Comic Book Review

0 Comments | Add

Rate & Share:

Info:

THE BROTHERHOOD #4

By Tony Whitt September 19, 2001

Marvel invites you to join THE BROTHERHOOD.
© 2001 Marvel Characters Inc.

I usually hate X-titles with a passion, and for much the same reasons I've heard other X-phobes give: they're too hard to get into; there's far too much backstory; and they crossconnect with so many other titles that nothing ever stands on its own. Lately, though, there's been a bunch of mutant mags that take all of these fears into account, and most of them have been stunning and impressive. I gave a favorable review to CYCLOPS #1 a while back on those grounds, and now I'm pleased to do so again with THE BROTHERHOOD.

If ever there was a title that could make you believe that mutants walk the earth, this is the one. There's no blue and yellow spandex here the members of the Brotherhood that appear this time around look like they just stepped out of a fetish club. Also, the idea of a mutant terrorist organization, given the present difficulties, is positively chilling, or so they must seem to the outside world anyway. Previous issues of this impressive series have shown us what the Brotherhood must look like to the young mutant who has been shunned by the rest of society and who is approached to become a "brother:" it's a group of outsiders looking for other outsiders, to protect them from a world that despises them.

Not this time around, of course. In this issue, the Brotherhood is trying to abduct Malon Reeves, a young socialite with some very unusual abilities whose father has rejected offers of help from Professor Charles Xavier. This time, they look as horrific to their would-be recruit as they do to us.

Manco and Palmiotti's artwork is responsible for much of that crawly feeling. Every single murder at the hands of the mutants, especially those committed by psionic vampire Bela, is rendered in painstaking detail and I chose that adjective with precision. We get to linger on every bit of the carnage with slow certainty. Even more impressive are the moments when the pace quickens, such as during the book's major chase sequence the panels get thinner and elongate across the page, making for an impressive use of space to denote a dilation of time. Other artists should study the layouts in this one.

Granted, the script isn't quite up to the standards of previous issues of the series, but there's still a genuine quality to this book that most other series lack. This is hard-hitting storytelling in a cinematic style, reminiscent of an ANGEL without the BUFFY connections or a ROSWELL without the teen angst. Well, without the teen angst in this issue, anyway.

Even though Malon's abduction is the only real event in this entire issue, I remain impressed by THE BROTHERHOOD. Now that ULTIMATE X-MEN has given us a sensible reimagining of the original mutant team, looking at the whole "Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" trope in the same realistic way makes sense. It's still "us vs. them," just as it was in the 1960s but in this conflict, it's a bit harder to decide which side is the right side.