Review- X-MEN: X-TINCTION AGENDA

X-MEN: X-TINCTION AGENDA (Marvel, First Hardcover Printing, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Uncanny X-Men #235-238, 270-272, New Mutants #95-97, and X-Factor #60-62 (cover dates Early October, 1988- January, 1991)

Writers: Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson

Artists: Pencilers- Jon Bogdanove, John Capanigro, Jim Lee, Rick Leonardi, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, and Guang Tap; Inkers- Terry Austin, Dan Green, Al Milgrom, Joe Rubinstein, P. Craig Russell, Art Thibert, and Scott Williams

The artwork in this book is a textbook example of everything that was wrong with 1990s mainstream comic books. Lee, Liefeld, and Silvestri's crimes against art are too numerous to name, suffice it to say that they set the medium back so far that it has only recovered in the past 5-10 years. These were the guys who got me to quit comics in late 1989/early 1990, as their work left me cold.

The writing is also pretty rough. While the concept is solid, the dialogue and third party narratives are so overwritten that this book was a chore to get through. I love the work of Claremont and Simonson, but this was not their finest hour. Things seem to go on and on and on for no good reason.

Quality '90s writing.

Now that I have gotten all of my gripes off of my chest, let's get down to business. Genosha is an island off of the coast of South Africa that has an economy and standard of living that is the envy of the world. This was a metaphor for Apartheid and the events that occurred in South Africa in the 1980s and early 1990s. Genosha has a dirty little secret, though. It has achieved all of this progress by forcing mutants into slavery by exposing them to a process that makes them into nearly mindless zombies called mutates. The problem was exposed when Wolverine, Rogue, and Madelyne Pryor were kidnapped (#235-238), resulting in X-Men intervention.

Bendis nailed it. 

Cameron Hodge was once the PR guy for X-Factor before being exposed as the head of the mutant hate group The Right. He was decapitated by Archangel (Angel) and his head was attached to a hideous robotic body by the demon N'astirh during the Inferno crossover. This brings us up to where he is now, as his spider-like magickal robot body has his human head attached to it, resulting in one of the butt-ugliest villain designs in the history of comics. Thanks '90s. Hodge was working with the Genegineer to turn the X-Men into mutates. He had part of the team kidnapped, which is where the long winded nine issue core crossover came from. Also in this crapfest Storm, who was regressed to a teenager somewhere along the way, is returned to adulthood in a way that makes about as much sense as anything else in this gobbledygook stew. Gambit and Cable are also present and totally suck ass.

Everyone was overly muscular in the '90s. Cyclops has normal human strength. Does Cyclops look like a normal human to you?

I am embarrassed to admit that this was a double dip. I had the old trade but upgraded to this book four years ago when I believed that I wanted a complete run of X-Men in collected editions. Marvel has since crapped things up (like legacy numbering and continuity) to a point where I no longer care. If none of it matters then it owning a complete run no longer matters to me and I am free to cherry pick eras to keep and collect. This era of the X-Men means a lot to 1990s kids, so add two points to my rating if you were 8-13 when these issues were originally on the stands.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.75 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is an oversized hardcover, a format that Marvel has largely abandoned. It is the same trim size as a Marvel Omnibus.

Linework and Color restoration: Very good overall, but let's face it; this is crap artwork and wouldn't look good if 4k scanning were possible.

Paper stock: Thick coated stock with a slight sheen. I wish that Marvel still used this stock as the norm for their high end hardcover collected editions.

Binding: Smyth sewn bounding, rounded casing. Book lays completely flat.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Laminated dustjacket. Faux leather casewrap with foil stamping on the front and back cover. Marvel has done away with this on all of their modern hardcovers except for the Marvel Masterworks line. 

