X-Men (the comics)

from what i hear uncanny x-men is just a soap opery now and i think x-factor and excalibur are done.

I'm sort of in the same position as you Nick - I read the comics in the 80s and early 90s and then read them off and on for free while I worked in a comics shop but I've not bothered since. My brother's been on at me to read them as he says they've got good and I have checked out a few of the graphic novels. The style is generally very different from the 90s style - much less extravagant or showy in scripting or art, though the high-concept stuff is still there. Of the stuff I've tried, New X-Men (Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely) is readable, fast-paced, nasty, continuity-light action stuff and very enjoyable if you like Morrison's writing (I do); X-Force/X-Static is odd, funny, intriguing, original and lovely to look at but not quite as clever as the hype suggests*. If you liked the Image-style stuff then you might like Ultimate X-Men, a start-from-scratch violent romp which passes the time quite nicely.

*(As usual with superhero comics the "that's life" theory of criticism often applies - saying "sausages" is not praiseworthy unless it's a dog doing it; being quite brainy is not especially exciting unless it's a superhero comic.)

X-Statix/X-Force - entertaining enough, but not quite so good to justify the space it would take up in the Vicarage were I to buy it.

the rest: shite. I should know, I've never read them.

Bishop, Cable, & Gambit are all after my time as a youthful X-Reader. Don't they all sport mullets?

QUESTIONS:

1.What happened to Rogue? Is she dead?
2. What happened to Cable and Gambit?

that no dialogue issue was from Marvel's Nuff Said thing, where they made all their comics come out with no dialogue for an issue.

Nordicskillz, I love you, but Dur, the FILM!

What film? ;)

The son of Jean Grey and Cyclops.

How sad that I know this merely from living with a Marvel Comics fanatic? Where did I go wrong in life? Etc.

I swear to god, sometimes I think Dan = Dan. They even have the same name! And make the same jokes.

If it were not for the ICP and Cure love I would not know the difference!

my brain is dysfunctional at the moment, I will endeavour to reply later.

Sinister first showed up during the Mutant Massacre; he's the guy who hired the Mauarders to go in and kill the Morlocks.

X-Treme X-Men is the title Marvel gave Chris Claremont to get his name back in the X-Men franchise & draw back some fannies that bailed back in the day (maybe? I'm just hypothesizing). Of course, Claremont's supposedly taking this opportunity to take not-so-veiled potshots at what Morrison's done in the past 2+ years, but to each their own. Never mind that Morrison's done more in the past 2+ years than Claremont did in the last 5 years of his first X-Men run, but, again, I'm an interweb mentalist - phear my shrink gun yadda yadda.

For my money, it's New X-Men, X-Statix, & Ultimate X-Men - tho Ultimate has lagged as of late (mostly in the art department) (& Mark Millar's scorched earth policy re: character motivation chafes a bit), there's a new creative team jumping on board that has me all sorts of geeked out. If you're looking to do some Cliff-notes-type catching up on what the hell's been going on the past couple of years, point your browser to The X-Axis, which talks about all of the new X titles (for better & for worse) - it's updated every Monday (GMT). If you want to just browse Trade Paperbacks @ your local bookstore, sit yourself down w/ "E is for Extinction" & the first X-Force TP collecting the early Milligan / Allred days. (The latest New X-Men story arc - "Murder at the Mansion" - is probably as good, if not better, than that Extinction arc.)

And it's probably best for everyone involved that all that nonsense revolving around Cable & Madelyne Pryor & Rachel Summers & Mr. Sinister be shoved in a paper shredder ASAP.

the fact that I still care.

(and please dave, you "dismissing" comic book nerdity is like a serial killer poo pooing the latest crime statistics while at the office and dreaming about the frozen head waiting for him at home.)

BTW, time for lunch!

I'm a big fan of New, and X-Statix and Ultimate are worth trying. Note that there are lots of reprints available cheaply in the Essential series.

however, I keep recommending it and no one else ever seems to take to it, so it might be a special DV oriented comic.

I also like Y-The Last Man (all males bar one man and his monkey are killed in a mysterious plague), the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the second series RoXoR), and others.

???????? "Justice League International" ruled, what's da revival all about?

WE WANT G'NORT!

the whole X-book explosion was a big part of what drove me away from comics. The stories became (even for comics) too convoluted and silly and the X-books exemplified that to a T. When i picked 'em up after only a coupl eof years i Had to figger out Sinister (stopped when he started) Stryfe, cable, Gambit and more and this was only a cpl of years and these are app. part of the iconic characters now. Storm is still a freakin new x-man for me and i'm fuckin young. whappen?

