The following was originally published on iFanboy on October 14, 2008:
I really want to like the X-Men.
Believe it or not, I’ve been reading the X-Men books off and on in some form or another for practically my entire comic book reading life. Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, X-Factor, New X-Men, X-Force, New Mutants, Astonishing X-Men, Cable, New X-Men, Ultimate X-Men, Wolverine, X-Statix – these are just some of the many X-Books that I have sampled over the years.
My peak X-Men reading time was, along with practically everyone else, the early 1990s when Uncanny X-Men and X-Men were selling in the millions and Jim Lee was putting out a monthly book. But as I got older, I found it harder and harder to connect with the books and the X-Men themselves. I detailed some of the reasons why in an article earlier this year.
Despite reading a bunch of X-books and enjoying some and loving one, no matter how good the book, I was always left vaguely unsatisfied. Something was missing. I was finding no emotional connection. And then in the Totebag episode of iFanboy the clouds parted and the angels sang and I had found my X-Men book.
X-Men: First Class
Written by Jeff Parker and drawn (mostly) by Roger Cruz, X-Men: First Class tells the tale of the original X-Men – Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel and Iceman – as they learn to work as a team and become heroes.
This comic book is many things. It is one part action adventure, one part awkward teen romance, and one part laugh-out-loud comedy.
If I could use one word to describe this book it would be charming. I am not kidding when I say that I have a huge smile on my face the entire time I read X-Men: First Class. Everything about it is fantastic. The X-Men themselves are great fun and a joy to read. Having just started out in the hero game, none of them have any idea whatsoever about what to do in battle. The primary facial expression that Roger Cruz (very smartly and very hilariously) draws on their faces is abject terror. Bobby, in particular, seems to exist in a constant state of open-mouthed shock which never fails to make me laugh.
The fun of this book comes from following these familiar characters in that early period in their lives when they are all college-aged and they are not weighed down with the baggage that comes with years and years of the pain and defeat and betrayal that will come later in their lives. Right now it is mostly fun and games for the X-Men, and for us too. It’s very much like looking back on the memories from earlier in your own life, when you remember everything as being much simpler and more fun than it is now.
It’s not all fun and games. There are some very real and intense explorations into the loneliness of being a teenage mutant superhero. There is a absolutely fantastic issue where, in order to beat back some demons (with the help of Doctor Strange) the X-Men must all wear Cyclops’ spare visors and for the first time they see the world as Scott does – red, always red. It’s a sad moment when they realize that Scott never gets to see the world as it really is, his perception is always filtered through the ruby lenses. Scott, as he does, keeps his chin up about it but you can tell that it’s something that affects him. It’s these little serious and emotional touches in the midst of the wacky fun that hit like a ton of bricks. It’s a tonal balance that I haven’t seen pulled off this well since the Giffen/DeMatteis days on Justice League.
One of the things that I really don’t like about the modern X-Books is that they seem completely unconnected from the rest of the Marvel Universe. They sat out Civil War. Ditto for Secret Invasion. They basically only showed up in both events in their own lame mini-series. I miss the days when the X-Men would team-up with the Avengers – that’s when you knew the event was a big deal, when everyone came together. Now, with the never-ending X-Men events segmenting themselves off from the never-ending Avengers events, it’s almost like all of these books take place in separate worlds. And that’s one of my favorite things about X-Men: First Class. It is totally connected to the Marvel Universe. In the first two volumes, there are team-ups and guest appearances by Doctor Strange, Thor, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Lizard, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Jarvis. The X-Men really feel like a part of a larger world in this book, and that’s great.
Very close in tone to Ultimate Spider-Man, X-Men: First Class is the book that really should have been the Ultimate X-Men. I said it on the Follow-Up episode of iFanboy and it’s something I feel even stronger now having read the second trade paperback and having dropped Ultimate X-Men since then. Whereas the Ultimate X-Men book that we did get was all posing and “hip” clothes and hairstyles and rehashed storylines, X-Men: First Class actually offers up a retelling of the beginning days of the X-Men in a modern world. It is almost exactly like Ultimate Spider-Man, so much so that now that I think about the comparisons, I am totally shocked that they don’t exist in the same world.
This is a book all about being young and finding your way in the world and it is more than ably handled by the team of Jeff Parker and Roger Cruz. Parker does a great job of exploring the group dynamics of a bunch of 19-20 year olds. Everything is exciting and new; they are just really entering into the world on their own for the first time and learning how to survive and learning that life is complicated. One issue focuses on a brief romance between Angel and Scarlet Witch where they learn that physical attraction might just not be enough to sustain a relationship. Man, I remember when I first learned that lesson; it’s a rough one.