Review- EVOLUTIONARY WAR OMNIBUS

EVOLUTIONARY WAR OMNIBUS (Marvel, First Printing, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22, Avengers Annual #17, Fantastic Four Annual #21, New Mutants Annual #4, Punisher Annual #1, Silver Surfer Annual #1, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8, Web of Spider-Man Annual #4, West Coast Avengers Annual #3, X-Factor Annual #3, and X-Men Annual #12 (cover dates Annual 1988)

Writers: Louise Simonson, Mike Baron, Steve Englehart, Tom DeFalco, David Michelinie, Steve Gerber, Gerry Conway, Walter Simonson, and Mark Gruenwald

Artists: Pencilers- Terry Shoemaker, Mark Texeira, Joe Staton, June Brigman, Mark Bagley, Kieron Dwyer, Arthur Adams, Cynthia Martin, Al Milgrom, Mark Bright, Paris Cullins, and Ron Lim; Inkers- Al Milgrom, Scott Williams, Josef Rubinstein, Bob McLeod, Mike Esposito, Joe Sinnott, Bob Wiacek, Cynthia Martin, Gerry Talaoc, Chris Ivy, Keith Williams, Mike Gustovich, Valerie Gustovich, Tony DeZuniga, and Jim Sinclair.

File this one under “Things aren't as good as they used to be...and they probably never were.” I eagerly scooped this book up when it came out, apparently oblivious to my memory of reading it when it was originally published. I hated this crossover at the time of original publication. I knew at age 15 that this was nothing more than a cash grab and a scam, refusing to buy the issues that were not a part of my regular titles. The fact that the story was incomplete unless you bought every single double-sized (and double-priced!) issue was an insult to me then and it is even more so to me now. Of course the point of comic companies is to make as much money as possible, but to insult the fans by forcing them to do stuff like this turned me off back then...much like it has today. I buy nothing that Marvel publishes today. If not for collected editions of vintage material they would see none of my money.

The main story is pretty feeble. The High Evolutionary has returned, deciding to fulfill humanity's potential by accelerating their evolution to it's maximum. This story is dragged into places where it doesn't belong. Incorporating The Punisher into this crossover was a bit of a stretch. To be honest most of these stories don't make a lot of sense, or they simply have the High Evolutionary shoe-horned in there for crossover branding purposes. The Amazing Spider-Man Annual with Speedball and Daredevil was fun, in a corny kind of way. The X-Men Annual was underwhelming, then and now. Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8 shows Gerry Conway returning to what was one of the most gaping holes in a plotline from his 1970s run: How a mere college professor could clone a human. Conway's ret-cone only serves to further muddy the waters on the clusterfuck that would soon be known as The Clone Saga a few years later.

If not for the back-up stories in each Annual which chronicled the origin of the High Evolutionary (collected together in the back of the book), I would have ranked this much, much lower. The origin story was highly entertaining, especially when the High Evolutionary was battling Baron Gregory Russoff (the ancestor of Jack Russell, a.k.a. Werewolf By Night).

 

This isn't a high point in the history of the Marvel Universe, nor is this the best work of any of the creators involved. I will still take this over what passes as Marvel Comics these days. At least everyone is acting true to character and the writers tell a story which serve the characters and not themselves. Not every comic has to wow or shock you, folks.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- While I have grown to dislike the size of most Omniboo, this book hits the 400-500 page sweet spot.

There are numerous omissions in this book. If a back-up story didn't belong as a part of the crossover then it was omitted from this book.

Linework and Color restoration: Very good overall, certainly better than the material warrants.

Paper stock: Beautiful thick coated stock with a slight sheen. I loved the paper that Marvel used in their Omniboo during this era.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, book lays completely flat from the first page to the last.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Thick lamination on the dustjacket, faux leather grain casewrap with dye foil stamping. 

