Customer Reviews

Essential X-Men Vol. 4

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This tome contains Uncanny X-Men #s 162-179, plus the Annual #6--which means this collection represents when I joined the X-Men for regular thrills. Which means I missed some key stories, yes, wouldn't you say? Don't worry, though...I backtracked too, like crazy. Having acknowledged the greatness of what came before, I must say that these, here, are some of my favourite X-Stories ever. Let's face it--the Phoenix Saga was a big event in this series, but look at all the high-impact series-shaping plotlines that unfold in Essential X-Men Volume Four. It's quite stunning, really--and quite a masterful balancing act by author Chris Claremont.

Not perfect, alas. Claremont simply writes too many words, at times. Most of these mutants fall into a routine of analyzing the good and bad of their situations, their choices, their teammates' choices, the pros of the various cons, the cons of the various pros. This leads to a sameness in the way most X-Men ponder things, sorting and itemizing their angst, either in dialogue, or bloated thought-balloons ("If I choose this, I am no better than so-and-so, but if I fail to do this, I am guilty of such-and-such."; "I must do this to feel whole, but I cannot do it, or I betray whatsisname...oh dear, what shall I do? I'll mull it over for five issues...") Maybe when they were writing the Sphinx's dialogue for the superhero movie satire called Mystery Men, they were actually mocking the X-Men. I would believe it. Because almost all the X-Men come off as great philosophers, tireless ponderers of what is going on around them; it reveals the Claremont Overmind, the author resorting to one technique, too much.

The refreshing exception to this is Rogue. She's been rather a wicked villainess up til she arrives at Professor X's doorstep, pleading to be allowed a shot as a heroine--and the X-Men don't want her around. They don't trust her. And to maintain the readers' suspicions that Rogue may be pulling a trick, planning a betrayal as some kind of Brotherhood of Evil Mutants mole, Claremont is forced to keep us out of her head. We have to judge her by her actions, by her choices as they are made. This makes Rogue a delightful anomaly amongst all the chatty-mutant-Cathies infesting this team; she's an instant hit, as far as I'm concerned, precisely because of this subtle distinction; we don't see her mulling her morality too much. She just...does. She just...springs in to action. Slowly proving that she is there to stay, with the quiet determination to battle the distrust and cruel comments of her new teammates, as well as their foes, as they come charging over the horizon. And, incidentally, Rogue never looked sexier than when she was drawn by Paul Smith (Rogue, you had me at "Hello. Anybody home. Please don't kill me, Wolverine.".)

I guess, to be fair, there's a lot for the X-Men to ponder in these stories. Will Cyclops fly into space with his father, or stay and marry a woman who may be the greatest threat to the universe, reborn? Will Storm handle recent trauma, in space and in the series, well enough to retain her gentle essence? How does Wolverine cope with rejection by the love of his life? Is Kitty Pryde really to be demoted from X-Man down to the wimpy New Mutants? Why won't Charles Xavier's mind allow his legs to walk again? Okay, all this does require some deep thought while battling The Brood, Dracula, The Brotherhood of Evil You-Knows, the Morlocks (a couple times), Viper and Silver Samurai, a hidden villain who doesn't quite pull the grand-illusionist fake-out that Mysterio pulled on Spidey in his Amazing Comic (#'s 193-200) (but as master manipulator villain-types go, this guy is still pretty good), and a giant squid (the weakest villain of the bunch, this squid, and probably killed off by Scourge not long after, alongside the Grinder, the Pickler, and Mister Fish. But I digress.)

Final decision, after pondering and mulling like a Claremont character: I love these stories. I love Paul Smith drawing Rogue, even just for a little while. And if the X-Men think too much, well, at least they distinguish themselves, collectively as a team with a conscience. Thankfully, there are also a lot of terrific fights.

Do not be fooled or dismayed by other reviews - this is A-list comic book gold, this Essential X-Men vol.4. If you are reading these for "story" content, you are missing half the reason for the X-Men's overwhelming popularity since the early 80's - THE ART! Simply put, this collects one of the most beautifully delineated story arcs in the series, the Paul Smith/Bob Wiacek run (other notable runs include the Byrne/Austin, the Silvestri/Green, and the Lee/Williams). Simply put, the team has seldom looked better, and asthetically, I'd rank Smith's rendition of Wolverine above that of Joltin' Johnny Byrne - you heard me. And Kitty Pryde looks perfect. Not to be overlooked, this volume also opens up with one of the best Cockrum issues, a Wolvie solo story involving the Brood.
Don't kid yourself - this book is a required element of any once-or-future X-Fan's collection, although you must be warned - the Morlocks are introduced in this volume. If you are familiar with them, then you know what I mean, and if not, well, it makes for some painful reading, but with Smith on the pictures, it sure is some pretty stuff to look at.

i disagree w/ the other reviewer. yeah, the series started to lose steam, but this book included the brood war saga (in which the x-men get eggs implanted inside them) which introduces binary and which was quite good, and the first real storyline w/ the morlocks, inc. storm's duel with callisto. the book includes the the issues in the tpb "from the ashes" which involve "the return of the dark phoenix". also, rogue joins the xmen (whoo!), madelyne pryor and the new mutants make their debut, and the xmen go to japan for wolvie's aborted wedding. all in all, pretty essential reading.

