Customer Reviews

40 Years of the X-Men

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First off, this isn't a game, or a movie. Its a DVD-rom that can only be viewed on a DVD capable computer.
THE GOOD
This the first 40 year run of the comic book X-men, currently titled Uncanny X-Men. It includes issues 1-461, in order by year, including Giant Size X-Men 1. It also includes all the annuals in a separate menu. These are high quality scans, all in PDF format.
THE BAD
This includes ONLY Uncanny X-Men issues. Thats all fine and dandy, until you get to the mid-80's when X-Factor and New Mutants began their runs. So when you get to major cross over events, like the Mutant Massacre, Inferno, X-tiction Agenda, X-cutioner's Song, and the minor ones inbetween, you only get the Uncanny issues. This leaves some major holes in the stories. Sure, you can go buy the TPBs of the crossovers, but then you're re-buying the Uncanny issues. All the Age of Apocalypse is missing too, along with X-franchising one shots like X-Men Prime.
THE UGLY
You'll have to play around with the viewer settings to make the pages readable on a standard screen, without making them too difficult to flip through. All pages seem to be scanned in two page spreads. And all the original ads are intact.
Overall, its nice in and of itself, I just wish something could have been done about the cross-overs. That and the general lack of knowledge about this product here on Amazon and on the net in general are probably making this a rough sell at $50.

Not only can you start from the beginning but you can see the evolution of the X-Men. Why Wolverine and Cyclops are always at each other's throat, why the original X-Men are different from the current, how Phoenix's powers emerged, how Professor X loss the use of his legs, power changes, huge plotlines and twists, etc.

Also, I own a Mac and have no problem using the DVD.

THE GOOD:
Over 485 issues with all pages and in full color. To purchase these, even in TPB format would be hundreds of dollars.

THE BAD:
No crossover issues. Plus, reading them on screen is not that much fun unless you have a laptop or portable device.

VERDICT:
The good by far outweighs the bad if you are a true X-Men fan or want to start from the beginning.

I collected X-Men back in the 70's and 80's, and always loved the original team the best. My collection is now socked safely away from children and dogs and whatnot, but I can now enjoy every issue in prestine mint wherever I find myself, even take the whole kit and kaboodle on the road. A previous reviewer was frustrated at Mac OS X not being able to detect his DVD. He may want to get a replacement disk, because I can vouch personally that the DVD runs perfectly on my Mac portable.

I echo other reviewers' comments that no other format offers you a complete collection of the Uncanny X-Men for anything remotely approaching this price. One additional benefit of having scans of the books, as opposed to trade paperback reproductions, is that you get all of the advertisements and back covers, letters pages and editorials as well. For those who might have collected these books way back when (I was an avid collector in the late 80's), this has very high nostalgia value. The one star is missing from my review because a computer screen can never compete with paper as a medium for comic books. But it's pretty awesome to be able to carry hundreds of books with you on a long flight or bus trip!

For those of you on a Mac, these are easy to read. Open an issue with Preview, then hit Shift-Apple-F to enter full-screen "slideshow" mode. With your mouse, select the Fit-To-Screen option, so that the two-page spread fills the available screen space. To flip to the next page of the book, just press the right arrow key. It's simple and not difficult at all to read.

40 years of X-men, the collector's edition has many good points and bad points.

First the bad:

It is not made clear right off the bat that it is only a collection of the Uncanny X-men, nor does it include crossovers into other marvel comics.

It is not easy to read. With two pages per screen, it is hard to just magnify and read page by page. You must consciously be moving and shifting the images around to be able to read the small print; something that Marvel did not take into consideration, I fear.

The Annuals do not say or actively show when they were published, so you have no idea where in the timeline they take place.

Now for the good,

Aside from the fact that they are scans of the comics themselves, and therefore have printing flaws, they are actually very good quality, and it is highly enjoyable to watch the evolution of the artwork as the series progresses.