Review- X-MEN: FALL OF THE MUTANTS

X-MEN: FALL OF THE MUTANTS (Marvel, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects X-Factor #18-26, Captain America #39, Daredevil #252, Fantastic Four #312, Incredible Hulk #336, 337, 340, Power Pack #35, Uncanny X-Men #220-227, and New Mutants #55-61 (cover dates July, 1987- March, 1988)

Writers: Louise Simonson, Peter David, Ann Nocenti, Mark Gruenwald, Steve Engelhart, and Chris Claremont

Artists: Pencilers- Walter Simonson, June Brigman, Todd MacFarlane, Sal Buscema, Jon Bogdanove, John Romita, Jr., Kieron Dwyer, Keith Pollard, Marc Silverstri, Kerry Gammill, and Brett Blevins; Inkers- Bob Wiaceck, Randy Emberlin, Jim Sanders III, Hilary Barta, Al Williamson, Tone DeZuniga, Joe Sinnott, Dan Green, Todd MacFarlane, and Terry Austin

When is an Omnibus not an Omnibus? When it is the Fall Of The Mutants oversized hardcover. Clocking in at over 800 pages, this beast is an Omnibus in all but name as far as I'm concerned. While past trade paperback collections only collected the three main tie-in issues of each of the X-titles (9 issues total), reading that book felt like coming in 15 minutes late to a movie. The set up had already occurred and you spent the rest of the time trying to play catch up. This book goes in the opposite direction, adding so much of the set up that the plot sometimes feels lost by the time that you get there. It basically reads best in thirds (X-Factor and assorted tie-ins, Uncanny X-Men, and New Mutants).

The only issues that I bought when they originally came out were The Uncanny X-Men and Power Pack ones, and I honestly didn't feel like I was missing anything since this crossover didn't jump across each title. In all honesty, these crossovers and the emerging new breed of artists like Marc Silverstri soured me on the hobby. I was dropping comics throughout 1989, until by late 1989 or early 1990 I was done until Marvel Masterworks sucked me back in a dozen years ago. Look at me now...

"Artwork" by Marc Silvestri. 

Silverstri's layouts and storytelling ability are clear, but his artwork just leaves me cold. Wolverine was now the leader of the team and becoming overly wordy and heroic. Psylocke was still a British telepath. This was before that racist, Jim Lee, would change her into an Asian ninja. Can you imagine if someone today changed the ethnicity of an Asian character into a Caucasian? All Hell would break loose! I enjoyed the battle with Freedom Force, the Government-sanctioned renamed New Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants. This was back when Wolverine battling Sabretooth was exciting and new. Now it is as common as a cold and would cause me to fall asleep.

This was one of those “things will never be the same again!” type crossovers, back when those were still fresh and not the boring cliche which fans suffer through one after another after another. Storm gets her powers back, The X-Men “die”, and Cypher gets killed over in The New Mutants. Oops, quarter century old spoilers. Speaking of that title, going from June Brigman's clean, beautiful artwork to Brett Blevins' super-stylized art is jarring to say the least.

This was a pleasant enough trip down memory lane, back to the old world when things seemed to make more sense. I was 13 and 14 when this crossover went down. The Uncanny X-Men were one of my favorites back then. Now they are dead to me, ruined by careless writers. This book holds up well enough today and is better than anything currently being published with a 'X' in the title.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

I wonder if the corner was cut off of the film. This looks like a patch job done using a floppy.

The OCD zone- Triple dip! I bought (some of) the original issues, the 2002 trade paperback, and now this. I can't wait to rebuy the UXM issues when the Masterworks get there. Kill me now.

Linework and Color restoration: Pretty good for the most part. There are a few spots that look iffy but not bad.

Paper stock: Wonderful coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: While this has smyth sewn binding and lays mostly flat, it seems to lay flat in “chunks”, like this book is three books sewn into one. Weird.

Hardback cover notes: Faux leather casewrap with foil die stamps.

