Exceptional X-Men #8 Review: The Seductive Siren Call of Being ‘Normal’

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As I wrote about when I reviewed Exceptional X-Men #6, one of the major themes of this series is the idea of mutants who can “pass” as human, like Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost (and two of the new mutants that Kitty and Emma are teaching in this new series, Bronze and Melee), and those mutants that can’t, which is the third of the new mutants, Axo. Axo has been seduced by a mysterious horned mutant who runs a company that claims that it can “cure” mutants, and naturally, Axo is a lot more interested than his human-passing teammates. However, at the end of the last issue, it turns out that the head of the company was actually Mister Sinister in disguise, and the whole company is now, well, you know, a whole collection of genetic material from mutants for Sinister to do with as he pleases! He captured Axo at the end of the previous issue.

Exceptional X-Men #8 is from the creative team of writer Eve Ewing, artist Carmen Carnero, colorist Nolan Woodard, and letterer Travis Lanham, who have done the full first eight issues of the series so far, which is quite remarkable nowadays. We see the after effects of Axo’s capture, and we also get an interesting discussion of what it means to be “normal,” and how it can almost be an insult at times.

How does Eve Ewing cleverly give Mister Sinister a villain monologue?

Axo’s powers involve the ability to force people to reveal their inner truths, and obviously, Mister Sinister blocked that ability when he was trying to disguise himself as the benevolent leader of an altruistic company, but now that he has revealed himself to Axo, he has decided that he WANTS to let Axo use his powers on him, because, as he jokes, he wants to get high on his own supply.

This is an extremely clever way by Eve Ewing to get Mister Sinister to go on a classic villain monologue, filled with exposition. Now, of course, that is sort of Mister Sinister’s personality ANYways, so it is not like you have to do a whole lot to get him to go on a big ol’ monologue like this, but it is still funny to see him acting a little bit stranger due to the effects of Axo’s powers. For instance, he even breaks into a song at one point. It’s quite cute. Anyhow, he plans to use Axo’s ability to access people’s emotions to be able to create full portraits of all of the mutants, and that is part of his plan (which presumably involves clones, but it is still a bit of a mystery, of course).

When is “normal” an insult?

The other major bit of humor in the issue is how Sinister replaces Axo with a clone of Axo, who is not quite a great clone, as we see him do a bunch of weird stuff, like pour orange juice on his breakfast, and then some coffee grounds (amusingly, his family just assumes that it is some TikTok trend, which really isn’t all that out of the ordinary when you think about it). Carnero and Woodard have always been really good at facial expressions, so they handle the offbeat clone of Axo really well, as they handle how much he is JUST a bit off. It’s good stuff.

It’s also funny how the other members of the team figure out that Axo isn’t Axo because he sings along with a Dazzler song unironically. At the same time, there is a fire at the store the three young mutants are shopping at, and they use their powers well to get everyone out safely. Now that they know Axo isn’t himself, they want to call Kitty and Emma, and in ANOTHER cute bit, we realize that they don’t actually know Emma Frost’s phone number, and if Kitty doesn’t answer her cell phone (she’s in the shower), they have no way of talking to HER, either. It’s funny seeing them try to figure things out with this very offbeat team (no Danger Room, no Blackbird, nothing like that).

Meanwhile, the best thing in this issue is when Kitty Pryde gets a call from her new girlfriend, Nina, and Kitty goes overboard talking about how happy she is to be dating someone normal like Nina. However, Nina clearly reads between the lines. Who really wants the most exciting thing about themselves to be the fact that they are “normal?” That is the issue here, as Nina realizes that Kitty might very well be…if not SETTLING for Nina, is specifically interested in Nina not because Nina is that interesting, but because she represents what Kitty is trying to run to as she runs away from her superhero past. It is not a BAD thing, per se, but at the same time, it feels sort of dishonest, to a certain extent, right? “Oh yeah, I think you’re great, you’re not dramatic like all of the other stuff I have to deal with.” That’s not all that romantic, right? So it will be an interesting situation to see if Nina and Kitty will actually be able to make it as a couple, or if Nina is simply who Kitty is settling with because she is running away from life. “Normal” can be an insult in certain context, ya know?

Ewing continues to make this book an interesting blend of complex character interactions, and next issue might see them finally take on an outright supervillain, which will be a blast!

Source: Marvel

“}]] In a CBR review of Exceptional X-Men #8, see how being “normal” can so seductive, even if you’re not trying to make a big deal out of it  Read More