Uncanny X-Men 500

The Uncanny X-Men has operated as the nexus of Marvel Comics‘ most profitable series turned franchise for decades. Since Giant Size X-Men #1 introduced the ‘international team’ of mutants including Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Thunderbird, Banshee, Sunfire and a little known character named Wolverine, the series has been a mega-hit. The introduction of the animated series in 1992 introduced many more readers to the series in what has been called the most excessive and glamorous era of the series. Everything from crossovers, ‘deaths,’ and ‘rebirths’ to collectible trading cards and limited edition Pizza Hut video tapes bolstered and damaged the reputation of the infamous mutant team through the decadence of the 1990’s.

Of course you can’t talk about the X-Men without mentioning Chris Claremont who wrote a stunning run on the series. His initial issues deeply developed each character, but it must be said that his favorites were always Cyclops and Storm, two characters who haven’t been handled rightly by any other writer since. While his collaborations with Dave Cockrum and John Byrne are legendary, it was his team-up with Marc Silvestri and later Jim Lee that divided fans. Through both collaborations, the comic devolved into a never-ending high-drama slug-fest that stumbled drunkenly from one mega event to the next until Claremont left the franchise entirely to write for DC Comics (less said about that, the better). These issues are remembered fondly by many, but are also amongst the less ambitious X-Men tales to date.

In the past few years, the X-Men have gone through a major overhaul thanks to Kyle Yost, Peter David, Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey and editor Alex Alonso. From Grant Morrison’s ‘E is for Extinction’ story where mutants became the majority and inevitability for mankind, the franchise has taken a 180. The ‘House of M,’ ‘Decimation’ and ‘Endangered Species’ storylines have whittled down the mutant race to a very small number… until this year a mutant baby was born.

The ‘Messiah CompleX’ crossover that touched every X-Men title gave purpose back to the titles and even gave birth to new titles such as ‘Young X-Men’ and the new ‘Cable’ (isn’t it always the way?). In an interview with ComicBookResources.com, Marvel editor Nick Lowe gave some hints at what lies inside the gorgeous Alex Ross cover:

“I’ll tell you this, they certainly come together under a dream,” Lowe remarked. “But it’s not necessarily Xavier’s.

“We are looking forward,” Lowe continued. “[‘Uncanny’ #500] is smash-bang and it sets up the next year or so of stories in Uncanny. It also sets the tone for all the X-Books.”

For his part, Alex Ross hopes to be drawing more X-Men in the future, but didn’t specify any upcoming plans. For now, the artist is happy to reminisce on 500 issues of one of the most popular superhero titles in history, a joy that is on display in his portrayal of the X-Men.

On the cover itself, Alex Ross had a field day. His love for the ‘classic renditions’ shows through in this special cover. The deft hand of Dave Cockrum (definitely the most important artist to work on the characters) can be seen in his finished painting. As the artist explains, there’s a reason for that:

“[In creating the cover,] I tried to be true to most every character’s first appearance look,” Ross said. “Notably, Rogue is in her earliest costume, the Silver Age X-Men are in their earliest outfits, and, if it can be considered that Phoenix and Marvel Girl are two separate people, then I did the first costumes for both. There are liberties taken with that goal with the appearances of characters like Iceman and Emma Frost, though.
“I would argue that no designer put their imprint on these characters greater than Dave Cockrum. In fact, the test of great designs is how well they are handled by many hands. An example of a poor costume era for a character would have to be Dazzler, who reflected the ‘Flashdance’ era of workout clothing.

“What’s important about the first appearance looks of these many characters is that designers generally go back to these earliest inspirations for design reboots of the characters, so, in a fashion, that’s the most timeless ways you can present them.”

