Top of the Pile - 5/29/2013

X-Men #1
Written by Brian Wood
Penciled by Oliver Copiel
Inked by Mark Morales and Oliver Copiel
Colors by Laura Martin

I really like the X-Men. They were my favorite book back in the Claremont/Byrne days. Back in the 80’s, they rocked the comics world like nothing else. But I grew disillusioned with the X books when they became too big for their breeches. New Mutants? Ok. Excalibur? Maybe. X-Factor, X-Force, Exiles, X-this and X-that. Too much. Since then, I’ve been mostly away from X books. But I have been looking at the new Marvel NOW books and picking up some #1 issues to see how they look.

And with X-Men #1, it looks like we will have the X-Women take the stage, which is pretty cool. Perhaps there will be a new Marvel issue that doesn’t have Wolverine in it. On the cover we see Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Summers, Rouge, Storm and Psylock; some of the most bad ass women mutants. And Brian Wood starts the story off with some “before time things started going bad” trope. By the second page, we learn Jubilee has a baby in tow and is trying to get to upstate New York to be with her fellow X-Men.

The comic book isn’t bad, but it’s not really great either. The bad guy apparently is someone named John Sublime, who I never heard of. But the X-Men seem to take him seriously. But again, the problem seems to be all the backstory baggage. With Marvel NOW, how much is brand new and how much is from the previous stories? That’s the biggest problem with this book, and comics in general. How much knowledge and backstory do you need to understand and enjoy the comic?

I did like the art from Oliver Copiel. Unlike the big boobed, scantally clad women from the 90’s that I remember and left behind, these X-Women are pretty demure. And the action is well done. The train crash would normally by a double-page, hyper-kinetic, super-detailed explosion with bodies and flames everywhere. But again, that would have been in a comic from the 90’s. Instead, we have a really cool sequence over a couple pages showing the lead up and crash in a small quarter panel. Nice.

Would I add this in a library collection? Perhaps. But with it being a book with baggage, patrons might ask for collections of back stories to fill in the gaps. That’s why I try and stay away from books like this that are part of a huge continuity for our collection. Instead I like relying on really good, self-contained story arcs or stand alone books.

Top of the Pile - 5/8/2013

Uber #1

Written by Kieron Gillen

Illustrated by Caanan White

Avatar Press

Super Nazis? What's not to like? I guess that’s what the main idea of this new book by Kieron Gillen is in a nutshell. I picked up issue #0 last month and liked the idea. So when #1 was on the shelf, I added it to my stack.

Uber is an alternate history where Nazi scientists were able to come up with a super soldier. In issue 0, it starts at the brink of the end of the war, with the Soviets entering Berlin, the great German war machine is on it’s last gasp. Until three super Nazi soldiers enter the battle and obliterate the invading forces. Issue 1 opens with a full page image of Hitler with a gun in his mouth. From there, history takes it’s left turn and he doesn’t commit suicide in his underground bunker. Instead, once he realizeses the power of his new solders, he orders his “Seigfried” to deal with the Soviet POWs by "giving them opera". What follows is a massacre. Meanwhile, we also find that there is a deep cover spy working her way out of Germany with all the plans. The Allies only hope seems to be her successful return to England.

The art by Caanan White is pretty cool. Not quite as gory as other Avatar Press books, but that doesn’t mean he won’t show limbs flying and melted flesh. Some of his caricature work is a little rough. His Hitler is really only identifiable by his moustache. And Churchill isn’t a great representation. But taken in context, it’s not too difficult to figure them out.

Though this is a pretty cool book, and I’ll continue picking it up, I would be wary to add it to a library collection. Though violence is more accepted than sex, with pretty much any Avatar Press book, I would be sure it would be something I could justify to over-anxious parents who might be offended. And unfortunately, other than my personal opinion, there really isn’t too much out there in the non-comic press to help argue a challenge.