Shortly after that Sentinels destroyed Genosha, wiping out 16 million mutants in one fell swoop. So much for sacrificing yourself to save mutantkind, Piotr. (That was probably the most bitterly ironic thing to happen in an X-book since they dug Jean out of the Hudson River.)

100 Bullets is the Mike Azarello book yes?

X-book bitter irony: John Byrne returning as a SCRIPTER after Claremont "killed" Magneto & left the title. (Note: this might be Morrissette irony.)

Vertigo books you should buy (in order of their goodness as deemed by me) - Y: The Last Man, 100 Bullets, Lucifer, Hellblazer, Fables

Note also that Marvel includes one-page synopses in most (if not all) of their titles so folks unable to tell the X-Men from the U-Men aren't totally lost.

gonna get really geeky here. one of the big problems i ended up having with x-men (more Marvel here) is that the whole mutant=discrimination issue gor played out way too hard. I'm as a kid reading this and getting it and also reading "avengers" or other comics where you have mutant heroes, in "avengres" where a core character is kid of Magneto and there is never any acknowledgment in either book of these complexities. (i said i was getting geeky, ok) This wholesale dismissal of everything else being written until it was time for crossovers is part of what bored me and drove me away from the x-books and hen mainstream comics.

fine, i can accept that but at the same time you have mutant heroes (like SW, Quickeilver & Beast/Hank McCoy) who are publicly known respected and loved mutants.

Some, ANY, acknowledgment of that would have been nice, esp. as X-men moved away from a 'try to change ppl's mind on mutants' perspective a 'it is a perennial state of war with humankind' outlook

Re: QS & the Scarlet Witch - they were part of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants back in "the day" (about 2ish years before they joined the Avengers), so their special situation was placed front & center from Day One. (I might've lost the plot in this discussion.)

(BTW, that frozen head in my freezer is doing just fine, thanks for asking.)

The whole X-men angst that went o thru the 80s (and i assume stil) seemed ultr-forced as these characters lives seemed to be ignoed. (and yes, i'm thinking toomuch abt comics) but any nod towrdas that, even 'they're tokens and thuis allowd' would have been better than the 'as mutants we can nevr identify ourselves, but must live in a world that hates us' plotline that ran for 20 some years

(and btw, i lived for months with a head in my freezer, v. long story)

About the only resurrection that makes sense is Jamie Maddox; the nature of his powers should make him almost impossible to kill.

Dead Xers: Changeling, Magik, Cypher, Warlock, Douglock, Colossus, White Queen (?), Kwannon, Strong Guy (?), Nate Grey, Joseph, Rusty Collins, the vast majority of the Milligan/Allred X-Force characters

Xers recently awoken from comas: Havok

Xers who have completely lost their shit: Polaris

I'm currently looking at the comics I have to pack, realizing if I give in to temptation and leave many of them behind, I'll end up looking through back issue bins for them.

I missed his FF run, and while I like Carlos Paecheo (sic?), I'm not itching to get my grubby mitts on that run any time in the near future. Tho I do miss my Claremont X-Men. NEVER sell your comics, kids, even if you're moving - it'll just hurt.

Then I had assorted used issues acquired without rhyme or reason for 2-5 cents each or so and occasional new ones similarly without rhyme reason or continuity.

Though this is idle speculation: I haven't read them.

Hey Dan what happened to MAGGOTT?? He is the only character I can remember liking from my worked-in-comic-shop days.

I was kind of hoping that knackered uncollectable old reading sets of comics would be for sale on eBay but thankfully for my conscience, time and wallet this isn't the case.

Kelly's X-Men was REALLY underrated, IMO.

Why does everyone seem to hate Rogue now? Is she dead or just not in any of the current titles?

I picked up the first issue of Snikt!, a new Wolverine mini-series done by a Japanese crew. Dialogue is pretty much non-existent, but the art is great and Wolvie is super gothed-out Vampire Hunter D style.

I've probably mentioned it before, but Grant Morrison's The Filth is the shit.

I would've gone after Snikt! too, if I was able to return these month-old tpbs at my shoppe today, just because it reminds me of Elektra & Wolverine (done by Rucka and Amano -- gorgeous).

Chris Claremont lost the thread some time ago and has yet to find it again. Martin's convention story about him is all i can think of when i hear his name these days.

I thought the X-Men movies were okay, but the second one suffered from some major structural issues (which bothered me more than the ones in The Other Big Action Movie Out Now). Too bad, as i thought it could've been a whole lot better for just a few changes.

The current Catwoman series by Ed Brubaker is worth looking into, particularly the issues illustrated by Cameron Stewart. I'd never have given it a second thought, but was browbeaten into reading it. Haven't regretted it.

