X-Men Gold #27

By Marc Guggenheim, Geraldo Borges, David Marquez, Arif Prianto, and Matthew Wilson

Big things are in store for the X-Men this year, but perhaps nothing in the line is bigger than the marriage of Kitty Pryde and Piotr Rasputin. X-Men Gold has been more of a classic series with a very identifiable lineup. Many heavy hitters are in this series, and it is probably the book that would most appeal to a casual comic reader. As Guggenheim prepares for the wedding of the decade, the bride and groom have to survive long enough to make it to the altar.



There have definitely been some detractors of X-Men Gold. It’s hard to please everyone, but Marc Guggenheim has been doing a solid job on giving this book a nostalgic feel. As we enter into the second issue of the story arc, Colossus has been abducted at his bachelor party, and the rest of the team is scrambling to find him. The reason for the abduction by Alpha is a reasonable one and Guggenheim again is allowing his true fanboy to come out by showing some continuity to a previous 90’s storyline. A big knock on this issue is that some of the dialogue is rough. As Kitty is clearly upset and looking for Piotr, Rogue brings up how they should plan Kitty’s bachelorette party. Another example of iffy dialogue is a conversation between Gambit and Rogue as they search for Piotr, Gambit delivers a bad line as he hits on Rogue while their friend is in danger. There could have been some better words used this issue.

The pencils this issue are handled by Geraldo Borges with colors by Arif Prianto. There are some very good panels in this issue; a close up of Storm as she talks to Rachel about not wanting Stormcaster is very clean, thanks to great inks, and colored gorgeously by Prianto. Borges does a really good job on expressions too. We clearly see the hurt on Kitty’s face as she is looking for Piotr. There is a bit too much shading this issue though, which is kind of odd. Scenes where Rachel is talking to Kitty for some reason has half her face shaded. Shading is fine, but there seems to be too much in this issue. The first page of the issue is a wonderful throwback to the classic Kitty and Piotr mistletoe panel, this time drawn by David Marquez and colored by Matthew Wilson. The art this issue is fine, but suffers from too much unnecessary shading.

This was a sub-par issue for X-Men Gold. Normally a very entertaining book, but bad dialogue and spotty colors don’t live up to the hype of what this book usually delivers. This may just be a filler arc until the wedding issue arrives, but it would be nice if there was a good lead-up that didn’t feel forced.