Over the last decade or two, Chris Claremont’s output has varied wildly between the two extremes of “crap” and “worse crap.” A fairly decent run on Fantastic Four aside, he hasn’t remotely hit the highs he did during his era-defining run on X-Men. Indeed, even the merest hint of the writer he was has remained almost entirely buried beneath his lengthy expository dialogue and super-villains with nothing more than a codename to define them.

That is, until now. GeNext is, astonishingly, the return of the Chris Claremont everyone used to love. Two issues in, and both of them are great, character-based fun that - shock horror - work both as single issues and as part of a serial. There are perhaps a few too many references to confusing continuity pulled from X-Men: The End (which this is loosely sequelising) but you can easily gloss over the if you don’t get them, because it’s possible to figure out what they are from context alone.

By spending his time with a small cast who may or may not end up as the new generation of X-Men (because they’re not all actually interested in that) Claremont has created some distinct personalities already. This issue spotlights No-Name and Colossus (the grandson of the original) and their growing attraction to one another, in the context of No-Name’s mysterious personal issues. By dispensing with any traditional superhero plot structure, Claremont is free to explore the cast, leading to superhero-tinged teen angst done brilliantly. Even an appearance by the Shockwave Riders, some obscure and immediately forgettable (I wish…) villains from Claremont’s X-Men: Revolution days couldn’t ruin the book. Let’s just hope he doesn’t screw it up by making the climax to the series involve mind control…

On art is Patrick Scherberger, who you may remember was the winner of CBR’s first ever “Comic Book Idol” competition. It’s great to see him actually working in the industry, and he really excels himself on this book, giving it a youthful, energetic look with his detailed and dynamic pencils. This issue actually gives him ample chance to spotlight his range - in a nice visual touch, sketches from Colossus’ artbook are included on most pages. It’s a nice little gimmick that further expands the character and universe at the same time, eventually tying in with the story on the final pages.

Clearly, this is a series that’s really only going to work for X-Men fans, and while it isn’t quite indispensable, it is highly enjoyable. You could do much worse, and if you’re not a fan of Young X-Men, this might just be the antidote. If Claremont can maintain this level of quality, it might even be nice to see him in charge of the “real” next generation of mutants.

Tags: Chris Claremont, GeNext, Patrick Scherberger, X-Men
Publisher: Marvel