The Goon by Eric Powell is GRATE. Fans of Hellboy in particular should check it out. It's good to see that he's gotten what appears to be a pretty good publishing deal with Dark Horse.

Batman-related titles worth a damn: Gotham Central (featuring arcs by Rucka AND Brubaker), Catwoman (cf. Matt's props - Javier Pulido's fill-in art is choice in a Mazzuchelli sort of way, too), Birds of Prey (once Gail Simone & Ed Benes come on next month - opinion is based only on 3 preview pages, tho). I'm getting the main Bat title, too, but that's mostly for the Jim Lee art (& the perfectly servicable, if gimmicky, story). I would get Detective, too, but I have to eat & buy gas.

Matt is also OTM re: The Goon.

I'd say buying any superhero comic featuring Rucka, Brubaker, or Bendis as the writer is a quick & easy way to get some quality stuff. I know SOME PEOPLE (hi, Lee!) disagree w/ the Bendis props, but yeah yeah yeah.

But I thought Mr. Perry liked ICP and...oh.

It occurs to me that the only comic series, DC or Marvel, that I ever followed was Excalibur in the late eighties and early nineties for about 20 or so issues, maybe a few more. I liked Widget and Lockheed. Did anyone else?

Anyway, Nicole, fret not, just get used to a lifetime of wandering around comic cons being followed around by lonely males wishing you could dress up like Phoenix. This is of course a drastic and tumultuous change from wandering around concerts being followed around by lonely males wishing you could dress up like Britney. *flees collective wrath of all, hides*

Let me amend myself then -- I read Alias in the store the other day, and it was quite amusing, though possibly because I mostly skimmed over the heavy-handed trademark Bendis dialogue while I read it in the store.

Read in this order:

E is for Extinction
Imperial
New Worlds
Riot at Xavier's

Go! Go now, Nicole! Go forth and absorb the goodness!

The look on my face as I type is something approaching incredulity. (Heavy handed, he sez!)

Very cute, BTW, Leee.

(BTW I am mailing that mix CD I made for you two years ago on SATURDAY. Has your address changed?)

This?

This?

You may or may not have a problem with the speed and spin of the dialogue - it's unsuprisingly very Buffy.

hah! ok, I admit, I had a very brief phase of reading the x-books right about then. although my favorite story out of the whole thing by far was when Peter David finally just cut to the chase and sent the whole X-Factor team to the psychiatrist for a whole issue.

Saw the X-Men Dark Phoenix anthology in my local library and read it for the first time since I was 13. Lots of the dialogue is corny as hell, obviously, but it gave me such a rush. I never liked fantasy books so this was my Narnia or Middle Earth. I loved those guys. Kinks notwithstanding, Claremont could really create a world and he was trying to do adult (or at least "adult") emotions when few other writers were. Writing lots of interesting female characters still seems to be a challenge for some people. Plus he had a gift for pacing: Dark Phoenix and Days of Future Past are wonderful feats of storytelling, complex but easy to follow. Basically, I could have done a lot worse at 13.

Think you need to give John Byrne an awful lot of the credit for the pacing of those stories.

Of course. Good point. After reading the Avengers Skrull invasion TPB and finding it incomprehensibly disjointed, I was really struck by how smoothly the Claremont/Byrne stuff flows. A hell of a lot happens and it all makes sense.

A couple Portland writers have been doing a podcast attempting to explain the Xmen:

http://www.rachelandmiles.com/xmen/

It's fairly informative. Also, a _lot_ of Claremont peccadillos somehow made it into the series

Yeah, that podcast is hella good

Yeah that whole Byrne/Claremont run, from like Arcade/Proteus til Days of Future Past, has a real great vibe to it, for lack of a better word. Doc Casino was doing a cool blog where he and a friend discussed a lot of this part of the run but it's over now. I think all the reviews of the Byrne stuff are still up. I will see if I can drum up a link.

I thought that was never finished....?

is kitty active in any x-titles atm?

Yeah, she's the mentor/professor figure to a bunch of the newer kids.

which title is that?

All-New X-Men. She may be in some of the other titles but I'm only reading the two Bendis ones, and getting tired of those.

Also, the first years of Wolverine & the Xmen, which is set at the Academy, and has Doop.

It's worth it for Doop.

http://37.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz37zsXHkZ1qbn6jwo1_500.jpg

Shakey --:Doc Casino's blog was never finished but iirc they did make it all the way through the Byrne run

Just got the the grand design compilation, it’s oversized at 11 x 17 or something and is printed in old style drab style