Hey guys! Slacksy here with a look at a Marvel title from a few years back: NYX. Originally pitched to the company in 2001 by Brian Wood and David Choe, NYX was later brought to fruition in 2003 by Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada and artist Joshua Middleton. The story follows Kiden Nixon, a teenager living in Alphabet City who discovers her ability to speed up/slow down time. Her newfound powers lead her to other mutant teens (this series is known for the first comic appearance of X-23, Wolverine's female clone and current member of the X-Force team) and the truth behind her father's murder. Unfortunately, due to Quesada frequently handing in scripts late and the departure of Middleton after issue 4 (he was replaced by Robert Teranishi), NYX was crippled by its irregular schedule and was eventually canceled. The entire series lasted a mere seven issues.
Despite the problems occurring behind the scenes and the story weakening and petering out towards the end, NYX is still a series worth checking out. The first few issues are superb and Joshua Middleton's artwork is gorgeous (Teranishi's art isn't bad by any means, but the series definitely lost something great when Middleton left. And it seems to me that Marvel was looking for someone to imitate Middleton's style and Teranishi couldn't live up to it). The concept is something different and unique for Marvel, as it is a story about mutants that exists almost entirely outside the superhero universe. Even Runaways had team crossovers and special appearances by other Marvel heroes. In NYX, the characters struggle with their powers and are constantly living day to day; no battle for the fate of the planet will be found here. The world these characters live in is realistic and the situations they find themselves in are rather mature for a Marvel book. I will admit that the writing in the final three issues doesn't live up to the expectations initially set up, most likely due to the pressure felt by the creators after the various obstacles they came across during production, and it's unfortunate that it had to end that way. However, I feel an attachment to NYX and the creativity that I found in the series when I first read it in 2003. It was a good introduction for a young reader that was fairly new to comics, with captivating artwork, an interesting story, and relatable characters (many of which happened to be well-written females). And it has had an impact on many books that have come after it, from the current X-Factor to the beloved Omega: The Unknown. If nothing else, NYX serves as an interesting case study, not only as a series with great potential that just didn't work out, but also as an example of what comics can be. Another problem that plagued the series was that it didn't have many readers from the first issue, and not enough people calling for it to remain in publication. It may be that readers simply weren't ready for it, as it didn't really fit the mainstream mold. Which brings me to my last point of interest: The reason I decided to take another look at NYX was because at this years NY ComicCon, a new NYX series was officially announced for release this August. We'll see how that goes, but for now you can check out the NYX/X-23 collection available at Comic Book Jones. It collects all of the NYX issues and the X-23 miniseries that came out after it.
And briefly on another note, the 2008 MoCCA Art Festival this past weekend was excellent as always. If you are interest in alternative comics and artists (or are a comics fan in general of course), I strongly recommend checking it out next year. You won't be disappointed. Guests this year included Staten Islanders Evan Dorkin (Milk and Cheese) and Sarah Dyer (Action Girl), Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim), Tara McPherson, Jason, Art Spiegelman (Maus), and Brian Wood (Northlanders, DMZ, Local), who informed me that the next arc of DMZ will be taking place on Staten Island!
Well that's all for now. See you all at CBJ!
Slacksy
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