“Ms. Marvel: This Woman, This Warrior” by Chris Claremont & Gerry Conway

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel Marvel Epic Collection “Ms. Marvel: This Woman, This Warrior” by Chris Claremont & Gerry Conway. It is NOT a review of the “Ms. Marvel” series on Disney+.

            Carol Danvers was the head of security for NASA. She had an encounter with the Kree super hero Captain Mar-Vell and villain Yon-Rogg when a Kree device called the Psyche Magnitron exploded. Mar-Vell was able to save Carol’s life, shielding her from the blast. Carol then retired from NASA and became a writer.

            Carol is hired by the publisher of the New York tabloid The Daily Bugle J. Jonah Jameson to be the editor of Woman Magazine. When super villain the Scorpion attempts to rob a bank, a new mysterious heroine arrives on the scene, wearing a uniform similar to that of Mar-Vell. She can fly, she has super strength, and a precognitive seventh sense. After rescuing Jameson from the Scorpion, unaware of her actual identity, she is christened “Ms. Marvel.” Carol forms a friendship with Mary Jane Watson, who hangs around the offices of The Daily Bugle and Woman with her boyfriend, photographer Peter Parker (secretly the super hero Spider-Man). Carol has been having headaches and blackouts.

            The villainous organization Advanced Idea Mechanics recovers the defeated Scorpion, AIM scientist Professor Kerwin Korman assumes the identity of the Destructor, and the Scorpion escapes AIM custody and swears vengeance against Ms. Marvel. Carol, wishing to understand her blackouts, turns to psychiatrist and friend Doctor Michael Barnett. After hypnotism, Carol reveals she is Ms. Marvel. Barnett believes Carol’s story to be a paranoid delusion until he witnesses Carol’s transformation to Ms. Marvel with his own two eyes.

Carol flies to Cape Canaveral to interview old friends and NASA astronauts Salia Petrie and David Adamson as they prepare to fly into space. Ms. Marvel herself flies to space and finds herself battling the Doomsday Man. Upon falling to Earth, Carol and Ms. Marvel discover they are the same woman and have been transforming from one to the other, and now battle for control of their shared body.

Ms. Marvel has a premonition of a devastating disaster. She attempts to prevent it and has a misunderstanding with the synthetic Avenger the Vision, locking into a battle.

After Carol features Ms. Marvel in Woman magazine, Jameson is not happy. Jameson hates super heroes (especially Spider-Man). The Subterranean Prince Gor-Tok/Grotesk, only surviving member of his race, surfaces to steal the cavourite crystal in his bid to destroy Earth. Ms. Marvel is abducted by AIM’s former leader MODOK, who tries to replicate Carol’s costume, believed to be the source of Ms. Marvel’s powers, which reveals that the powers are actually Carol’s and not granted by the costume. Ms. Marvel discovers AIM’s base is in Alden’s Department Store. Carol alerts SHIELD, who are fooled by AIM, and their base is undiscovered.

Carol and Doctor Burnett are attacked, leading to a climactic battle between Ms. Marvel and Grotesk.

MODOK allies with Death-Bird, who ruin Carol’s dinner date, and Carol’s apartment is destroyed, and AIM strikes against Ms. Marvel again.

Spider-Man, Johnny Storm/Human Torch (of the Fantastic Four), and Ms. Marvel team up to battle the Super-Skrull, an alien shapeshifter with all the powers of the Fantastic Four (and a few other powers as well).

Carol returns to Cape Canaveral to witness Salia and David fly to space, but has a premonition of the shuttle’s destruction. Ms. Marvel battles the witch Hecate and the Elementals for the Ruby Scarab.

Carol returns to Massachusetts to visit with her family. Her father is a construction worker, and Ms. Marvel battles Steeplejack to save the life of her father.

Ms. Marvel teams up with the Defenders (Valkyrie, Kyle Richmond/Nighthawk, Patsy Walker/Hellcat [pardon my language] and Bruce Banner/Hulk) to defeat AIM and save the life of Doctor Michael Burnett.

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’ve long been a fan of Carol Danvers (as Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird, and Captain Marvel), and this book felt like a great buy for me. Not only was I not disappointed, I was impressed. I’ve been a fan of Chris Claremont as well, especially his runs of X-Men, and I was not disappointed by his work on early Carol stories. Carol and Ms. Marvel being unaware of their dual identity at first, then Carol fighting for control of her body was a tactic that I found interesting. I also liked that Carol shared villains with Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the Defenders. Too often is a super villain associated with just on super hero or team, so the Scorpion, Grotesk, MODOK, AIM, and Super-Skrull from other heroes, and the Destructor, Death-Bird, Hecate and the Elementals being her villains was an interesting balance to me. I enjoyed the supporting cast as well, Mary Jane Watson, J. Jonah Jameson, the Vision, Spider-Man, the Human Torch, and the Defenders appearing was a thrill for me. It’s rare for me to read an Epic Collection and enjoy every single story in it, and in this case, I actually never disliked anything at any point while reading this book. And, when reading a graphic novel, the artwork is also very important. The graphics and the novel are in an important balance. You can have an amazing story, yet when looking at the artwork you see a complete disaster, then enjoying the story is difficult. On the other hand, the story can be horrible, yet the art can be amazing, but that still doesn’t make it possible to enjoy the story. Balance is extremely important. Note that the issues contained in this graphic novel were published in 1977-1978, and that time period had a distinct comic book art style. It was a period where the art looked like a fusion between a cartoon and illustration that gave the period a certain flair, and that was executed, in my opinion, perfectly. I also enjoyed that while there were many different artists, there was a uniform standard, so that you could visually see benchmark differences in each artist’s turn at drawing. That said, sometimes you look at a comic book and don’t need to read the artists’ names to know that they were the artists in the issue. There are several artists who I feel that way about. But the artists in this book never stuck out to me, and I wouldn’t have known the artist just by looking at the artwork. You can also look at old comic books and say that the issue had good artwork for its time, which unfortunately is not actually good. Good comic art has to meet certain standards to actually be considered good art for all time. Now, I felt that the art in this book holds up to this day, which makes it good art, but I have to admit that two people can go to an art museum and have two completely different opinions on what they see, so while I may see good art, you could see an eyesore. But for me, the story was great, for me the art was great, so all-in-all, for me a great graphic novel. I did, however, notice a color inconsistency, as some colorists actually had Ms. Marvel’s stomach show and some covered her stomach with the costume.

As far as if I give this book my recommendation, I emphatically say that I do. I felt that this book was very self-contained and can be read and understood by a person if they knew nothing about Carol Danvers. But that’s the problem there. If you only know Carol Danvers from the “Captain Marvel” movie and liked it, I might actually say this is not the right book for you. There are so few consistencies and the characterizations are so vastly different it’s like it’s a completely different character. But if you didn’t like the “Captain Marvel” movie, this might give you a Carol redemption, if you’re willing to get her back in your head. If you’ve never seen any Marvel Cinematic Universe film with Captain Marvel, you might be interested in reading this book first to get a different, possibly positive, first impression of Carol that the MCU might taint. If you’re looking for a comic book with a strong female super hero lead, then this book is for you. Not only is she a super hero, she’s an editor of a magazine. If you’ve never read a Marvel comic book before, there are many better places to start. That’s not to say that this isn’t a good place to start, but for me it wouldn’t generally be my first recommendation. If you’re a fan of Carol from the comics, however, I would say that you should totally give this book a look. It should be noted she originally couldn’t create energy blasts and she had a precognitive seventh sense. This look back at the character was a treat to me, and I feel it will be one for other Carol Danvers fans as well.

Of course, if you’re still reading at this point, you may be wondering exactly how I feel about this book on a numeric score. I always go on a scale of one-to-ten. One means that I regret buying this book, I will store it and I will never look at it again. Ten means this was a great buy and in all likelihood I’ll read this again. I am usually a very harsh scorer and difficult to please, so a high score should be factored in to your considering if you want to read the book yourself. I score this book as a nine. I would love to give this book a ten, I really would, but for some reason, I just can’t. I can say that I loved this book a lot, but I just can’t quite say I felt it was perfect.

If you enjoyed this review, keep looking at my blog, From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin. I have done dozens of book reviews. I’m a journalist, a writer and a poet, so you can find many examples of these on my blog as well. I post frequently, so keep checking back for more content whenever you like, there’ll be more. And I’ll leave you with just three more words: Tim Cubbin… out!

"Wolverine: Madripoor Nights" by Chris Claremont & Peter David

 

            The following is a review of the “Wolverine: Madripoor Nights” graphic novel by Chris Claremont & Peter David.

            Madripoor: a small island principality south of Singapore. Not a nice place. Full of pirates, smugglers, and all kinds of other unsavory people. Crime central. Anything goes. Madripoor consists of two main areas. Hightown, full of the rich and powerful; Lowtown, the slums, a place you really don’t want to be. Ruled by a man known simply as “the Prince.”

            The X-Men: A team of mutant superpowers, born with a quirk of genetics giving them powers beyond those of regular humans. Mutants are hated and feared for their differences. The X-Men wish for mutants and humans to co-exist in peace and harmony. They battle against evil mutants who wish for mutant superiority, as well as other super villains, and humans who wish to end mutantkind. Or at least they did; until the X-Men all died… or did they?

            Logan: Also called Wolverine. The best there is at what he does, but what he does isn’t very nice. A mutant. Born with a healing factor allowing him to heal from almost any wound. His skeleton was bonded with the unbreakable metal adamantium, and he has claws that extend from his knuckles. Or at least he did; until he died… or did he?

            The mysterious Patch arrives in Madripoor, where he finds an old also dead ally of the X-Men, Jessan Hoan struggling to survive as a target of the crime lord Roche. The two team up against Roche and Jessan takes the name of Tyger Tiger and takes control of the Lowtown crime ring. General Nguyen Ngoc Coy, uncle of former New Mutant Karma, is the Kingpin of Hightown. His enforcers are Roughouse and Bloodsport, evil mutants both. Tyger is not happy with Coy’ rule and the two clash, with Patch caught in the middle. But Patch isn’t alone in Madripoor. He forges an alliance with private investigators Lindsay McCabe and Jessica Drew (the former super hero Spider-Woman), who have taken up residence in Madripoor. Patch battles the Silver Samurai, teams up with Mister Fixit (formerly the super hero Robert Bruce Banner/Hulk), and reminisces of his rivalry with evil mutant Sabretooth. He returns to San Francisco to try to stop the descendent of the ancient demon Ba’al from completing the Gehenna Stone, which will release Ba’al from his prison.

