This is the quietest week for X-books in a couple of months.  Not that I'm complaining, mind you - after the Reload deluge, it makes a nice change to have a sensible number of X-books.  Come to think of it, there was meant to be an issue of Mystique out this week as well, but god knows what happened to that.  Certainly didn't show up at my store.

Anyway, that leaves the way relatively clear for the second issue of District X.  The cover helpfully features Bishop blowing up a car with a grenade, but you can ignore that.  It's not that sort of book at all.

For one thing, it's not really an action story.  Bishop kills a mutant rat about two thirds of the way through, but that's about it.  It's really more of a police procedural - although then again, it's not entirely one of those either.  For that matter, it's not really a Bishop solo book.  Writer David Hine is setting up an ensemble cast and following an assortment of characters around the mutant district, some of whom don't seem to have much connection with the police at all.  At least not yet.  Last issue, of course, Bishop didn't turn up until the final panel, but that seems fair enough given that Ismael Ortega is at least co-starring in the series.

The main plot thread has Bishop investigating rumours of an imminent mutant gang war.  Traditionally you'd expect that to involve a lot of rather high-powered people, but Hine has sensibly filled District X with an assortment of mutants who are relatively low-powered or, in some cases, simply deformed or cursed.  It srikes the right balance for the series - there are enough genuine superhumans wandering around to justify Bishop's involvement, but the NYPD wouldn't have much trouble policing most of these people.  Amphibious women and men with the mutant power to repair toasters aren't that much of a threat to armed policemen.

Rather than an uncontrollable policing problem, Hine's District X is primarily a colony of freaks, gamely trying to plough on with their lives despite chronic narcolepsy and a tendency to hatch rats.  It all comes across as surprisingly believable, neatly combining weirdness and realism.  And while the plot isn't exactly racing forward, there are plenty of different and interesting threads being drawn out.

David Yardin's art is suitably low key, with the emphasis on drawing the real world and fitting the superpowers around that.  I'm a little uncertain about some of the apartment designs, which on occasion seem a bit lavish for what's supposed to be a slum.  The amphibious girl appears to be living in a rather spacious Ikea catalogue, for example.  But otherwise, the art does a great job of making the district credible.

One of the most promising books to come out of Reload.

Rating: A-

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