District X Volume 1: Mr. M TPB (X-Men) Paperback – 26 Jan. 2005

What if not every mutant had cool powers like those of Magneto, Professor X or Cyclops? What if those "extra gifts" were just that you could catch flies out of the air with your tongue, that your limbs would grow roots while you were asleep or that your body fluids could be used as a drug? The concept of this short-lived Marvel series (happening before Decimation) was that those third rate mutants lived in an own district of Manhattan (District X or Mutant Town) and that the concentrated rate of mutants would have some potential for problems that could call for extra expertise with the local police. Here we have one officer Ismael "Izzy" Ortega, Homo sapiens of Hispanic origin who has a mutant wife who cannot be touched while asleep. During an intern investigation because of a shooting involving his partner he is suspended from regular service and ordered to help federal agent Lucas Bishop (that Lucas Bishop, former X-Man) with special tasks involving drugs, gang wars and potential world destruction.The characterization and the local background description are subtle, the dialogues authentic and witty. There is a lot of personnel; the series has been described as NYPD Blue meets the X-Men. Author David Hine does a solid job; David Yardin adds decent pencils. If you do not insist on your usual X-Men, this is an original variation. The series lasted long enough to deliver material for 3 trades, the last being a House of M spin-off (Mutopia X).

I enjoyed seeing different mutants powers. But there wasn't anything that stood out or made me want to keep reading the series.

I was under the impression I was ordering the trade paperback. What I got was a crumpled comic book.