When I picked the book up, I expected the Madripoor story to be only one part of the book, with the title “Madripoor Nights” to be a tack-on that was catchy (prior readers of my other reviews of Marvel Epic Collections would know that this is often the case). But in this case, I was wrong. The entirety of the book took place in Madripoor. Spider-Woman is actually a favorite character of mine, so learning she was in this book got me excited. However, in this book, Jessica Drew never wore her costume and rarely used any of her powers except for the occasional wall-crawling, so this disappointed me. I especially enjoyed the “24 Hours” issue describing Logan’s history with Victor Creed/Sabretooth, also a favorite evil mutant of mine and the primary reason I picked out this book, and in this case, I was not disappointed. The concept of Logan believed to be dead and people not knowing that “Patch” was Wolverine seemed preposterous, however. He did try to avoid popping the claws as much as possible, but let’s face it: an eyepatch is a rather weak disguise. And even though the Hulk was in his Mister Fixit phase, Wolverine and Hulk have a lot of history (the first issue Wolverine appeared in was an issue of “The Incredible Hulk”). The artwork was not to my liking. The issues in this book were originally published in 1988-1989, but that’s not a bad thing. Longtime comic book readers such as myself know how artwork has changed over time and there are very recognizable traits of comic book art periods. Back in 1988-1989, the artwork was still hand-drawn at the time. John Buscema, one of the book’s primary artists in this book drew facial shapes which to me, just didn’t look realistic, and on top of that, the colors were a bit darker than other comics I’ve read. I typically like comics with brighter colors. That’s also not to say that I find that today’s art is better. Far from it. But with graphic novels, the story and the art are both equally important, that’s why it’s a GRAPHIC! NOVEL! The story itself actually did interest me. I found it to be high-quality. Now, I’m just going to go on the record of saying that all of this is just MY personal opinion. You might read this and have a totally opposite opinion of how I felt, that’s the beauty of entertainment. So I won’t say that this had a good story, because you might not agree with me. I leave this all up to you. Going past the not recognizing Patch as Wolverine thing and the Jessica Drew not being Spider-Woman thing, I enjoyed the story. I’m usually a fan of the works of both Chris Claremont and Peter David, so the prospect of both being the writers was totally appealing, and I was mostly not disappointed by their work, and the fact that they were the ONLY TWO writers of the book was appealing to me as having too many writers can totally make a story very different, and sometimes make contradictions. I particularly enjoyed “The Gehenna Stone Affair” storyline, which I found to be exciting, and I loved the climax.

I would recommend this book. If you are a Wolvie fan and want to read classic Wolverine stories, this book may be appealing to you. This applies to any kind of reader. If you have been a reader of Wolverine comics and have never read his comics going back to the late 80s, like myself, I recommend this book to you. If you only know Wolverine from the cartoons or movies and are looking for a good starting point, I think this book may be a good jump-on point because I felt like this story is nicely self-contained. If you’ve never even heard of Wolverine and are looking for just any good comic book, background knowledge didn’t seem to be a prerequisite, so I feel this could be a good read for you. Again, this is all MY opinion, so if you read this book and are disappointed by it, you have my apologies, but if you read this book and like it, you’re welcome!

Now, for the most important point of any of my reviews: the numeric score. I’m pretty hard to please, as prior readers will know, so if I give a high score, it probably is a good book. I score on a scale of one-to-ten. One means this was trash, ten means every page in this book deserves to be framed. Okay, well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, so let’s just say one is the worst, ten is the best. Taking everything to account here, the story I like, the contents that disappointed me, and the artwork that didn’t appeal to me, I score this book as a six. Now, don’t go with me about the artwork, there is appeal to many readers, just not to me personally. Comic book art from the late 1980s was unique, so if you grew up with comic books about that time (I didn’t start to collect comics regularly until 2001, and I was born in 1988), the visuals may appeal to you, as they are indicative of comic book art at the time, but if you’re only reading this book because of my recommendation and have never touched a comic book before, this might be a deterrent. I recommend looking at the covers before committing to this book as they are a good indication of the art inside. Like I said, though, the score takes everything into account, the art, my personal misgivings, and the story itself, so you could find your opinion to be the polar opposite of mine, but that’s the beauty of being a human being. So if you do or don’t want to read this based just on my words, it’s all up to you.

So that’s all I have to say about “Wolverine: Madripoor Nights.” Before I sign off, first I will say I have literally written dozens of book reviews, dominantly Marvel graphic novels and prose novels, and that’s all I’ve really been doing lately (due to the fact I am drafting a prose young adult novel myself), but I’ve written essays, editorials, articles, short stories, and poetry in the past and will do again soon, and I post very regularly, so you can keep looking out for more work from me (expect two more reviews next week), and I thank you for reading this entire article, you are THE BEST, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"X-Men: Days of Future Past" Graphic Novel/Prose Novel Comparison

            Hey, all, you’ve entered From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! I’m Tim Cubbin, by the way.

            Okay, let’s get down to business. You’re here because while searching on Facebook or Twitter or BlogSpot or a search engine, you saw this link that said “X-Men: Days of Future Past” Graphic Novel/Prose Novel Comparison and just HAD to check this out. Anyway, this piece is going to compare the “X-Men: Days of Future Past” graphic novel by Chris Claremont to the “X-Men: Days of Future Past” prose novel by Alex Irvine. The prose novel is an adaptation of the “Days of Future Past” comic book storyline from 1981. This comparison essay is only of the graphic novel and prose novel and NOT about the film “X-Men: Days of Future Past” by the way. Thought you ought to know. Now, I have written a review of the “X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix” epic collection by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Joe Duffy and Scott Edelman that has the “Days of Future Past” storyline AND a review of “X-Men: Days of Future Past” by Alex Irvine, so I totally suggest you read those two pieces as well as this one because they are kind of important to understanding this, but you can do what you want to do, I can’t force you, but if you do read all three of these pieces, you are THE BEST!

            Now, let’s get the plot of the story out in one sentence: The X-Men in a dystopian future send Kate Pryde to the past to prevent the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from assassinating Senator Robert Kelly and avert this horrible future from ever happening. I know, sounds a little flimsy, but I’ve heard worse, like… well we’re not here for that, we’re here for “Days of Future Past” so let’s focus on that.

