District X #11 Review

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Reviewer: Andy Campbell
Story Title: Underground (5 of 6)

Writer: David Hine
Pencils: Lan Medina
Inks: Alejandro "Boy" Sicat
Color: Digital Rainbow
Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Jimmy, Rob, & Albert
Editor: Mike Marts
Publisher: Dan Buckley (Marvel Comics)

By the end of this issue, the penultimate installment of the "Underground"
storyline, our characters’ status quo has changed more than I ever expected.

David Hine’s writing really is tremendous. Eleven issues ago, he created the
character of Officer Ishmael Ortega. Here we are just under a year later, and
Ortega is one of the most complex characters in all of comics (in my humble
opinion). Ortega’s personal problems continue snowballing in this issue, as
he has intense confrontations with his wife and his son. These are written very,
very well, and Ortega really comes off as the "asshole dad who cheats on
his wife and treats his kids like crap." The brilliance in the writing,
however, is that one minute Hine has you hating Ortega for being such a jerk,
but the next minute finds you feeling sorry for the poor guy. All this and there
is still a major plot going on "behind the scenes." Winston Hobbes,
the huge, mutated monstrosity, continues on his rampage, while Bishop and Ortega
attempt to move the mutants out of the sewers, with mixed success.

Last time I reviewed District X, I hadn’t quite warmed up to Lan Medina’s art…at
least as it pertained to the rendering of Ortega. Well, 3 issues later, let
me just say that it’s all good. Medina depicts Ortega more how I’m used to,
and with a stellar art team, delivers another great-looking book.

I’m going to continue to recommend District X. This may not be the time to
jump in, as this issue is part 5 of 6, but if your comic shop has the first
4 issues of this arc available, I suggest you check it out. This is a depiction
of mutants that you’re just not going to find anywhere else.