Book Review: X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever

Book: X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever (issues #1-5) by Max Bemis, illustrations by Michael Walsh, color by Ruth Redmond and letters by VC's Clayton Cowles

Edition: Single Print Issues

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading this miniseries. Bailey Hoskins lived a typical ordinary bland life, there was nothing about him that stands out. He pretty much lives a mediocre existence which is disappointing when you're in high school and trying to find a date for prom.

When his parents tell him that they are mutants and that there is a strong possibility that he was one as well. He started to think that his life may finally be changing from boring to amazing. His parents wanted him to know that they had been hiding their powers to avoid the stigma, hatred and fear that is aimed at mutants. And to let him know that he now had to be careful too.

To determine if he had the mutant gene and powers they took him to the Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Children to be tested by Dr. Henry McCoy. It turns out Bailey was a mutant with a deadly power. But unfortunately for him it was a one use only power. He has the ability to explode which would of course be interesting if it wasn't for the fact that he can only use his powers once and that it would kill him. And there is no returning from that.

Feeling even more like a pathetic loser, he had no desire to enroll at the school and would much prefer to go back to his old boring life. But just as Bailey and his parents were leaving, the school was attacked. With the tragic death of his parents, Bailey was having a hard time struggling to adjust.

He feels out of place at the school and amongst the other mutants. No matter how much he tries nothing seems to go right for him. He knows that he's the worst x-man ever and someone has taken notice of his anguish and has plans to use him to kill Professor Xavier.

But is the Worst X-Man Ever a traitor?

Despite being a mutant, Bailey is this ordinary guy. He just happens to have this extraordinary ability (that he really can't use) and with everything he goes through in this story you can't help feeling for the guy. He's an outcast no matter where he is but at least in his old life he may have been mediocre but he definitely seemed happier and his parents were still alive. And it feels like as soon as he found out he was a mutant his life took on a dramatic and disastrous turn.

As much as I liked this, I had a problem with a scene showing Mystique seducing an underage Bailey. Besides Bailey there were three new characters that were introduced: Rags, Riches and Miranda. Riches and Rags, a brother and sister duo where one has the power to turn anything into gold while the other can destroy things. Meanwhile, Miranda has this amazing ability to alter reality.

This is one of those What If stories because the ending took on a darker tone and more than shows that despite the devastating turn of events that Bailey and the world were undergoing, it was going to take a drastic change for things to improve. The ending was both bittersweet and hopeful at the same time.

I really did like this, at times it felt like a parody of the X-Men universe but there is also something deeper to the story. This was fun and quirky but also a bit dark and I love the artwork it does a great job of showing both the light and darkness of the story.