Deadly Genesis #3: Where the Banshee dies, though not so well

X-MEN DEADLY GENESIS #3

As far as comic book history goes, rare is a “major event” in which no longstanding characters are killed. X-men Deadly Genesis is no exception. As anyone who has read issue 2 can be sure, the unlucky character that gains this distinction is none other than established mutant Banshee.

I guess he’s sort of had it coming, futility-wise. I mean, I don’t even think Sean’s appeared in a single comic in the past five years (okay, obviously that’s untrue, though no notable appearances come to mind). His main power comes from his Banshee-like shriek, and come to think of it, didn’t he have his vocal chords cut a few years back? Ah well.

However, just because he won’t be missed doesn’t mean that his killing wasn’t incredibly random. In one of my old Wizard magazines, author Brubaker stated that in this issue a longstanding character would die. He went on to mention how he didn’t want to kill this character, yet the more he wrote, the more he realized that his death was unavoidable.

Um, wait, what? His death was unavoidable? Do you know how he got killed? He was flying around and got hit by a fucking plane, one of the most random forms of death in fiction (plane, cars, or any vehicles are all up there). That’s like having someone get crushed by a falling piano and saying that “there was no way to write around it.” Lose the fucking piano. Problem solved.

But then again, after reading this issue, I think what Brubaker meant was “I had to kill him, otherwise no one would buy this otherwise rather shitty comic.” Honestly, there’s like no point to this. Well, I guess there is one, but it’s being revealed at a snail’s pace. Plot-wise, I don’t think that a single advancement has been made. Which would be understandable had this issue been used to deal with the tragedy of Banshee’s demise. However, the fact that he got killed isn’t even really dwelt on, not on an emotional level, at least. Instead, there’s a throwaway line along the lines of “we’ll mourn him later” and it’s business as usual.

The added back-story, like the past two, is pretty neat- Brubaker creates another interesting character with an original superpower (well, actually, I invented one just like her in grade 12, but let’s not into THAT). However, I sure hope that the next 2-3 issues don’t just follow the same formula: introduce a character, show their powers, and show how they got recruited into Moira MacTaggart’s mysterious program. Let’s find out more about what happens to these characters.

I have a feeling that there’s a point to this story, and a potentially awesome one at that. Unfortunately, it’s drawn out a lot longer than I’m comfortable waiting.

Also, the art doesn’t impress me much, neither. Beast looks like Gurgee (or however you spell it) from The Black Cauldron. And that was a pretty shitty movie.

5 out of 10