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Generation X #7 Review: With A Change Of Focus, The Series Is Really Improving

As anyone following along with my reviews and discussions of Generation X know, Gen X means a lot to me (it's the comic that got me into comics) and I have not been overly fond of the new Generation X series, which has felt world's apart from the original.

However, the last issue marked an improvement for me, and that has continued with Generation X #7 by Christina Strain, Eric Koda and Felipe Sobreiro.

Gen X
Generation X #7 cover by Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson

The story of the issue continues on from the previous as Benjamin Deeds (Morph), Nathaniel Carver (Hindsight) and Quentin Quire (Kid Omega) try to get their hands on a flask full of nano-sentinels at the supervillain weapons auction they gatecrashed.

What ensues is a great example of the series finally living up to the original series it's named after: it's funny, it has drama in the comedy too, and there is soap opera melodrama in teens going through romantic tension and difficulties (and hey, also adults going through it).

It would still be nice to have more of the original cast around, but that may in fact be changing with the upcoming Marvel Legacy arc.

Also, the relationship between Morph and Hindsight, or rather the budding relationship, is a really nice addition. It came out of well built character connections over the series, culminating in this issues admission of feelings between the pair. It's nice to see the teen soap opera of a relationship among teen queer characters instead, and also nice to have a new queer character who isn't white.

So why the change in opinion over this series? Well, all of the above is a damn good part of it, but also this issue, much like the last, does not focus on the problematic premise of this new take on the Generation X series.

As I've mentioned before, I really take issue with the idea of a class of mutants selected as 'not good enough to be X-Men' who will be turfed out on their ear as soon as their studies are over. In a world that fears and hates mutants and sees them getting lynched, this whole concept feels so wrong to the idea of what Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters was. Yes, it's a school, but it's also a safe space in a dangerous world, and many adult students stayed on even without being X-Men.

This issue makes next to no mention of this premise, and as such, it makes it easy to focus on the relationships and dramas of the teen mutants and their teachers, and this is way more like the original series, so it finally i something that matches with the themes and feel of the original series more than just a title.

Hopefully, the series can stick with this.


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Joe GlassAbout Joe Glass

Joe Glass has been contributing to Bleeding Cool for about four years. He's been a roaming reporter at shows like SDCC and NYCC, and also has a keen LGBTQ focus, with his occasional LGBTQ focus articles, Tales from the Four Color Closet. He is also now Bleeding Cool's Senior Mutant Correspondent thanks to his obsession with Marvel's merry mutants. Joe is also a comics creator, writer of LGBTQ superhero team series, The Pride, the first issue of which was one of the Top 25 ComiXology Submit Titles of 2014. He is also a co-writer on Stiffs, a horror comedy series set in South Wales about call centre workers who hunt the undead by night. One happens to be a monkey. Just because.
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