Ultimate X-Men

Momoko (the Demon Days series) teams up with Davisson (The Ultimate Guide to Japanese Yokai) to lend the X-Men a pastel jolt of teen-friendly J-horror. At her middle school graduation, Hisako--whom X-fans may already know as Armor--accidentally activates her mutant power: a pink bubble of samurai armor that surrounds her like a force field. In high school, she meets more mutant teens, including Mei, who can control the weather, and Nico, who uses a magnifying glass to focus her psychic powers. ("You're like a super hero," Mei reassures Hisako. "That's so cool.") Meanwhile, Hisako is stalked by a shadowy figure who haunts her with ghostly visions and the painful memory of a classmate's suicide. Hisako and her friends investigate this phenomenon and learn about the Children of the Atom, a cult that believes in mutant superiority and is recruiting other young mutants for sinister purposes. Momoko's loose and inviting watercolor art blends the visual languages of Japanese and American comics. Her talent for spooky imagery transforms the superhero tropes into a tale of supernatural horror, and her lively character art makes the interpersonal conflicts as dynamic as the fight scenes. This fast-paced introduction to an eccentric new team of superteens is perfectly calibrated to draw younger manga readers into Marvel fandom. (Nov.)