Recommended:

Uncanny X-Men Omnibus
New X-Men Omnibus
X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga
X-Men: From The Ashes
X-Men: Endangered Species
X-Men: Messiah Complex
X-Men Trilogy (X-Men/ X2 - X-Men United/ X-Men - The Last Stand)
X-Men Evolution - The Complete Third Season

Virgin Comics’ Nowhere Man

Virgin Comics has been making a rather impressive impact on the comic book market. With titles such as Dave Stewart’s Zombie Broadway, Ed Burns’ Dock Walloper and even a re-invention of the classic UK series Dan Dare there seems to be no limit to the ‘new kid on the block’ publisher. In an extension of their star power-infused comics, a new series is on its way from Marc Guggenheim (creator of the TV series Eli Stone) and Hugh ‘Wolverine’ Jackman.

There is an interesting article on Comicbookresources.com focusing on the sci-fi comic book series depicting a future world where privacy is swapped for security.

The always candid Guggenheim said the secrecy surrounding the project is very much by design, but did shed a little more light on the book’s direction. “It’s basically a science fiction book, set in the far future and it deals, essentially, with the Patriot Act on steroids, but in a totally surprising way. It’s one thing to say ‘the Patriot Act on steroids,’ but you have to know the kind of steroids we are talking about here.

“They really completely upend any notion of personal privacy that you might have. One of things we all initially talked about was how the best science fiction had things to say about today. By telling stories about the future, we are telling stories about the here and now. And obviously, in the wake of 9/11, we all, as Americans, have a choice to make, in terms of our security versus our personal privacy and where do you strike that balance. It’s obviously something a lot of politicians, and judges and lawyers and citizens and patriots have debated. Not just after 9/11 but before 9/11. I think we have a chance to say something interesting and new about the topic. Plus we have a really cool, very kick-ass science fiction story to tell.”

Guggenheim continued, “It’s actually a very human-oriented book. That’s what’s really great about it. There are different kinds of science fiction. There is science fiction like ‘Alien,’ like ‘Star Wars,’ where aliens and extraterrestrials or paranormal stuff co-exists with the world and then there’s stuff like ‘Firefly’ and ‘Blade Runner’ where the concept is more, even though it’s science fiction, it’s more grounded in the human drama. And this is very much a human drama. I won’t promise a complete lack of cool science fiction sensibilities, but it’s always going to be channeled through real human, flesh and blood characters. Not aliens and robots and such.”

Read more here.

Wolverine: Logan

Y the Last Man’s Brain K. Vaughn and Eduardo Risso of 100 Bullets (both mega stars of DC Comics’ Vertigo line) have joined forced to produce the best Wolverine story since Chris Claremont and Frank Miller teamed up in 1982.

The 3 issue mini-series simply entitled Logan follows the scruffy Canadian as he revisits his past in Japan. Seeing as how Vaughn and Risso only have 3 issues to tell their tale, it covers a lot of ground very efficiently. We see Logan following the trail of an old nemesis only to remember being in Japan as a prisoner of war during World War II.

The art and writing combine to tell a remarkable poignant and gripping story about isolation and a surprisingly sensitive Wolverine in a world that is far scarier and more fierce than his lauded ‘berserker rage.’ Thrown into a prison cell, Logan meets fellow captive US army soldier the hot-headed Lt. Warren. A hasty jailbreak sees them on the run in the beautiful countryside. The beauty of the surroundings (so lushly depicted by Risso) is eclipsed by a passing lady whose angelic poise nearly makes Logan’s heart stop (a reaction we’d see repeated much later when he met the lady Mariko). Lt. Warren attempts to kill the peasant girl, seeing her as ‘just another Jap,’ but is stopped by Logan whose interruption so enrages Warren that he abandons the mutant in this foreign land. Wolverine and the peasant girl form a solid bond and for the first time he finds acceptance… then it all goes south.

With so many comics featuring him lately, this stands out as one of the few that actually further develops Wolverine. When it first came out, I was as in love with 100 Bullets as most other comic readers, yet I eventually lost interest. Yet I still miss Risso’s artwork. An incredibly talented and emotive artist, his style is so rarely seen in comics outside of 100 Bullets. The combination of his characteristic line work and Vaughn’s deft writing skills have produced such a great comic that it’s frustrating to have to wait three months to read the entire story.

