X-Men

Where to Start Reading X-Men Comic Books (Right Now!)

You like the X-Men, but when you walk into a comic book store or log into your favorite comics app you have no idea what to pick up. Or, you picked something up and were hopelessly lost. Maybe you don’t even know where to begin!

Uncanny X-Men #534.1 unlettered promo cover

Don’t worry – I’m here to help!

While you can always jump in with any issue or collected edition, there are some jumping-on points in X-Men comics that are better than others – and this page lists them all! If you’re looking for a more chronological review of potential starting points, check out my Instant X-Pert article.

Pick a current title that sounds interesting and then pick up the most current starting point, or start from a past point if you’d like to dig a little deeper. [Read more…] about Where to Start Reading X-Men Comic Books (Right Now!)

x-rated opinions (or, it’s offensive no matter how nicely you say it)

October 14, 2011 by krisis

An over-sized hard-cover collecting every single issue of X-Statix, including all of the same sex kissing, is out next month – and Amazon has it available to pre-order for 40% off!

I readily admit that I completely take for granted living within a gossamer soap bubble of acceptance floating in the midst of a hugely liberal city. In any given week I never once interact with a person who is any less than totally accepting of people of all races, beliefs, and sexual identities.

Unfortunately, the internet is a little less accepting, despite my attempts to maintain my bubble of open-mindedness.

For example: I regularly visit a number of X-Men and Marvel forums to answers questions and promote my Guide to Collecting X-Men. Last night, someone asked if a particular upcoming omnibus of X-Statix comics would be appropriate for his children.

Totally fair question, right?

Except, that’s not exactly the question he actually asked. What he asked was this:

I was trying to get some info on what it’s about and read there are some overtly homosexual characters and themes, is this true? I just want to make sure if the themes are adult in nature that my young children don’t pick up the book off my shelves expecting simple heroics and see two same sex individuals kissing.

My intention is not to offend anyone but to educate myself.

There are so many things wrong with that message board post that for about five minutes I simply could not compute. My brain locked up like a computer aimed at a website full of animated gifs of from Maury Povich.

I cannot possibly cosign this statement any more.

First, and most obvious – why does it matter? To play off a recent image doing the rounds on social networks, how is gay kissing any different than straight kissing? Or, since we’re talking about a comic book, the potentially confusing shapeshifter kissing or alien kissing, and the occasional robot kissing?

Answer: It’s not. It’s just kissing. Either kissing is appropriate for your kids, or it isn’t. Either it’s appropriate in public or it isn’t. Either it’s appropriate on a plane or it’s not. “Gay” shouldn’t enter into the equation.

Second, there is the careful defusal at the end of the question. You see, it’s not offensive because they are using very polite terms about their bigotry. They simply want to educate themselves on how to promote bigotry.

That’s totally inoffensive, right? And bullying doesn’t hurt anyone unless they choose to feel hurt, right?

What if he had said “two Mexicans kissing” or “two people of different races kissing”? Or “a woman in a leadership position over men”? Or “a person with a disability doing simple heroics next to a able-bodied superhero”?

It’s all bigotry, no matter how nicely you phrase it.

X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 9/13 Edition

September 13, 2011 by krisis

Marvel has just a handful of X-Men books out in this week’s collected editions, but only one you might want to pick up. Read on for a capsule review, plus the skinny on all of Marvel’s other new collected editions out this week.

If you’re looking for more X-info, head over to my Definitive Guide to Collecting X-Men Graphic Novels. Or, for a more basic approach, my Intro to X-Men (on a budget).

Uncanny X-Men: Breaking Point TPB
Collects Uncanny X-Men #534.1& 535-539.

CK Says: Consider it. Kieron Gillen takes over Uncanny full-time and quickly solidifies his A-team as Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magneto, Namor, Kitty, and Colossus and uses them to delightful effect. The .1 issue is a one-off anti-terrorist adventure intercut with Magneto’s meeting with a public relations expert trying to downplay his own terrorist history.

The Breaking Point storyline plays out a dangling plot from Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men, but it gets a little tiresome. #539 is a Wolverine and Hope one-shot, which maybe features the first likeable take on Hope we’ve seen so far. On the whole this collection is good-not-great, but it’s as enjoyable as Uncanny has been in a long while.

