19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A mixed bag, January 8, 2010
This review is from: X-Men: Mutant Massacre (Hardcover)
First, the quality of the product. Very nice oversized binding. Great dustjacket with great cover by Romita Jr and back by Alan Davis. Has some great shelf appeal, although I'm not sure why they went with military style stencils for the title.
I am old enough that I collected the individual issues that make up this collection that tells the story of the Mutant Massacre. I remember the build up and the ads that showed up in all the Marvel comics promoting the big event and although there had been some crossovers before like the Asgardian Wars, this was the first big event crossover that I really remember.
Revisiting this storyline years later... well, I guess my tastes have changed over the past 25 years (oh my God!!) but this is a mixed bag to say the least. Chris Claremont was still knocking the ball out of the park in the Uncanny X-Men and New Mutant sections, but Louise Simonson's work on X-Factor and Power Pack really brings the proceedings to a halt. The difference between Simonson and Claremont is amazing. Claremont writes like his audience is adult; Simonson writes like her readers are somewhat slow children and I always find her characterization of well known and beloved characters offputting. The issue of Daredevil featured in the crossover is when that series was at a serious low point. In the years since I read this issue I had forgotten that DD once had a supporting cast of children that were some kind of weird homage to the Little Rascals and it is as annoying now as it was then. And then there is Walt Simonson's Thor, which I had never read before this and I can soundly say, meh.
Which brings us to the art work. This collected work is like a selection of art that I hated as a kid and really hate as an adult. It ain't all bad. The first issue, X-Men 210 featured the awesome artistic stylings of John Romita Jr. and the last two issues X-Men 213 and 214 have art by Alan Davis and Barry Windor-Smith respectively. The rest is poor. You have an issue of the X-Men drawn by Brett Blevins (and John Romita Jr according the credits, but I don't see it) who makes all his characters look like caricatures of themselves. He would later go on (along with Louise Simonson) to ruin the New Mutants. We also have Sal Buscema drawing Daredevil and Thor. I realize we are discussing comic books, but this guy seems to intentionally make his stuff look "comic booky". All his characters look very square to me. He also did a VERY long run on Spectacular Spider-Man that kept me away from the book for years. We also see Walt Simonson's introduction to X-Factor. I know I am in the minority here, but I despised his work on this title. His art strips any and all emotion from the story line. Not that Louise Simonson has any real emotion in her stories, but IF she did, he would strip it out. I am amazed that Marvel didn't pull out its big guns for this event. The main thing this collection shows is how far the quality of comics has come over the past 25 years. Pick it up for nostalgic value, but that is about it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, not great, October 26, 2011
This review is from: X-Men: Mutant Massacre (Hardcover)
This was a fairly good book, but not the best X-men piece I've read. The story is an intriguing one, and very action packed. However, with all the different titles in here (Uncanny X-men, X-Factor, Power Pack, New Mutants, Thor, and Daredevil) there is a bit of overlap. The issues do not lead into each other, rather they overlap and make it repetitive.
This book tells the story of how the Morlocks were killed, and is important in the X-men continuity. I read this book due to seeing references to it in other X-men issues I recently read. It brings in many mutant characters and the Chris Claremont issues are top notch. That being said, the non-Claremont issues are lacking. The Power Pack issue was unreadable. I flipped through until I saw Morlocks or something related to the story. I also said to myself "Why did they make a comic based on the kids Thor helped in the previous issue? And why didn't they tell Thor they were the Power Pack? Oh, these are different kids, they just look pretty similar, and this has nothing to do with the previous issue."
Overall my problems with this book were:
1) Too repetitive - Leave the Morlock tunnels already! You'll get killed down there!!
2 Issues I didn't care about - How/why did Daredevil and Thor get included with an X-men title. After you read those issues you'll say "why didn't they just have (insert name of mutant you like) do that?
3) X-Factor - Are they mutant hunters, or mutant criminals, or mutant heroes? Why are they pretending to be humans who hunt mutants?! And why don't they just tell their allies the truth?! I suppose this is explained and resolved in earlier or later issues)
4 The non-Claremont issues - They just seem to be missing something compared to his issues. That being said, I am a Claremont fan and am biased towards his works.
Overall, What I liked about the book:
1 Large Volume - 12 issues packed with characters you know, and hopefully love. It was nice to read a long story and see how it played out.
2) Great story - It's an interesting story that involves many mutants, and explains what happened to the Morlocks (why they are not in current comics, or even pre-House of M comics)
3) Great Writer - Chris Claremont makes this book worth it. Even if you skip past the Daredevil and Power Pack (the Thor issues are very key to the events, you can not skip them you still get enough story/issues/action for it to be compelling.
4) Binding - This is a wonderful hardcover book. I love the hard cover books compared to the paperback. The pages are well bound and it seems well made.
5) Price - I bought it for $26.93 (from Barnes and Noble, sorry Amazon) using my membership and a coupon on top of that. At or near that price, it is a bargain (Amazon currently has it for $26.39. At the $39.99 list price, you may want to pass.
All things considered, this was a very good book and I would recommend it to any X-Men or Chris Claremont fan.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
