During the Holiday season, I bought
myself a couple of trade paperbacks of X-Men comic books. I practically have
every single X-Men comic book from until two years ago when the flood waters of
Typhoon Ondoy destroyed much of my collection and with it my interest in
reading and collecting.
But I guess you can say that I am a
fan for life. I distinctly recall only one time when I stopped collecting and
that was when I was in college and I lost some prized titles (mostly original
Frank Miller Daredevils) to a burglary. In a fit of anger and madness, I sold
my entire comic book collection. Months later, while in the midst of lecture on
law, a classmate of mine brought out an X-Men comic book. I didn’t pay
attention to the lecture and instead read the entire comic that was an X-Men
Annual with Alan Davis doing the art chores. I was lost in the story arc then
but my interest was piqued enough for me to go back into collecting.
After Ondoy, I tried reading a few
titles but I had a hard time figuring out what had happened in the space of two
years. I was lost. I found a re-entry point with Schism and have since picked
up every X-title. What helped bring back my interest was picking up many of the
trade paperbacks that collected the run of “the new X-Men” of Chris Claremont,
Dave Cockrum, and John Byrne. And it was like getting reacquainted with an old
friend. The stories have retained their charm over the decades. Every issue was
a voyage of discovery that built on one another. And I intend to get trades of
every single X-Men arc that I love.
Over the intervening years, the stories
got darker and more grim. I have to admit that yes, there were some great
storylines but what happened to self-contained arcs that were masterpieces in
storytelling that laid the fount for the next generation of X-Men stories? Arcs
such as God Loves, Man Kills, Madripoor Knights, and Mutant Massacre? In its
place we had E is For Extinction, the Messiah Complex, and Schism.
Quite honestly, I am not crazy about
the direction the books have taken but I understand why they have happened.
But I do miss the days when the team
did not have to regularly deal with extinction events. The Regenesis titles
have been interesting but I am still not in agreement with the premise of many
things. The idea of reopening the school in Westchester is insane. How many people
know that the X-Men are based there? It seems a little foolhardy and
hypocritical. Wasn’t this the premise of the Generation X title until the
creative groups strayed from their original vision.
The illusion of a normal life will
come crashing down painfully on this group of X-Men. On the other hand, with
Cyclops’ team, there have been so many compromises that it is quite obvious
that some have agendas of their own. And poor Cyke will probably regret some of
his decisions. But at the end of the day, these two teams will be reunited. And
even at my age, I’ll be there for the ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment