Dawn of X – Mini Reviews!

Note: Reviews are in order that I read them, not recommended reading of the Dawn of X titles ( a combination of the fact that the order isn’t in Marvel Unlimited for some reason; I’m biased towards Kate Pryde and wanted to read her stuff first; I am lazy and unable to read 6 different titles at once.)

X-Men: Marauders
by Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli, Michele Bandini, Lucas Werneck
collects Marauders #1-6
This is my first Dawn of X book since HOX/POX, and it’s out of order but I don’t care – Kate Pryde’s the lead and that means it’s the top of my pile. This is a fun romp that makes Kate the captain of the Marauders, keeping the shipping lanes open for Hellfire Club and rescuing mutants from hostile countries (though why she can’t get into Krakoa is convoluted and not explained – hopefully a setup for Hickman’s long game). This Kate is a bit rough around the edges, more drunk and tattooed, but frankly I love it. She’s joined by some favorites including Iceman, Storm, and a hilarious OG Pyro. I don’t care much for Sebastian Shaw, the art is run of the mill and the page-long prose excerpts are annoying AF…but I’m enjoying this. (And good thing I know spoilers for the end, otherwise I’d be writing a very different review.)

X-Men: Marauders, vol 2
by Gerry Duggan, Stefano Caselli, Matteo Lolli, Edgar Delgado
collects Marauders #7-12
** spoilers** Loved binge reading this after finishing Marauders volume 1. Five stars for Duggan’s perfect depiction of Kate and Kurt’s relationship, and the way he weaved in some great Jewish symbolism (the number 18) and that Kurt recognized it and also gave Kate back her Star of David, and thank God finally made her queer into canon. Some emotional beats were off, sorry, why would Kate be cremated if she’s Jewish (assuming she’s more traditional even though some progressive Jews are cremated)? Didn’t Kate deserve Xavier’s eulogy in-comic, because we know it would be resolved in the next issue? But I’ll overlook it for how significant this arc is for Kate’s character after decades of queer baiting, it’s about goddamn time. I wish it had happened with Rachel Summers, but we have time, don’t we? Caselli’s art is phenomenal. Lolli’s was a bit disappointing in the last issue, but I think he made Kate resemble her earliest look on purpose after she was resurrected.

X-Men
by Jonathan Hickman, Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan, RB Silva
collects X-Men #1-6
Not as much fun as Marauders but still great, even if a little disjointed. “Table setting” doesn’t do this volume justice – Hickman is basically setting up entire banquets in each issue. I’m sure the payoff will be great but at times it feels like a little much to keep in the air all at once. While a few concepts were confusing (the Vault), the fourth issue was a fascinating study into Magneto and Xavier’s evolved philosophies. I also still have a love-hate relationship with the prose pages – sometimes it provides eerie foreshadowing (#5) or amusement (the menu in #4) and other times it feels clunky…or, to continue extending the metaphor, table setting in another room altogether. The art is also great. I loved Silva & Gracia’s art in issue five with the Vault. Yu & Alanguilan’s work feels like classic X-Men but it’s a bit too rough for me.

X-Men: Excalibur
by Tini Howard, Marcus To, Erick Arciniega, VC Cory Petit
collects X-Men Excalibur #1-6
I thought this was a lot of fun, even though Marvel’s magical corner of the universe is unfamiliar to me – I always associated Morgan Le Fey with Etrigan and Zatanna (mostly thanks to the DCAU). The new Excalibur team is a fun group and Apocalypse continues to be an interesting wildcard compared to some of the other mutant villains like Shaw. I’m happy to see Rogue and Gambit’s story continue as a married couple post their disappointing solo series, even though Rogue spent most of this arc as Snow White. And while I’m not familiar with the Braddock twins their relationship as siblings feels unique and Betsy is such a solid character. Marcus To’s art is just phenomenal and his art along with Arciniega and Petit created a strong fantasy and magic aura.

New Mutants
by Jonathan Hickman & Rod Reis
collects New Mutants (2019) #1-2, 5, 7
Hickman and Reis’ New Mutants arc was honestly way better than I expected it to be, because I usually don’t associate Hickman’s writing with upbeat, humorous, 20’s superheroes fare – and yet he completely pulls it off. I’m not familiar with a lot of these characters (I haven’t read much New Mutants) but loved getting to know them during their space romp gone sideways, and Roberto da Costa is a hilarious, self centered lead with excellent recaps. I think the writer is a bit in love with him too however, and I would have liked to see more Magick and Mirage.

