X-Men (Team-Ups)

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)

* * * * (out of five)

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 life 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 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.

X-Men & The New Teen Titans: Apokolips...Now! 1982, 64 pages.
(Technically, its official title is: Marvel and DC presents, featuring The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans...but that's pretty wordy)

Written by ChrisClaremont. Illustrated by Walt Simonson. Inks by Terry Austin.
Colours: Glynis Wein. Letters: Tom Orzechowski. Edited by Louise Jones (and Len Wein)

* * * (out of five)

This probably doesn't count as a graphic novel. Graphic novels are supposed to have stiff spines (as opposed to the folded/stapled format of a periodical) and, like books, generally they aren't supposed to appreciate much -- that is, if you come across a graphic novel that was originally published ten years ago, it still probably won't cost you any more than the cover price.

However, this was published on expensive paper, and I have come across it in the graphic novel section of comic stores, and it's been re-issued at least once. And at this point, I'm looking to include things, just to create the sense of a big, comprehensive site. And, last but not least, it's my site, and I can review what I want!

This company crossover is an entertaining, fast paced little romp, as the different teams find their separate investigations dove tail, taking them from New York to New Mexico to the end of the Universe and back again, to battle the evil cosmic baddie, Darkseid, lord of the planet Apokolips. Darkseid has nasty plans for earth, and with the help of Titans' foe, the Terminator, has conjured up a kind of doppleganger of the then-still-deceased Dark Phoenix to help him put them into effect.

The characters are reasonably in character (Chris Claremont was the regular writer on the X-Men, but had never written the New Teen Titans before) and the action and adventure clips along breathlessly. I suppose the main weakness is that, despite the resurrection of Phoenix, and the potential emotional repercussions for the X-Men, this is basically a breezy, superficial read. More pulp than profound; fairly fun while you read, but not much lingers afterward.

Interestingly, I enjoyed the Titans part of the story more than the X-Men, even though I was more of a fan of the merry mutants than the "New" Titans. Perhaps that's because company crossovers tend to be, in a way, ads for the various characters. You know, a Teen Titans fan buys it, and maybe gets turned on to the X-Men, or vice versa. As such, there's a certain generic familiarity to some of the scenes and lines.

This isn't the best company crossover I've ever read (that distinction belongs to 1981's treasury-sized Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk by Len Wein and J.L. Garcia Lopez -- not that I've read that many), and it's not necessarily a must-have, but it's certainly a good read. There was talk of a second X-Titans project, but I don't think it ever materialized.

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