If you were wondering where some of the mutants ended up after being forced through a gate during the Hellfire Gala, Realm of X may be your kind of comic. Focusing on Magik, Mirage, Marrow, Dust, Curse, and Typhoid Mary, Realm of X #1 reveals some mutants escaped, but they may have been dropped into an equally dangerous situation. Heavily influenced by fantasy stories, Realm of X #1 comes out swinging with an intriguing twist on X-Men comics.
Realm of X #1 opens on Magik, who is confused and can no longer use her teleportation power. Soon she encounters a group of ogres attacking people living in the trees. While the story opens with Magik, she’s so out of sorts she ends up being the audience surrogate giving Dust and Typhoid Mary the brunt of heroic moments. The group is largely dragged by the heroes of Vanaheim, who are people with great abilities like seeing the future. In fact, they saw their arrival coming before it even happened.
Crosscutting with the group getting their bearings is Curse, who is alone but far from incapable of defending herself. She goes on a bit of her adventure, cursing others and herself as her powers go either way. Incidentally, she ends up being the linchpin of the main antagonist, who rears their head near the end of the issue. Writer Torunn Grønbekk does well to integrate this villain, as well as the heroes and their powers, throughout the issue. A good bit of team writing is going on here that makes the issue feel cohesive.
Grønbekk utilizes some allusions to Lord of the Rings that help ease the characters into a fantasy narrative. The data pages are also well written, rendered as if on old scrolls that connect to the Vanaheim culture. It’s also not lost on me that the main heroes are all dressed to the nines yet are dropped into a fantasy world of forests and beasts. They are like Disney princesses dropped into a world that needs saving.
That can’t be comfortable.
Credit: Marvel
Concerning Magik being out of sorts, fans of hers may feel frustrated with how she’s depicted. She kind of goes along with everyone confused and unsure. It’s not very like her to act this way, even with her powers somehow turned off.
Art by Diogenes Neves is pretty solid, with good pacing and page breakdowns to keep the story moving and clear. Environments have plenty of detail as well as the clothes on the characters’ backs. Magik looks a bit freaky to start–she’s posed rather awkwardly on a log–but for the most part, I dig the visual style that goes with the fantasy tropes.
If you want fantasy mixed in with your X-Men stories, don’t pass on Realm of X. The creative team drops mutants into another world that plays a heavy part in deeper Marvel lore and will likely mean some interesting developments as mutants crossover into a more Asgardian corner of the universe. Largely its own thing, this series offers a respite with a fun fantasy adventure amongst the mutant titles tied to the horrific attack on mutants.
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