(Uncanny X-Men always releases direct-to-TPB except for events and crossovers.)

xXx

Keep reading for the list of other collection editions out from Marvel this week, plus a few of their later add to last week’s list that missed the cut for my recap. [Read more…] about X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 9/13 Edition

X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 9/6 Edition (plus June 2011)

September 6, 2011 by krisis

Being the Amazon addict that I am, I love it when a package arrives every week … which means I’ll be crying myself to sleep every night this week, because Marvel is not releasing any new X-Collections! Totally lame.

What’s a rabid X-Fan to do? Well, for one, surf my Guide to Collecting X-Men to find an older X-Men collection you’ve missed out on. Not only that; I’m taking this down week to recap the collections from June, which was absolutely packed with juicy X-books to buy!

Also, see below for the paltry three books Marvel has out this week, plus the massive list of their June collections.

June Collection of the Month, Hardcover:
Wolverine and Jubilee: Curse of the Mutants Hardcover
Collects Wolverine & Jubilee #1-4 & Jubilee’s first appearance in Uncanny X-Men #244.

CK Says: Buy it! Last September “Curse of the Mutants” put fan-fav X-sidekick Jubilee through the wringer, but didn’t really deal with the ramifications of the big change in her life. This series does just that with a creepy-yet-comedic mystery exploring Jubilee’s new outlook on the world. Writer Kathryn Immonen strikes the best tone on Wolverine/Jubilee interplay since the 90s. I also love her version of Rockslide’s charming hero-worship and crush on the pair, respectively.

While the mystery gets a bit fuzzy in the middle, by that point you’re hooked by Immonen’s writing and Phil Noto’s crisp, Adam Hughes esque artwork – especially the specific, expressive facial features. With Jubilee playing a leading role in this fall’s X-Men re-launch, this is better required reading than the “Curse” schlock that came before it. (Also available for pre-order as a TPB)

xXx

June Collection of the Month, TPB:
X-Men: Second Coming
Collects Second Coming: Prepare, Second Coming #1-2, Uncanny X-Men #523-525; New Mutants #12-14, X-Men Legacy #235-237, X-Force #26-28.

CK Says: Buy it! While I was initially a little disappointed with the “Second Coming” crossover, there is no denying that it is the most explosive X-Men event of all time, packed with universe-altering developments. The editorial team has worked out the minor pacing issues from Messiah Complex, and here they effectively intercut between multiple fronts to thrilling effect. If you are a major fan of Rogue, Nightcrawler, Cable, or Hope, all get major panel-time here. (Still available from resellers at reasonable prices as a hardcover – which I’d recommend even more)

xXx

What other collections were out in June that I consider Must-Buys? And, which two lonely TPBs merited a skip? Keep reading to find out. [Read more…] about X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 9/6 Edition (plus June 2011)

X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 8/30 Edition

August 30, 2011 by krisis

Marvel Comics is the purveyor of a mighty list of comic book heroes, including my favorites – The X-Men.

If you aren’t the comic-collecting type you might think your consumption of said heroes are limited to every kind of media but print. Not so! Marvel releases collected editions of almost every one of their newly released issues. These handy tomes make it easy to keep up with comics without being a issue-by-issue collector.

It’s a big week for X-collections, with my favorite X-book so far this year out in paperback! Plus, an overview of Marvel’s other new books for the week.

If this list isn’t enough to satisfy you, catch up on every X-Men book collection ever in my Definitive Guide to Collection X-Men in Graphic Novels, which address the collection(s) of every X-issue ever printed. Also, if you’re new to this whole comics racket, see my recent Intro to X-Men (on a budget) post.

xXx

Collection of the Week:
Uncanny X-Force: The Apocalypse Solution TPB
Collects Uncanny X-Force #1-4 and material from Wolverine: The Road to Hell.

CK Says: Buy it! If you like X-Men and know who any one of Wolverine, Psylocke, Deadpool, or Fantomax are from other media, check out this book! It’s the best X-Men has been in the last two years. I read it three times consecutively when it first arrived in hardcover earlier this year.

New-to-X writer Rick Remender not only nails Wolverine and Fantomax and has a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of X-history, but writes the best Psylocke of all time. Seriously: ever. Meanwhile, artist Jerome Opena contributes some of the most lush interiors any X-book has seen in some time, with vivid, painterly colors.

The plot? Wolverine puts together a top-secret kill-squad to deal with the return of major villain Apocalypse. The team has to go through his deadly horseman to confront him, and they’re in for a surprise when they do – one that will cause them to rethink joining the team. (Available for just a few dollars more in hardcover)

xXx

There are three more X-books out this week, but you should avoid one of them like the Legacy Virus? Which one? [Read more…] about X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 8/30 Edition