[REVIEW] NYX #1

In NYX #1, the mutant kids are alright, but tackling college amid crimefighting may prove more difficult than previously thought.

Borrowing its title from an infamous 00s series of the same name, NYX (“New York X”) is a young adult-themed title launching as part of X-Men: From the Ashes, following a group of college-aged characters as they find community with one another amid heightened anti-mutant sentiment after the fall of Krakoa. Thankfully, compared to its predecessor, NYX seems to understand its intended audience a little bit this time around. 

After her short-lived stint with the X-Men, Kamala Khan —Ms. Marvel— has re-enrolled at Empire State University, where they now offer a mutant-centric curriculum taught in part by David Alleyne, AKA Prodigy. It’s there she runs into fellow student Sophie Cuckoo, who is taking the same course as a means of real-time fact-checking recent mutant history, and the two form an unexpected friendship with one another. Anole and Wolverine —Laura Kinney obviously, but specifically the newer duplicate and not the original, because comics!— also show up to round out the cast. Oh, and a shadowy mutant calling himself “the Krakoan” is causing havoc in the city, because college isn’t difficult enough for a young superhero. (Their identity has basically been spoiled in marketing already, but there’s a little more to it than just that.)

I really enjoyed NYX #1! It helps that it features a lot of characters I already like and would want to see interact with one another, but I think the overall vibe of the thing is working for me as well. It actually reminds me a lot of the best of Young Avengers (which, by the way, is somehow still in publication purgatory after ten years) where you’re following a group of young people hanging out and relating to one another in spite of the usual superhero antics happening around them.

There’s action here, of course, but that’s not necessarily what its target audience wants from a book like this, which I think writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly understand. The relationship between Kamala and Sophie in particular seems to be the heart of the series; they contrast each other quite a bit and it’ll undoubtedly lead to some great character development for both. The other characters get less to do here as a result —particularly my boy Anole— but the next chapter seems Laura-centric and I have to assume this will be the narrative mode moving forward, focusing on some characters more than others issue-to-issue. (Very much giving Skins or Euphoria, if so.) Francesco Mortarino’s art here is great as well, offering appealingly clean, expressive visuals with vibrant colors from Raúl Angulo. If NYX #1 is indicative of the quality of these forthcoming From the Ashes books, then I think there’s lots to look forward to.  

NYX #1

4.99

7

Premise

7.0/10

Execution

7.0/10

Script

7.0/10

Art

7.0/10

Credits

• Writers: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly
• Artist: Francesco Mortarino
• Color Artist: Raúl Angulo
• Letterer: VC's Joe Sabino
• Cover Artist: Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee

Credits (cont)

• Editor: Annal
• Publisher: Marvel Entertainment