When I was a wee comic book collector, I had a handful of comics that I read over and over and over (yet the sturdy books maintained their condition somehow). Issues 6-12 of the Wolfman and Perez’ New Teen Titans, Justice League of America #200, the Days of Future Past issues of X-Men and Wolverine by Claremont and Miller. Reading this series Logan brought me back to what it meant to truly bond with a comic book. I’m not sure what that quality is that separates the good ones from the truly great ones, but this series resonated with me.

If you are a Wolverine fan (and these days, who isn’t?), you should pick this up. But more importantly, if you are a fan of well told comics of any genre, this belongs in your collection. An excellent example of quality sequential art, Logan is one of the best comics I’ve seen in a long time (especially from Marvel!).

New Mutants Interview

Comicbookresources.com has a great interview with New Mutants co-creator Bob McLeod. At a time when interest (and sales) were flagging for the once great Uncanny X-Men, Marvel Comics decided to introduce the first spin-off to the series. With the departure of John Byrne, many of the series’ readers had lost interest in X-Men. A new series starring a group of X-Men-in-training was hoped to re-invigorate the franchise and bring new readers in while drawing old readers back into the fold.

New Mutants is fondly remembered by many fans of Marvel comic books from 1980’s. The series remains one of the most under-rated classics of the super hero genre and one that deserves more respect than it gets. At a time when the X-Men were dropping in popularity, The New Mutants brought that appeal back to the fold. Featuring some of the most well developed characters such as Dani Moonstar, Rahne Sinclare and Sam Guthrie, the series also garnered writer Chris Claremont’s best writing in ages. It seemed that the collaboration with McLeod really fired up the interest in much the same way that working with John Byrne did.

“The first I had heard of it [The New Mutants],” McLeod told Pop!, “was when they asked me to come on board, but Chris had already been developing the series, I guess with Louise, the editor, and he had some names for the characters, and some abilities. It was still kind of in the works, but he had a lot of that stuff nailed down already, and what they mainly wanted me to do was visualize the characters and make other various decisions. Like, we weren’t sure how many people to have in the group, or what the mix would be, and I suggested I’d like to have more females than males, just because every other group had more males than females. And Sunspot was originally going to be this real big, Hulky guy, and we ended up making him smaller. Same thing, like, Cannonball, it was my idea to make him kind of lanky and gawky-looking.”

Within McLeod’s work, the readers were going to witness a 110% effort from the meticulous artist who wanted to impress readers with his rich characterizations and attention to detail on his debut – and, I feel, he’s one of the few in the industry that could accurately render children and teenagers without a drop of sweat. Add in Claremont’s trademark for rich written dramas and captivating characterizations, and “The New Mutants” was going to be a uniquely different comic from the other Marvel team books. McLeod shared this little insight into his approach. “I first got into comics from reading ‘Mad’ magazine. My favorite artist in there was Mort Drucker, and Drucker would caricaturize the whole body rather than just the face. So, when I got into comics, I liked drawing individual body types. A lot of comic artists draw a generic body type, and just change the hair and the facial features in some way, but all of their characters have a general body type to them, and that just wasn’t me at all. I always liked making every character very individual, so I had Dani kind of flat-chested and thin and I had Rahne real short and full-figured, that kind of thing.”

Introduced in the last X-Men film, many feel that the young mutants will take over the franchise and that X-Men 4 will largely be a New Mutants affair (something I highly hope to be true). It’s surprising to me that these characters are not used more frequently in the X-Men cartoon. While they are featured in the X-Men Evolution series, it seems to me that Marvel could have done so much more with them. Maybe the forthcoming ’sequel’ series Wolverine and the X-Men will build on this idea?

This week Marvel is attempting to catch lightning in a bottle once again with the new title ‘Young X-Men.’ Will it be as good as New Mutants was back in the day? Who can tell, but I know I’ll be in line at my local shop with a copy to find out.

Read more about this series here.

