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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Overview of the X-Men for New Fans,
By Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 100 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Ultimate X-Men (Hardcover)
Those who have been reading the X-Men for only a year or two will find this volume an inexpensive, visually-exciting way to connect into the 37 year history of the various X-Men series. For those who have been following the X-Men all along, this book will fall short of their expectations for completeness, depth, and accuracy about the various characters. The visuals are the most interesting part of the book. Marvel opened up its archives to make it possible to have a wide choice of art. You can compare the various ways the key characters were drawn over time. The design of the book is not nearly as good as the art itself. Many pages have the feeling of a scrapbook done by an 8 year old. Some images are way too small. Some sketches are included for no apparent reason. The book is also improved by many cutaways such as of Xavier's estate, Xavier's mansion, the Danger Room, and Magneto's bases. A number of maps help keep everything in proper perspective. I also enjoyed the foreword by Stan Lee in which he explained how he made his initial decisions about the sources and types of the various super-hero powers, and how the title of the series was selected. The afterword by Chris Claremont was interesting as well, but more as a perspective on his personality than on the series itself. New fans will be amazed to read that the original X-Men were a flop commercially, even though they are the top series now. The character profiles would have benefited from more development and a standard format. You can use either the Contents or the Index to locate a character you want to read up on. A book with this much color art on this quality paper in hardcover would normally cost much more. If this book had had a cover price of $55, I would have graded it as a three star effort. Because the price is so reasonable, I graded the content up one star to four star status. On the other hand, if the publishers had created this item at a $70 price point, but made it more complete, accurate, and attractive, I suspect that they would have had a runaway best seller. That opportunity remains for a future edition. In the meantime, many X-Men collectors and fans will find this edition to be a useful one to have . . . unless you already have virtually all the comic books. After renewing your friendship with the X-Men, I suggest that you think about the basic message of the series -- that differences are important, and become more valuable when combined in teams. What differences do you have which could become strengths when combined with the right team mates? What do you have to do differently to create this potential? Look out for the best interests of all!
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Ultimate Book for X-Fans!,
This review is from: X-Men: The Ultimate Guide (Third Edition) (Ultimate Guides) (Hardcover)
Ever since Giant-Sized X-Men #1 hit the stands back in 1975, the X-Men have gone on to become a comic and pop culture phenomena with no signs of slowing down. Toys, video games, TV Shows, and now three major Hollywood films have cemented the X-Men as still the reigning kings of the comic book universe. Adding to the mega-blitz of promotion is the newly revised and expanded edition of DK's X-Men, The Ultimate Guide now in its third edition, updated right through the latest feature film, "X-Men: The Last Stand".The book begins by taking a decade -by-decade look at the team including its very inauspicious start in the 1960's. Stan Lee's introduction provides some insight on how the team and name was developed but in the early days it was a rough go. The book was near cancellation throughout the 60's, bolstered only by the now legendary issues drawn by Jim Steranko and Neal Adams. Bios of the major heroes and villains are including describing their powers and histories and their changing looks throughout the years. One of the most interesting features are the diagrams of Xavier's mansion and the danger room. An entire two page spread is dedicated to the Sentinels, showing the different series' of the robotic villains. The 1970's started the X-Men boom when writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum took over the title on issue #94. But it was the new team that excited fans, made up of various ethnic groups from all over the world: Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Banshee, Sunfire, Thunderbird, etc...The X-Men craze was on! This chapter again covers all of these new heroes as well as allies such as Alpha Flight, the Imperial Guard, and the Starjammers. The 80's saw the X-Men continue to gain in popularity, becoming the best-selling comic title. Knowing they had a good thing Marvel decided more was better so this decade brought us X-Factor, The New Mutants, Alpha Flight, and Excalibur, as well as Wolverine getting his own solo title. The Ultimate Guide covers all of these spin-offs in great detail as well as even more new characters like Rogue, Mystique, Psylocke, Sabretooth, Dazzler, and Longshot. By the 1990's the X-Men excess was at an all-time high. Marvel gave fans even more new group and solo titles such as X-Force, Generation X, Cable, Bishop, Gambit, and Deadpool. The guide concludes its look at the comics with the years 2000 - 2005 with such titles as Wolverine Origin and Ultimate X-Men series. Finally the book covers the animated X-Men TV show (alas, no episode guide) and a look at all three of the feature films including pictures from X-Men: The Last Stand. While I am a long time fan, even I learned quite a few things from the book, particularly about the silver age period. It's very well-written, not the least bit fannish or self-promoting. The images in the book are fantastic and reprinted beautifully in this large, overs-sized hardcover edition. At $25 it's also a great deal, considering the book's quality. This is the Ultimate guide for any X-men fan! Reviewed by Tim Janson
26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This book about the X-Men falls short,
By
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This review is from: Ultimate X-Men (Hardcover)
This book attempts to be informative, but contains too much information that is too diffuse to be of much use to either new or older fans. There are out-and-out mistakes (for example, Magneto is Jewish (as has been demonstrated in the comics as well as the movie) not a gypsy; i.e. the alias "Erik Lehnsherr" was the name of his false gypsy identity). There are serious omissions, such as the story of Illyana Rasputin or Magik -- reduced to a few sentences that hardly describe the history of this character. Also, the book tends to present bits and pieces of information about one character in the biography or notes about another; for example, the section on Charles Xavier doesn't mention his father, or step-brother Juggernaut, but if one reads the biography of Juggernaut, one finds some of the missing pieces from the Charles Xavier biography. If a reader is using this book as a reference, it is a clumsy and imprecise reference. On the other hand, there are flashy pictures and dynamic layouts to offset the confusing editorial organization and inaccuracies. Future X-Men books should strive for a more simple, straightforward approach that accurately presents each character's most basic history, as well as give readers the spectacular art and schematics and colorful trivia.
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