Comics | the m0vie blog

X-Men by Jim Lee and Chris Claremont (and Marc Silvestri) Omnibus, Vol. 1 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Darren

With our month looking at Avengers comics officially over, we thought it might be fun to dig into that other iconic Marvel property, the X-Men. Join us for a month of X-Men related reviews and discussion.

If the nineties could be said to belong to any particular comic book franchise, they belonged to the X-Men. Marvel has done a great job collecting classic X-Men storylines in oversized hardcover, already having more than half of Chris Claremont’s very long run available in the format. Reading his work collected here, I find myself frequently conflicted – I can’t decide whether the writer was one of the best long-form storytellers in the medium, or whether he was writing by the seat of his pants. A lot of the threads he ties together might not wrap up satisfactory, but his overarching stories suggest an incredible amount of planning. As the author led the Uncanny X-Men into the nineties, the title seems almost in chaos, but the most carefully organised chaos imaginable.

We all have our crosses to bear…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: arts, Captain Britain, chris claremont, Claremont, dark knight returns, Havok, Jean Grey, jim lee, Len Wein, Marc Silvestri, marvel, marvel comics, Moira MacTaggert, Professor X, Shadow King, Siege Perilous, sigourney weaver, uncanny x-men, wolverine, x-men, X-Tinction Agenda | 2 Comments »

X-Men: Schism (Review)

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Darren

X-Men: Schism is a game-changer. It’s an attempt to realign Marvel’s X-Men line, a series of books that have faltered in recent years. After all, events like Messiah Complex and Second Coming couldn’t propel the line back to prominence, so Schism feels like a manifesto. Collecting the main series written by Jason Aaron, and the X-Men: Regenesis one-shot written by Kieron Gillen, it represents the most recent attempt to bring the some sense of life and purpose back to the X-Men books, which have been increasingly overshadowed by Marvel’s Avengers publishing line. And, to be frank, I can’t help but think that Schism works pretty well as an attempt to brush away the recent past and carve out a new and exciting future.

The hand of fate…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: blue, cyclops, generation hope, gold, grant morrison, Jason Aaron, Kieron Gillen, marvel, marvel comics, matt fraction, review, Schism, schism review, uncanny x-men, wolverine, wolverine and the x-men, x-men, x-men: regenesis, x-men: schism | Leave a comment »

X-Men: X-Cutioner’s Song (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Darren

In a way X-Cutioner’s Song marks a fairly significant turning point in the history of the X-Men franchise. The X-Men books were in a state of turmoil. They had lost their long-term writer Chris Claremont only recently, and Jim Lee had departed to work on other projects. The central theme of the books – exploring prejudice and racism – looked to be losing steam slightly as South Africa’s apartheid regime collapsed and the country developed into a truly democratic state. It seemed like the books were struggling to cope with all these changes occurring so rapidly, and X-Cutioner’s Song reads like an attempt to assert control on the franchise – as if to assure readers that everything was okay and it was business as usual.

They're playing our song!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: chris claremont, comic books, Comics, Fabian Nicieza, jim lee, magneto, marvel comics, Peter Milligan, Scott Lobdell, south africa, stryfe, uncanny x-men, x-cutioner's song, x-factor, x-men, x-men: x-cutioner's song | 2 Comments »

X-Statix Omnibus by Peter Milligan & Mike Allred (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Darren

There’s been a lot written about how fiendishly clever Peter Milligan and Mike Allred’s X-Statix was when it was published by Marvel in the early part of the last decade. Spanning two titles (beginning in X-Force and then spinning into its own title in X-Statix), it offered a forty-issue re-examination of the core X-Men thesis. Published at approximately the same time, it actually serves as something of a spiritual companion to Grant Morrison’s equally controversial, challenging and provocative New X-Men run. Both series dared to consider that Chris Claremont’s once revolutionary idea, casting mutants as a feared minority because they were inherently “different” might need revision in the early years of the twenty-first century. Both series have been attacked by critics for not conforming to the model that Claremont designed for the franchise three decades earlier. However, I’m going to be controversial, and I’m going to state that both Morrison and Milligan were more faithful spiritual successors to Claremont than any X-Men writers since the nineties.

Nobody’s Doop…

Note: You can read my review of Milligan and Allred’s initial X-Force run, collected in the hardcover “Famous, Mutant & Mortal” here. This is a review of the recently-published omnibus, which collects all their work on the characters, so I won’t go into too much depth on that initial run.

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: avengers, back from the dead, chris claremont, darwyn cooke, dead girl, di another day, doop, franchises, grant morrison, irony, marvel comics, Mike Allred, Milligan, Peter Milligan, post-modern, princess diana, the anarchist, tyke alacar, uncanny x-men, wolverine, wolverine/doop, x-force, x-statix | 2 Comments »

Wolverine by Jason Aaron Omnibus, Vol. I (Review)

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Darren

Wolverine shouldn’t be a tough character to get right. He’s a fairly simple archetype, one often seen in the annals of pulp fiction history. He’s the Man With No Name, the ronin, the warrior who has lived through the war. He’s a man who is a weapon, even if he doesn’t necessarily want to be. He’s badass, he’s a loner, and he doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone or anything. It’s easy to see why the character is one of Marvel’s most iconic fictional creations, right up there with Spider-Man in terms of recognition. However, it seems that many writers struggle in characterising the most famous mutant. Arguably the writer with the best handle on Wolverine since Chris Claremont left Uncanny X-Men was Mark Millar, who wrote two of the character’s more memorable stories (Enemy of the State and Old Man Logan). However, this collection makes a nice argument for Jason Aaron as the logical successor to the writer who defined the bladed Canadian.

