About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

X-Men: Misfits is a Marvel tale that delivers more than the same superhero story in manga make-up. It turns the X-Men story inside out by giving it a shojo manga spin and putting the spotlight on Kitty Pryde, as she enters an exclusive school filled with hunky boys with mutant powers.

In this light-hearted manga/Marvel mash-up, Telgemeier and Roman demonstrate their deep affection for the X-Men and an appreciation for shojo manga themes.

Anzu's artwork gives this story romance and sparkle, but she also finds that shojo manga's visual vocabulary is limiting when drawing diverse characters and action scenes.



Pros

• Playfully re-imagines the X-Men universe with sly winks to both Marvel and manga styles
• Anzu's artwork gives this tale lots of shojo sparkle and a touch of romance
• It's fun to see Beast and Colossus given cute and loveable makeovers
• Includes several cameos by lesser-known X-Men characters

Cons

• Anzu's angular figure drawing gives her characters stiff, pipe-like limbs that seem awkward
• Includes a few too many incidental, blink-and-you'll-miss-it plot twists
• Like many shojo stories, the bishonen characters look so similar, it's hard to follow who's who
• The action scenes are awkwardly choreographed and a bit hard to follow

Description

• Authors: Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman
  Artist: Anzu
• Publisher:Del Rey Manga (US)
• ISBN: 978-0345505149
• Cover Price: $12.99 US / $15.50 CANADA
• Age Rating:T – Teens Age 13+ for relatively tame teenage romance, some violence
  More about content ratings.

• Manga Genres:
  • Shojo (Girls') Manga
  • Original English Language (OEL) Manga
  • Superheroes
  • Teen / High School Romance
• US Publication Date: August 2009
• Book Description: 192 pages, black and white illustrations
• More Manga by Anzu:
  • The Reformed
  More Comics by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman:
  • Babysitters Club
  • Astronaut Elementary

Guide Review - X-Men: Misfits Volume 1

If you're familiar with the X-Men, you'll recognize some of the names of the characters in this romantic adventure set in the (so far) all boys Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Magneto, Professor X, Storm, Pyro, Ice-Man and Angel are here, but you might not recognize their bishonen (pretty boy) makeovers.

If you're a shojo manga reader, you'll recognize some familiar plot themes, such as the exclusive club where the cool rich boys get to do whatever they want (Ouran High School Host Club) and the hot-headed, passionate guy (who can manipulate fire) and the stand-offish, cool guy (who can make things with ice) who vie for Kitty's affections (Boys Over Flowers / Hana Yori Dango).

X-Men: Misfits shows a deep affection for both X-Men lore and shojo manga, and seems to have a lot of fun mashing the two seemingly disparate elements together. Roman and Telgemeier use any opportunity they can to give B-list mutants cameos in this story, like Multiple Man and Gambit, sometimes to the point where almost too much is going on.

Besides the overly-busy storyline, the other downside to X-Men: Misfits is its artwork. Anzu's visual storytelling abilities have improved from her last project with Del Rey, but her figure drawing is still rather stiff. Most characters are drawn with elongated, pipe-like limbs and squared off shoulders, which makes them seem awkward, and almost robotic.

While Anzu clearly has shojo manga visuals down, she also has trouble conveying action scenes clearly. But then again, so do many shojo manga artists who venture out of their romance comfort zone (see Blank Slate).

Overall, X-Men: Misfits an imperfect, but likeable first effort from this team. It'll make the fanboys roll their eyes, but it's hard to hate on something that is made from so much love.