X-Men /Alpha Flight: The Gift 1998 (SC TPB), 96 pages.
Written by Chris Claremont. Illustrated by Paul Smith.
Inks: Bob Wiacek (and friends).
Original Colours by Glynis Wein, Bob Sharen. Letters:
Tom Orzechowski. Editors: Ann Nocenti, Denny O'Neil.
From a premise by Jim Shooter, Ann Nocenti, Denny O'Neil.
Reprints: X-Men/Alpha Flight #1 & 2 (1986 mini-series)
Rating: * * * * (out of five)
Number of readings: 3
I'm not really sure what the decisions were behind this, the first X-Men/Alpha Flight mini-series (there was a second done 12 years later in 1998). After all, the Alphans had guest-starred in the X-Men's own comic before, and there was no reason they couldn't do so again. As well, each of the original issues were double-size, 48 pagers -- with no ads! It was almost as if Chris Claremont and company wanted us to believe that they had set out to write a story so significant, so epic, that it would've trivialized it to have published it in a more conventional format. The funny thing is, they come darn close to succeeding.
The story has the X-Men (comprised of Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty Pryde, Rogue and Prof. X) and Alphans (comprised of Heather Hudson, Shaman, Puck, Northstar, Aurora, Tailsman, and Sasquatch) going to the Canadian Arctic to investigate a mysterious passenger plane crash involving former X-Man Cyclops and his then-wife Madelyne. What they find is Cyclops and the rest of the dozen passengers & crew living idyllically, the formerly normal humans endowed with miraculous powers, while Cyclops has achieved his long-cherished dream of actually controlling his deadly optic blasts. The teams can spread this gift throughout the world, granting every human super-human abilities (thus ending the never-ending bigotry the X-Men face), ending hunger, poverty -- creating a true Utopia. All thanks to the norse God Loki...
Uh, Loki? Isn't he normally a bad guy?
Sure enough, there's a catch, a downside, and that's where the trouble starts. (Though I don't want to give too much away).
It's pretty heady stuff. Not your usual super-bank robber fisticuffs, or heroes vs. The Evil Armada from Planet 5, but a conflict that is between more or less decent people, all believing that what they do is for the betterment of humanity. Chris Claremont's leisurely-paced script (he has 96 pages to work with, of course) and Paul Smith's crisp, simple art, give the thing a real elegance and lyricism.
There are some weaknesses. Despite the 96 pages, some of the characters are short-changed (Nightcrawler, in particular, only has a few lines). And when the characters are forced to choose sides, sometimes Chris Claremont doesn't really allow the characters to write themselves -- Rogue can at last touch people (her llife long dream), but has nary a qualm about rejecting the gift. Surely she should, at the very least, agonize over it, if not actually side with those who want to spread the gift. As well, when the characters face off against each other, most of the X-Men choose the "right" side, while most of the Alphans choose the "wrong", showing, I think, Chris Claremont's proprietary bias (he wrote the X-Men's own book, not Alpha Flight's).
Lapses like that, and, of course, the technical problem that the conclusion is kind pre-ordained, keep this from being truly great. But it's big, atmospheric, with some twists...and all around something definitely worth keeping an eye out for.
Unfortunately, the later 1998 mini-series, though O.K., was considerably less ambitious.
These issues are also included as part of the TPB X-Men: The Asgardian Wars.
This review refers to the story originally serialized in the first, 1986 X-Men/Alpha Flight mini-series.
Cover price:
X-Men: The Asgard War 199_ (SC TPB) 240 pages
Written by Chris Claremont. Pencils by Paul Smith, Arthur Adams. Inks by
Bob Wiacek, Terry Austin, others.
Colours: Glynis Oliver Wein, Christie
Scheele, Petra Scotese. Letters: Tom Orzechowski, others. Editor: Ann Nocenti.
Reprinting: X-Men/Alpha Flight (1st mini-series) #1-2, The New Mutants Special #1, The Uncanny X-Men Annual #9 (1985)
Rating: * * * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1 (some more)
The Asgard Wars reprints two substantial story lines involving the X-Men
and some related spin-off teams getting drawn into the machinations of Loki,
Norse God of Mischief (a frequent Thor nemesis). The first half, a story
called "The Gift", involves the X-Men, the Canadian super team, Alpha Flight,
and a party of geologists becoming stranded in the far north, and finding a
deserted city which bestows magical gifts -- gifts that aren't without a
price. It's a strong, memorable read from Chris Claremont and Paul Smith, and
one I review in greater detail here in a subsequent collection that just
reprinted it by itself.
