First Team

FIRST TEAM by Robbie MacNiven was so well done! The characterizations were well done. Who doesn't like mutants? I'm still waiting for my power! The plot was intriguing and maintained my attention. MUTANTS. MUTANTS. MORE MUTANTS! FANTASTIC JOB!

Can I just say how incredibly exciting the tie-in game is right now? This is probably the most fun it’s been in years. Titan Books is the new Dark Horse with Predator and Alien novels along with Marvel reprints and new books. Encyclopocalypse Publications just crushed it with the Wishmaster novelization and more coming. And then there’s upstart Aconyte with their incredible Marvel line. Aconyte has a wild slate ahead ranging from a mobile tie-in book to a Dark Avengers novel.

Next up on that slate is today’s topic. First Team by Robbie MacNiven, the second book in the Xavier’s Institute subcategory. I’ve already covered the first book, Liberty and Justice For All by Carrie Harris. If you missed that review, I loved that book greatly. It was exciting to see a modern, diverse book that drew from Bendis and Aaron rather than Claremont/Byrne. I had a lot of hope the second book would continue that. Did it?

We’re in blissfully simple story territory here. Xavier’s Institute student Anole goes home to see his parents. His hometown gets overrun by the Purifiers, an anti-mutant cult seeking Anole. His home gets destroyed, his father taken, and his mother injured. Anole, with friends Rockslide, Cipher, and Graymalkin, searches for his father. Much superhero fun ensues.

Yeah, let me cut to the chase here. I dug this a lot. Not quite as much as Liberty and Justice For All, but I still had a blast. This is a tight, fun little read that feels incredibly fresh. There’s almost no fat in the book with a plot that moves from point to point agilely. It’s as simple as stories get but that’s how comic books should feel. This utterly drips with comic book energy.

That’s not to say it’s style free. MacNiven knows his imagery. There’s not one page of the book that didn’t feel as visual as the source. I could imagine every setting to the smallest detail and the action pops boldly. It’s one cracking read.

I also really liked the character work. Anole is an intensely likable lead, an openly gay protagonist unburdened by the usual family trauma. That he has a tight bond with his family actually gives a nice contrast with his much more troubled peers. There’s not enough superheroes showing why an untroubled life is actually quite dramatic. And I love that Anole being gay is as casually played as it would be if he was straight.

If I have a gripe it’s that his friends are a bit redundant. Graymalkin and Cipher have extremely similar power sets and similar backstories. They’re not bad characters but they all blend after a while. I get why this was done but it did wear on me a bit.

This is a minor gripe about a book I’m more than happy to recommend. I loved this read and I am in for the line. If this is the future, it shines.

This book was given to me by NetGalley for an honest review

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2020 MARVEL

#Marvel #MarvelEnt #Aconytebooks #review

This book was given to me for an honest review.
Such a fabulous story by MacNiven. This book will please both the YA market, as well as adult readers as they read about Anole and his battle with the Purifiers.
The characters are brought to life so well, that you really cheer them on when they get into dire straits and all the aspects that make these characters mutants are so perfectly depicted and fit well into the X-men Universe.
I would happily read more from this author and feel confident that they could take me on a journey that I would enjoy.
#Marvel #MarvelEnt #Aconytebooks #review

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

For more information visit marvel.com. © 2020 MARVEL

*I received a free ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As an X-men fan since I was but a wee one, I was excited to read First Team. Despite being unfamiliar with the X-men it focused on, I more than enjoyed the read and now have an appreciation for a new cast of characters. While I am not sure if those unfamiliar with Marvel’s world would be keen to read this, I think any X-men fan will find it hard not to enjoy.

Robbie MacNiven’s pacing in this novel was fantastic. The initial set-up was great and there was plenty of background story for characters mixed in with the relentless action. The relationship building between the characters and the time spent establishing Anole’s backstory with his family were a pleasure to read. Of course this read comes with a bit of corny dialogue and overly convenient coincidences tucked in here or there, but that is wholly expected with a novel set in this universe.

I’m also impressed with the decision to put not one, but two queer characters front and center in the novel. Anole was so fun to read about and Graymalkin really added a unique perspective to the team and the overall story. I will definitely be looking out for more material featuring them in the Marvel universe.

Overall, this novel is 1 part high-octane thriller, 1 part coming-of-age story, and 1 part heartwarming meditation on the importance of family and friendship (yes, I did say heartwarming- it honestly is). If you are a fan of the X-men or Marvel in general, I think you owe it to yourself to pick this one up!


