During a long stretch of time when Marvel was reluctant to tell the definitive origin story of its most famous mutant, readers only had two comics as reference: the self-titled Wolverine and Weapon X. The latter of those is tells the tale of how Logan was abducted by a shady government organization and groomed to become the ultimate killing machine.
During the beginning of my X-Men vision quest, a vendor at Comicon strongly recommend checking out Astonishing X-Men. In particular, he told me to check out Joss Whedon’s run from issue #1-24. According to him, these were some of the best X-Men tales ever. I’ve kept that thought in the back of my mind until I stumbled upon both books in the Astonishing X-Men Ultimate Collection for half price.
For the purposes of this post, I’m just going to write about Book 1, which covers our heroic mutants through two story arcs: Gifted and Dangerous. I haven’t read enough X-Men to say where this fits in the pantheon of X-books, but this is at the very least some of the best material I’ve read yet.
Buy All-New X-Men Volume 4: All-Different Now From Amazon.com
Having been burned not too long ago on X-Men comics that didn’t stand the test of time, I stepped into X-Men: Days of Future Past with caution. It’s reputation as being one of the best X-Men story arcs has bubbled up to the point where it’s the focal point of the next movie, but my time reading other 80s era X-Men omnibus wasn’t all that entertaining due to how much the medium has evolved since then. I could have just left this one be, but knowing that the movie was coming soon and that many herald it as one of the best, I figured I should give the best of the old stuff a shot.
Following the X-Men universe across hundreds of characters, dozens of comic lines and a continuity that is frequently muddled with through time travel and other weird plot twists has never been easy. Even with the recent Marvel Now relaunches of most of the X-Men comics, things quickly got messy after Beast brought the original X-Men from the past to talk some sense into the present day X-Men who have gone off the reservation. This revelation has been a major plot point for many of the X-Men series’ in play, which all come to ahead in X-Men: Battle of the Atom.
While most of the X-Men universe got relaunched as part of Marvel Now, Wolverine and the X-Men stayed on course until the series’ recent end with issue #42. As part of the All New Marvel Now initiative, the counter on the series has been turned back to #1. Starting fresh has worked wonders for some of the other X-Men lines, but this one sputters out of the gate on almost all fronts.
I’ve been reading Marvel Now’s All New X-men, Uncanny X-Men and X-Men over the last few months, and I’ve reached the point where they all converge in X-Men: Battle of the Atom. This crossover event happens across all three of the X-Men books that I’m currently reading, as well as Wolverine and the X-Men, which is one I haven’t tried yet. These issues are not included as part of of their respective trade paperback sets, but you can get them all in one hardcover or trade paperback compilation.
For a very long time, Logan’s past has been shrouded in mystery. Bits and pieces have trickled out over time, though Wolverine: Origin aims to be the definitive starting point for the character. Presumably taking place over a century ago, this story follows him during his childhood up until he becomes a young adult.
For the first time in the franchise’s 50-plus years of existence, the latest edition of the X-Men team doesn’t have any actual men in it. Not only that, but the likes of Storm, Rogue and Jubilee aren’t the faces of a spin-off faction of the X-Men; they are the X-Men. If that doesn’t make a statement about gender roles in comics, I don’t know what will.
From a distance, this may appear to simply be a gimmick. One that allows them to either go overboard with the sex appeal or preach the gospel of girl power. However, if Vol.1: Primer is an indication of things to come, then this iteration of the X-Men simply wants to win you over with a quality superhero story for anyone to enjoy.
A grudge match between myself and a rival is the backdrop for an X-Men comic book discussion. I talk about a number of current X-Men comic book series’ and recommend the ones worth checking out.
In Third Person 