So I'll focus this review more on the second story. Reprinting a story
originally serialized in the 64 page New Mutants Special #1 and the 48 page X-Men Annual #9, the plot has Loki, still smarting over the thwarting of his
will in "The Gift", arranging the kidnapping of Storm and the X-Men to the
mythical realm of Asgard, land of the Norse gods -- but at that point in X-
history, Storm had been deprived of her powers and was tutoring the junior
team of the New Mutants. Loki's ally, the Enchantress, not knowing one mutant
from another, kidnaps Storm and the New Mutants by accident. They New Mutants
escape from the Enchantress, but end up scattered throughout Asgard, getting
caught up with trolls, dwarves, Valkyrie, and more -- sometimes with dire
results, sometimes winning friends and allies. Eventually, the X-Men come to
rescue them (though even when the X-Men show up in the second half, it remains
an equal team up between the two groups, so that, overall, it's more of a New
Mutants saga, with the X-Men just guest stars).
Set within the realm of Asgard, the environment is a little different from
the average X-tale, which more often involves the modern world, or sci-fi
environs. Peer below the surface and they're are certain similarities between
the X-Men/Alpha Flight tale and the New Mutants/X-Men tale, in that both
revolve around the characters struggling with whether they want to give up the
things they've aquired. Although Asgard is filled with dangers, many of the
New Mutants aquire extra abilities there, and feel more at home than they do
on earth where they are constantly confronted by anti-mutant prejudice. The
various characters differing reactions, and degrees of ambivalence, to their
situation forms much of the emotional core of the story.
Arthur Adams' art is nicely detailed and effective, artfully rendering this
Viking-styled environment, and handling the unenviable task of depicting close
to a score of X-Men and New Mutants. Admittedly, Adams perhaps leans a little
too heavily on "Good Girl" art at times, tending to depict the women with
looong legs, and with clothes that tend to be cut rather low -- and high -- or
in string bikinis. All of which might not be a problem...except the whole
point of the New Mutants was they were the younger, teenaged version of the X-Men, making the salaciousness a tad inappropriate. Adams also indulges in a
little visual humour. One of the New Mutants, Warlock, is a shape shifting
cybernetic extra-terrestrial, and his bodily alterations are often amusing
background gags. While in another scene, Adams (for no particular reason)
peoples a tavern with characters evocative of Popeye, Bluto, and Olive Oil
from the Popeye comic strip.
Claremont sends the characters off on individual sequences, allowing for
plenty of room for him to indulge in his love of brooding introspection. And
with his wordy captions and thought balloons, and Adams' tiny panels, they
probably cram a lot into their pages. Although the plot itself isn't
especially complex, nor is it necessarily crammed with unexpected twists or
turns.
But it's an enjoyable enough tale, even if Claremont's character stuff can
be a bit heavy handed at times. It doesn't achieve the same grandeur as the X-Men/Alpha Flight story, but it doesn't really need to since it's paired with
it. Ultinately this collection is most recommended for the X-Men/Alpha Flight
team-up, the New Mutants/X-Men team up is certainly an agreeable read.
Cover price: ___
X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga 1986 / 2003 (SC TPB) 185 pgs.
Written by Chris Claremont. Drawn by John Byrne. Inked
by Terry Austin.
Original colours: Glynis Wein, Bob Sharen. Letters: Tom Orzechowski.
Editor: Jim Salicrup.
Reprinting: Uncanny X-Men #129-137 (1980)
Rating: * * * * * out of five
Number of readings: a few times over the years
When I think of the Dark Phoenix storyline, I think of one of the truly seminal epics in comic books. I read it in comic book form when it first came out and it certainly had a lasting impression on me, and years later was still talked about by fans in letters pages and the like.
The story had slowly been building (as a subplot) for a number of years; this TPB only collects the final 9 issues, but it still works well for the uninitiated. The story chronicles the X-Men's (made up of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Angel, Colossus and Prof. X with the Beast, Kitty Pryde and Dazzler along for a few issues here and there) battle with the sinister Hellfire Club, a seemingly respectable gentlemen's club, but with a nefarious inner circle intent on world domination. One of the inner circle, Jason Wyngarde, has been psychically seducing Jean Grey, the one time Marvel Girl whose expanded psychic powers as Phoenix has placed her on the threshold of Godhood. The club's plan is to unleash the dark side of Jean's id and have her join their club as their Black Queen.