****************************************
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.
For more information visit marvel.com. © 2020 MARVEL
#Marvel #MarvelEnt #Aconytebooks #review

First Team by Robbie MacNiven is an excellent X-Men, high fantasy read.

If you're seeking a fun, fantasy read that brings Marvel characters to life then this book is for you! It's a long read but it is mighty worth it!

I wasn't aware of most of these Marvel characters, but I am sure many comic book fans will be aware of them. Even if you don't know them, Robbie MacNiven gives you enough background and history to help you. You don't need to worry about going into this book blind! The character development and prose of this book is where it really shines. I was honestly amazed at how brilliant the writing was! Add in the incredible word choice and it felt like a book that went above and beyond what I expected of it. I'm truly impressed.

Also: LGBTQ+ Representation! Woo!

Reader beware: I picked up this book because it was marketed to me as a Comic Book/Graphic Novel - it is not. It's a full chapter book. All of my research couldn't find any concrete proof that it was or wasn't a comic book - it's not. Full book!

Four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aconyte Books for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

I've been a fan of the X-Men for as long as I've been reading comics, longer even. I remember sitting down to eat breakfast on a Saturday morning as the 90's X-Men cartoon came on TV and loving every minute of it; whether it was the stories that were fairly complex for a kids show, the brightly costumed heroes, or the absolutely rocking intro music by Ron Wasserman, there was never a dull moment. And that show instilled in me a love for these characters, and that particular part of the Marvel universe.

Over the years I would come to love them even more, especially when I realised I was both queer and trans, and was able to connect to their status as outsiders who are persecuted for who they are. But, as most people who read X-Men stuff will agree, there's a lot of it, and there are parts that I've still not experienced over the years, including the Young X-Men; as such, this book became my first opportunity to get to know some of these younger members of the X-Men.

First Team features several characters, but chiefly follows Victor Borkowski, the young mutant known as Anole, who's been struggling with school thanks to the confined environment of the Xavier Institute, as well as the stressful exam seasons. Luckily, he's given a leave of absence to go back home and visit his family to unwind for a bit. Victor had been lucky enough to grow up with parents who not only accepted his being a mutant, but were immensely proud of him, and made sure that others saw him as a regular person and treated him with kindness and compassion, even though his mutation made him stand out more than most. As such, Victor not only returns home to a welcoming family, but friends, neighbours, and people from across his small town who are proud to have an X-Man amongst them.

With so many characters in the X-Men books having more tragic back stories, of lives where they were never accepted by their loved ones, to see a family stand up for their child this way is incredibly heartwarming. The people of Fairbury treat him with respect and care, for the most part, and to get to see a mutant that's so obviously not human walk down the street and be met with smiles and waves is incredibly jarring, especially as the book had already established that the mutant hating cult The Purifiers were on the rise and causing disturbances across the country.

Unfortunately, Victor's peace is short lived when a group of Purifiers arrive in Fairbury and take his parents hostage in an attempt to lure Victor out. Despite fighting valiantly against them Victor is able to free his mother, but can't help his father, and the cult manage to take him prisoner.

The first third or so of the book covers this part of the story, and we get to see Victor being forced into action in his old hometown with no back-up and no resources, having to rely purely on his training and his own abilities. Not only does this display how adaptable and level headed Victor is, having to resist the urge to just rush to his parents aid and having to actually come up with a plan, but it also feels so different to most X-Men stories. Whilst stories of civilians and innocent mutants being targeted isn't new to the franchise seeing an X-Man with nothing and no one to help them, having to go alone very rarely happens to characters other than Wolverine. And I struggle to think of it really happening to a character as relatively young and inexperienced as Anole.

Despite these struggles, Victor is able to keep his head and manages to save his mother, thanks in part to the people of Fairbury, and the two of them are able to return to the Xavier Institute. From here the story expands as Rockslide is sent out on a mission to track down Victor's father. Despite knowing that someone is out there looking for his dad, Victor is unable to just sit around, and with the aid of Cipher and Graymalkin manages to break out of the Institute so that he can begin to search for his father himself.

