New X-Men Volume 1
With no Watchmen to watch (next week!), and no comics to read (this weekend maybe!), I thought I'd dig through the large stack of trade paperbacks that I've bought over the last few conventions and holiday sales and start reading them! Will this be a regular thing? Maybe, just for the fact it will make me actually read them instead of leaving them on the shelf.
New X-Men V1: E is for Extinction
This week's victim is New X-Men V1 by Grant Morrison and for the most part art was by Frank Quitely. Inside are issues from the start of their run in 2002 which is during a time when I was not really into comics (97-03). This was one run that I missed out on and I've heard both good and bad things about it. Going in I only knew really one plot point that comes at the end of the run - Jean Grey dying. Again. Can they stop doing that to her?!
Starting with art, I've never been a big fan of Frank Quitely (All Star Superman) but he certainly has moments when his style really shines yet has others when it looks a bit rushed. The covers for each issue looked great, The faces of the women looked good for the most part (except for Cassandra Nova but that's probably intentional). Can't say I'm fond of the whole leather look taking after the movies. That was one of the things I disliked about the movies with how costumes are tainted as kid-like and make things unreal. Change the costumes a bit if you want but keep the integrity of the character's look there. Wolverine reminded me more of Gaston from Beauty & the Beast mixed with a bit of Mickey Rourke. The last two issues had different artists, the annual was done by Leinil Francis Yu (Secret Invasion) and the last issue was drawn by Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern: Rebirth). My favorite was Yu, his is a very clean look and probably is a more common style that made it immediately more likable to my eyes. Van Sciver was darker and more intense, much like his style tends to lean.
Stepping into the story with this set of issues is seamless for the most part, the introduction of Cassandra Nova, Xorn happen in the pages as well as bringing Emma Frost on to the team, the initial findings of second mutations and a sense that worse times are on the horizon with Xavier's 'outing' himself to the world and the repercussions that will come. The bad side of jumping on at this point is that there are other parts of the story that feel real forced. Morrison heavily pushed friction into the Scott/Jean relationship and I don't know if that was started before or something he came up with. I'd hope it was from before because it felt awfully forced in these issues. There's a mental meeting held by Xavier in one of the first issues and when you only see them going over the mission details, and afterward it was mentioned about how chilly it was between Jean/Scott by the other characters. Totally didn't come off in the scene! Of course we then have Scott entertaining Emma at night and Jean smooching Wolverine - never seen a wedge put between characters so fast! When did this become the Young and the Restless?
I probably won't be continuing on with the other volumes, this was more to see what the hubbub was all about. It's been rough for me to try to find an x-men book I can consistently read and enjoy. Astonishing X-men had a good run but then the ending was so Whedon that it turned me off a bit. Uncanny, I can't stand when Land draws arcs and I'm confused by why they are now driving a wedge between Scott and Emma. I swear that guy can not keep a relationship striving! At least the X-titles have cleaned up having Wolverine in every issue on every team, that was getting a tad ridiculous. Even X-Men First Class, the book where I was getting my dose of Jean is ending and bringing Uncanny First Class written by someone else and with it staying in canon why would I want to go through that again?
Next week ... Spider-Man Fairy Tales! Totally forgot I had bought that. :D
New X-Men V1: E is for Extinction
This week's victim is New X-Men V1 by Grant Morrison and for the most part art was by Frank Quitely. Inside are issues from the start of their run in 2002 which is during a time when I was not really into comics (97-03). This was one run that I missed out on and I've heard both good and bad things about it. Going in I only knew really one plot point that comes at the end of the run - Jean Grey dying. Again. Can they stop doing that to her?!
Starting with art, I've never been a big fan of Frank Quitely (All Star Superman) but he certainly has moments when his style really shines yet has others when it looks a bit rushed. The covers for each issue looked great, The faces of the women looked good for the most part (except for Cassandra Nova but that's probably intentional). Can't say I'm fond of the whole leather look taking after the movies. That was one of the things I disliked about the movies with how costumes are tainted as kid-like and make things unreal. Change the costumes a bit if you want but keep the integrity of the character's look there. Wolverine reminded me more of Gaston from Beauty & the Beast mixed with a bit of Mickey Rourke. The last two issues had different artists, the annual was done by Leinil Francis Yu (Secret Invasion) and the last issue was drawn by Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern: Rebirth). My favorite was Yu, his is a very clean look and probably is a more common style that made it immediately more likable to my eyes. Van Sciver was darker and more intense, much like his style tends to lean.
Stepping into the story with this set of issues is seamless for the most part, the introduction of Cassandra Nova, Xorn happen in the pages as well as bringing Emma Frost on to the team, the initial findings of second mutations and a sense that worse times are on the horizon with Xavier's 'outing' himself to the world and the repercussions that will come. The bad side of jumping on at this point is that there are other parts of the story that feel real forced. Morrison heavily pushed friction into the Scott/Jean relationship and I don't know if that was started before or something he came up with. I'd hope it was from before because it felt awfully forced in these issues. There's a mental meeting held by Xavier in one of the first issues and when you only see them going over the mission details, and afterward it was mentioned about how chilly it was between Jean/Scott by the other characters. Totally didn't come off in the scene! Of course we then have Scott entertaining Emma at night and Jean smooching Wolverine - never seen a wedge put between characters so fast! When did this become the Young and the Restless?
I probably won't be continuing on with the other volumes, this was more to see what the hubbub was all about. It's been rough for me to try to find an x-men book I can consistently read and enjoy. Astonishing X-men had a good run but then the ending was so Whedon that it turned me off a bit. Uncanny, I can't stand when Land draws arcs and I'm confused by why they are now driving a wedge between Scott and Emma. I swear that guy can not keep a relationship striving! At least the X-titles have cleaned up having Wolverine in every issue on every team, that was getting a tad ridiculous. Even X-Men First Class, the book where I was getting my dose of Jean is ending and bringing Uncanny First Class written by someone else and with it staying in canon why would I want to go through that again?
Next week ... Spider-Man Fairy Tales! Totally forgot I had bought that. :D