Review- NEW MUTANTS CLASSIC VOL. 7

NEW MUTANTS CLASSIC VOL. 7 (Marvel, 2012; Softcover)

Collects New Mutants Nos. 48-54 and New Mutants Annual No. 3 (cover dates February- August, 1987)

Writer: Chris Claremont

Artists- Pencilers: Jackson Guice (48, 50), Brett Blevins (49), Kevin Nowlan (51), Rick Leonardi (52, 53), Sal Buscema (54), and Alan Davis (Annual 3); Inkers: P. Craig Russell (48), Val Mayerik (49), John Beatty (50), Kevin Nowlan (51), Dan Green (52), Terry Austin (53, 54), and Paul Neary (Annual 3)

Yet another brilliantly executed collection of stories by the definitive X-Men writer, Chris Claremont. This picks up where Volume 6 left off, with the team split up across the timestream due to Magik's teleportation disc going awry. They see two different futures: one where mutants have been nearly exterminated by the Sentinels, and the other where mutants have taken over the world, subjugating normal humans. In this future, we see an elderly Katie Power of Power Pack, who seems to have all four of her siblings' powers. I wonder if their powers reverted to her after they died, since Whitey split his powers amongst the four of them in the first place. 

All of the artwork in this book is great, with the exception of issue 51 by Kevin Nowlan. His artwork is a notch or two below the rest of the artists in this book. We get treated to yet another Annual with artwork by Alan Davis, this one starring the Impossible Man. We also get to see the climax of the Magus/ Warlock battle and a spirited contest between The New Mutants and their rivals over at the Massachusetts Academy, the Hellions. These stories are all so great. Some folks bag on Claremont's “over-writing”, to which I say fie! Claremont crams a modern trade paperback's worth of story into each issue.

The greatest thing about this title is that the Claremont has fully developed all of the characters. They just all happen to be mutants, who just happen to go on adventures and fight villains. They are teenagers finding their place in the world, with the mutant backdrop serving as an amped up metaphor for adolescence. 

The New Mutants' "graduation" outfits. Yikes. Cypher's has enough pouches on it that it would make Rob Liefeld proud.

 

This book marks the end of Chris Claremont's run on the title. I would love to see a Volume 8, as Louise Simonson takes over the writing and there is still plenty of great artwork ahead. The next batch of issues are collected in the X-Men: Fall of the Mutants OHC and new printing TPB, but there is more goodness after that.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This book smells nice.

Linework restoration rating: 4.25 out of 5. The restoration is solid throughout most of the book. There are a few rough spots here and there, but most folks won't notice them as they aren't too bad.

Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. The original color palette is faithfully maintained.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. I love this lightweight dull matte finish coated stock in softcovers. This is the same paper stock used in the softcover Masterworks.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. Glued binding is par for the course in softcovers.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 5 out of 5. I love love love the thick waxlike coating that Marvel uses on their cardstock covers.

Buy NEW MUTANTS CLASSIC VOL. 7 TP at InStockTrades!

Review- NEW MUTANTS CLASSIC VOL. 6 TPB

NEW MUTANTS CLASSIC VOL. 6 (Marvel, 2011; Softcover)

Collects New Mutants Nos. 41-47, New Mutants Annual No. 2, and Uncanny X-Men Annual No. 10 (cover dates July, 1986- January, 1987)

Writer: Chris Claremont

Artist: Jackson Guice, Alan Davis, Arthur Adams, and Steve Purcell (pencilers); Terry Austin, Kyle Baker, and Whilce Portacio (inkers)

Chris Claremont was and is a great comic book writer. It is fashionable to bag on the man's work today. Tastes change, times change, things go in and out of style, but quality art is quality art in my opinion. We should all appreciate Claremont while he is still around. I can remember people bagging on Kirby in the '80s, but nowadays he is a sacred cow. Once Chris Claremont is dead and gone everyone and their brother will be proclaiming their love for his work. Well I'm saying it here and now: I love Chris Claremont's writing.

Claremont's run on The New Mutants is a precursor of sorts to many “mature” comic books. Not because it is overtly sexual or violent, but because it is so character driven. The New Mutants were the junior X-Men team, teenagers who were out of place everywhere but with their own kind. This was extremely identifiable for me as a teenager, even if I only sporadically read this title back when it was originally published. 

Alan Davis rules.