Of all the Marvel superhero characters, the X-men have remained my favorites since I read the original issues when they first came out. Each character has a specific power and they all have unique, complex and at times disturbed personalities. That tradition extended into the 1980's with their traits modernized along with the addition and replacement of the characters.
Despite their superhuman powers, the X-men are subject to the problems of humans, they love and lose, feel anger and are the recipients of hatred. Despite all this, they spend a great deal of their time saving humanity from the power of other super beings with the goal of defeating or destroying the X-men. Even Charles Xavier exhibits the emotions of a love lost, where his woman is controlled by her destiny and must return to another star system to fight for her people. Professor X has no choice but to stay on Earth and guide mutants to a life of service.
Issues #162-179 and annual #6 appear in this collection and while there is some loss of quality due to it being printed in black and white, that effect is minimized due to the outstanding dialog. Human feelings are as much a part of their lives as their powers and that is expressed in what they say.

This volume contains great stories like the attack of the brood, Rogue joining the X men along with how they have to decide if they can trust her or not and the transformation of Storm. Which is both incredibly awesome and slightly cheesy at the same time. Also I loved the fact that a certain X villain returned briefly for a few issues. (I'll give you a hint he was in the Dark Phoenix Saga) along with the creation of Madeline Pryor (I was absolutely shocked by what was revealed about her later but that doesn't come into play for a long time) The only problem that I have with this volume is the art. Most of the art for these stories just seem to be way too darkly colored. Giving it a very unique look, but I liked it better in the last volume.

Nasty alien monsters, Storm and the Morlocks, Cyclops solo, Wolverine in Japan. The legend continues. Some of the best X-Men stories are set in space, and you could I suppose view the whole thing as a form of space opera. That being said, when Wolverine and/or one or two of the others venture into Japan those are usually very good, as well. No different here.

This book is a reprint of the orginal X-Men comics (or as they are now refered to as Uncanny X-Men) It publishes X-Men 162 - 179 and Annual. Included is the introduction to Rogue. A good book if you are looking for X-Men history.

Ok, ok, I should say comic book junkie, because that's what they were called when I first started reading them some decades ago. This whole series of Essential X-men books are a fun read unless you get bogged down in details. I never did, I just enjoyed reading them. This is a great book. Enjoy

Most of the stories/art in this book were pretty good, but not wonderful. The Brood story (actually, the end of the Brood story arc, which began in Essential X-Men 3 evidently) was pretty good. The artist, or artists, were talented, the story was pretty intelligent. THe only real problem was that it stated that Carol Danvers was implanted with a Broodqueen embryo, when there was no point in the story when that could have happened. But other than that, the story was good, and it hung together okay. Most of the stories were at about this level. Some had better art than others, and soem had fairly lame plots while others were pretty clever, and one of them was obviosuly the latest in a VERY long storyline which tended more to tragic romance than good sense on the parts of hte lovers, Mariko Yashida and Wolverine. As I said, fun, but not super.
There were two exceptions. First, the X-Men Annual 7 was well and truly abysmal. It was a crazy story revovling around the antics of someone called the Impossible Man, who presumably had been introduced before. It is full of cross-referances to Avengers, someone called Nick Fury who you are evidently supposed to know pretty well. This may have been nice for old hands, but it left me confused. Also, and this is the worst part, the artist had a nasty habit of making people's heads look like potatoes. I am serious. Lumpy potatoes.
The other exception was the graphic novel "God Loves, Man Kills." That one was stellar. The art suffered a LOT from being in greyscale rather than color, but it was still gorgeous. It had one of hte smartest plots, too. THe story- involving a televangelist who believes mutants are demonic- is intelligent and, though the good-and-evil is pretty clear-cut, the moral dilemnas the heroes face are real, and so is the realization taht they have to face this foe differently tahn they can face physical attack. Cyclops' confrontation speech could have been way better, but Ariel's (Kitty Pryde's) verbal defence of Nightcrawler was wonderful.
So, although there are several dubious story arcs in here, I'd say it's worht reading. Better yet, just get "God Loves, Man Kills" in color, and read the rest of it in a library if you're interested.

The reviwer who says that the X-Men had lost its luster at this point is plain wrong. This volume contains the run drawn by the amazing Paul Smith (Golden Age, Leave It To Chance) and is as good as any other great run on this title. The character development and plots in this volume are Claremont at his best.