            I am here to discuss some major differences between the two adaptations. I must state, for the giggles, that in the graphic novel, the future was 2013, but I guess in 1981 that seemed like a reasonable enough future. Thirty-two years was enough time to keep up credibility. It should be noted that in the prose novel, where the exact years were not specified, the future was twenty-two years from the present. And let’s face it; Magneto was in a concentration camp during World War II, and the novel even states that he was over one-hundred years old.

            A big difference between the graphic novel and prose novel was that in the graphic novel, Senator Robert Kelly, a bigoted politician, was a presidential candidate on an anti-mutant platform, but in the prose novel, he was content with just being a senator.

            Another difference between the graphic novel and the prose novel was the point of Kitty and Kate Pryde’s time change. In the graphic novel, the switch occurred when Kitty was in the Danger Room in Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, yet in the prose novel, the switch occurred when the X-Men went to the Max-X penitentiary to examine the super villain the Blob’s escape, where the X-Men got into a battle with pawns from the (sorry about this) Hellfire Club. This scene wasn’t even in the graphic novel, but I do get the point Irvine used this is the prose novel: at Max-X, a mutant hunting robot called a Sentinel showed up. Kate, having been enslaved in the future by the Sentinels, had the reaction of fear that the time swap hadn’t worked. I give Irvine a lot of credit for coming up with that, but Chris Claremont’s version of Kitty conquering the Danger Room was a lot funnier.

            Another difference was the use of Warren Worthington III/Angel. In the graphic novel, Angel had rejoined the X-Men as an active member, whereas Irvine used Angel as a way to get to Washington D.C. to stop the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from taking out Senator Kelly.

            The prose novel also explored the future in more detail than Claremont did, focusing quite a bit more about Rachel Summers and Kitty Pryde, particularly by Irvine giving Rachel a fatal injury.

            Irvine in prose also gave a hint on the connection between Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler and Raven Darkholme/Mystique. For those who only know the X-Men from the movies, in every other continuity Mystique is Nightcrawler’s mother, which Claremont and Marvel did not establish in 1981 at the time when the graphic novel was published.

            I was also surprised how Irvine managed to expand on Claremont’s story. The “Days of Future Past” storyline in the comics was just two issues. Irvine was able to produce a 375 page novel (granted the print was big and then spacing between the lines was big), which I found to be quite impressive.

            Now, you’re up to here, and you may be wondering which adaptation I preferred better. Let’s look at this carefully: Claremont wrote a great story, and I don’t just mean for the time when it was written. Sometimes when a story is published, it only holds up for the time around the publication. You could say a story was good for its time, or a story is good for all time. Look at it this way; in 2016, a thirty-five-year-old comic book was rewritten as a prose novel. In 2014, a film with the same title was released. Over the years, there were television series with the story, including in the 1992 “X-Men” animated series, “Days of Future Past” was adapted originally in the first season, and would eventually returned to in later episodes of the series. Even the entire 2008 animated series “Wolverine and the X-Men” was based on “Days of Future Past.” This is a story that has held up for forty-one years at the time of me writing this post. Is it a good story? The answer is an obvious yes. The question remains: did Alex Irvine outdo Chris Claremont? The answer to that is a resounding no. However, Irvine did not make many significant changes from what Chris Claremont did. So can I say that I enjoyed Irvine’s story better than Claremont’s original story? Yes. I loved the prose novel. If you read my review of “X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix” review, I docked off points ONLY because of the stories that were NOT “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past.” So if I were to take the issues “Days of Future Past” and “Mind Out of Time!” by themselves, I would give it a nine out of ten. If you read my “X-Men: Days of Future Past” by Alex Irvine review, you’d know I gave it a ten. So do I prefer the prose novel? Yes. But it have been written without Claremont, so I have to give him credit as well.

            Well, I guess I’ve typed up enough here and assaulted your eyeballs enough, so now you can leave, go back to social media, or your streaming, or your browsing, or watching videos or doing whatever you usually do on the internet when you’re not reading this blog. But I hope you will come back to this blog. I’ve been busy with all kinds of projects, some of them professional, some you’ll actually see on this blog, some you might see in a bookstore years down the line, some you might see on the big screen, or the television, or your streaming service, who knows. But I do have my B’ings (they’re pointless but still funny to read), short fiction and nonfiction, poetry, essays and editorials, and yes, dozens of reviews, I’ve done over eighty posts and I am nowhere near stopping, so I hope you’ll keep coming back, and if you do, you are THE BEST! So I hope you see my words and my thinking face again, and I’ll say, until next time, Tim Cubbin… out! 

"X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix" by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Jo Duffy, and Scott Edelman

            The following is a review of the Marvel Epic Collection “X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix” written by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Jo Duffy, and Scott Edelman. This is NOT a review of the film “X-Men: Dark Phoenix.”

            Howdy, all, welcome to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin. I am, myself, Tim Cubbin.

            So, this is one of my reviews. Prior readers of my reviews will be familiar with my structure, but for those of you who are only reading my blog for the first time after being intrigued by hashtags on Twitter, I’ll be nice and map it out for you. Now, I know some of you have had absolutely no interaction with the X-Men; never picked up a comic, never watched a cartoon, never seen a movie, never played a video game, never collected trading cards, so I feel like I should introduce the major characters for you. That would be prudent. Then, of course, I’ll give you a synopsis of the stories. Following that, I’ll give you my own personal thoughts about the book. After that, I’ll give you a numeric score of the book as its individual stories and then the book as a whole. Then I’ll tell you if I recommend this book and to whom I would recommend this book to. Then I’ll say goodbye and we can both be on our merry way. Some of my previous readers will notice the structure of this review is slightly different, but I feel this would be more efficient to write it this way and for you to read it this way. So, are we good on that? Good! Let’s begin!

