EMBRACE THE CHEESE #1: It's 1991 Again

[Gabriel Diaz]

The first comic I ever read was Uncanny X-Men 276 that had a fantastic image of Wolverine with claws extended and Professor Xavier at his feet. I had no idea what was going on, I walked right into the middle of a story but I remember thinking that it was outrageous. Sure I had heard of the X-Men, who hadn’t but I didn’t realize how rich the stories could be. I’m positive that it didn’t hurt that Jim Lee was on pencils and that it was a space opera coming to a conclusion. Charles Xavier was coming back to the comic after years of being gone and the team was about to be fractured into two different comics.

   Six months later everything changed.

   At the time I didn’t realize that Chris Claremont had been the guardian of the X-Universe for such a long period of time and that he knew their voices so well that everything flowed seamlessly each issue. When the new writers took over, the voices changed and so did the focus of the books. The family aspect of it was pushed back a bit and more action was inserted.

   Years later I figured out what happened and I went back and read every issue that Claremont wrote. I got to understand why so many fans were upset at the passing of the torch and the type of magic he was able to instill into the comics that he wrote.

   Marvel tried to recapture that magic with Claremont on the flagship titles a couple of times since then. Each time was a bit of a misstep. The fans began to complain that perhaps Claremont had lost his touch and he was out of sync with the titles that he had written for so long. (Although I will be the first to point out that his first time back with the X-Men it was at the launch of the first movie and his new ideas and teams just weren’t the right things for the time.)

   Since then Chris Claremont has had side projects within the X-Universe. Excalibur, New Excalibur, Exiles, New Exiles and alternate universe takes with X-Men: The End and GeNext. Part of it, the majority of it, is that his love for the X-Universe never went away.

   Imagine my surprise (and I’ll admit, concern) when Marvel announced that they were going to give him a new series titled, X-Men Forever. The premise of the title was to give the stories that Claremont WOULD have told had he stayed on the title 18 years ago.

   Think about it. 18 years of continuity wiped out. The events would take place right after X-Men 1-3 in which Magneto takes on the Acolytes as his own followers and tries to once again get the world to see things through his eyes.

   No Legacy Virus. No sacrifice of Colossus. No destruction of Genosha. No decree of No More Mutants. No betrayal by Professor X. No Bishop. No Gambit revealed as part of the Mutant Massacre. No Maggot. No Marrow. No Dr. Cecelia Reyes. No second mutants. On and on the list goes, all of these things that have changed the face of the X-Universe would be a part of this continuity.

   Seriously, I struggled with this concept. How do you wipe away so much and still think that people are going to enjoy the series? How do you clean the slate of so much history and go back?

   At first I wasn’t going to pick it up but I was able to read the first five issues of this series and I can say, it’s actually quiet good.

   Now don’t get me wrong, there are few comics that are perfect and this isn’t one of them. Claremont still manages to be repetitive, sometimes within a page of himself (like he does several times in issue 1) and yes there are times when the characters sound like they’re still in comics from the 80s. That was his era after all and with the book going of the feel of his books it still manages to work.

   The fun part of this book, the part that truly sets it up the current continuity a notch is the fact that anything he does can stick. The first five issues into his stories are actually quiet a fun ride. You still have a cast that is on unsure ground. Kitty and Kurt have just come back from Excalibur, Gambit hasn’t been on the team very long, the love triangle between Scott, Jean and Logan is still very much in the mix and Nick Fury and SHIELD are a part of the landscape like never before.

   He’s already managed to change the status quo. He killed Wolverine and I mean killed, he’s not coming back (Which I give him kudos for), he’s put a traitor in the midst of the team and managed to blind Sabertooth.

   Grummett’s work is solid and you can tell there are several of these issues under his belt as the title is on a bi weekly schedule. It’s actually a title I look forward to each time it comes out, which is a feeling I love.

   The fluid feeling is back with this series. He’s not dealing with editorial mandate; he’s not dealing with history he didn’t write. He’s going back to the root of what made the X-Men seem so awesome in my youth. Each issue is stronger than the last and it’s not overboard.

   My only concern is that it will get cancelled if there isn’t enough of a fan base. If the art continues to shine and Claremont continues to shake off the cob webs that gave him such issue in his recent series, then it should be a fun ride for a long time. No crossovers to worry about, no spin offs, just a straight yarn in one comic like it used to be so long ago.

   A true treat for someone that enjoyed his original run and hoped for him to come back to form, currently four out of five stars and a fixture in my pull box, don’t miss it!

Spotlight of the Week

Blackest Night #2
Johns
Reis

   What fanboy hasn’t been waiting for this series? Johns is paying off in a major way and pulling things off that we didn’t expect. The first two issues have had a nice mix of shock, awe and mystery that have the title running on all cylinders. The spin offs seem few and with as good as the main story has been, not reading them almost seems like punishment. I love what Johns is doing and I can only hope he can continue to pay off!

[demon]

I was wondering what the deal was with X-Men Forever.

Very interesting and insightful article, Gabe. Good to have you back.

[Keith G.]

Nicely done, my friend.  Welcome back to the grind.

[Jimmy Wahl]

Great article.  Welcome back to the column crew.

[Matt W.]

Very interesting. X-Men rule. Nice column Diaz!

[Captain Marvel]

Great article Gabe!

[Rainbow Raider]

Yeah back when I first heard about X-Men Forever, I was interested, but alas I don't have much dinero for comics anymore. I buy special things from time to time like Blackest Night and Cap:Reborn. The rest get read for free at Hastings when I stop by from time to time.

Well written review of the series so far. How'd Wolvie buy it?

[Gabriel Diaz]

Spoiler

The adult Storm was a plant, Wolverine could tell that there was something not right with her. Before he could tell the rest of the team she fried the flesh off his bones, down to the molecular level. No coming back. As they buried him Jean came clean with Scott and told him that Logan was the love of her life, they're no longer together.

[Matt W.]

Wow. Jean's a slut.