Reviewer: Iain Burnside
Story Title: Nevermore
Written by: Brian K. Vaughan
Penciled by: Michael Ryan
Inked by: N/A
Colored by: Matt Milla
Lettered by: Rus Wooton
Editor: Cory Sedlmeier
Publisher: Dan Buckley
In retrospect it should have been obvious right from her first appearances in Ms. Marvel back in the ‘70s. Here is an incredibly beautiful, exotic woman with attitude dripping from every blue pore that could go toe-to-toe with all but the most powerful super heroes and villains Marvel has to offer. Yet for years all that various creators had to offer her was tedious political mind games and regurgitated Magneto plots. Sure, there was the odd hint of sapphic sexual tension between her and Destiny, but for crying out loud this was a woman who was capable of disguising herself as anybody she wanted! ANYBODY! That has to rank as one of the coolest mutant abilities going, so why was she passed over in favour of some unintelligible guy with exploding cards or the endless push of an alcoholic Canadian midget that can’t accept the fact Jean wanted nothing to do with him because he’s actually quite creepy if you think about it? For years she loitered in the background doing nothing of note until kids were introduced to her in the love-it-or-hate-it animated series, X-Men Evolution. After this, Bryan Singer gave her a pivotal role in both the X-Men feature films, Rebecca Romijn Wossname infused her with a sizzling sexual presence and Marvel rubbed its merry hands with glee, determined to cash in on the movies in every way possible. While that line of thinking is usually to be discouraged, this title has thankfully proven to be a most welcome exception.
You see, taking the character of Mystique and handing the reigns over to a writer like Brian K. Vaughan was an inspired arrangement. I truly believe that Vaughan has the goods to become the next comics ‘heavyweight’ alongside the Moores and Morrisons of the industry. His work on Y: The Last Man and The Hood has been exemplary, and this title follows suit. Vaughan takes the fundamentally brilliant core concepts of the Mystique character and throws in overtones of Hitchcock, Fleming and Elmore Leonard to weave secret agent thrillers that suit her perfectly. After all, there can be no better way to use someone who is the perfect disguise than to make them go undercover. To make things even more interesting, Mystique has been forced into this position by none other than Captain Squeaky Clean himself, her former nemesis Charles Xavier. After recent developments acted as a wake-up call to the dear Professor, he recruits Mystique to be his undercover agent for cases that are just too sensitive and too public for his instantly recognizable X-Men to be involved with. While Xavier’s need for her is an amusing thought for Mystique to entertain, this is by no means a mutual agreement. In a neat little spin on the Bond/MI5 relationship, she agrees to work for him only to avoid being held captive by the government. Throw in a mysterious cloaked figure known only as The Quiet Man that wants Mystique to act as a double agent for him, his assistant, Shepard, who has a crush on Mystique, and her field handler, a six-inch tall telepath appropriately named Shortpack, and the potential for explosive action and unforeseen twists is multiplied tenfold. It is certainly no accident there is an advertisement on the inside cover for Jennifer Garner’s Alias TV show.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. This is the thirteenth and final issue of Vaughan’s Mystique and during the coming month’s Reload event Sean McKeever is taking over writing duties. As the book moves from one excellent Tsunami writer to another (Runaways to Sentinel, and if you didn’t know that then check out the digest collections now) on a title that was originally a part of the Tsunami line-up, one could be forgiven for thinking that Marvel were actually onto a good thing with that line… Anyway, I digress. The point is that Vaughan is going out neither a bang nor a whimper but more of a well-controlled explosion. This is a well constructed stand-alone tale; something the modern comic book sorely needs more of, which also manages to keep the larger story arc progressing nicely in the background. If Bruce Jones had learned this trick on the Incredible Hulk two years ago then it may have saved fans of the green boy a lot of grief. As a fan of the blue girl however, hell, this is yet another slice of fried gold.
Her mission this issue, cleverly laid out in a faux-mocking piece of exposition in the first page, is to retrieve the severed hand of a dead mutant named The Alchemist that can turn lead into gold from the clutches of a six-foot tall woman wearing sequins and a headdress. If it falls into the wrong hands this well spell disaster for the world’s economy! It sounds like something straight out of a rejected Inspector Gadget script but it is done with such panache in such a bittersweet tone that the camp factor is endearing rather than irritating. Besides, when the first page ends with Shortpack about to get mauled by a rogue cat with only a pencil to defend himself with, Vaughan has already turned this one up to eleven! That’s the great thing about Mystique – the permanent feeling of being caught unaware. For damn near each and every new page there is something popping out at the reader, catching us all off guard. Hell, just wait until the beautiful piece of art that lies in wait on page two. This is where the value of Ryan and Milla’s contributions to the comic really shines through. No matter what Vaughan can conjure up, these guys have been able to more than match it with a splendid cacophony of visual treats throughout their work on the series. The little treats that lie in store would not be half as enjoyable if they didn’t look this good. On a similar note, variety is vital to the survival of any good comic. As cool as Mystique’s abilities are, using the same trick over and over would grow tiresome very quickly. What Vaughan has managed to do is spice up the surrounding environment so much that the reader simply doesn’t have time to focus on what is a disguise and what is real, as is the case with one of her guises in this issue. Not only that but there is another twist that will definitely catch you off-guard, allows Mystique to show her more compassionate side, pays homage to the history of the character, references said history in a well-crafted bit of dialogue, gives the merest of hints as to the identity of The Quiet Man, and allows for a final shot of Mystique glancing at her true reflection with contentment for a change! Now that is quality writing!