Despite a lot of the book featuring Victor alone it's ultimately, as the title might suggest, about a tam; or more accurately, a family. It's not the family that Victor was born into that's important in this story, but the one that he's made himself, that comes together here to help him when he's at his most desperate. And you know what, it's so much more heartwarming that it has any right to be. It should feel corny, and I should be jaded to things such as this, but the connections forged between the four young heroes here feel so earnest, and so well earned that it honestly filled my heart with joy to see them come together. There's a moment towards the very end of the book (well, the last scene really) that even brought some tears to my eyes with how wonderfully heartwarming it was.

And that's what I love about the X-Men in general, and this book especially. It tells the stories of people who normally don't have much, who've had terrible lives; people like Graymalkin who were almost killed by his father for being gay and a mutant, or like Cipher who grew up alone and with no one. But instead of letting that fear and pain overwhelm them they come together as a family, they find common connection with each other and that makes them stronger than any hate they'd have to face. The group that forms in this book are of characters I'd not read before, or who had only briefly appeared as minor characters in some stories, but by the end I loved them all so much. I not only wanted to see them win the day and beat up the bad guys, what I wanted most was to see them happy.

It's easy to write an X-Men story filled with popular, powerful characters and have them fight some villains and make a story that wins over the reader thanks to the sheer spectacle of it; but making a story with smaller characters, characters some people might never have encountered before, and making you emotionally invested in their lives is a hell of an achievement. An achievement this book manages.

This is the second Xavier's Institute book that I've read from Aconyte, and the second that's hugely impressed me. Whether we get more of these stories with this group of characters, or something completely new next time I'm definitely looking forward to more.

Robbie MacNiven’s First Team is the second instalment of Aconyte Books’ Marvel: Xavier’s Institute series of X-Men prose novels, and it perfectly blends the powerful darkness of a world in which young mutants are surrounded by hate and oppression, with a warm sense of friendship and family. Compared with many of his peers at the Xavier Institute, Anole – otherwise known as Victor Borkowski – knows that he’s had a remarkably comfortable life for a mutant. When his parents are threatened by the anti-mutant extremist group known as the Purifiers, however, he gets first-hand experience of the hatred that many mutants suffer under, and finds himself relying upon his found family at the Institute – particularly close friends Cipher and Greymalkin – for support in his mission to track down and stop the Purifiers.

Much like the first book in the Xavier’s Institute series – Carrie Harris’ Liberty and Justice for All – this is very much a tale of young mutants coming of age and recognising the family that they’ve built around themselves. First Team takes a slightly different approach, however, focusing primarily on a character in Vic who’s comfortable in his own skin – as comfortable being a mutant as he is with being gay – but who has to learn to rely on others for support when he simply can’t achieve everything he needs to on his own. Whether in the familiar surroundings of his quiet and sleepy home town of Fairbury or the bustling streets of New York, battling robed and masket zealots or negotiating the security measures of the Institute, he gradually gets accustomed to working alongside Cipher and Greymalkin, sharing problems, identifying solutions and generally looking out for each other.

The three friends make for a really strong group of characters, all of whom are young but very capable, with a great combination of skills and powers, and feel entirely believable as prospective X-Men (or an actual X-Men in the case of Vic’s ex-roommate Rockslide, who plays a small but important part too). While this is primarily Vic’s story MacNiven pays enough attention to the rest of the cast for them to feel like fully realised and developed characters, in particular using Vic’s viewpoint to offer a sympathetic illustration of Greymalkin’s PTSD and the strength that their friendship provides. They’re all driven by personal worries over Vic and his family of course, but also broader concerns over the growing wave of anti-mutant propaganda and the implications of the (deeply sinister) Purifiers’ public presence and mysterious financial backing, questions which drive the narrative as the book progresses.

All the great character work is delivered over the course of a plot that starts off slowly, introducing characters, ideas and locations, then explodes into action and never lets up. MacNiven maintains a tone throughout that’s brilliantly appropriate to this world – it really does feel like an X-Men story pulled straight from the Marvel archive – managing to be warm and heartfelt even while exploring the recognisable darkness that X-Men stories all contain, with the expected themes of otherness, prejudice and injustice. There’s a real sense of contrast between Vic’s home life in calm, happy Fairbury and the appalling reality of life for mutants in America, in particular the horrifying behaviour of the Purifiers and the helplessness of watching as they’re left to act virtually unopposed. It all makes for a story that’s dark and emotional in places, but hopeful too and ultimately a lot of fun. Readers of any age are likely to find lots to enjoy hereregardless of how much prior knowledge they have of this setting – if you think the X-Men are cool (which they obviously are) then definitely check this out.