Shouldn't He Be President Crocodile Now?
Xenogenesis finally comes to an end and finishes as surprisingly one of the best Astonishing X-Men story arcs so far. Warren Ellis puts some old Captain Britain mythos to fresh and creative use while the art of Kaare Andrews makes just about every page full of entertaining visuals.
What makes it so surprising that this story arc is good is that so often stories that dredge up the old Alan Moore Captain Britain material are terrible. These stories are usually done by creators so in love with those past stories that they overlook how their readers may not feel the same way or may simply not be familiar with any of it. They wrongly assume that the hard work of selling readers on these characters and ideas has already been done, leaving them free cash in on the rewards. But that is not the case. Most readers have not read the old Captain Britain material, and they do not see why the Fury is a big deal, do not know who Jim Jaspers is and will not take the idea of a Captain Britain Corps at all seriously.
Warren Ellis does not make those mistakes here.
People can read Xenogenesis without having any prior knowledge of any Captain Britain material. This story has Warpies, Furies and Jim Jasper, but it sells all of them on their own merits. I did not even know the president in this story is a character even existed in older stories, and I did not need to know it. This is a self-contained story that does the work it needs to do for readers to enjoy it.
Speaking of Doctor Crocodile, Ellis portrays him as a very compelling character. He will most likely fade into obscurity again, and that will be a shame. It is weird to suddenly be such a fan of a character who came into this story with the intent to murder babies.
With the exception of Emma Frost, Andrews' art has really been a treat. I was very uncertain about it back when this story existed only as previews of his art, but he has definitely sold me over the course of this story. Not only do I like the toned down uniforms of the X-Men but I even really like the return of mohawked Storm. It is honestly one of the best Storm looks I have seen.
It is tragic that Xenogenesis marks the end of Ellis' time with Astonishing X-Men, but at least this is a strong ending. The premise of Warpies being mistaken for new mutant births is brilliant, and the story leaves me wanting to return to Mbangawi in the future.