The Cypher/ Warlock friendship was so bold in it's gossamer thin veil of homosexuality. For all intents and purposes, they were gay during a time when such a thing was shocking. Warlock, an alien techno-organic being, was afraid of infecting Cypher (Doug Ramsey) with his techno-organic virus, a metaphor for STDs perhaps? Claremont quickly back-peddled, writing in Psylocke and making her a crush for Doug. I am guessing that this was done to appease higher ups, as it seemed to come in right after some pivotal moment of friendship between Warlock and Doug. It is refreshing to see the original British, non-Asian ninja Psylocke. Jim Lee would crap up the character beyond repair during his overrated run on the X-Men a few years later.

The first few issues in this book focused primarily on one team member each. Issue 45's teen suicide story is great and worth mentioning as well. The Annuals are a crossover where Mojo and Spiral try to kidnap and enslave each team. The Uncanny X-Men Annual features a Claremont pet theme: reverting the X-Men to childhood. It also features the debut of the horrible X-Babies. Cutesy stuff like that is totally lame and stupid, but these are a fan favorite. Not I said the fly. 

The artwork is great throughout this book, with Jackson Guice (pencils) and Kyle Baker (inker) doing quality work. Alan Davis handles The New Mutants Annual while Arthur Adams does the art for the Uncanny X-Men Annual. I was not a fan of Art Adams in the '80s but his modern day stuff is fantastic. Alan Davis is a genius, plain and simple. His artwork is simple and elegant, and his action sequences are almost without peer.

Tom Orzechowski deserves a shout out. His hand lettering is great. I would buy a computer font of it if I could. He is lettering royalty. It really is a lost art here in the computer font lettering era of comic books.

Marvel has been releasing these trade paperbacks at a clip of one per year. I'm well into Volume 7 as of this writing and hope that Vol. 8 will see the light of day this year.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone

Linework restoration rating: 4.5 out of 5. The restoration is solid throughout most of the book. There are a few rough spots here and there, but most folks won't notice them as they aren't too bad. There is visible pixelation on Page 37,however. I wonder if this was the result of 300dpi scans...

Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. The original color palette is faithfully maintained.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. I love this lightweight dull matte finish coated stock in softcovers. This is the same grade used in the softcover Masterworks.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. Glued binding is par for the course in softcovers.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 5 out of 5. I love love love the thick waxlike coating that Marvel uses on their cardstock covers.

Buy NEW MUTANTS CLASSIC VOL. 6 TPB at InStockTrades!

Review- ATLANTIS ATTACKS OMNIBUS

ATLANTIS ATTACKS OMNIBUS (Marvel, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Amazing Spider-Man Annual No. 23, Avengers Annual No. 18, Avengers West Coast No. 56, Avengers West Coast Annual No. 4, Daredevil Annual No. 5, Fantastic Four Annual No. 22, Iron Man Annual No. 10, New Mutants No. 76, New Mutants Annual No. 5, Punisher Annual No. 2, Silver Surfer Annual No. 2, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual No. 9, Thor Annual No. 14, Web of Spider-Man Annual No. 5, X-Factor Annual No. 4, X-Men Annual No. 13, and selections from Marvel Comics Presents No. 26 (cover dates August, 1989- March, 1990)

Writers: Steve Englehart, David Michelinie, John Byrne, Peter David, Fabien Nicieza, Gerry Conway, Terry Austin, Roy Thomas, Louise Simonson, Peter Sanderson, Michael Higgins, and Mike Baron

Artists: John Byrne, Ron Lim, Paul Smith, Mike Vosburg, Rob Liefeld, Mark Bagley, Ron Wilson, Rich Buckler, Don Perlin, Al Milgrom, Paul Ryan, Walter Simonson, Terry Austin, Don Heck, and others

Woe to me, and my never ending obsession with high end hardcovers. Had this been solicited as a softcover or an Essential (as was discussed over on the Masterworks Message Board years ago), I would have griped “Why not in hardcover??” I got my wish, for better or for worse. I bought several of these steaming piles of crap off of the stands in the summer of 1989, and didn't realize until after I bought this 544 page book that this crossover was one of the main reasons that I dropped comic books in late '89/early '90. I disliked the shyster “gotta buy 'em all for the complete story” crossover gimmicks which started several years prior with Secret Wars II. I disliked the then new breed of comic book “artists” like Rob Liefeld, and even the writing by veterans like Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway was overwritten and uninspired. 