            So, let’s talk about who the X-Men are. The X-Men are a group of mutants, born with genetic super powers. Regular human beings are jealous for and afraid of their powers, and mutants are hated and feared and often wanted imprisoned or killed. There are mutants, such as the X-Men, who want peace between mutants and baseline human beings. Other mutants, such as the Hellfire Club (pardon my profanity, I hate to use this word, but it’s essential to say) and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants want to establish mutant supremacy. The X-Men fight the evil mutants and the humans who want to eradicate mutants to try to establish human/mutant peaceful relations.

            So, obviously, you’ll want to hear about our prime mutants. First off is the founder and mentor of the X-Men, Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X, confined to a wheelchair but one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet. Scott Summers/Cyclops, X-Men field leader with uncontrollable optic force beams. Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, blue furred, three fingered, two toed, prehensile tailed, teleporter. Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, Russian farm boy with the ability to transfer from flesh and blood to organic steel skin, granting him super strength. Ororo Munroe/Storm, able to control the weather. Logan/Wolverine, able to heal from any wound and with an adamantium skeleton and claws. Kitty Pryde/Sprite, young mutant with the ability to turn intangible. Warren Worthington III/Angel, able to fly with natural wings. Jean Grey/Marvel Girl/Phoenix/Dark Phoenix, a cosmic powered telepathic and telekinetic woman. The Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club (including Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, Donald Pierce, Harry Leland, and Jason Wyngarde/Mastermind), a group of mutants who want to enslave the world. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (including Raven Darkholme/Mystique, Fred Dukes/Blob, John Allerdyce/Pyro, Irene Adler/Destiny, and Dominic Petros/Avalanche), a group of mutant extremists who want to establish mutant supremacy. We also have some other major players. Senator Robert Kelly, an antimutant presidential candidate. The Sentinels, mutant hunting robots. Lilandra Nerimani, alien empress of the Shi’ar. The Imperial Guard, super powered protectors of the Shi’ar Empire.

            Phew, that’s a large cast. Now, let’s talk about the stories. Unfortunately, this will have to include the fate of the Phoenix spoiler in order to be effective. First off is “The Dark Phoenix Saga.” The X-Men’s mutant detecting device, Cerebro tracks two new mutant signatures. The X-Men teams split up. Xavier, Logan, Ororo, and Peter head to Illinois to try to recruit Kitty Pryde to Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters (the X-Men’s base of operations) while Scott, Jean, and Kurt go to New York City to try to recruit Allison Blaire, the mutant singer Dazzler. Kitty goes to a malt shop (which we really don’t have anymore, and some of you might not even know what a malt shop is) with Peter, Logan, and Ororo, who inform Kitty that she is a mutant and they are the X-Men. The X-Men are attacked and kidnapped by agents of the Hellfire Club, under orders of Emma Frost, the telepathic White Queen. Kitty is able to save the team. Allison turns down Scott and Jean’s offer to join the X-Men. Jean, meanwhile, is having “time slips,” seeing what she thinks is an ancestor, and her romance with Jason Wyngarde, but in actuality it is Wyngarde seducing Jean to become the Black Queen and to up his bid for a higher position in the Hellfire Club. This turns Phoenix into Dark Phoenix when Mastermind’s plan fails, who then wishes to destroy the X-Men, despite having spent years on-and-off with the team. She then soars to space and destroys the D’Bari star system, killing five billion lives and destroying a Shi’ar star cruiser, thus changing their peaceful standing with the X-Men, who now wish to destroy the Dark Phoenix. With the aid of former X-Men/now Avenger Hank McCoy/Beast, Xavier is able to suppress the Dark Phoenix. But the Shi’ar abduct the X-Men and Beast to destroy Jean/Phoenix. However, Xavier challenges the Shi’ar Imperial Guard to a duel of honor over the fate of the Phoenix. As the X-Men fall, Jean feels the Dark Phoenix returning, and, rather than turning evil again, ends the threat of the Dark Phoenix ever returning. Following this, Scott leaves the X-Men as he feels he has no place with the team. Storm is made leader, and Kitty Pryde becomes the youngest member of the X-Men.

            Kitty is resistant to accept Nightcrawler as a friend. In “Nightcrawler’s Inferno,” Kurt and the X-Men fight the evil witch Margali, who blames Kurt for a crime Kurt did not commit.

            After this is “…Something Wicked This Way Comes!” where Logan and Kurt head to Canada to cure a man turned into a demon called the Wendigo.

            Next up is “Days of Future Past!” In this, the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants assassinate presidential candidate Senator Kelly in 1980. Soon after, the Sentinels are reactivated and in time, mutants are eradicated. The survivors are placed in concentration camps, and inhibitors are created to suppress their mutant powers. In 2013, a nuclear assault is planned for the United States in an effort to end the threat of the Sentinels. Logan, Piotr, Ororo, Kate Pryde-Rasputin, Franklin Richards, Rachel, and Magneto plan to stop this world from ever coming to be. The mutants are able to jam the inhibitor powers, and Rachel uses her power to swap Kate and Kitty, sending Kate Pryde-Rasputin back in time to 1980, and Kitty Pryde to 2013. The choice is made as Kitty is the newest member of the X-Men and not as psychically resistant and most likely to be believed. Kate must now convince the X-Men, who head to Washington, D.C. to try to save Charles Xavier, X-Men ally Doctor Moira MacTaggert, and Senator Kelly from the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

            Following this is “Demon.” Kitty is left alone at Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters on Christmas Eve, where a demon is able to enter the School and Kitty, by herself, must fight the demon to save her life.