Reis’ art is extraordinary, and I love the funky colors and multimedia feel to his work. But his style is so work intensive that they needed to include a completely separate arc (at least I assume that’s what happened) for issues 3, 4 and 6. This arc isn’t terrible, but it also isn’t great, and it completely throws off the pacing. (Reviewing this arc separately.) This only happened to me because I read on Marvel Unlimited; the collected editions separate the arcs out. If you’re in the same boat as me, I would highly recommend reading the arcs separately. It also meant some of the main arc needed to be truncated – and while the recaps are funny, it also covers ground that clearly would have been those missing issues.

New Mutants is a great first volume, but it would have been a home run if every issue was dedicated to the main arc.

New Mutants
by Ed Brisson, Flaviano, Marco Failla, Carlos Lopez
collects New Mutants (2019) #3-4, 6, 8-12

Man, Brisson’s New Mutants is a completely different turn from Hickman. It’s darker and way more violent. The first arc took a violent turn that surprised me, followed by a new mission to Russia (with heroes from both missions), where a new mutant’s nightmares are creating a new reality. The final, shorter arc involves the heroes tracking down the creators of a website doxxing mutants, whose actions have led to violence and murders – while a good tie in to current events, and certainly (sadly) a realistic development post-Krakoa, it was still a bit depressing. (Also depressing: their HQ is in my hometown.)
The stories themselves aren’t bad, and I really like the cast and how diverse they are, but it’s certainly a 180 from Hickman’s tone. Also a gaffe I rarely see in comics – a line of dialogue is accidentally repeated on the same page. Flaviano, Failla and Lopez’s art was fine but nothing to write home about. Finally, I loved the development for Glob most of all – what a great character. He should just be in everything.

X-Men Days of Future Past [comic book]

creators: Chris Claremont & John Byrne
publisher: Marvel Comics
original release date: 1981

As the newest film of the X-Men franchise hits theaters, it seems only appropriate to take a look at its origin comic–though after all the creative license, it seems that the name is its biggest similarity.

I vaguely remember reading this story years ago, and I thought Days of Future Past was an entire story arc. Instead, it’s just two issues (Uncanny X-Men #141-142) and the rest of the trade consists of surrounding Uncanny issues. In a dystopian 2013 (ha), the world is overrun by the massive robotic Sentinels; they’ve carried out mutant genocide as well as those humans carrying mutant genes. One of the few survivors of the X-Men, Kitty (now Kate) Pryde sends her mind back in time (with the help of another surviving mutant) to 1980, when she first arrived on the team, to stop the Mutant Brotherhood’s assassination of Senator Kelly (does that name sound familiar?) that started it all.

First off, this is 80’s Chris Claremont, and for anyone who’s read his stuff before, you know what to expect: lots of exposition to the point that characters basically think out everything they do, speaking with cheesy and flowery dialogue. Many will knock the entire comic for this reason, but give him a break–it was the 80’s, nearly all comic book writers used this style, and Claremont is responsible for some of the greatest X-Men stories of all time, creating Kitty, and giving Magneto his Holocaust backstory. Even so, I found myself skimming over large paragraphs and rolling my eyes at many a sentence.

Unfortunately, this exposition is what really holds back the story. Had Claremont really stayed true to the adage “show, don’t tell,” he could have easily fleshed out the terror of the Sentinel future, the fate of both deceased and surviving X-Men, and Kate’s journey to the past, in which she perhaps encounters more obstacles than simply telling the X-Men of the future, who confirm it when Xavier reads her mind. It would have become a fuller, more gripping story that made more of an impact on Kitty and the team. Instead it feels more like a one shot that quickly returns to the status quo.

That being said, Days of Future Past takes a much darker turn from the campy nature of most other 80’s Claremont stories, which was a nice and appropriate change. Claremont blatantly reveals those who have died, and we graphically witness those who do die protecting an unconscious Kate in the future. Moreover, she and Peter have married (mirroring Kitty’s burgeoning crush on him in present day), but their children were killed. Also one of the characters mentions towards the end that if Kitty changes the past, she might only create an “alternate timeline” instead of changing the future–and the comic never reveals which happens. On the whole, we don’t spend enough time in this dark future to really become invested in changing the past. Moreover, Rachel, who can send others back in time, seems only a convenient add-on to get Kate to the past; the 80’s were filled with conveniences and easy outs that don’t hold up so well thirty years later.

One might express surprise that Kitty is the main character in DoFP, especially those who know that Wolverine holds the time traveling honor in the film. It seems that Kitty quickly became a darling character for Claremont (sort of like Wesley Crusher, but not as annoying), and the surrounding issues in the trade are usually about the spunky 13 year old simultaneously getting to know the team, and conveniently saving the day. On the whole, Kitty’s exposition is mostly about thinking her emotions, but rarely showing them; she does not really display wisdom and courage, perhaps because it does not take much convincing from the team. It would have been interesting if her plan was to be in touch with Magneto (on their side in the future), to convince Mystique to stop the assassination, similar to the film–a plan that many of her teammates would strongly disagree with. This was a fascinating way to give Kitty more depth and character development at this early stage but doesn’t quite succeed.

