MARKLEY’S FEVERED BRAIN: X marks THE spot

This post is Filed Under:

Lo más destacado de la página de inicio,
Entrevistas y columnas,
Revisiones de productos

Wayne Markley

por Wayne Markley

Over the last three weeks, marvel has released three epic collections reprinting the early runs of three crucial books to the mutant mythos. all of these books collect the earliest issues, and at times the issues that lead up to the series, in the sequence they were originally published. all of these are good reads and lay down a lot of the foundation of what you see in today’s X-verse. As these collections are the beginning of the series, the creators tend to have grand visions that have mixed results. Also, as each of these three volumes are from different time frames of the marvel Universe, at times it was a bit confusing as to what happened when. overall though, I found them very enjoyable.

X aspect epic Collection: Genesis & Apocalypse

X aspect epic Collection: Genesis & Apocalypse collects Avengers #263, wonderful four #286 (which set up the storyline that launched X-Factor), and X-Factor #1-9. plus there is amazing Spider-Man #282 and Iron man annual #8 which feature X-Factor but does not necessarily tie into the main book. There are also two Phoenix stories from the long running title classic X-Men. The basic premise behind X-Factor was to bring back the original five X-Men from the 1960s as a group as close to the original fab five as possible. In doing this, they brought back Jean Gray, minus her telepathy; the Beast is de-furred and is back to being a normal human; Scott leaves his partner and family for the returning Jean, and so much more. The premise is that X-Factor, when in their non X-Men costumes, are mutant hunters and are siding with the anti-mutant hysteria. As the X-Terminators (which they are known as when in their X-Men uniforms) they try help to mutants and take them in, just as Xavier did originally for them. The stories are not the greatest as the premise is a hard sell as it seemed odd to me that Scott would just run off and leave his partner and child behind and throughout the first nine issues they are nearly an afterthought. The subplot is discussed, but it is never really explained other than he left and then his family moved and he can’t find them. nor does he seem to try to. Bob Layton wrote the first five issues of X-Factor with Louise Simonson taking over with issue six, which by the way, also introduced Apocalypse. In these early appearances you really do not see, or get much of a feel, as to who Apocalypse is, and in the beginning he seems like another incarnation of Magneto. He is just gathering a group of evil mutants (who are the good guys) to fight the X-Terminators (who are X-Men in disguise pretending to be bad guys). a lot of of the X-Factor issues are drawn by Jackson Guice, and they are competent, but nowhere as great or as polished as Guice’s later work would become. What really struck me reading this collection is the difference in the detail and style of art in the Avengers story by John Buscema and Tom Palmer and the rest of the book (Buscema and Palmer were amazing). overall this is a good read, but it is really a primer for material to come, as the later X-Factor stories, which will hopefully be in future epic collections, are much better than this material. These stories are from 1986 except for the classic X material which is from 1987 and 1990.

New Mutants epic Collection: Renewal

New Mutants epic Collection: renewal collects marvel graphic novel #4 (their first appearance), new Mutants #1-12, Uncanny X-Men #167, marvel Team-Up annual #6, Magik #1-4 and extras. all of the stories are written by Chris Claremont (with a helping hand from bill Mantlo) and art was by Bob McLeod initially, and he was later joined by Sal Buscema, Ron Frenz, John Buscema, and others. It is interesting that the first story is a Spider-Man/Fantastic four crossover from the pages of marvel Team-Up #100 (and drawn by Frank Miller) which introduces the character of Karma. This story was from 1980. then in 1982, Claremont wrote the new Mutants marvel graphic novel (volume #4 in the series) which introduced the team of the new Mutants as he brought back Karma as well as introduced Cannonball, Rahne (Wolfbane) Sinclair, Moonstar, and Sunspot. This graphic novel is generally an introduction to the characters and how they pertained to be a group. It is very similar to the original X-Men story as professor X brought them together as they were all mutants who were shunned from their homes and families. These characters came from around the world unlike the original X-Men, but the basic struggles and stories are very similar to the early X stories, although with much better art. (After Kirby left the original X-Men with issue #10 the series went through a long run of mediocre artists.) The series moves along at a quick pace with a number of guest stars in the early issues such as Spider-Man y capa y daga. También tienen que confrontar al Hellfire Club y al Silver Samurai, entre otros. Tal vez la parte más crucial de este volumen es la introducción de la hermana de Coloso, Magik, quien se convirtió en una parte importante del universo X-Men. Esta colección es una actualización divertida del concepto original y una buena lectura. Las historias reimpresas van desde 1980-1984.