            There are also mini-stories “At the Sign of the Lion,” “Joyride into Jeopardy” “Cry—Vengeance!” and “Phoenix: The Untold Story” a director’s cut of “The Fate of the Phoenix,” the final issue of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” with different dialogue and a different ending.

            Okay, I know this was a lot to take in, and if you are still here at this point, you are THE BEST! So, now for my thoughts. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is, at the moment, my FAVORITE X-Men story. To me it is just PERFECTION! The film “X-Men: Dark Phoenix” just DID NOT do it justice. BUT! I felt that “Nightcrawler’s Inferno” and “…Something Wicked This Way Comes” were just mediocre stories, but I did like how it shined a spotlight on Kurt. BUT! “Days of Future Past!” I thought it was such an AMAZING story! Granted the future has passed, but in 1980, 2013 seemed like such a long time away and the ages of the surviving mutants had to be believable in order to still be fighting the Sentinels. And I guess that meant that the X-Men were able to change this future from happening. (Kidding! Or am I?). And “Phoenix: The Untold Story” having different dialogue and a different ending was rather interesting, but this just would not have worked out if it had been published as the originally published ending.

            Okay, I know you’ve been waiting for this! My numeric score. I’ve said all I needed to say, so now I’m going to give my scores. In this case, I won’t justify my scores because I’ve probably bored you slightly, so if you’re still here, you are THE BEST! Just going to say, I score on a scale of one to ten, one being amazingly awful, while ten being simply amazing. And I am a VERY hard to please reviewer as my prior readers will know, so a high score from me, well… Anyway! “The Dark Phoenix Saga” Ten! “Nightcrawler’s Inferno” Eight! “…Something Wicked This Way Comes!” Seven! “Days of Future Past!” Ten! “At the Sign of the Lion” Six! “Joyride into Jeopardy!” Six! “Cry—Vengeance!” Six! “Phoenix: The Untold Story” Ten! And finally, “X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix” as a whole book! Nine!

            Now, finally, do I recommend this book? YES! If you like X-Men comics and have never read this, I totally say you should pick up this book! I thought it was AMAZING! (Hmm, that’s Spider-Man’s thing, but I feel “Uncanny” just isn’t enough.) If you’ve never read any X-Men comics or never even heard of the X-Men but want a good place to start, this is definitely my recommendation for you! I felt that prior knowledge of the X-Men is not required and that this book is very much self-contained. So if this review has whet your appetite, totally check this book out!

            Okay, so I’ve been typing for a while now, and you’ve been reading this for a few minutes, so now I free you. BUT! First, I will say that I’ve done so many reviews on this blog, so if you liked this post and want to read more, and I haven’t bored you, please feel free to browse the rest of this blog. I also write short fiction and nonfiction, poetry, editorials and essays, including my “B’ings” series, and some other stuff I feel you might find interesting, so browse ‘til your heart’s content. I am a certified journalist, but unemployed due to my disabilities, so this is how I get my ideas out there to you (for free, I must add), so your support is greatly appreciated. Feel free to retweet, follow, like, share comment, whatever you can do on the platform you found me on, and if you do, you are THE BEST, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out! 

"X-Men: Second Genesis" by Chris Claremont, Len Wein, Bill Mantlo, and Bonnie Wilford

 

            The following is a review of the “X-Men: Second Genesis” graphic novel by Chris Claremont, Len Wein, Bill Mantlo, and Bonnie Wilford.

            We’ll begin this review with a look at the characters, then an examination of the plot synopses of the book, then move on to my personal thoughts in reflection to the graphic novel, my accessibility reference, and finally my numerical score and recommendation of the book. Unfortunately and regretfully this will contain spoilers, and I apologize, but they are necessary for the point of reviewing the graphic novel as a whole, but these spoilers are not completely major, mostly minor, no it shouldn’t ruin the book by being revealed.

            We’ll start with talking about the X-Men in general. The X-Men are a team of mutant “super heroes.” A mutant is a person with powers that people don’t usually have. This is caused by a genetic mutation at birth. These powers typically manifest upon puberty. The “scientific” term of a mutant is homo superior. Because “normal” humans don’t have these powers, many are afraid of mutants, and a large faction hate mutants and want them all dead (the only good mutie is a dead mutie) or arrested and contained. The X-Men were brought together to learn to use their powers to benefit all mankind, with the vision of peace between mutants and “normal” humans. They often come up against “evil” mutants who wish to overtake “normal” humans and establish mutant dominance and superiority. Their base is Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, located in Westchester, New York (ironically where I live). This is where they live and train to use their powers and as a cover so their location is a secret. The X-Men are Scott Summers/Cyclops, Bobby Drake/Iceman, Jean Grey/Marvel Girl, Warren Worthington III/Angel, Alex Summers/Havok, Lorna Dane/Polaris, and their leader is Charles Xavier/Professor X. Professor X has a device called Cerebro, which can locate mutants all around the world. Cerebro detects a powerful mutant on the island of Krakoa, so strong it defies classification. Professor X sends his X-Men on a mission to locate this mutant. However, only Cyclops comes back, the other X-Men missing somewhere on Krakoa, potentially held kidnapped. Professor X feels he needs more mutants to go to Krakoa to find the mutant and rescue the X-Men, so he recruits a new group of mutants to do the task.

