SUPERHERO

Comics have embraced and pioneered the ret-con more that any other artistic medium. For the less geeky amongst us, a ret-con is ‘retro continuity’, the art of going back and retelling the past so it vaguely makes sense with what’s gone before but huge plot changes can be added. In short it’s how most superheroes never die, that final leap to safety they just never showed you until now. And the roots of Deadly Genesis may sound fairly convoluted but bear with us - it’s still a great standalone story of a dark chapter in the X-Men’s evolution. This miniseries came out to mark the 30th anniversary of the Giant Size X-Men which pretty much set up the X-Men as we know them today, a one-shot that revolutionised the mutant team and introduced the likes of Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler and Colossus. So there are a few references back to this original story, but it doesn’t stand in the way of comprehension in the slightest. This does lead directly on from the House of M mega crossover event, but all you need to know is that nearly all the mutants in the world lost their powers overnight. From there on in it’s action all the way as a mysterious ‘omega level’ mutant takes on the X-Men. Brubaker is one of the most solid writers in comics, consistently delivering intelligent, powerful tales of superhero exploits. He once again fails to disappoint, spending pretty much the entire six issue run exploring the motivations of this new threat. It’s this motivation that really sets it apart and the new shade it adds to Professor X’s character as the dust settles will make this another important milestone in the X-Men’s continuing evolution.