Loon Review: X-Men Unlimited #1

[brentlambert]

X-Men Unlimited # 1 by Clayton Tooley

THE GOOD: Wow! This was a very entertaining issue and I think the best I’ve read from Clayton. I never really thought that the combination of Maverick and Moon Knight would be great, but Clayton made it exciting and fun. The narrative of the issue was strong and really helped to construct the story in my mind for me. I didn’t have a problem visualizing anything. This issue was very much like an action movie and its ultimate purpose was just to introduce a new villain. Speaking of which, this new character was introduced so flawlessly into the story and it felt completely organic. There wasn’t much of a hiccup in the action and I applaud Clayton for keeping a mostly even tone throughout the story.

THE BAD: Towards the end of the issue it felt like things were being rushed through and we started being told a lot of things in rapid succession. It didn’t stand in stark contrast to the rest of the issue, but you could tell that Clayton was looking to wrap things up fast.

OVERALL: A good introduction issue and really just a good issue period. Clayton had both of his main stars down pat IMO and it really helped keep me up at work tonight reading something this entertaining.

[Erik]

I love Maverick and a few of the one-liners he had did crack me up. Like
the "You can't blame a guy for trying." comeback he had in relation to
their threat. I too was surprised at how easy Moon Knight and Maverick
worked together, not in characters, but in the story. They really meshed
well together. The cool thing about this issue is the collaboration of
Moon Knight and Maverick (two very different characters) but that even
though Tony created the idea of Sekhmet he was really cool with allowing
MC introduce her and put his own touch on her, and this single issue
will have lasting consequences for the MA Universe. It also helps
establish X-Men Unlimited's important to MA despite being an Anthology
book by establishing the types of stories this book will host and their
impact on continuity.

MC's always had a decent grasp on his characters, but he's been familair
with Maverick for a long time now after using him for a few years in our
X-Calibre RPG. It was nice to see him return to the character in his
first contribution to MA and in the X-Men Initiative. I really do hope
to see more of Maverick at MA either in the pages of West Coast Avengers
or in more XMU stories.

About the bad I think MC tends to explain a little much at once every
now and then, but to his credit it never takes away from the story at
all and it's never something that stands out to harp on after the issue
is done. Partly because he never forgets the character who's speaking
and how it works to the character and the impact on the story or on the
character that's being spoken to.