            We’re now going to talk about the team that goes to the rescue, but we’re only going to talk about three of the aforementioned X-Men before we talk about the rescue team.

            We’ll start with the founder and leader of the X-Men, Charles Xavier/Professor X. Professor X is considered the most powerful telepath on the planet. An accident has left him in a wheelchair.

            Scott Summers/Cyclops: he has powerful optic blasts, but has no control over them and must always wear glasses or visors made out of ruby quartz, the only thing that can hold them back.

            Jean Grey/Marvel Girl: she is a telekinetic and has minor telepathic abilities.

            Now we’ll talk about the rescue team in order of their recruitment.

            Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler: a teleporter with blue fur, three fingers, two toes, and a tail who in Germany is considered a demon and is about to be killed before Professor X arrived to rescue him.

            Logan/Wolverine: he has a skeleton coated in the unbreakable metal adamantium, three claws in in this hands, and a healing factor than can help him recover from any wound. He is also called “Weapon X” and is an agent of the Canadian super team Alpha Flight before Professor X recruits him and Wolverine offers his resignation.

            Sean Cassidy/Banshee: he is an Irish man who has been with Interpol, the NYPD, and even been a villain before Professor X recruits him. He has a sonic scream which he can use to fly with.

            Ororo Munroe/Storm: she controls the weather and in Africa she was considered a goddess before Professor X recruits her.

            Shiro Yoshida/Sunfire: a Japanese man who can fly and generate and control fire.

Peter Rasputin/Colossus: a Russian farmer before recruited by Professor X, who can turn his body into organic steel.

            John Proudstar/Thunderbird: an Apache with super strength and tracking skills.

            So, anyway, this group of mutants travel to Krakoa to find the mutant and rescue the X-Men and are surprised to find out the mutant is actually the island itself. Upon defeating it, the X-Men and the new group of mutants return to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. All of the new recruits except for Sunfire decide to stay and be the “New” X-Men. However, the “Old” X-Men decide they have stayed at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters long enough and are grown enough to move on with their lives and decide to leave. The only X-Man who decides to stay is Cyclops, who must say goodbye to Marvel Girl, the woman he loves.

            The “New” X-Men go on to train in the use of their powers, and are called to NORAD base in Valhalla when Count Nefaria and his Ani-Men have taken over and plan to unleash the nuclear missile upon the world, the Doomsmith Scenario. The X-Men are able to defeat the Ani-Men, but Count Nefaria attempts to escape in a plane. Thunderbird destroys the plane, but unfortunately does not survive the crash.

            The “New” X-Men continue their training and face several more threats, including the demon Kierrok, Eric the Red, the corrupted Havok and Polaris, the Sentinels, Steven Lang, and the X-Sentinels, and are brought to space during a solar storm. Marvel Girl was taken with the X-Men and uses her powers to land a space shuttle in Jamaica Bay. In the process, Marvel Girl becomes Phoenix and her powers are amplified, and gains several new powers.

            The X-Men travel to Cassidy Keep in Ireland that Banshee has just inherited, but are forced to battle villains like Black Tom Cassidy (Banshee’s evil cousin), Juggernaut, and Magneto.

            The X-Men are sent into another galaxy where the battle against the Shi’ar Imperial Guard to save the universe.

            Upon their return, the X-Men and Iron Fist clash out of a misunderstanding after Iron Fist faces off against Sabre-tooth.

            The X-Men also travel to New Mexico and team up with Spider-Man against a group of humans who believe they are reincarnations of Hindu gods.

            Finally, Spider-Man, Havok, and Thor team up to battle the Living Monolith.

            Yeah, okay, I know, that’s a lot of stories we covered. Now I’m sure you want to hear my thoughts and score, so I won’t disappoint you any further. Ever since I started reading comics regularly in 2001, I have ALWAYS been a fan of Chris Claremont’s work, and his early work did not disappoint me. I found these stories amazing, and did not want to stop reading the book, didn’t want to put it down, and I finished it in three days (which is actually slow for me, but I wanted to savor it, so I spaced it out). I liked the Easter eggs where Claremont snuck several Marvel staff (like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) into the panels, which some people would totally miss, but I didn’t. The stories excited and thrilled me. I just LOVED the book. I thought the team-up issues were great, and reading the first appearance of Sabretooth was a total treat for me. And “Iron Fist” was my favorite Marvel Netflix show, so I thought his issues were awesome, they did not disappoint. And the “Phoenix Saga” has always been a favorite of mine ever since I was a little boy and watched the “X-Men” animated series in the 1990s (I was born in 1988, by the way, so I was basically a ‘90s brat, and we had THE BEST animated superhero series’ back then, and don’t try to tell me otherwise because you WILL NOT win).

            Still with me? Have I bored you yet? If you’re still here, you are THE BEST (expect to see that again in a few paragraphs). Okay, my previous readers know when I review books and graphic novels, I give you my accessibility rating. In other words, if you’ve never read ANYTHING pertaining to these series, teams, and characters or haven’t seen any of their movies, can you just pick it up and read it without being confused? Well, let’s explore briefly the circumstances that led to the “New” X-Men. Stan Lee’s first X-Men story was released in 1963. Claremont took over X-Men in 1975. Prior to that, the “X-Men” comic series was literally dying. The stories were just not interesting readers and new issues were stopped, with just rereleases of older issue that they continued numbering from before the “fall” of the X-Men. Then, in 1975, Giant-Size X-Men #1 came out, with new characters who were older and of all different nationalities rather than just the white American characters. We had a German “Demon,” a Russian farm boy, an African “Goddess,” a Canadian, an Irish, a Japanese, a Native American warrior, and a Scottish scientist/housekeeper, such a variety. These characters were seen as more “interesting” and BOOM! X-Men was saved, and we all know now where THAT led to, the spin-offs, the cartoons, the movies, the video games, the trading cards, the action figures, and I’m sure I haven’t just named everything. So if you know nothing about X-Men, that’s fine, the history of the first ninety-three issues really doesn’t matter, it’s a perfect jump-on point, and if you ever want to start reading X-Men, this is where to start.

