X-MEN NOIR #1 (OF 4)

Review by: sigridellis1

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Size: pages
Price: 3.99

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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

X-MEN NOIR #1 (OF 4)

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