...so don't even try!

This book has it's share of solid entertainment value, but much of it is overwritten and clunky. I love old comic books, but there are aspects to them that I find annoying, such as when someone is about to get hit with a beam or something, and the antagonist telegraphs it in their dialogue. “I shall hit you with this laser beam, which will...” or other such nonsense. 

Artwork by Mark Bagley.

The artwork by Rob Liefeld can never be badmouthed enough as far as I am concerned, and it was he who inspired me to quit buying comic books in the final months of 1989. If this was what was going on now, then I wanted nothing to do with it. I couldn't have fathomed how much worse things would get with the ensuing Image boom. Thankfully, I sat all of that holo-foil variant nonsense out. 

"Artwork" by Rob Liefeld. No, Liefeld is not an abstract artist, merely incompetent.

The gist- Ghaur, high priest of the Deviants, conspires with Llyra of Lemuria to use Attuma and the Atlanteans as a catspaw in an attempt to bring about the return of Set, the Serpent God. Attuma and his Atlantean army are tricked into attacking the surface world, with Ghaur knowing full well that the armies of Atlantis will slaughter innocent civilians, fail against the surface world's superheroes, and will result in a blood sacrifice to bring Set back to this dimension. When Attuma withdraws his armies, Ghaur goes with his plan B: kidnapping seven super-heroines to offer to Set as brides. (Set has seven heads.) 

Artwork by John Byrne. Note how there is NO gutter loss in this double page spread. DC should take notes. It CAN be done.

The best part of this book are each Annual's back-up stories, the 14 chapter The Saga of the Serpent Crown by Marvel historian Peter Sanderson and then newbie artist Mark Bagley. They go so far and so deep into continuity that it'll make your head spin. I love continuity, but there is a point where those hippies writing comics in the '60s and '70s made things ridiculously complicated. I am looking at you, Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart. Still, our host Uatu the Watcher clearly explains things, and by the end of those back-ups, you feel like you have a solid grasp on the subject. They are all collected in the back of the book, so that they can be read in exact order rather than in their proper printed location at the back of each annual. It didn't make my OCD twitch, but your mileage may vary. 

Artwork by Mark Bagley.

The original series editors were terrible, with countless typos and word balloons attributed to the wrong character on numerous occasions. While typos can be somewhat forgiven when you think back to the pre-spell check era, the errors that I caught were glaringly obvious. Now, here is a chance for the collected edition obsessives to get their own o-fish-al Junk Food For Thought no-prize. They used to do paste-ups over the word balloons on the original art with spelling corrections which often fell off or became lost. I no longer own the floppies of these issues, so if someone wants to go issue by issue, page by page, and determine if they were indeed corrected for print and we have superior, pre-correction file sources here, shoot me an email. Snap a picture (or scan) of them side by side, and I will post your name and picture in this blog. Wow! Fame and fortune can be yours too.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.5 out of 5. 

Note how terrible the re-coloring is on this Rob Liefeld "artwork".

The OCD zone- The restoration is generally excellent, with two exceptions: Pages 512-517, the back-up story from Web of Spider-Man Annual No. 5, where the linework is dropped out in several spots, and the re-coloring on New Mutants Annual No. 5, which has shoddy re-coloring, looking “airbrushed” due to the computer filling in the shapes rather than doing it “by hand” on the computer. The latter isn't that big of a deal, however, as it has art by Rob Liefeld. Even Cory Sedlmeier and Michael Kelleher couldn't make his art look good.

Linework restoration: 4 out of 5.

Color restoration: 4 out of 5.

Overall rating affected by the problems listed above. Restoration rating would have been closer to 5 without these defects.

Paper rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. Lays perfectly flat at any and every point of the book.