X-Corp #3
X-Corp has a new launch, but Noblesse might have them beat in X-Corp #3 by writer Tini Howard, artist Valentine De Landro, colorist Sunny Cho, and letterer Clayton Cowles with a back-up story by writer/artist Jason Loo. This issue doesn't really do anything to make this book any better, but it's slightly entertaining if people are down for the corporate intrigue stuff.
The comic takes place at the Technology TALKS, where X-Corp is about to launch a new telecom service. Archangel and Monet split up, with Monet, Trinary, and Wind Dancer going to a women in business conference and Archangel hobnobbing. At X-Corp headquarters, Madrox works to bring everything online, sending a dupe home to be with Layla to watch their child take his first steps. Sara St John and Monet have a confrontation where St John uses a psychic reflector on Monet, which leads to Penance coming out to play. At headquarters, everything almost backfires because there's no way to vent the excess energy but the dupe returning from being with Layla sacrifices himself to manually vent it. Penance and St John's confrontation goes from bad to worse when St John uses one of Noblesse's new anti-mutant countermeasures on her. Trinary and Wind Dancer come to her aid, but she's already gone. That's not the only disaster of the day for X-Corp, as the launch doesn't go as planned either. The back-up is a fun little ditty of Madrox and some dupes breaking into a Roxxon facility, freeing mutants, and stealing info.
There are characters with familiar names in X-Corp, but they are rarely the ones that people remember reading from before. For example, Layla Miller. She makes a quick appearance and feels like a stereotypical nagging wife, which is exactly the opposite of how Layla would be. Would she want Madrox there for their son's first steps? Yes. Would she do it the way it's done in this book? Not even close. This isn't Layla Miller at all. She's a plot device, and it's disrespectful to a great character. Monet is almost Monet in this issue, especially later, but she still feels like a different character. This book's Madrox isn't one that is recognizable to anyone who's a fan of the character. Since when was Jamie Madrox a scientist? Since when was he so organized? Since when was he so dry and boring?
On top of that, why does X-Corp think that going into the telecommunication business is a good idea? People hate mutants and Krakoa and them becoming a data company seems like a recipe for failure. St. John brings this up when she's talking to Monet, but it bears looking at again because, for some reason, Howard thinks that acting as a service to transfer data is something that people would pay a mutant corporation to do. Taking pharmaceuticals from them is one thing, but letting them handle data? Everyone knows that tech companies browse and sell client data, and the minute X-Corp got into that business, all of their competitors would start crowing about a foreign power with access to everyone's data, and that would be that. It doesn't matter how good the tech was- no one trusts Krakoa, and it's even worse now after the Mars terraforming. This whole plot element isn't well thought out, and it stretches credulity far past the breaking point. The most fun part of the comic, both from an art and writing standpoint, is the quick back-up by Jason Loo. It follows multiple Madrox dupes on their mission, and everything about it is great.
De Landro's art is reminiscent of the late, great John Paul Leon except nowhere near as good. His heavy linework doesn't work at all, is mostly sparse on detail, and everything is pretty muddy. Sunny Gho's colors are pretty good, but the pencil work just doesn't work at all. There are a few places where his facial expressions are good, but otherwise, the art matches the script, which isn't a good thing.
X-Corp #3 is an exercise in mediocrity, except for the back-up. The characterization is poor, the overall premise of X-Corp becoming a telecom company is not thought out enough, and it's just kind of boring. There's a bit of corporate intrigue and a cliffhanger ending, but they don't save this comic at all.