'X-Men super-soldier Fantomex faces off with clone versions of himself in this thrilling Super Hero heist adventure from Marvel’s Xavier’s Institute
'Former super-soldier and master thief, Fantomex, stumbles upon one of his clones, Cluster, breaking into museums to steal priceless artifacts. Outwitted and intrigued, Fantomex decides to beat Cluster at whatever game she’s playing. But something is different about these artifacts: they’ve all been infused with nanotechnology, very similar to the kind that originally created Fantomex. And they aren’t the only ones looking for them… Their other clone, Weapon XIII, is on the hunt too. The cat-and-mouse heists test their burglary skills and push the boundaries of how much they can trust one another. When it turns out that they're the pawns in an even deadlier game, all hell breaks loose – and these clones always play to win.'
The latest entry in the Xavier's Institute series focuses on the mutant sentinel hybrid Fantomex, a character who's been something of a rogue element in the X-Men universe ever since he was first introduced nearly twenty years ago. Set not long after the events of the Uncanny X-Force series, we see a Fantomex who has gone through an extreme trauma.
Being a mutant with three brains, as well as an external nervous system called E.V.A. that can act independently as either a young woman or a flying saucer (yes, comics are weird), Fantomex has always been something of an unusual character; even amongst the X-Men. However, things have become even more complex for the character at the start of Triptych. Having just suffered through an extreme trauma that came close to killing him E.V.A. took Fantomex to a facility where he could be saved via cloning. Unfortunately, due to his complex biology the facility got things a bit wrong and instead of having one body with three brains his brains got split across three bodies.
This means that not only is Fantomex different now, both weaker and lacking some of his powers, but also his personality has gone through some changes; leading him to have to try to figure exactly who he is now. Something that would be difficult enough, but made even more so when his two other selves start to appear on the scene, apparently engaging in elaborate art thefts. Now Fantomex is going to have to learn to work alongside the members of the New Charles Xavier's School for the Gifted if he's going to find out what his other selves are up to, and stop them.
I've liked Fantomex since he first appeared in Grant Morrison's New X-Men run. He was mysterious, had a cool costume, and was a very no nonsense kind of character. Over the years he, like most comic characters, became more complex and at times slightly confusing. One of the changes made to his that was most interesting, however, was when he was split into three people. This was something that I was only vaguely aware of having happened in the comics, so when I saw that we'd be getting a novel focused on this I was quite excited as this was definitely something fun that was worth exploring.
And this was a large focus of the book. It takes president over action and adventure, and spent a large part of its time exploring Fantomex as a person. In a lot of ways he was always the kind of character who didn't do a lot of introspection, who rarely doubted himself. He was confident and had a plan and never worried that what he was doing was the wrong thing. This was, honestly, not the most interesting thing that could be done with the character. However, Jaleigh Johnson actually managed to make him feel like a real person for once.
Now that he's split into three beings Fantomex doesn't really know who he is anymore. He's finding that parts of his personality have changed, and that because some aspects of his powers have gone to his other selves he's having to be more cautious in battle. This leads him to feeling physically vulnerable, but it's the emotional vulnerability that is the most interesting. When Fantomex learns that Cluster (the female version of him) has received his more noble aspects, whilst Weapon XIII (essentially a bad version of him) has received his more negative traits, it leaves Fantomex feeling like the 'leftovers', the parts that don't really matter. He becomes vulnerable in a way that we've never seen him before.
This sense of vulnerability, of having to figure out who you are and how you fit into the world is shared with the books second protagonist; a young woman named Avery Torres, who recently moved to the school to try to figure out her powers. Having lost both of her parents, and having left behind her girlfriend in order to attend the school Avery feels very isolated. She doesn't think there's much point to her staying longer than absolutely needed and becoming an X-Man, and because of this she's reluctant to make friends. Add on to that the strain of a long distance relationship, one in which her partner can tell that Avery is hiding something from her, and she's very much feeling close to empty.
Despite having very different lives, and very different outlooks on the world this story is very much about these two isolated and vulnerable people figuring out who they are, and who they want to be. They may not like each other much when the book begins, but through their interactions with each other, and their fates becoming more and more entwined Avery and Fantomex actually have a great effect on the other. They encourage the other to start thinking of themselves better, to start seeing the good in the world around them, and to start making connections. It's strange how the one ting both of them needed is the one thing they helped the other to see; perhaps we can only listen to our own good advice when it's coming from another.
It might seem like a strange choice to write a super hero story that puts fighting and action on the back burner, that spends its time having characters talk through their feelings or simply having fun together and bonding; but there are hundreds of books where heroes and villains fight each other if that's what you're after. This is something else, this is something a little special. It shows a human side to these characters, a vulnerability and complexity that is often left out of comics to make more room for explosions and fist fights. If you're after something a bit different, something that isn't just the standard comic book formula this is a book you're definitely going to want to read.
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