It's hard to imagine that many people were crying out for a Madrox miniseries.  A brief stint in X-Factor notwithstanding, he's been a largely peripheral figure.

However, he does have one of the more interesting superpowers out there.  Madrox creates duplicates of himself, a power which was originally used rather unimaginatively - Madrox gets hit, Madrox creates duplicates, duplicates gang up on attacker. 

Peter David has thought through the concept in a little more detail.  Since Madrox can create his duplicates whenever he wants, he doesn't need to use them just as dumb footsoldiers.  He can simply pack them off to live happy lives of their own, and then return to him at a later date for reabsorption.  The point is made most obviously with the visual gag of a Buddhist monk Madrox politely returning to New York after a particularly extended visit.  But it's a nice idea - Madrox doesn't have to pick any particular direction for his life because he can live them all simultaneously. 

The result, of course, is that he becomes a dabbler, whose life isn't going in any particular direction.  As the series begins, he's set himself up as a private investigator in Mutant Town, but one with no skills or qualifications whatsoever to carry out the job.  Presumably he's hoping to pick it up as he goes along.  But maybe he doesn't really care all that much - it's just another thing to try out, and if this doesn't work out, maybe one of the dupes will have a life that works better.

It's a cute idea, and if this first issue is largely set-up, then the strength of the concept is enough to carry it.  Penciller Pablo Raimondi is a good fit for the material, with art that's realistic enough to match the established tone of Mutant Town, but just cartoony enough to deal with the outrageous central concept.  Guido Carosella seems a bit ill at ease in this context, but then most artists struggle with him (the character was created by Bill Sienkiewicz, apparently as an exaggerated caricature of a bouncer - his character designs almost invariably cause awful headaches for later artists).

A very good first issue.  Peter David makes a good job of persuading me that Madrox really does merit his own miniseries.

Rating: A

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