Recommended:

X-Men: New Mutants Classic, Vol. 1
X-Men: New Mutants Classic, Vol. 2
New Mutants Classic Volume 3 TPB (New Mutants)
X-Men Evolution - The Complete Third Season

Ellis and Bianchi on Astonishing X-Men

Perhaps the most popular X-Men title in recent years has been Astonishing X-Men by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly creator Joss Whedon. The stunning art by John Cassaday (Planetary) was also a major draw to the title which served to make many a weary Marvel Zombie feel at home with reading a monthly comic featuring their favorite mutants that didn’t require a scorecard or a handy laptop set to wikipedia for obscure references (who is Exodus again??). Whedon’s oft-known love for the classic Claremont run on the title is reflected in the series that is more or less a nostalgic time bubble for X-fans.

This year marks the departure of the initial team on the title as Giant Size Astonishing X-Men closes the book on the stories that have made record sales for Marvel… despite several scheduling problems. The finale is expected to a major jaw-dropper and with the recent reveal in Uncanny X-Men 496 everyone wants to know the fate of Kitty Pryde, a character referred to as ‘lost’ by Nightcrawler, Wolverine and Colossus over a few cold ones in a Russian towney bar.

But enough of the past, what about the future?

Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Thunderbolts) and Simon Bianchi (Wolverine, Seven Soldiers of Victory) have been announced as the new creative team starting with issue #25. As many of my mates know, I have a history with Warren’s writing. At the tender age of 26 I devoured everything he could deliver to the rack. Yet it was not until his stunning work with Thunderbolts that I was reminded why I loved his work in the first place. He surprises me. Despite his frequent claims to despise them, the man writes a mean super hero comic and are we ever lucky as comic fans that he’s taking over the X-Men.

Ellis is a member of what I refer to as the ‘Vertigo School’ of writers that includes Peter Milligan, Ed Brubaker, Grant Morrison, and Mike Carey. These writers all wrote brilliant and sensitive stories (such as The Invisibles, Girl, Transmetropolitan, Scene of the Crime, Deadenders and Lucifer) at a time when monthly comics were on their way out the door. It was a dark time, to be sure. But it turned around and now every writer in my Vertigo School list has written a blockbuster title for Marvel and as it happens… they have all written X-Men comics.

In a recent comicbookresources.com article, some details were hinted at while others were held secret.

[X-Men editor Alex]Alonso could reveal that Cyclops’s post-”Messiah Complex” calculating, determined and often ruthless perspective on mutant affairs would be part of Ellis and Bianchi’s run on “Astonishing X-Men.” “Cyclops is the undisputed team leader — the one who has to make the tough calls,” Alonso said. “His number one priority will always be the survival of his species. He will do anything to fulfill his responsibility.”

Cyclops is the only cast member of Ellis and Bianchi’s run on “Astonishing” whose identity Alonso could reveal. “There is a core team — all of whom are heavy hitters,” Alonso said.

Kitty Pryde AKA Shadowcat was a key player in Whedon and Cassaday’s run on “Astonishing X-Men.” The duo’s run on “Astonishing” comes to a conclusion in April’s “Giant Size Astonishing X-Men” #1, but given their last issue left Shadowcat in dire peril and the recent “Uncanny X-Men” #496 alluded that she was “lost,” some readers are assuming she won’t be part of the new line-up. “Assume nothing,” Alonso cautioned. “‘Uncanny’ #496 wasn’t a mistake.”

While their identities have to be kept under wraps, but Alonso could reveal that interactions between the cast members of Ellis and Bianchi’s “Astonishing X-Men” won’t always go smoothly. “The members assembled for this group like each other — Well, most of them,” Alonso said. “There’s a bit of friction between two of them, but noting that can’t be defused. Bottom line, they’re a team operating under the direction of one leader.”

Personally, I cannot wait to see what’s to come.

The preview image above does seem to reveal a few members of the ‘mystery team’ a bit early, doesn’t it?