Scott and Jean are in the beginnings of a flirtation that everyone else sees will very soon become “a thing.” Bobby is the young, wide-eyed motormouth of the group and (gloriously unblue furry) Hank is the resident genius and super jock who does everything well, except have fun which he learns to do more of through his unlikely kinship with Bobby. Warren is the super rich kid who only really feels happy in the sky and that’s one aspect that Parker handles really well: despite being a part of this team of friends, every one of the X-Men feels isolated in one way or another. Warren always wants to fly, Scott hides behind his visor, Jean is the only girl among a bunch of rowdy guys, Bobby is the youngest and feels like everyone’s little brother, and Hank feels more comfortable buried in his books than hanging out with his friends. Jeff Parker has a really strong handle on these familiar characters in an unfamiliar time of their lives. He does a great job of taking these people that we have known for decades and making them feel fresh.
Roger Cruz’s art is a fantastic compliment to Parker’s writing. He doesn’t draw all of the stories, but the vast majority of them through the first two trades. Cruz’s style exists in the space on the ven diagram where cartoony meets realistic. He is tremendous at drawing overblown facial expressions, which totally works in this kind of series where every emotion and every reaction is heightened and amplified by these kids who are in these fantastical situations. Eyes bulge, mouths gape and smiles are wide. Cruz does a really good job of giving everyone on the team their own look and body language. And in a book that spends as much time on the quiet(ish) moments back at school as it does on crazy, frenetic action, Roger Cruz is asked to do a lot and he rises to the challenge.
So who is X-Men: First Class for? It’s for anyone interested in the X-Men without the baggage of the current books. It’s for fans of Ultimate Spider-Man. It’s for people looking for a higher does of humor and fun in their superheroing. It’s for anyone who wants to read about familiar characters in great stories that don’t require you to read fifteen other books.
Who is X-Men: First Class not for? It's not for people who don't want a more comedic take on these classic characters (even Professor X gets a few laughs). It's not for people who prefer long decompressed storytelling to one-and-done issues. It's not for anyone obsessed with where all the books fit together in-continuity.
Where does X-Men: First Class fit in with everything else? I don't know nor do I really care (unless they put it in the Ultimate continuity, then I'd care). It's a book out of time, these are adventures that originally took place in the 1960s being retold in a modern setting with cell phones and e-mail. There are sly jokes to the past, though. Their uniforms are constantly referred to as their 2.0 uniforms, with their "other" uniforms (i.e. the original 60s versions) constantly being "unavailable" because they are being washed or repaired. Jean misses her pointy mask.
There are two trades available and I cannot recommend them enough. Not enough people are reading this book, as is evidenced by Marvel recently announcing that they were ending he on-going series and restarting X-Men: First Class as a series of mini-series. I am okay with that as long as it doesn’t impact the content of the book and the stories that Parker and Cruz have to tell.
I love X-Men: First Class so much that it might just be one of my favorite titles that Marvel publishes right now.
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All three Totally Rad Show guys gave the comic thumbs down this week.
This has been on my wishlist for a long while, but i think its time to pull the trigger. I really like the idea of it being lighter and fun which is exactly what i’m looking for these days. The comparrison to Ultimate Spiderman is fascinating and very appealing.
The first volume is .99 an issue on the Comixology apps today only! Go check it out!
Easily the best X-Men book in many years. The newer X-Men books are always such a depressing read, but this is all about letting the reader have a good, fun time.
Re: “One of the things that I really don’t like about the modern X-Books is that they seem completely unconnected from the rest of the Marvel Universe”
I’ve been saying this for years. Marvel should have used the “Age of Apocalypse” to pull a “Heroes Reborn” on the mutant titles, thereby seperating the main Marvel U. (FF, Avengers, Spidey, etc) from the X-books.
It has just never made any sense to me in the context of the Marvel U. that there should be this rampant mutant paranoia. There’s nothing wrong with that concept as the general pretext and common origin for a whole universe of characters, it’s just never squared to me with the general Marvel U. How does Joe Citizen know that Wolverine is a mutant and Spider-Man and Daredevil aren’t? How do they know that Captain America isn’t a mutant, given that mutants exist? Or do they just look and say, “Oh, he’s on a superteam that has an X in the name, I guess he must be a mutant.”
The only time the public in the Marvel U. regarded the non-mutant Marvel heroes with anything resembling the same fear and suspicion they normally reserve for mutants was during the Civil War. And it makes a certain amount of sense. Who the hell ARE these people, anyway, and who appointed them to the position? That fear of mutants should logically have extended to all Marvel superpowered characters, since unlike the readers, the Marvel Universe public-at-large has no idea who these people are or how they got their powers (except for the FF). But doesn’t that substantially change the whole way the Marvel Universe works, if everyone with powers is regarded with fear, prejudice and suspicion, because you can never tell who’s a mutant and who isn’t?