Zachary Palisoc
Apr 26, 2002, 09:49 pm
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/muties1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/muties1t.jpg" align=left alt="Muties #1"></a>Reviewer: Zachary Palisoc
Quick Rating: Excellent!
Story Title: The Changeling
It’s the debut of a new mini-series dealing with every-day mutants.
Written by: Karl Bollers
Layouts by: Salgood Sam
Painted Art by: Peter Ferguson
Lettered by: Marvel's Paul Tutrone
Assistant Editor: Pete Franco
Editor: Mark Powers
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesda
President: Bill Jemas
Jared is your typical outcast in high school, the target of bullies and that makes it easy to identify and sympathize with him. He also has the typical crush on the pretty girl in school. Since he’s the main character in this story and the story is supposed to be about mutants, you naturally assume he’s a mutant. However, a surprise is coming your way. He’s also very smart, like Peter Parker smart. He comments on that right away in his narration: “So what, I’d scored straight A’s on every test in every grade since I’d first started school? I spent every waking hour studying…studying and thinking about Kate Cooke.” That made the character easily identifiable, because he’s like everybody else, daydreaming about his crush while trying to do good in his class and life. He has a friendship going on with Kate, which is marred by the bullying of one of his classmates, Duncan Sebast, who is a basketball player and very popular. Duncan is a world-class bully, going out of his way to torment Jared, like throwing a snowball at him and teasing and taunting him because of his intelligence. There is also his father, who seems to despite him as well. The theme of parental abuse comes into form here, made clear by his father asking Jared if he brought home dinner and then when he forgets, his father points a gun at him and orders him to get the food. This is truly a startling scene, and deeply disturbing in its implications.
Instead of Jared getting a break, it gets worse for him, because Jared has these dreams of running off with Kate somewhere and winning a Nobel Prize and you realize that it may not all come true, that he’s trapped in this miserable existence. When he is his room, he makes a list of names, which is a startling sight to see and foreshadows a hint here that comes into play later into the issue. Jared wants Kate and uses Duncan to get to her. He writes a paper for Duncan and asks him for the favor, helping him with Kate because his best friend is Kate’s boyfriend, but it backfires on him. Duncan slams a ball in his face and laughs at him. That is the last straw for Jared, He gets his father’s gun and shoots Duncan and that is when the surprise twist happens. We find out that Duncan is actually a mutant, he can stretch his body, but Jared keeps on shooting him until he’s dead. There’s a tragic consequence: Kate gets caught in the crossfire and Jared is arrested.
The art compliments the story. It's done in a lovely sepia color. Touches of color highlight it, but the faded color stands out and highlights the story, adding a moody feel to it. Peter Ferguson does an excellent job here, drawing the characters so perfectly that they are almost lifelike, you can see the emotions in their eyes, their body language, especially Jared’s.
The school shooting scene is a nice and surprising twist, and fits into the pattern of lonely, bullied classmate strikes back with a gun. It invokes a “Oh, my God,” reaction and presses a very hot-button issue and adds an extra twist - Jared isn’t the mutant after all - Duncan is. Instead of being vilified as a murderer, they call him a hero. He’s now the center of attention.
There is a sadness that you feel as Jared realizes that he had killed his best friend and crush as well, because it wasn’t fair - all he wanted was to be with Kate and in the end, he failed. The theme of school shooting is a fitting theme of this story and highlights the price as well.
Does the fact that Duncan was a mutant excuse Jared’s action of killing him? No. Jared didn’t know he was a mutant, only that he was a bully. Would it have changed things? No, I don’t think so. I think that Jared was pushed too far by the abuse he got, and in the end, he thought it was justified. I was surprised at how they hailed him as a hero afterwards. I wouldn’t have classified him as that. But seeing what happened to him, I can almost forgive his actions. I felt so deeply connected to this character and so I wasn’t sure what to think of him at the end. Jared is an easy character to sympathize with and it may make things easier for the reader to justify him for his actions and feel sympathize with him as he is arrested. The reason Jared and this issue causes such a strong reaction because Jared is, at heart, like some of us once were in high school, although I’m still undecided on if I should condone his actions or not. It’s one of these actions that make you think, question yourself, and stays with you. Was it okay for him to shoot Duncan or not? In the end, it’s all up to the reader to decide. Karl Bollers does an amazing job with this issue, touching on themes that makes you dwell on it. The end result is these conflicting feelings that linger with you.
