Cyclops #1 Kicks Off His First Series in Years With a Bang but It Feels Hollow (Review)

Cyclops has had quite a ride over the last decade. 2016 saw him die, with the character not returning until 2018, right before the Krakoa Era changed everything for the X-Men. Since then, the character has been getting way more focus, acting as the touchstone character for Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men (Vol. 5) and Gerry Duggan’s X-Men (Vol. 6). The character kept that focus in the all new “From the Ashes” era, with X-Men (Vol. 7) writer Jed MacKay continuing the Cyclops excellence we’ve been getting since his return to life. Fans have been begging for a new series starring the X-Men’s greatest leader, and 2026 is giving them that with Cyclops #1, a pretty cool beginning for a series starring the character, but one with its own problems.

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Alex Paknadel is the writer of this issue, and he does a pretty good job. Paknadel cut his teeth on the X-Men with stories about the team on Marvel Unlimited, as well as the series Sentinels, and has proven to be pretty adroit at writing numerous X-characters. He’s stepping into big shoes, as even people who don’t like MacKay’s X-Men will admit that he’s writing a pretty awesome Cyclops. Reading this first issue, it’s clear that he gets the character pretty well. The issue kicks off with a random X-Men adventure (much like the recent Rogue #1), showing the hero saving the day through a combination of leadership skill and combat know-how. It’s a fun way to kick off this series.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Pros	Cons
Paknadel gets Cyclops; you won’t get anything new, but you’ll get the character you love	Donald Pierce doesn’t really feel right for this book; it’s weird that Wolverine villains keep getting stolen for these minis
Roge Antonio’s art fits the story and has some cool moments	Some of Antonio’s faces don’t look great and his style of art feels too safe and “house style”-y
Seeing Scott and Alex being brotherly is a welcome change	The plot isn’t all that interesting

Cyclops #1 Does Familiarity Well

Scott Summers isn’t all that complex a character, but there’s a certain aura to him that can’t be denied. Paknadel is able to capture the mutant as the consummate leader, someone who everyone is afraid of. I feel like I write this a lot reviewing these miniseries, but this series isn’t reinventing the character, and it’s still good. If there is such a thing as a stereotypical Cyclops story, this one is it, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

The issue digs into his past, shows the Summers siblings actually getting along for once, and builds a “Deadliest Game” type story. If there’s a problem that I personally have with this story, it’s the villains. Donald Pierce was last seen being mind-controlled by the Adamantine in Wolverine (Vol. 8( #8, so his showing up here and ignoring what he was doing not all that long ago is strange. Weirdly enough, Rogue #1 also set up a story revolving around a Wolverine villain. This is all two nickels, not all that much, weird that it happened twice type stuff from the X-office.

Roge Antonio’s Art Is Good, but It’s Starting to Feel Like There’s an X-Men House Style

Roge Antonio is an artist who has been doing good work for a while now. Cyclops #1 is probably his biggest book so far, and he does a fine job. The first action scene is well laid out and looks cool. The artist does a great job with Cyclops’s optic blasts, with the above page having some cool uses of them. His character acting is good (which is more difficult with a character like Cyclops, since we can’t see his eyes), the detail looks good, and his page layouts work pretty well.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years about Antonio is that his work can get a little sketchy. There are a few faces in this book that don’t really look all that great, but they are not a huge problem. What is a problem is that it’s starting to feel like there’s a “house style” in the X-books. A lot of the X-books are basically biting Ryan Stegman’s style, and Antonio fits into that. His art isn’t bad, but it’s not great, and it feels like he was chosen because his style matches that of Stegman and Netho Diaz, the two artists who have been working on Cyclops the most. As good as Antonio is, I don’t think he was the right choice for this book, since his style is so similar, but not as great, as that of Stegman and Diaz. It gives the art a “been there, saw that” look that hurts the book’s visual identity.

When I first started reading this book, I was really happy with it, but as it went on, it just felt like we were getting a pretty standard X-story starring Cyclops. One of the problems with the X-office lately is that so much of it is kind of cliche; these books can still be entertaining, but there’s no depth to them. Cyclops #1 has that feel, just like the art feels like every other generic X-book out there. This isn’t a bad comic; it’s entertaining with some cool art. However, if you’re looking for a book that’s going to dig into Cyclops and change the way you look at him, you’re not going to get that. Cyclops fans will like this book, but I don’t really see it bringing a lot of new readers to the character.

Cyclops #1 is on sale now.

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