It’s hardly cutting edge, but it is good comics…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Aaron, Chris Bachalo, chris claremont, comic books, Get Mystique, grant morrison, Jason Aaron, mark millar, marvel comics, old man logan, weapon x, wolverine, Wolverine by Jason Aaron, Wolverine by Jason Aaron Omnibus, Wolverine: Manifest Destiny, Wolverine: Weapon X | 4 Comments »

Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost’s Run on X-Force (Hardcover Vol. 1-2) (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Darren

I’m really not sure what to make of Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost’s run on X-Force. In many ways, it is a throwback to Rob Liefeld’s nineties team of anti-heroes, only with more gore and violence and dismemberment. On the other hand, it’s also the only book in the X-Men line that explores the dark ramifications of the direction that Marvel has driven the books, and Yost and Kyle are both careful to counterbalance the darkness and graphic violence with remarkably solid character work. It’s always going be in the shadow of Rick Remender’s more conceptually fascinating Uncanny X-Force, but one can see the seeds of that later comic sewn here.

An Angel gets his wings…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Christopher Yost, Craig Kyle, Dwayne McDuffie, Kyle, marvel, marvel comics, Rick Remender, Rob Liefeld | 1 Comment »

X-Men: Inferno – Excalibur (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Darren

This weekend, we’re taking a look at one or two of the smaller Inferno crossovers. These issues are collected in the crossovers companion book.

It’s actually quite impressive to think of the mythology-building that Chris Claremont was responsible during his incredible run on Uncanny X-Men. The X-Men had, of course, been confined to reprints for years before Len Wein revived the concept in Giant-Sized X-Men #1, but Claremont guided Marvel’s merry mutants to the heights of success. I think it’s entirely appropriate that the first issue in his last arc, X-Men #1, remains the biggest-selling comic book of all time – cementing Claremont’s impact.

Even though many people would argue the X-Men only really exploded during the speculation bubble of the nineties, it’s remarkable just how much Claremont and his collaborators were expanding the line. By the end of the eighties, Uncanny X-Men had accumulated several satellite books. Of those, Claremont had the pleasure of working with renowned artist Bill Sienkiewicz on New Mutants, while Excalibur paired the scribe with Alan Davis, one of the most respected artists in the business.

What possessed them to come to New York?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Captain Britain, chris claremont, Claremont, inferno, joss whedon, Kitty Pryde, Len Wein, Madelyne Pryor, uncanny x-men, x-men | 3 Comments »

X-Men: Inferno – Fantastic Four (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Darren

This weekend, we’re taking a look at one or two of the smaller Inferno crossovers. These issues are collected in the crossovers companion book.

I have to admit, one of the best things about these companion books collecting the tie-ins to mammoth crossovers like Acts of Vengeance or Inferno is that way that they seem to capture a particular moment in time. In the Inferno collection alone, you get a taste of Walt Simonson’s Avengers, Ann Nocenti’s Daredevil and Chris Claremont’s Excalibur. I will confess that I am woefully poorly versed in the history of The Fantastic Four, arguably Marvel’s “first family.” The issues collected here, for example, are my first sampling of Steve Englehart’s tenure on The Fantastic Four.

A good old fashioned death trap!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Act of Vengeance, Ann Nocenti, Avenger, chris claremont, Englehart, inferno, kang, kang the conqueror, Keith Pollard, Madelyne Pryor, marvel, Marvel Comic, silver surfer, Steve Englehart, uncanny x-men, walt simonson, x-men | 1 Comment »

X-Men: Inferno – Avengers (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Darren

This weekend, we’re taking a look at one or two of the smaller Inferno crossovers. These issues are collected in the crossovers companion book.

In many ways, Chris Claremont’s Inferno can be read as something of a practice run for John Byrne’s Acts of Vengeance. Both were massive crossovers that spread across a significant portion of Marvel’s publishing line, demanding writers to tie their stories in to these big and over-arching events. While Inferno‘s reach was arguably more modest than that of Acts of Vengeance, it seemed that the demonic invasion of New York could not be contained to the X-Men books, and ended up impacting titles as diverse as The Fantastic Four and Daredevil. Walt Simonson’s Avengers tied into Inferno as well, making an interesting attempt to launch a new team against the backdrop of an X-Men event.

Meet the new team…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Act of Vengeance, Avenger, captain america, chris claremont, Edwin Jarvis, Franklin Richards, Gilgamesh, inferno, List of vehicles in Marvel Comics, Madelyne Pryor, marvel, marvel comics, Simonson, walt simonson, x-men | Leave a comment »

X-Men: Inferno – Daredevil (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Darren

This weekend, we’re taking a look at one or two of the smaller Inferno crossovers. These issues are collected in the crossovers companion book.

From what little I’ve read of Ann Nocenti’s Daredevil, I really like it. My experience of her work on the title has been mainly limited to crossovers and tie-ins, but Nocenti has always managed to put her own spin on events – rather than feeling like a satellite title to Mutant Massacre or Fall of the Mutants, her connected issues felt like Daredevil stories staring at a world gone completely mad. It’s a subtle distinction, but one that too few authors remember in this era of event-driven comics. Inferno is no different, as Nocenti manages to take a massive and unfolding X-Men crossover and make it work for her own narrative and characters.