Essential X-Men - Volume 7 [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

I am both amazed and incredibly pleased to have seven volumes of Chris Claremont's X-Men Essentialized already (plus two of the Silver Age X-Men, but I'll talk about that in a later review). I now have a virtual library, a nearly complete collection of one of Marvel's most storied franchises, all for much less cost than what I used to spend to fuel my video game habit back in the Sega Genesis era. Thanks to the rapid release of these comprehensive and inexpensive tomes, this is perhaps the best time to make classic comics a hobby. Anyway, that's enough praise for the Essentials as a whole, now for my praise of just the Essential X-Men #7.

The Mutant Massacre had just abated, leaving Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat critically injured and giving the team incentive to hold a recruitment drive. The first new member, Longshot, is probably the most unlikely and, in my opinion, poorest choice. I guess he had to go somewhere after his inaugural mini-series, but the fact remains that he's not a mutant, nor does he really believe in Xavier's dream (he doesn't really believe in much except the wonders of naïve childlike amusement). However, the team had a majority of female members and he's cute, so he stayed. Even so, his "good luck" inducing ability made me remember the similarly empowered Shamrock and wonder why she didn't get an offer (She hasn't seen much screen time since the Contest of Champions. She needs to eat too, you know!). This volume also sees the long-awaited arrival of Dazzler to the ranks of the X-Men after her disco-drenched solo series concluded (she gets a less Donna Summer-y outfit as well). Finally, Cyclops' brother Havok gets an invitation to officially join the X-club at long last. Some say he's little different from his brother, except for a lack of stylish eyewear, but with Scotty heading X-Factor, there was no better time to bring Alex into the fold.

Now that the introductions are out of the way, let's go straight to the action! In the book's opening story, the extra-dimensional media mogul Mojo hopes to bring the X-Men under his control by de-aging them all into toddlers (Don't ask. Most of Mojo's plans tend to be weird for the sake of being weird). This forces the suddenly senior New Mutants to play the grown-up superhero role and save Jim Henson's Mutant Babies. I don't know about you, but between this and the Asgard-centric Annual from the last volume, I'm suddenly in the mood for an Essential New Mutants #1. Then the re-adultified Storm and Wolverine take on a trio of superhuman WWII vets who are thrill-killing particularly churlish members of the Me Generation. About that time, during a visit to Muir Island in Scotland, the rookie Dazzler convinces herself to tackle the Juggernaut single-handedly (a harrowing example of disco music's detrimental effect on our nation's youth). The eleventh X-Men Annual gets off to a rough start with a bizarre challenge by a god-like MacGuffin named Horde (Why call him Horde? There's only one of him. Legion was at least four people), but it ends with a strong message about foregoing personal pleasures in service of ideals greater than yourselves, which to me is what these stories are all about.

However, it became obvious to me as I read further why the mid-80's are so often referred to as the era when the X-Men series had started to leave its glory days behind. When Mr. Sinister was finally revealed as the mastermind behind the heinous Mutant Massacre, he came across as nothing more than yet another fanged albino criminal genius (and while I already harped on another comic book villain's sobriquet, c'mon, Mr. Sinister? Why not just name him Baron von Ruthless?). During a drawn-out aimless brawl in San Francisco between the X-Men (joined by Cyclops' jilted spouse Madeline Pryor) and the Marauders (joined by the malign mindbender Malice), I imagined that readers of the original series started to realize at about this time that it would be years before Claremont would think of a more rational explanation for the Massacre than "It's not like anyone liked the Morlocks, anyway". The aforementioned WWII fighters stretch their fifteen minutes of fame a little too thin when they sign on with Mystique's Freedom Force (OK, one more time. One of those guys can run really fast, so you decide to call him Super-Sabre? Are all the good names taken, is that it?). Lastly, this volume includes the noteworthy Fall of the Mutants storyline in which our heroes sacrifice everything (ie. Everybody Dies!) to stop the Adversary, a chaos fiend in full stereotypical Indian chief regalia. While I'm happy that the set-up to this tale involves Storm finally giving up her inexplicable mohawked street punk persona and becoming the Wind-Rider again, once all is said and done, I feel that this overblown epic can basically be summed up as "the X-Men vs. one of the Village People".

Still, I can't allow myself to talk about the X-Men and end on a sour note. That's why I've saved my favorite piece for last: the X-Men/Fantastic Four mini-series. This four-parter was an unexpected treat, especially since the X-Men/Alpha Flight two-parter was omitted in a previous volume. In this story, Storm petitions Reed Richards to prevent Shadowcat's slowly-phasing-out-of-existence malady. Unfortunately, the FF are too embroiled in their own affairs to help, especially after evidence surfaces about Reed's downright inconsiderate ulterior motives regarding their fateful spaceflight. Therefore, the X-Men take their business elsewhere and answer an offer from the arguably comparable and definitely malevolent scientific genius of Dr. Doom. But did Reed really intend to use his teammates as guinea pigs in his dangerous experiment, and why is Earth's greatest arch-villain so eager to assist the same outcast mutants that he's openly opposed in the past? Once I found out the answers I liked what I saw, and I was most impressed by how spot on the characterizations were between the FF and Doom. I don't know how many opportunities Chris Claremont had to pen Marvel's First Family, but he really showed a knack for it. I might pick up this book later on just to reread this little gem. Let's just keep our fingers crossed for the inclusion of the X-Men/Avengers mini in the next volume.

In short, the seventh Essential X-Men isn't quite as well polished as the sixth installment, but true comic fans can do no wrong by snagging themselves a copy. In the mean time, I implore all the Marvelites out there to see the third X-Men movie (and judging by the box office receipts for the first four days, many of you already have) and be sure to STAY until after the closing credits! I think you'll be glad you did. Good day!

The Mutant Massacre changed a lot of things in the X-World, and the X-Men continued to fight against the Marauders for a long time after that event. This collection has some of that continuing battle and leads through the X-Men sacrificing themselves to save the world from the Adversary, only to be reborn in Australia. It also includes a couple of Annuals which are average at best, much like in previous volumes. Plus, it's got the limited series X-Men Versus the Fantastic Four, which carries some of the plotlines from the massacre forward.
While the artwork by Barry Windsor-Smith, Adan Davis, Marc Silvestri, etc. is excellent, Chris Claremont's stories get a bit fuddled sometimes. It's almost as if he has a certain idea in his head, but has difficulty carrying it out on the page. Plotlines begin to get really dragged out here, which gets even worse as his run continues. It's still pretty good, but I can imagine the frustration waiting month to month for the originals and then not having a plotline picked up for a few months. At least here, you can read them all in a few sittings and get the picture.

The team is in a bad way after the Mutant Massacre, and has to do some recruiting, so we get Longshot, who is a lot of fun, and Dazzler, who isn't. The X-Men decide to go on the move to make themselves less of a target, and move their injured comrades to a safe location.

Mojo and the X-babies appear here, and that is a lot of fun. The whole Freedom Force thing at the end is where the franchise starts to lose its way, I think, but this is still an excellent deal.