            So, now the important part: my score. For those who don’t know how I roll, I score on a scale of one to ten. One means don’t go anywhere near this book, ten being if you read this book we could be best friends. Hello new best friends! For the first time ever! I score this book at a ten! I felt this book was perfection! Comic book gold! Seriously, if you read this review and are even MILDLY interested, I want you to go out and READ! THIS! BOOK! Seriously, if you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you know I am VERY stingy with my scoring. So if I say it’s a ten, well, that means A LOT!

            So I’m going to sign off for this review, and paraphrase the late, great Stan Lee, face front, true believers, excelsior, Tim Cubbin… out!

"The New Mutants: Renewal" by Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo

 

            This is a review of the graphic novel “The New Mutants: Renewal” by Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo. This review does not have anything to do with “The New Mutants” film.

            This book was about the formation and early and early adventures of the team The New Mutants. I feel that a brief description of the characters will enhance this review to people unfamiliar with The New Mutants, not knowing the characters or storylines and mostly only reading this out of obligation of me and this blog.

            Xi’an Coy Manh/Karma. Powers: Mental possession.

            Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane. Powers: Metamorphosis from human to lupine form.

            Danielle Moonstar/Psyche. Powers: Able to mentally projects a person’s deepest fears or desires.

            Samuel Guthrie/Cannonball. Powers: Ability to transform into an invulnerable projectile.

            Roberto DaCosta/Sunspot. Powers: Ability to draw energy from the sun which gives him super strength.

            Amara Aquilla/Magma. Powers: Geokinesis and control over fire and magma.

            Illyana Rasputin. Powers: Sorcery.

            Charles Xavier/Professor X. Powers: Telepathy and mind control.

            The story begins when geneticist Moira McTaggert brings her charge Rahne Sinclair to Charles Xavier. Xavier was the mentor to the mutant team the Uncanny X-Men, who have disappeared and pronounced dead. A mutant is a person with powers caused by a genetic mutation which usually emerge during puberty. Xavier has a device called Cerebro which can detect mutants. His base is his School for Gifted Youngsters where he taught mutants both scholastically and in the use of their mutant powers. Xavier is reluctant to take on any new students due to the danger it leaves to his students. Xi’an is discovered as a mental possessor and Xavier takes her in, giving her a job and a home. Dani is also discovered, the granddaughter of an acquaintance to Charles Xavier and also taken in after predicting the murder of her grandfather which comes to be. Roberto is discovered when he transforms during a soccer/football game. Sam’s powers emerge during a mine collapse where he saves himself and his supervisor by blasting out.

            A group called the Hellfire Club discover these newly empowered mutants as well as Xavier and attempt to capture and possibly destroy them. They use Sam as a pawn and convinces him that mutants must be destroyed. By circumstances, the young mutants are all gathered together, convince Sam of the Hellfire Club’s true mission and come together as a group. Reluctantly, Xavier accepts all the kids to his school, but refuses to call this new team X-Men out of his legacy to the original team. The kids are then dubbed “The New Mutants.”

            They do battles with foes such as the Sentinels, robots designed to kill mutants; the Brood, an alien species bent on universal domination; Viper/Madame Hydra; the Silver Samurai; and Selene Gallio, a mutant vampire who attempts eternal life by draining the life essence out of a person. The original X-Men are discovered alive when they return to the School. The New Mutants arrive in Nova Roma/New Rome, where the team discover Amara, a newly emerged mutant who takes on the codename Magma. The book also features the story of Illyana’s time in Limbo where she is held for seven years by the Demon Lord Belasco, but seconds pass between her entrapment and escape from the dimension.

            This book contained several storylines, what I described were mostly just my highlights. Now to the important parts, my scoring. First I’ll start with the ever important accessibility rating. If you go to read this book, you should be able to pick it up with little to know knowledge of any Marvel history pretty easily is this is the start of the series. If you saw “The New Mutants” film (and you were probably very disappointed) and want actually good stories, this is for you. The origins of the characters were clearly displayed in this book, and the book is labeled Volume 1, so, yeah, you can start your introductions to the characters with ease. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, which was mostly written by Chris Claremont, who is a favorite writer of mine. He was definitely on top of his game here. I’m a fan of the current “New Mutants” comic book series, and this was actually quite a good bit better. The history was assembled well. I do complain about the “Magik” limited series being included, as Illyana was not in any other part of the book and a flashback scene was featured from an issue not contained in this volume. Do I recommend this book to you? Absolutely. Now, what you’ve really been waiting for; my numerical score. For those who don’t know my system, the score is from one to ten, one being stay the heck away from this book, ten being go out and read this because I will not shut up talking about it and you will, too, I give it a nine. Again, “Magik” didn’t feel appropriate in this volume and I might have given this book a ten if it wasn’t actually included in it. Another factor in lowering the score is not including “The Uncanny X-Men” issue titled “PROFESSOR XAVIER IS A JERK!” where Xavier tried to demote X-Man Kitty Pryde/Sprite to the New Mutants felt like an important piece was left out. Otherwise, I felt this was a rather good read.

            Now I leave you with my signoff: Tim Cubbin… out!