that these mutants co-exist with the Age of Krakoa, it wouldn’t be strange to see them around the mutant nation in the future, given their growing popularity.
excellent drawing and color
The drawing and ink of the pages allows the reader to feel nostalgic for the rough paper of the older comics, although the real smooth paper of the pages is appreciated to the touch. Likewise, the way everyone is drawn teleports us to the 2000sin which the color tones and the apparent movements were certainly more subdued, without as many nuances as now, creating a bridge between the old X-Factor series and the new era in which X-Statix and the Ex-Celentes must coexist.
Los Ex-Celentes is a highly recommended comic to evade a little the usual trend of the Marvel Universe, fall in love with the atypical and innovative and discover that some characters that are out of the aesthetically expected you might like it even better than a Captain Marvel with her long run or a Spider-Man who has already gotten our attention enough.
What are you waiting for? Get your copy at Panini Comics.
