NYX, Hidden Gem of This X-Men Era
This review contains spoilers for all issues of NYX (2024) by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing
What’s NYX
X-Men comics are a mess, at least since the nineties. It’s sad, but it’s true. The closest in a while we have gotten to someone trying to “clean up” Marvel’s mutants is the 2019 reboot in the books House of X/ Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman that put all X-Men in a stable, expanding, and engaging narrative. The emerging “Krakoan era” was a revolutionary change in the eyes of fans of the franchise. It showcased a new approach to telling mutant stories, with a bold new direction and closely knit writer rooms. Those 5 years have raised the bar for everything to come after.
Sadly, stories end, like everything else in life, and the ending of this particular story has landed particularly Grim with the audience. The new era that came out of it, aptly named “From The Ashes” has started off with nine titles in its first months. One of them was NYX, written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, illustrated by Francesco Mortarino with colours by Raúl Angulo and letters by Joe Sabino. Initially the tittle was concerning to fans as not only was it referencing a controversial series with insensitive depictions of sex work, but it also was led by newly reborn mutant on her way to become a Poochie, Kamala Khan. Personally I was not interested in the comic when it was first announced as I did not have a particularly strong attachment to any of the characters on the cover, however I realised how wrong I was very quickly.
What is unique about this book is the premise, which is what made me interested in following it further. The book is not a classic monthly 20-page superhero action-packed spectacular, but rather it falls back to the roots of what made X-Men great with strong interpersonal dynamics, commentary on social justice issues, and moral complexity. The book follows a group of characters in their early 20s who were forced to leave the living island nation of Krakoa and decided to find their refuge in New York City. The cast includes Kamala Khan: the star of the show and the biggest face drawing people to the comic, Laura Kinney: Wolverine’s daughter and the second money maker, Sophie Cuckoo: the group telepath 1/5th of a psychic Gestalt, Victor Borokowski, (Anole): Lizardman, Xavier’s school graduate currently a bartender and David Allleryne (Prodigy): knowledge absorber and mimic, ex- young avenger and Anole’s ex classmate, working as a professor. More characters joined down the line.
One of the novel ideas however is that they do not form a unified group for the longest time rather just being depicted as friends who accidentally end up in each other’s lives and businesses. NYX therefore does not talk about mutants as organized militias protecting venerable folks, but rather as a living societal group with its own culture and “discourse”. This is closely related to its approach to storytelling, as the comic for a few months was an issue long character study on each and every one of our cast members. this unorthodox approach allowed for a deeper exploration of everyday reality of mutants in NYC as the writers were not constrained to one neatly carved out segment of the marvel world in which a hypothetical team would function (see Jed McKay x-men and Alaska).
The story also serves as unofficial sequel to New X-men/Academy X by Nunzio Defilips and Christina Weir as well as Christopher Yost later on . It is so due to 4 out of 5 characters being main stays in that book, and many others being supportive characters. Following the lives of those mutants as they become young adults is an interesting bonus to an already engaging comic series.
Villains
The first and second issues serve largely as an introduction. Both of them are spotlights on the biggest money makers of the series, that being as mentioned above, Ms Marvel Kamala Khan and Laura Kinney’s Wolverine. In the first issue, we are primarily introduced to one of the two main antagonist forces, “The Quiet Council,” which operates as a remade mutant liberation front, while the second one focuses more on Laura's solo adventure (as is often the case with Wolverine). It also introduces the second antagonist force, in this case, this being Mojo, an evil alien-ish reality TV producer who uses mutants as his favourite brand.
The Quiet Council, named so after the ruling body of an island nation from the previous era, is truly an inspired choice for rivals to our heroes. It allows for a level of meta commentary on fans of the franchise who did not want to let Krakoa go, while at the same time continuing the motifs of the past 5 years. From my observations, some people were worried that the book would want to split with the previous era as hard as possible and embrace the infamous “I don’t think X-Men should be casual or gleeful killers" quote, meanwhile dumbing down the actual message. Luckily that was not the case, the villains and Hellion (currently named Krakoan) specifically are established as lost people looking for their own corner of this world. For me at least, this is more compelling than any of the overarching antagonists in the concurrent X-series.
Meanwhile Mojo while a villain I usually enjoy, is particularly lacking in this series, I would even go as far as to say he is the worst part of it. While I think evil tv producer from a different dimension, that treats our heroes… well the way a lot of real life tv producers treat their talent is a fun concept, I’m not sure if I putting him here was the right call. Firstly he has no space in the comic, he barely appears for most of the issues making him not even feel like a legitimate threat. Secondly I think he is a tiny bit too absurd, Mojo works better for me as a villain in slightly comedic series, he would be an interesting choice for X-Factor by Mark Russell, but in the more down to earth/ slice of life feel of NYX he seems to be a shell of himself, there is just way more fun stuff to do with Mojo. Overall I think he could have worked if the series got additional 10-15 issues but alas – it didn’t
I would also add that with how vague his plan is, because of that the final fight does not carry the emotional weight that it should. Trying to turn New York city into Mojo city using the power of ??? and a krakoan egg does not feel like something the spineless one would attempt in any other story. I do attribute it to a rather early finale, Jackson Lanzing has spoken about knowing the series would end with issue 10 however I still think there was a greater plan for our evil TV producer that we might not ever see.
