X-Men Giant-Size #1 ? Review ? Weekly Comic Book Review

By: Christopher Yost (writer), Paco Medina and Dalabor Talajic (pencillers), Juan Vlasco and Dalabor Talajic (inkers), Marte Gracia and Wil Quintana (colorists), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Axel Alonso and Nick Lowe (editors)

The Story: First to Last, Part I: In this new arc, the Neos, another mutant offshoot of humanity (different from homo superior) is attacking the increasingly misnamed Utopia. The neo?s have lost the ability to reproduce, as homo superior had done for a while, and now that mutants are being born again, they want the secret to what?s up. This battle royale drudges up some buried memories in Scott, really old ones, from the original X-Men?s first year: He suddenly remembers a run-in with the evolutionaries that he was supposed to have forgotten.

The Review: My first reaction to reading X-Men Giant-Size #1 was: ?That was pretty cool.? Superb art led the way, starting with a planet-scape, then dipping under the cloud-deck, and into a cave and some newborns. The detail, draftsmanship and colors were beautifully natural and the following action dramatic and clear. In the present-day, the clouds in the background of the giant neo were spectacular and the fight scene pretty awesome, although from time to time, the ?cameras? zoomed in too close, and it was tough to follow the blow-by-blow. The shift in art teams between past and present was a useful tool to highlight the change in setting and there were some nice old-school touches to the scenes in the past. My favorites were the Kirby-esque action poses, Magneto?s not-form-fitting costume, Magneto?s general portliness (you get a no-prize if you remembered that he started off as a middle-aged man before being turned into a child by Mutant Alpha in Defenders #16 and then aged back to his prime adult strength by Eric the Red just before Uncanny X-Men #104), and even Wanda?s sixties sort of physique (instead of the ultra-svelte pneumatic women that populate comics since the 80s). All-in-all, some very fine artwork.

Writing-wise, Yost has brought a piece of high-concept sci-fi to the X-universe. The introduction of the mystery of the evolutionaries, the hurtling fight scene right out of the gates, and the neat resolution of the plot challenge of the neo?s all launched this arc strongly. I felt propelled along the story and wanting more of this *big idea*. The dialogue worked, and the characters were mostly honest. Where they weren?t honest (Bobby?s exaggerated quipping in two time periods, Wolverine?s idiotic back-stabbing on the neo and Emma?s inexplicable failure to wake up their best strategist while they?re being attacked), I could see why Yost had chosen to fudge a bit, for dramatic effect, but since I?ve read some pretty flawless books by this writer, I felt he?d cut a couple of corners he didn?t need to.

On Yost?s big idea, I?m loving it, but my inner fanboy is asking a few conceptual questions. If the evolutionaries have been safeguarding the homo superior for its brief span of time on Earth, why haven?t we seen them before? Maybe they only show up at real crisis points, but even so, wouldn?t the Mutant Massacre in the mid-200s of X-Men have qualified, or last year when the mutant population dropped to under a couple hundred? And what?s their relationship to the Celestials? As any good Kirby aficionado will know, the Celestials have been fiddling with hominid DNA since time immemorial, or at least since Chariot of the Gods was published. Or, should I assume that the evolutionaries snuck onto the Earth between Celestial visits, like mice in a darkened kitchen? I don?t care which; I just hope Yost makes this all work with the rest of the canon. And if we?re going to nitpick, I?d like to do it in style, and say that the genetics in this book (and in X-Men in general) doesn?t really stick together well. I don?t want to make a nerd-fest of it, but if you want the details, let me know in the comments section. I?m aware that there has to be a certain amount of hand-waving to make sci-fi work, but these inaccuracies weren?t really needed for the plot to work.

Conclusion: I loved X-Men Giant-Size #1. Yost and his giant-size art team launched this arc with a lot of thrust on a true course. I?m definitely signed up for the next chapter in X-Men #12.

Grade: A-

-DS Arsenault

Follow DS on Twitter.

Follow WCBR on Twitter and Facebook.

Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Angel, Axel Alonso, Beast, Christopher Yost, Colossus, comic book babes, Comic Book Reviews, comic reviews, Cyclops, Dalabor Talajic, Daniel Ketchum, DS Arsenault, Emma Frost, Iceman, Jean Grey, Juan Vlasco, Marte Gracia, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Marvel Girl, Nick Lowe, Paco Medina, Professor X, review, Reviews, Scarlet Witch, Scott Summers, Weekly Comic Book Review, Wil Quintana, Wolverine, X-Men, X-Men Giant-Size #1, X-Men Giant-Size #1 review

Source: http://weeklycomicbookreview.com/2011/05/19/x-men-giant-size-1-review/

bikes dalai lama insanity fed tim mcgraw waterloo centurylink