Cyclops #1 Review
Marvel Comics
Space Writer: Greg Rucka
Space Artist: Russell Dauterman
Space Colorist: Chris Sotomayor
Space Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Space Cover Artist: Alexander Lozano
Space Reviewer: Tom Barnett
Cyclops has been around for 50 years. He’s been the leader of the X-Men for much of those years and he’s never had his own solo series. It’s about time. But this isn’t the old, bitter, crazy, Xavier killing Cyclops, it’s the 16 year old Cyclops from 1963. Better still, he’s hanging out in space with his Dad, Corsair (whom he thought was dead), and the Space Jammers.
In Cyclops, Greg Rucka, returns to writing at Marvel Comics. Critically important to this first issue is setting the stage as to why Cyclops, Scott Summers, is on board a spaceship without the rest of the X-Men. Rucka delivers that info quickly and concisely through Scott’s inner monologue. I like this technique for setting the tone of the book. It gets the reader into the emotions and motivations of the characters much quicker and with more impact.
Now I’m going to make a shameful confession: I’ve never read much of Rucka before, but I’ve always wanted to. He seems like a genuine guy and most readers highly recommend him. So I thought, this is a great place to start. He captured the spirit of these characters perfectly with a lot of good interpersonal moments and humor. I like that he has both Corsair and Cyclops directly and openly admitting their awkwardness towards each other. Even more, I like the spin at the end that sets up the series for a close knit story between father and son.
Attention: the next big artist is in the building. Russell Dauterman is going to be in demand. Very nice work on this first issue. His splash page is just brilliant as he captures all of the back story in the reflection on Cyclops’s visor. He has some great outer space vistas, and he throws in some fantastic details, especially on the bridge of Corsair’s ship. One thing I noticed that I think some artists might overlook, is that Corsair actually looks like an older man and Cyclops actually looks like a 16 year old even behind the visor. And I don’t think Hepzibah has ever looked better.
This book also can boast beautiful colors from Chris Sotomayor. The Space Jammers were designed Dave Cockrum, who loved using lots of colors on his costumes. Those colors are still intact and as crazy as ever. Also the coloring on the Space scenes is beautiful.
There’s also one funny moment in the story where Cyclops makes a reference to a movie that he probably hasn’t seen yet because he jumped over it in time, unless he’s had time to sneak it in at the Jean Grey School. All in all, this is a great start to what should be a fun and heartfelt series.
Story: 4.5/5
Art: 4.5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Tom is a contributing writer for Drunk On Comics. You can follow him on Twitter at @tphoto10.