The highlight issue
The standout issue for me was issue #3 the character study on Anole. It started with what I think was an amazing idea, which is (of course) a “krakoan funeral”, an idea inspired by events such as Trans Day of Rememberance . Having events like that in a comic is a great way to put mutant communities in familiar settings for queer people, it gives a unique perspective onto what mutant community can be and at least for me, works as a small piece of the previous era remaining. On top of that, that scene is embellished with an amazing line of “we didn’t HAVE funerals on Krakoa,” which just adds to the heartbreak and gravitas of the situation.
That scene is only the beginning of my praises for this issue, another great thing it does is it finally redefines Morlocks and puts them in the greater context of the Marvel universe. Personally, I was a big fan of this group since I learned about their existence, and my love for them only grew as I read classic stories of the Claremont era. I think having a mutant community which cannot and does not want to integrate is the best way to both interrogate the notion of mutants and address minority issues often rendered invisible, like he difference in treatment based on looks or simply – poverty. X-Men fans for years have argued that writers should establish a term for mutants that cannot hide their mutations, such as Nightcrawler or Beast, and using “Morlock” to do it is a great call.
The issue also is one of a few places where I find Anole to be a compelling character, I would not go as far as to say it “fixed” him for me but it is definitely enjoyable. Personally, Anole always manoeuvred for me between a nothingburger and insufferable. I very much dislike him due to being an absolute assimilationist, which… while being a popular position in many minority communities around the world, is not something interesting enough for a “SJW” superhero comic. I understand why a character like that is important; however, just being important isn’t enough for me. For a while (since Amazing X-Men #13 by James Tynion IV ), Anole started orbiting around, mostly being both ashamed of himself and aware of it, which is a development that I liked because a brooding character is better for me than a thoughtless one. However I feel like it was not deeply followed through in later comics. Lanzing and Kelly given him a consistent characterisation of a person who cares about mutant issues but who is undeniably not an activist and would prefer his “quiet” bartender life.
The politics of NYX
As the series went on I think it became apparent that the partially queer cast is crucial to the book, more precisely the framing required a larger lens on how being a mutant interacts with different minority identities that various characters can hold. Personally, I very much enjoyed how every character seems to have a different view on being a mutant while their community is as scattered as ever. What for me became crucial about this series is the character of Prodigy, while often hated by fans for his views on Krakoa, I think his presence is crucial to show the message of the book.
In this regard I believe issue 7 shines as the perfect example of what I’m trying to convey. In that issue, Synch, a relative newcomer to mutant fame, comes in to challenge the current political position of the group NYX as represented by Prodigy. I think what I enjoyed about this issue is also what is in my opinion the crucial part of x-men as a franchise, which is non-strawman’y discussion of different approaches for minority liberation. That approach is what made Claremont run so iconic and it is also what I think will ultimately make this run rather fondly remembered as the time goes on.
Unfortunately there were some evident limitations to how far the authors could have taken the queerness of the book. I feel like the relationship between Kiden Nixon and Laura Kinney, despite how cute it seemed ended up as a bit of a queerbait. Be that intentionally or not, this rather intimate friendship rings as something more than just long lost gal pals, but rather companions that might view each other as something more. I will not say that I personally find it “fraudulent” because I feel like the overread can be on my side but I do think people who call it a revolutionary gay story might be overselling the book.
So, should you read it?
Yea maybe. I think it’s sad that the series ended in 10 issues as it has a lot of lost potential, and I would very much like to read more. At this point, it is too late to change that, sadly. I think outside of the widely beloved Ultimate and Absolute universe (on which I will undoubtedly write on later), it was one of the books I was looking most forward to from month to month, and I am relatively sad to see it go. I, of course, would prefer for it to get the “classic” approximately 20 issues run that a lot of titles get now before getting canned, but I’m not sorry that it ended, I’m happy that it happened. On the plus side this book will evidently have a level of impact on other tittles, I write this piece before either the new Giant Size X-Men by the same creative team as NYX or Hellion’s appearance in Laura Kinney: Wolverine by Erica Shultz so I cant mention the specific events, but just the fact that they are solicited means there is a measurable level of impact, and the characters will not fade into obscurity until the next relaunch.
Overall, I would say that if you are an X-fan who decided to stop reading soon after the previous era ended, this is a very good book for you; one could say it is made for you. It deals with the thoughts and emotions of many people both during and after the event and follows a rather clear narrative. I wish more X-books were like this.
Lou Novak