Moviegoers who have seen the new film but not the comic will probably be surprised to know that Kitty is the main character, not Wolverine–Mary Sue’s excellent article describes how this change likely occurred, but sadly a lot of it comes down to apologetics and Hollywood sexism. But the real shame is this: in Astonishing X-Men, the cure storyline that became part of X3, Kitty is also a central protagonist, but her role was greatly diminished. Even with Ellen Page’s skyrocketing fame it is unlikely we will ever see her in a starring role as Kitty. Additionally, the casual superhero fans with whom I saw the movie now think that Kitty’s power is time travel, which it is not. While I appreciate that they wanted to keep her involved as an homage to this original story, they not only warped her character to do so, but also had her sitting in a chair for the entire movie. (And anyone who’s watched the X-Men films knows that creative licensing goes a long, long way in this franchise.)

Ellen Page, Hugh Jackman and director Bryan Singer on the set of X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Anyway, the rest of the trade paperback are pretty useless–because DOFP was only two issues Marvel decided to fill this trade with surrounding issues, which shows us Kitty’s beginnings on the team but on the whole seem rather useless. The first issue is a largely explanatory update on the X-Men from their inception to Jean Grey’s death; nightcrawler is taken through Hell as imagined by Dante’s Inferno, which sounds great but is painfully boring, aside from a Dr Strange cameo; and a Christmas issue that features an Alien-like enemy and lots of Kitty Pryde thinking.

So, is DOFP anything like the film? Aside from the skeleton storyline, not much. Does it have all the aggravating elements of an 80’s comic book arc? Absolutely. Is it worth reading? If you’re curious about the origins of the film’s premise and looking to get to know Kitty Pride a bit better, give it a go–but only these issues are worth it. 

 

Magneto #1

creators: Cullen Bunn & Gabriel Walta
released: March 2014
publisher: Marvel

Magneto has a 50+ year history, and is one of the most complex characters in superhero history; his justifiable radicalism, his unrelenting zeal for justice, and his willingness to stop at nothing to get it, was unheard of before Erik Lensherr came along.

The X-Men’s oldest enemy debuts in his own series–but it’s clear from this first issue from Bunn and Walta that Mags is keeping a much lower profile. He drifts through crappy hotel rooms and travels in beat up cars, hunting down anti-mutant murderers. It sounds far less illustrious than his formal supervillain career–and Magneto does almost too good a job reminding us of that–but it’s who he is at his core.

In the 80’s, Chris Claremont, a seminal X-Men author who gave Magneto his Holocaust backstory, wrote a very powerful story revealing that Magneto hunted down Nazis for Israel after he survived Auschwitz. It isn’t equal by any means, but this issue sees Magneto returning to this vengeance-filled vigilante roots in spades–just in our current time, and against anti-mutant criminals. Of course, by the end of Magneto #1, we see that Magneto’s plan is not played out quite like he expected…

From Classic X-Men #19, March 1988; by Chris Claremont and John Bolton.

That being said, the story we get here is quite slow, pretty wordy, not necessarily full of exposition but still, quite consumed with Magneto’s thoughts. The first three-quarters of the story feels like buildup for the last few pages of action, and even then, there is no real opposition against Magneto in the first place. Surely this will speed up in later issues–but if Magneto has chosen to avoid the X-Men and Shield and pursue this more humble form of justice (if you want to call it that), he will have to convince us that it’s worth reading along for, rather than constantly reminding us of his more lucrative and flashy enterprises.

During the first few pages, Mags seemed a little too stocky for my taste–reminded me a bit too much of Vin Diesel (though I am a fan of his)–but he seemed more proportional in later panels. The color palette is rather bland, the pencils sketchy and undefined–perhaps to mirror Magneto’s current venture. Regardless it still pulled me in, and almost seems to inhabit the same kind of world as Fraction and Aja’s Hawkeye — solitary, low key, but still deeply appealing. 

Certain panels are quite graphic, usually the result of Magneto’s handiwork–but then again, it is not so surprising that a man of his unquestionable zeal along with a flair for the dramatic, would do anything less. I appreciate that while we might agree with Magneto’s logic and ideals, his extremism could very well make one squeamish. Like Wolverine, that is the nature of an antihero.

Magneto is my favorite comic book character… but I can’t get my hopes up just yet. Looking forward to the second issue.