2 out of 5

Not knowing the skinny on how stories are commissioned, when you run across something like Cyclops – which is written effectively by Rucka but topically I can’t picture an audience for it – it makes you wonder how much of this was an editorial decision and how much falls on the writer.  The Marvel Now! movement is a little sketchy to me in general – it seems to be, in part, a reboot, but then you still have several very continuity-heavy books that aren’t just Marvel Cinematic U nods.  So it seems like this blanket that covers an almost Ultimates-ish accessibility (an all-ages friendly reboot) but also encompasses… uh… well, anything.  So business as usual, then, just an excuse to drop some new #1s and new titles.

Cyclops picks up a Children of the Atom thread (I think) to allow a young Scott Summers to go on a space trip with his dashing space pirate dad.  A review I read of the the final issue of this arc (? is it an ongoing?) criticized Greg’s action scripting, but the dude is definitely capable of whipping together non-talking head moments, this just wasn’t the book for it.  Instead, we got a teen drama focused on Scott learning to accept his not-set-in-stone future and a small window of opportunity to get to know his dad once their ship crashes and maroons them on an island.  We generally get an intro from Scott’s diary and then it’s PG-movie montage time of pirating foibles or plans to get off the island, sprinkled with light interactions between father and son.  As mentioned, it’s written effectively – that is, appropriately, as Scott reads like the responsible teen he would be, as a member of the X-Men but still a bit stubborn and ignorant, as is the plight of most of us when growing up – and Greg does move us through the pair’s growing relationship at a realistic pace.  But again, I just have no idea who this is for.  I don’t think teen boys are buying X books to gain insight on their family, and I don’t think adult readers much care for the CW antics.  So the series just doesn’t really have much appeal, despite solid art from Russell Dauterman (issues #1 – 3) and Carmen Carnero (#4 and 5) and standout colors from Chris Sotomayor.  …It was… telling that the art crew got switched up midway through, but whoever pieced it together did a good job of finding a similar artist (Carnero) who had their own confident style – seamless enough to not be a bother between issues, but not just a knock-off of what came before.  But pretty pictures can’t account for the by-the-books story.

This was a valid “in” for a new Marvel Now! book, but whether the creation of editors or Rucka, it’s apparent from the first issue that we’re going to be treading friendly, predictable territory that leans more toward some Marvel Age drama than a headlining Marvel book.