From the stand-point of a new collector, anyone who has heard of and/or liked the X-men as children, this isn't a dvd to pass up. I have had it for about a month and a half now, and I can say that I am enthralled with how the characters have grown and changed throughout the 40 years in which they have been in print.

From an avid-fan of the series, I wouldn't pass this up for anything. If you have ever wanted the back issues, if only just to SEE what it was like "back in the old days," this DVD is a Must-Have.

Here's one way to customize your PDF browser so you can actually read these things. Using Adobe Reader 8. Even if you just do steps 1,2 and 5 it can really help.

1. Go to VIEW>Reading Mode
2. Go to VIEW>TOOLBARS>Hide Toolbars
3. Go to EDIT>Preferences
-Under Full Screen Setup uncheck "Fill Screen With One Page at a Time" and unceck "Current Document only"
-Under Full Screen Navigation uncheck "Left click to go forward one page; right click to go back one page" and CHECK "Show Navigation Bar"
4. Click OK
5. Go to VIE>ZOOM>Zoom Too...
6. Zooom to 150% and continue to increase your zoom untill one page fills your screen. Mine is at 190% all monitors are different.
7. Go to Full Screen Mode
>>>Finished

In Full Screen Mode you can now easily pan threw the comic one page at a time using your mouse and turn the pages using your Navigation Bar. a transition can be added to make it appear as though the pages were really turning. try it. and goodluck

This collection is a perfect for someone just getting into X-men. The comic scans themselves are in PDF format and tend to slow up the computer. The scans are very clear and zooming in is no problem. The only drawback is that the crossovers are incomplete because this collection only includes Uncanny X-men and nothing else. So major crossovers with adjectiveless x-men, x-factor, new mutants, etc are not included. Here's hoping Marvel releases DVDs of these comic titles as well.

I bought this as part of an anniversary gift for my husband. He enjoyed comics as a kid and enjoys all the movies that have been made based on comics.

Well, he loves this. He spends time each night reading the comics- he's catching up on the more recent ones before going back to the comics from the past.

Great gift for the guy who is still a kid at heart. :)

This 40 years of X-Men DVD-rom has great quality! All the Uncanny X-Men issues you dream of having since you were kid to own is here! The DVD-rom also has the early Original X-Men issues that most people don't remember or own. (Uncanny X-Men#1-#93!)

Also,You have most of Chris Claremonts 17-year run of the X-Men in this DVD-rom! ( X-Men Giant-Size#1, Uncanny X-Men #94-#277!)

I wish it also had published X-Men (2nd series)#1-#3 with writer,Chris Claremont and artist, Jim Lee. That would have made this DVD-rom more complete. It's missing those issues.

These Uncanny X-Men issues are great! Chris Claremonts finest work is here! There are some great artists who worked on this book including Neal Adams, John Byrne, Marc Silvestri, Whilce Portacio, & Jim Lee, etc.,

I highly recommend this DVD-rom! It's great!

If you're a serious fan...you probably own all of the comic books and graphic novels anyway, so don't bother. If you're a casual fan, and never had the dough as a kid to buy comics, this is your scene! I've had this collection and I'm still not through all of the comics.

Some of the details which users will need to know: 1) There are DOZENS of X-men titles, this collection includes only Uncanny X-men, so if this is your only collection, you'll find yourself wondering what happened in parallel issues which are referred to in these comics. 2) The resolution of the entire collection is incredible, regardless of monitor size. I like to hit CTRL-L, which blows the image up to wide-screen. Perfectly sized for a wide-screen laptop. 3) All original advertisements are included, which I found charming. Imagine, weight-GAIN ads for teenage female readers! 4) Images are printable, but each image contains two pages, and when printed, they include a watermark which mars the pictures (to discourage you from copying and selling the comics, I suppose). 5) The entire contents of the DVD can be copied to your hard-drive, so you don't have to constantly lug around the disc in case the impulse to read a comic hits you.

Overall, a terrific buy, not disappointed in the least.