Reviewer: Iain Burnside
Story Title: Unnatural part 2
Written by: Sean McKeever
Penciled by: Manuel Garcia
Inked by: Raul Fernandez
Colored by: Matt Milla
Lettered by: Rus Wooton
Editor: Cory Sedlmeier
Publisher: Dan Buckley
God bless Marvel for giving us the Tsunami line. I have no idea why it was launched and neither does anybody else, including Joe Quesada, but that doesn’t overshadow the good that has come out of it. In amongst all the failed, incomprehensible rehashes of overlooked superheroes there stood two genuinely talented writers named Brian K. Vaughan and Sean McKeever. They got the chance to shine on the two innovative Tsunami books, Runaways and Sentinel, both of which have survived the mess and gone onto help form the core of a brand new line called Marvel Age. Vaughan’s 13 issue run solidified Mystique as a hugely entertaining comic that, sadly, a lot of people continue to overlook after it was tainted by association with the likes of Venom and Namor. The fact remains that he made the titular character more entertaining than she has ever been outside of the movies. Now into the second issue of his run on the title, McKeever shows no signs of a drop in quality. In fact, if anything, he has actually made the book more action-packed than it has been in months.
When we last left our blue-skinned heroine she had been sent to investigate DermaFree, a leading skin care company based in Stockholm that Xavier suspected of carrying out illegal testing on mutants against their will. As it turned out, they had been anticipating her arrival all along and had installed special systems in their security specifically to detect her presence. Despite being smashed through a window and falling thirty feet to the ground below, smashing through a sturdy looking branch along the way, she is not seriously hurt. With a couple of well placed boots to a very special place on the two men chasing her, she manages to escape to the rendezvous spot to meet Shortpack, who uses his telepathic abilities to distract a couple of security guards in a fairly ingenious manner. The duo makes their escape by leaping off the roof and Mystique changing her arms into plane wings, gliding them to safety. Damn, now that’s a 7-page opening action sequence that puts any James Bond movie intro to shame!
After a brief stop at a quiet Swedish farm for a telepathic rant at Xavier, who claims that he did not know for sure what DermaFree were up to, we are on the move again. The evidence that could bring the company down was lost while escaping, so now they must simply head for the Austrian lab where the experiments occur in order to free as many mutants as possible. On the train ride there Mystique confides in Shortpack exactly what DermaFree’s secret experiments are based on – her. They have somehow managed to gather embryonic stem cells from her; manipulate them into skin cells and fuse them with human eggs to create products capable of curing all human skin disorders. To say she is a little bothered by this would be somewhat of an understatement. After all, they are basically stealing her identity, her abilities and her life itself to do something that flies in the face of everything she has ever stood for or believed. A visit to a candy store in Salzburg she used to frequent as a child only strengthens her resolve, even though she knows that DermaFree will be expecting her and can see through her disguises. While there she also briefly meets Shepard, the agent of the mysterious Quiet Man who is trying to get Mystique to act as a double agent for them against Xavier, which also helps reveal her better nature. For now, this is not about playing one side against the other. It’s not even about the burgeoning sexual tension between the two. It’s all about helping mutant-kind and reclaiming her identity. As for Shepard, well, he does buy a Toblerone so he’s a-okay in my book…
Her initial attempt to enter the DermaFree labs disguised as a security guard is of course flawed, but this is a deliberate measure. The real plan is far more effective and unexpected… and kinda gross, really. After being easily detected she is detained and taken into the complex by three guards, when Shortpack bursts out of her stomach complete with mini-sized rocket pack and gun, flies around the room and takes out her captors! What makes it even cooler is that McKeever freely admits the obvious reference and has fun with it too: “I always wanted to do that! You’re no John Hurt, though.†“But you are exactly like an H.R. Giger painting.†It’s yet another marvelous action scene that would play magnificently on the big screen. Memo to Bryan Singer – screw the Wolverine solo movie, start planning the Mystique spin-off instead! This title has been full of wonderfully surprising moments that really play well to the character’s abilities, such as her appearance as a Mohawk-sporting Storm while flirting with Forge, but this is hands down the best one yet.
They then split up and follow their own agendas. Mystique goes in search of the cloning technology, which is helpfully inside the room with the big sign marked “KLONEN.†As she puts it, “You sure gotta love their subtlety.†Shortpack plays it by the book and finds the mutants being experimented on, yet is captured by one of the guards. This is where we leave the greatest new double act in superhero comics for another month and once again McKeever has me wanting the next issue right now! This is one of the few titles out there that manages to balance its content perfectly, making sure that each monthly installment reads just as well on its own as it will as a trade. On top of all this we have the continual outstanding efforts of Mike Mayhew’s covers. They are the closest thing Marvel gets to appropriately highlighting the material inside these days and are constantly impressive, particularly next issue’s one. We also have a highly entertaining letters page called For Your Eyes Only, run by consulting editor Mike Marts. It harkens back to the “good old days†and really helps to give the comic a more rounded, familial feel. You can feel the love the creative team has for this book from start to finish. Sadly, this book is selling nowhere near as much as it should be doing. I can feel this becoming the Spider-Girl of the new millennium… Do us all a favour and pick up the trade of the first six issues, Drop Dead Gorgeous, due out this month, and see for yourself just how good it really is.