Colección Epic Excalibur: la espada está dibujada

COLECCIÓN EPIC EXCALIBUR: Se dibuja la espada recolecta una gran mezcla de material, incluidos el Capitán Gran Bretaña #1 y 2, Excalibur #1-11, Excalibur Special Edition, Mojo Mayhem, Mighty World of Marvel y Marvel Comics Presents. Con esta colección es una bolsa mixta. Casi todo el arte es genial, con Alan Davis haciendo mucho. Pero también hay historias de Marshall Rogers, Art Adams y Erik Larson. Las historias son de una larga lista de creadores, demasiado larga para todas las listas aquí. La mayor parte de las historias de Excalibur están escritas por Chris Claremont, y el material de Marvel U.K. es por varias personas. En un intento por expandir la franquicia X, Marvel organizó un equipo liderado por el Capitán Gran Bretaña y su compañero, Meggan, y se les unió Nightcrawler, Kitty Pride y Rachel “Phoenix” Summers para formar una especie de un grupo X en inglés X . Realmente, la premisa era que todos se reunieron para salvar a Rachel Summers y tomar la decisión de ahorcarse. Estas son historias divertidas y, a veces, excesivamente escritas, pero el arte de Alan Davis es hermoso. El equipo se encuentra con todo tipo de malvados, como Arcade, The Crazy Gang y los poderosos X-Babies. Con los años, Excalibur ha sido reiniciado varias veces, con una membresía y un enfoque cambiante, pero nunca ha encontrado una audiencia. Esta colección es realmente algunas de las mejores encarnaciones de Excalibur, generalmente debido a los artistas que se recopilan aquí. Es una lectura entretenida que es mucho más optimista y menos angustiada que el factor X temprano o las nuevas historias mutantes, pero de nuevo también fueron menos impactantes en el X-Universe que los otros títulos. Todas las historias de Excalibur son de 1989 y las reimpresiones de las historias de Marvel U.K. son de 1977 (Capitán Gran Bretaña) y 1983 (Mighty World of Marvel) que son precursores y establecen el mundo Excalibur que estaba por venir.

Muy pronto es X-Force Epic Collection: Under the Gun, que es significativo para él, reemplazó a los nuevos mutantes y puso a Cord en la posición de liderazgo y tiene algunas de las primeras apetencias de Deadpool en el Universo Marvel. También es uno de los mejores trabajos que Rob Liefeld ha realizado (cuando se lanzó por primera vez, fue un vendedor sustancial). Al igual que con estas tres colecciones épicas anteriores, este título de Forth ayuda a construir las bases para el moderno X-Universe, tanto en los cómics como en las películas.

Marvel ha estado haciendo un esfuerzo para volver a imprimir lentamente todos estos cuentos mutantes clásicos. A veces es un poco desconcertante ya que la serie se realizó en diferentes momentos y la continuidad puede ser un poco difícil de entender. Por otro lado, estas son lecturas fascinantes que moldearon lo que es el X-verse hoy. Todos estos primeros volúmenes comienzan fuertes y a medida que la serie se realizó, la calidad no fue tan alta como lo que fueron en estos primeros volúmenes. Aún así, estos tres libros son muy recomendados como una lectura para cualquier fanático de X-Men de cualquier edad.

Esto lo envuelve para este tiempo. Me encantaría saber lo que piensas de este material clásico. Lo has leído? ¿Se sostiene? Me pueden comunicar en mfbway@aol.com o en Facebook de Wayne Markley. Todo lo que he escrito aquí es mi opinión y no refleja los pensamientos u opiniones de Westfield Comics o sus empleados. Honesto. Y finalmente, ¿qué estás leyendo que recomendarías? ¡Me gustaría saber! Como siempre…

Gracias.