Recommended:

Astonishing X-Men, Hardcover Vol. 1 (oversized slipcase hardcover collects tpb 1 &2 with notes by Whedon and sketches by Cassaday)
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 1: Gifted
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2: Dangerous
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 3: Torn
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 4: Unstoppable

X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie details

A recent article in Variety Magazine announced the cast of the upcoming X-Men prequel, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Twentieth Century Fox has added three more superheroes to “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” with Ryan Reynolds set to play Deadpool, “Friday Night Lights” regular Taylor Kitsch to star as Gambit and hip-hop artist will.i.am joining the cast as John Wraith.

Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston and Lynn Collins round out the cast as Victor Creed/Sabretooth, Col. William Stryker and Kayla Silver Fox, respectively.

Hugh Jackman reprises the role of Wolverine in the “X-Men” spinoff that Gavin Hood is lensing in New Zealand, Australia and New Orleans. Pic bows May 1, 2009.

David Benioff penned the script, which would reveal the origins of the Wolverine character and introduce other mutants not yet seen in the “X-Men” franchise.

Marvel has been eyeing the possibility of casting Reynolds as Deadpool, an assassin with self-healing powers, for some time with the idea of spinning off the character into his own film series should the character prove popular among moviegoers.

Fox and Marvel have also long wanted to add the card-throwing character of Gambit to the “X-Men” franchise but could never find a way to give him enough screen time among the many other mutants that have appeared in each film.

Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am will play Wraith, a mutant who has the power to teleport, and is another test subject of the Weapon X program that created Wolverine and other mercenaries. It would be his first film role.

Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter are producing with Jackman and his Seed Prods. producing partner John Palermo. Marvel’s Kevin Feige exec produces.

First look at Wolverine prequel

Take a nice long look, ladies. Hugh Jackman can strain those neck muscles all day.

This small pic is all we get from the upcoming prequel painfully entitled X-Men: Origins: Wolverine. The film will follow the adventures of our favorite Canucklehead all the way up the first X-Men film… which like any prequel project… is confusing. The new film is the one that came before the one you saw first.

Jackman has been quoted as saying that he is very aware of the pressure that this film is under. The first X-Men film won over a Hollywood that had little interest in super hero flicks… and we all saw where that got us.

But there is still a good chance that a Wolverine solo film could work.

Rumor is that Sabretooth ( a character sidelined to mere muscle in the X-Men film who was much more pivotal in the comics) will play a large role in the plot, and that should please comic book fans to no end.

And that’s what it’s all about right? Pleasing us comic book fans.

Like a Phoenix…

Once again, the redheaded Jean Grey rises from the grave.Continuing their winning streak of buzz-creating ‘leaked’ covers, Marvel Comics has released this drawing by Moon Knight’s Dave Finch.

While many are oo-ing and aww-ing over Grey, I’m a little freaked out to see Professor X’s evil sister and some undead dude in the background.

Wolverine and the X-Men

“When an explosive event shatters the lives of the X-Men and takes away their mentor, the beaten heroes walk away from it all.

“But then they’re given a rare glimpse into the future, and see a world in utter ruin, ruled by giant destructive robots. A world that spiraled out of control because the X-Men had given up.

“So now the most legendary of all X-Men takes the lead - Wolverine! Reuniting these broken heroes, Wolverine embarks on the ultimate mission - to prevent de world’s destruction.

“To rescue us from ourselves. To save the future.”

Go here to watch the trailer.

Strange how close this sounds to the outcome of Messiah Complex, isn’t it?

While I have been less than impressed with the previous animated outings of the fan fave mutants, this one could actually have promise.

No Country for Old Mutants

CBR recently ran a great interview with Mark Millar about his upcoming run on Wolverine. I quite enjoyed the Enemy of the State story that he and John Romita Jr. produced not too long ago and this looks like it will be a nice follow up.

Mark Millar is joined by Marvel Comics Civil War artist Steve McNiven who is fresh off of his Amazing Spider-Man story with Dan Slott.

In Millar and McNiven’s tale, we’ll reportedly see a very old and weary Wolverine 50 years into the future… and the wacky canuck hasn’t popped his claws once in all that time.

From the preview art, it looks like that condition was temporary.

More here