Gischler, Victor

AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:

3 out of 5

(1 book)

X-Men: Curse Of The Mutants

(Art by Paco Medina and Juan Vlasco)

Beginning when Jubilee becomes infected with vampirism, the X-Men find themselves targeted by a veritable army of vampires under the command of Xarus.  To protect their island home, Utopia, Cyclops seeks allies wherever he can, even in the form of Xarus' father; Dracula himself.

On paper this is a great idea; X-Men versus vampires, but in reality it's not as engaging as it sounds.  Personally, I'm not really a big fan of the Marvel take on vampires, with confusing lore and pretty cheesy designs, although I did enjoy seeing Blade in action alongside the X-Men.  But, perhaps because of the clash of genres, the supernatural vampires never feel like they're suitable antagonists for the Children of the Atom.

There were two good elements to this book, however.  The first is that we see Scott Summers as he starts to show some of the cynical ruthlessness that would later lead him into conflict with former friends and allies.  He's only too willing to deceive his friends and make alliances with almost-the-literal-devil in order to protect mutantkind.

The second thing I enjoyed here was Jubilee's role in the story.  Despite her crappy power-set, I've had a soft spot for the character since the 90s cartoon days, so it was nice to see her play an important role here.  Having lost her powers she feels an outsider even among the outsiders who are her friends and it is that feeling of being along and mundane that leads her to embrace becoming a vampire.  It's a nice exploration of how desperately unhappy she was and how she'd take anything offered to make that unhappiness go away.  Plus, if you ever wanted to see a sexy vampire version of Jubilee somewhere other than in creepy fan art, then here's your chance.

3 out of 5

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Marvel Comics (here)