X-MEN NOIR #1 (OF 4)
Review by: sigridellis1
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Size: pages
Price: 3.99
This review contains spoilers, click here to read
Eugenics. Eugenics were a big deal in the 1930s and 40s. Criminals were of a type, they were born that way. Something sick inside them from birth. You could tell, it was known, a criminal by how they looked -- most of the time. The worst were the ones who could pass for normal, pass for human. The ones who could blend in.
That was true evil in the pulps and thrillers of the 30s. Monsters that looked like angels, power in the hands of vile depravity. The beautiful dame up to now good, the corrupt government official. Evil in plain view, untouchable, unseeable. Hiding like a mutant, corrupting humanity.
Fred van Lente is on to something, here. In X Men Noir (no hyphen in X Men) he removes out heroes and villains from the superhero milieu and puts them in Raymond Chandler's universe. A place where good in besieged, evil corrodes, and you go along to get along. In this world the minority that Xavier defends is the sociopathic criminal, the next evolution of mankind. In this world Magnus is the leader of a sect within the police force - the Brotherhood - that keeps order over crime by profiting from it. In this world, when a known criminal and sociopath named Jean Grey turns up dead, who gives a damn?
This book is well-paced, well-written, with spot-on dialog that made me laugh out loud in appreciation of its cleverness. The shout out to HBO's "The Wire" made me IM three people in glee. The art, by Dennis Calero, is moody and murky and gorgeous, creating a feeling of floating, untethered, through this new world.
The price per issue is $3.99. Some will complain. Some will pirate. I will not complain, nor pirate, because Marvel needs a high cover price to cover what will likely be low sales. Marvel is taking a chance on this. If we want more like this -- more special projects, more self-contained stories, more sheer delight and revelry in the wonderful characters we love -- we should suck it up and buy the book. Buying books like this and Avengers Fairy Tales and X-Men First Class lead to more odd little projects. They let new talent in. They make comics wider, deeper, more accessible.
It's well written, well drawn, and it will make you look at the characters you love in new ways. Give X Men Noir a chance.
Story: 5 - Excellent
Art: 5 - Excellent
Art: 5 - Excellent
I’m really intrigued by this issue. I’m not sure what I think of it yet — I’m hoping for a twist that gives a little more insiders’ POV to the X-Men than just ‘they’re crazy killers and proud of it.’ But there’s already been one cool twist, with the Brotherhood (I couldn’t figure out who Pete was. I’m such a dummy!) so I’m looking out for more.
I have to disagree with our score for the art. The computer aided art just looked stiff to me. The conversation between Xavier and Tommy was just… awful. Not dialogue wise, but art wise. Two people having a conversation do NOT remain in the same position for the entire conversation. Its okay to repeart panels or poses as a way to show the tension or beats in the conversation. Its not okay to do the ENTIRE conversation in the same poses. Body language sells a conversation just as much as the dialogue. Both characters intentions were incredibly difficult to figure out because the reader was left with only the dialogue as clues. I also wasn’t very hot on some of the photo referencing that looks to be going on here. There are definitely some celebrity faces used on some characters. I could be wrong, I really could, but its hard to not think about that when people are constantly busting Greg Land’s chops over it.
Oh, forgot to say, even though I disagree with you on the art, you wrote a great review.
I disagree Anson. I don’t see what a computer has to do with it, and even though I see your point about the repeated panels, that was happening before computers, and it didn’t really bother me. The story was fantastic and a really liked the art.
And I agree with the reviewer about supporting books that try new stuff out.
It was the fact that it implied a motionless conversation to me… and that just doesn’t happen. I really liked the issue though. Its definitely up for my pick of the week. I liked the style of the art, I just can’t give it a five because of that page. Just some bad decisions made on it. I also mentioned the computer use and photo reference because of the Greg Land hate that runs rampant on this site. Whatev though. I’m bitching about one page. I’ve never done something like that before and I kinda hate myself for it. haha.