Alison Blaire, aka Dazzler, is an out and proud mutant embarking on an exciting new journey — her first world tour. But being a mutant in the post-Krakoa era is complicated and dangerous. In Dazzler #1, the mutant musician and her team try to get through a concert without fanning the flames of anti-mutant hate.
Dazzler #1
Jason Loo (writer), Rafael Loureiro (artist), Java Tartaglia (color artist), and VC’s Ariana Maher (letterer)
Marvel Comics
September 18, 2024
I don’t remember the last time I encountered Alison Blaire/Dazzler in a comic book. This is on me, of course, since I’ve been an inconsistent X-Men reader these past several years, so her adventures (and misadventures) have passed me by. But now I’m back; my mission this year is to follow the “From the Ashes… A New Beginning!” revamp and spend quality time with my buds, the mutants. Dazzler #1 is one of the many pitstops on my journey, especially after attending the Toronto launch party for the book held by writer Jason Loo.
In the first issue of Dazzler’s solo series, Ali and her team of fellow mutants, Domino, Multiple Man, Strong Guy, Wind Dancer, and Shark-Girl, are preparing for her first concert on her world tour. Everyone has a role to play. Multiple Man is the engineer on tour. Strong Guy is, well, the strong guy carrying the heavy equipment. Shark-Girl is the band’s drummer. Domino is security. Wind Dancer, arguably, has the toughest job—she’s PR.
Doing PR for a mutant in a world that tried to destroy mutants? Not easy! But someone’s got to do it. In typical PR fashion, Wind Dancer opts to make the safest choices. Dazzler must keep her mutant abilities to a minimum. Shark-Girl can’t even look like herself. Let’s just make the humans feel as safe as possible. Even if that means the mutants can’t be their authentic selves. It’s not long before Dazzler’s concert threatens to turn into a nightmare. Can the mutant team salvage the situation, or will they feed into the fears of the human race?
Jason Loo draws a throughline between the real world and the X-Men universe in Dazzler #1. Big corporations always kowtow to the lowest common denominators, and it directly affects the people creating and consuming the art. If Dazzler and her band can only be accepted by fans if they pass for humans, how can they be mutant and proud?
In his afterword, writer Jason Loo hits upon why Dazzler and her comics have endured — she’s not a household name, but her stories are grounded in realism, unlike most other superhero stories that are all action. Dazzler is a working woman striving and aspiring to realize her dreams. It just so happens that she has mutant abilities, and her gigs often get bamboozled by baddies. This was true of the early Dazzler comics that I’m most familiar with; her stories were interpersonal travails, but unlike Dazzler #1, the ones I had read didn’t explore the burden of being the face of a movement and the associated burdens that come with that role.
My one criticism of the writing is that the dialogue read stilted. I didn’t find a distinctive voice among the characters. Some of it was too exposition-heavy, as well. A brief can be informative without being an info dump. But these are minor quibbles in a story that’s grounded in the unfortunate reality we live in, especially in North America—society feels divisive and powerful people are baying for the blood of anyone different. The X-Men have long represented the marginalized groups of society and have faced and fought that vitriol. My fear was that modern-day comics would forget about these roots.
The creative team of Dazzler #1 definitely does not. I shouldn’t have been worried—at Fan Expo Canada 2024, Jason Loo was on a panel where he mentioned his run on Dazzler was heavily inspired by the political work that Taylor Swift did during the 2020 elections. I’m glad he doesn’t take the Swift analogy too far in the first issue; I was concerned Dazzler was going to be a Swift stand-in, but aside from a nod here and there, Dazzler is still Alison Blaire, and she’s singing for mutant rights.
As much as I enjoyed the story, I was floored by the songs. The lyrics for the first one are fun and have a rhythm to them that I could move to. The second song had incredibly powerful lyrics. I want to hear these sung out loud. But what brings these songs to life, so to say, is Ariana Maher’s lettering. She warps the lines so the words look like a melody. I was practically singing these tunes!
But nothing captures the glamour of Dazzler’s concert like the art and the colours. Penciller Rafael Loureiro makes his Marvel debut alongside colour artist Java Tartaglia, and they give Dazzler #1 so much energy and sparkle. Each character has a distinctive look and expressive face, and the colours make it look like the lights are alive. This is a gorgeous book to look at.
Dazzler #1 was a fun (if pragmatic) romp, but Loo mentioned to me at the Toronto launch party that things are going to get hairy from the next issue onwards. Considering it doesn’t take much for bigots to upend the lives of their victims, I can only imagine what awaits Team Dazzler. Here’s hoping they can continue to prevail and be their proud mutant selves.
