X-Statix returns from its two month break - well, kind-of-break - with an issue focussing on El Guapo.

Robbie Rodriguez, mutant skateboarder, was introduced back in issue #9 when he was one of the actors hired for the X-Statix movie.  This time, he's invited to join the image-obsessed team, primarily because he's a good-looking mutant.  He's got no combat experience whatsoever, but hell, they can work on that.

Most of the issue is devoted to setting up Robbie in the ingénue role.  X-Statix hasn't really had one of them, unless you count Lacuna's debut (where that angle was already undermined by the end of the issue).  Given the extraordinarily cynical nature of the X-Statix team, there are two obvious ways the character could go - either he's the incorruptible one who rebels against the corruption around him, or it's an ironic education arc where Robbie grows up and abandons (or revises) his ideals just like the rest of them have.  This being Milligan, my guess is the latter.

Oh, and just to complicate matters, Milligan also chucks in various set-ups for subplots with the rest of the cast reacting to Robbie - primarily Miles, who's immediately attracted to him.  Most of the rest of the team are either annoyed or jealous, but then that's how they tend to be.

The bizarre twist is the closing revelation that Robbie's skateboard actually has a mind of his own, and he's locked in an abusive relationship with him.  This means Mike Allred finds himself having to draw a really bizarre sequence of Robbie being assaulted by a flying skateboard while whimpering "Not the face!  Not the face!"  Milligan is obviously echoing domestic violence stories here, in an absurdly dislocated way.  Part of the trick of this book is the way it makes these character angles work while simultaneously being entirely conscious of its own ridiculousness; this one might be a particularly tough uphill struggle for some readers, and certainly goes way into the realms of surreal black comedy.  Personally, I love it - the book had been starting to settle into a rut, and could use a truly demented idea to nudge it off course again.

It may be my imagination, but Mike Allred seems to be subtly changing his art style to retain the iconic side of it (necessary for the warped heightened reality of the book) while toning down the retro aspects.  At least in the context of this issue, it's a good move.  The story is being told from Robbie's perspective, and he's not a traditional character at all.

A nice combination of the usual X-Statix elements: a deliberately obvious core plot, some thoroughly loopy ideas, and characters who somehow remain believable through it all.  Good issue.

Rating: A

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