Uncanny X-Men: the Heroic Age #1 - Marvel

Like some of the previous X-Men mini-series . . this issue gives us the story of 3 different X-Men. Specifically . . Cyclops, Beast and Hope. But rather than have 3 separate stories . . they have these 3 intertwined throughout the book. All stories are written by Matt Fraction, but . . the Cyclops story is drawn by Whilce Portacio. First of all I want to say . . Whilce's artwork looks fantastic on this story. Probably the best I've seen from him in quite a while. Anyways, the story starts out with he and Beast fighting over the semantics of what Scott has done to win this current struggle. Afterwards, he heads off to the Savage Land to blow off a little steam. Surprisingly, Steve Rogers finds him there. Steve wants Scott to take the positive press . . the images of the X-Men saving San Francisco, and use them as a launching pad to put the X-Men back in the spotlight . . the positive spotlight. Although Scott is a little reluctant, Steve is nothing if not persuasive. And he starts out with a very public viewing of the President giving Scott the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In Beast's story, drawn by Steve Sanders, while waiting for his new girlfriend, he comes across a rather inquisitive young mutant . . Molly Hayes . . Bruiser, or Princess Power. The interaction between these two is fantastic. And I think they've both given each other something to think about. Finally, in Hope's story . . drawn by Jamie McKelvie, Hope goes to Manhattan to undergo some testing by Mr Fantastic. At Scott's request, Reed is running a full diagnostic on Hope to make sure that she's prepared for her life in the 21st century. The best part of this story though is her interaction with Franklin. Franklin relates to her. Like her, he is someone that everybody is always looking at and expecting great things from. It's a little disconcerting, and daunting. And in Hope I think he sees someone he can relate to on a level playing field. Well . . there is the age difference, but . . I think he's thinking as far as expectations and potential. Anyways, their little encounter prods Hope to think about her parents . . her actual parents. She was afterall born in a hospital in Cooperstown Alaska. There should have been a birth-mother, and father, somewhere in the vicinity. So . . she's decided she's going to go looking for them. Overall I thought it was a good issue. I think it's main purpose was to show that the X-Men are indeed trying to move forward in a positive direction. They've had to do some things in their recent struggle that they wouldn't normally do, but . . everybody is allowed a new start. Right? So they've decided that they're going to put all of that behind them and move forward in a more positive, 'heroic' direction. All I can say is . . good luck with that. Unfortunately bad things always seem to have a way of finding the X-Men. And most of the situations they find themselves in . . aren't always black & white. I hope the best for them, but . . it's going to be a serious struggle.They're setting out to change the opinion of . . well, the entire world. They've definitely got their work cut out for them.