Overall, this was a really great issue and a good beginning to this mini-series. Highly recommended!
Art:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg
Story:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg
Overall:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!
Quick Rating: Excellent!
Story Title: The Changeling
It’s the debut of a new mini-series dealing with every-day mutants.
Written by: Karl Bollers
Layouts by: Salgood Sam
Painted Art by: Peter Ferguson
Lettered by: Marvel's Paul Tutrone
Assistant Editor: Pete Franco
Editor: Mark Powers
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesda
President: Bill Jemas
Jared is your typical outcast in high school, the target of bullies and that makes it easy to identify and sympathize with him. He also has the typical crush on the pretty girl in school. Since he’s the main character in this story and the story is supposed to be about mutants, you naturally assume he’s a mutant. However, a surprise is coming your way. He’s also very smart, like Peter Parker smart. He comments on that right away in his narration: “So what, I’d scored straight A’s on every test in every grade since I’d first started school? I spent every waking hour studying…studying and thinking about Kate Cooke.” That made the character easily identifiable, because he’s like everybody else, daydreaming about his crush while trying to do good in his class and life. He has a friendship going on with Kate, which is marred by the bullying of one of his classmates, Duncan Sebast, who is a basketball player and very popular. Duncan is a world-class bully, going out of his way to torment Jared, like throwing a snowball at him and teasing and taunting him because of his intelligence. There is also his father, who seems to despite him as well. The theme of parental abuse comes into form here, made clear by his father asking Jared if he brought home dinner and then when he forgets, his father points a gun at him and orders him to get the food. This is truly a startling scene, and deeply disturbing in its implications.
Instead of Jared getting a break, it gets worse for him, because Jared has these dreams of running off with Kate somewhere and winning a Nobel Prize and you realize that it may not all come true, that he’s trapped in this miserable existence. When he is his room, he makes a list of names, which is a startling sight to see and foreshadows a hint here that comes into play later into the issue. Jared wants Kate and uses Duncan to get to her. He writes a paper for Duncan and asks him for the favor, helping him with Kate because his best friend is Kate’s boyfriend, but it backfires on him. Duncan slams a ball in his face and laughs at him. That is the last straw for Jared, He gets his father’s gun and shoots Duncan and that is when the surprise twist happens. We find out that Duncan is actually a mutant, he can stretch his body, but Jared keeps on shooting him until he’s dead. There’s a tragic consequence: Kate gets caught in the crossfire and Jared is arrested.
The art compliments the story. It's done in a lovely sepia color. Touches of color highlight it, but the faded color stands out and highlights the story, adding a moody feel to it. Peter Ferguson does an excellent job here, drawing the characters so perfectly that they are almost lifelike, you can see the emotions in their eyes, their body language, especially Jared’s.
The school shooting scene is a nice and surprising twist, and fits into the pattern of lonely, bullied classmate strikes back with a gun. It invokes a “Oh, my God,” reaction and presses a very hot-button issue and adds an extra twist - Jared isn’t the mutant after all - Duncan is. Instead of being vilified as a murderer, they call him a hero. He’s now the center of attention.
There is a sadness that you feel as Jared realizes that he had killed his best friend and crush as well, because it wasn’t fair - all he wanted was to be with Kate and in the end, he failed. The theme of school shooting is a fitting theme of this story and highlights the price as well.
Does the fact that Duncan was a mutant excuse Jared’s action of killing him? No. Jared didn’t know he was a mutant, only that he was a bully. Would it have changed things? No, I don’t think so. I think that Jared was pushed too far by the abuse he got, and in the end, he thought it was justified. I was surprised at how they hailed him as a hero afterwards. I wouldn’t have classified him as that. But seeing what happened to him, I can almost forgive his actions. I felt so deeply connected to this character and so I wasn’t sure what to think of him at the end. Jared is an easy character to sympathize with and it may make things easier for the reader to justify him for his actions and feel sympathize with him as he is arrested. The reason Jared and this issue causes such a strong reaction because Jared is, at heart, like some of us once were in high school, although I’m still undecided on if I should condone his actions or not. It’s one of these actions that make you think, question yourself, and stays with you. Was it okay for him to shoot Duncan or not? In the end, it’s all up to the reader to decide. Karl Bollers does an amazing job with this issue, touching on themes that makes you dwell on it. The end result is these conflicting feelings that linger with you.
Overall, this was a really great issue and a good beginning to this mini-series. Highly recommended!
Art:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg
Story:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg
Overall:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!