Comic Book Review - X-corp #1

Rob reviews X-Corp #1...

X-Corp sees the newest X-Men team trade in their superhero garb for business suits in this all-new story. It's a little bit strange seeing a team of superheroes dealing with situations straight out of a politically charged HBO thriller, but it works incredibly well. 

Marvel's current X-Men offerings are so far heading in a great direction, and Mutantkind hasn't looked this strong in a good few years. X-Corp continues this trend with its sleek, stylish story that sees large-scale corporate dealings and big businesses become the new bad. It's a highly ambitious storyline and is one that could easily go wrong. 

X-Corp #1 sees a much condensed X-Men team head out into the world in search of expanding the operations of Krakoa into the human saturated stock market. This new team is headed up by Angel and Monet St. Croix, who are both well-known and wealthy Mutants. Considering that this new team lacks brawn, it will be down to some savvy business dealings - and corporate sabotage to make the venture a success. 

Writer Tini Howard uses the smaller X team to great advantage. In using fewer characters we're given more scope to play with and Howard shows this through both Penance and Angel. The two leaders share a somewhat unique relationship that deviates this new team from the X-Men norm. The rest of this new team are made up of Multiple-Man and Trinary. Whilst the two leaders take up the bulk of this opening, Howard will no doubt utilise Multiple-Man and Trinary as the series continues. 

Artist Alberto Foche gives us a subdued and almost shabby chic style to X-Corp. It does a wonderful job in building this corporate world. Boardrooms are now the battlefield and Foche portrays this in a great fashion. Characters are also portrayed incredibly well. Angel specifically looks great in his crisp white suit, with his wings perfectly prim and pristine. It's great to see these characters away from their vibrant X-Men suits and Foche brings all the tension to proceedings that they might as well still be wearing them. 

Sunny Gho backs Foche's art up with plenty of colours that complete this world. Every scene is alive with plenty of detail and some tight crisp colours that make the whole strip an enjoyable read. 

Whilst X-Corp is a deviation from the usual outings of the X-Men, it has a lot going for it. This opening act does a wonderful job in showing us Howard's plans for the series and yes while it's a gamble, it's paying off so far...

Rating 9/10 

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Images courtesy of Marvel Entertainment