The story is basically broken up into three trilogies. The first three issues chronicle the X-Men's initial skirmish with agents of the Hellfire Club (as well as introducing both Kitty Pryde and Dazzler to the Marvel Universe); the next as the X-Men take on the inner circle itself (in a particularly atmospheric storyline, with the X-Men and the inner circle battling it out while a perfectly innocent party of club regulars goes on above their heads); and finally, the X-Men must confront the unleashed Dark Phoenix, a turn that takes the team into space and involves the inter-galactic Shi'ar empire.
Re-reading
these issues recently, I'll admit that I'm struck by a bit of a weakness.
The theme, about "power corrupting" and Jean Grey losing herself in her
awesome abilities is common enough (the old Star Trek series did it a few
times) but here it's not altogether convincing. It's not even clear whether
Dark Phoenix is an expression of Jean's subconscious or a separate entity
possessing her. A few years later, Marvel released a one-shot "Phoenix,
the Untold Story" printing the originally intended ending of the saga,
as well as a round table interview with the creators. In that interview,
it's clear even Claremont and Byrne couldn't agree on the specifics.
But beyond that, this is one of the great comic book epics. These stories are moody, action-packed, and ripe with characterization, travelling from dingy New York discos, to the New Mexico desert, to outer space, with some eerie time "jumps" (Jean thinks she's flashing back to the life of an 18th Century ancestor) and plenty of memorable scenes. And, ultimately, poignant ones -- achingly so. Subsequent events in the X-Men may have nullified some of the story elements, but not if you remember that, at the time, the things that transpire in this epic were intended to be irrevocable.
There is darkness, too, but less so than in later storylines, where Claremont, and the X-Men, would descend too far into a lot of nihilistic brutality and story elements that seemed more Clive Barker than superhero. As well, this would be one of the last things comics legend Byrne would do before becoming a writer-artist (and inker), at which point his art would start to suffer from his overworked schedule; so this is Byrne at his peak (with Austin's smooth, shadow-strewn inking, before his style changed to a hen-scratching technique, largely devoid of atmosphere). In that sense, "The Dark Phoenix Saga" is not just a great read, but almost an end to an era. The Claremont-Byrne-Austin team helped catapult the X-Men to superstar status (leading to successful imitations like DC's The New Teen Titans) but would go their separate ways shortly after this was first published.
A final bit of trivia: The '60s British TV spy series, "The Avengers", featured an episode where Steed and Peel encounter a revived Hellfire Club which was a front for a sinister inner circle: an inner circle including a man with an artificial limb. At one point Peel dresses up in a suit reminiscent of Jean Grey's Black Queen regalia. As well, the actor who guest starred was named...Wyngarde! Apparently I'm not the only one who spotted the similarity and, according to one e-mailer, Claremont once, more or less, acknowledged the influence.
These issues were also reprinted in The Essential X-Men Volume 2.
(This is a review of the version originally serialized in Uncanny X-Men comics)
Original cover price: $12.95 CDN./$9.95 USA...reissue?: $15.95 USA
X-Men: Days of Future Past 1989 (SC TPB) 44 pages.
Written
by Chris Claremont. Drawn by John Byrne. Inks by Terry Austin.
Original Colours: Glynis Wein. Letters: Tom Orzechowski.
Editor: Louise Jones.
Reprinting: Uncanny X-Men #141 & 142
Rating: * * * * out of five
Number of readings: 4
This semi-classic story begins in the early 21st Century. North America is enslaved by the robotic Sentinels who have captured or killed all super-powered beings. The remnants of the X-Men hatch a plan to send the mind of Kate Pryde back to modern times, to occupy her younger self's body. Her task: to warn the X-Men of this nightmare future, and get them to prevent the assassination of mutant-hating senator, Robert Kelly, by the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants...an act which precipitates the re-activation of the Sentinels and brings about the future. While the modern day X-Men (comprised of Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Angel, and Prof. X) attempt to halt the killing, the future version of the team continue their sabotage against the Sentinels.
This particularly strong, if grim, X-tale nicely interweaves the two stories/timelines for an effective adventure-drama, with a good blend of character drama, mood, and action. The future scenes are especially atmospheric and memorable. Mythos-wise, it's notable as the first appearance of the New Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the introduction of this grim, possible future that would play a part in later issues, and the first appearance of the future-born Rachel Summers who, likewise, would, much later, actually become a part of the modern team for a while.
This was also the John Byrne/Terry Austin teams penultimate X-Men story. It's also available as part of Essential X-Men, Volume 2.
(This is a review of the version originally serialized in Uncanny X-Men comics)
Original cover price: __/$5.95 USA
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