Essential Classic X-Men, Vol. 3

1969-1973

My understanding of the prefixes involved in this volume is that 'Classic' means 'reprint done for money' and 'Essential' means 'done in black and white to save money'. I usually avoid these black and white collections. These comics are antiquated enough, why make them even plainer? Seriously- comics made in b&w are often stylish and designed to look cool in a film noir fashion, especially with color splashed in al'a Sin City. But these old Marvel comics were inked by people who were preparing them for color, and reprinting them to look like generic comics in the newspaper seems to diminish them. But this large tome was the easiest way to access a key span of time in the early X-Men stories that I had never read, and since my library doesn't charge me any more or less for what books I borrow, I happily got essential. And classic.

I'll admit the format allowed for a better appreciation of Neal Adam's artwork. The cover highlights the underappreciated work the infamous Roy Thomas and Adams put into their failed effort to save the X-Men from being canceled. Much of the penciling does shine through in the essential format. And while the introduction of Havok- a Summers kid who is actually more angst-ridden and whiney than his older bro, Cyclops, did nothing to boost sales and prevent the X-Men from getting shit-canned (temporarily), I've always been a long-time fan of Thomas and I think the work, as broken up as it is, holds up as an epic era for the X-Clan.

The real hidden gem was the origin of the Beast (the further mutated Hank McCoy, that is). How Marvel figured their best bet at keeping the X-Men alive was in a Beast solo title is beyond me, but watching his evolution from ape-like humanoid to black furry superbeing to blue fuzzball up to the point where he had to finish his storyline in The Incredible Hulk is pretty interesting stuff to a Marvel-ite who had only read about it in The Official Handbook previously. Nowadays it's pretty common to revamp comic characters, switching up their costumes, powers, personalities, appearance and even origin. But to have Hank leave the X-Men, go solo, mutate farther than any mutant had at that time, and start title-hopping were all very bold moves in 1972. It also set the Beast on the course of his Marvel career- nearly every writer who has touched him has toyed with his mutations and team-status. McCoy will always be the X-Man who may call himself an advisor, a friend or partner to the team, but in truth always has been and always will be an X-Man.

Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

1966

Nick Fury is a bad-ass, not the first by any means but few characters in fiction so perfectly exemplify machismo. With his eye-patch, constant cigar and permanent stubble, not to mention the last name FURY, the guy is solid gold manhood on a platter.

Without checking any wiki pages on his history, I can tell you that Nick Fury got his start as the lead in a WWII comic, Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos. Within a few years the swinging sixties spawned the James Bond movies and multiple copycat spy dudes with slinky ladies and pychedelic dance music soundtracks in the cinemas. Marvel responded by revamping Fury to be a modern day spy. I don't even think they explained the transition at the time- in the early days of Marvel there was no swarm of fans demanding continuity. *1 It was explained eventually that Fury was taking an elixer that slowed his aging. Apparently one or two of his war buddies took it, too, since guys like Dum-Dum Dugan are still around. Oh, and every other major comic book character, too.

Nick Fury has been a mainstay in the Marvel Universe since then, popping up in every major comic as a superhero liason G-Man and exposition dude. He was the first time-traveler I know of who tried to kill off Hitler (the Fantastic Four stopped him from altering history). Despite that god-awful David Hasslehoff movie, Nick never made it to public mainstream awareness. The guy has no superpowers, no major storyline, and is too easily portrayed as a knock-off of manly archetypes.

Then Marvel launched the Ultimate series of comics. Not necessarily geared toward younger readers, the Ultimate comics were designed to start fresh with the Marvel books and draw in new readers. Storylines were started fresh, and the big Marvel icons like the Avengers and Spider-Man were fresh-faced superhero newbies, presumably more relatable to young readers than the old grizzled veterans that I grew up with in the eighties.

They tweaked a few things; mostly costumes, but also storylines and a general updating of forty year old origins. But the most drastic change, in my mind, was ole' Nick Fury. First of all, they changed him from a cigar-chompin' unshaved war veteran into... Samuel L. Jackson. From what I understand they actually asked SLJ for his permission to have the new Fury modeled after him.

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, how cool is Sam Jackson? The most die-hard cynic has to still admire Sam Jackson for an overall career of bad-ass-hood. His worst movie roles have still been cult or critic favorites. Say what you want about the Star Wars prequels, Mace Windu is pretty cool, and that part was made for him- so that's two major geek universe characters designed to look like Samuel L. Jackson. And Samuel loves it- I think he's the kind of guy who goes to Comic Con and genuinely enjoys it.

Also- I like the inversion of modeling fictional characters after real-world counterparts- as opposed to the tradional process of looking for an actor that can portray a character like Superman. It demonstrates a powerful co-existance of Hollywood and comic fandom that was perhaps born when Marlon Brando first donned Krytonian robes.

Still... you changed Sgt. Fury's race??!! And made him bald??!! Wait.. is that a kango? I can be a purist and resistant to needless change. It just seems a total denial of everything that was originally cool about the character. I realize that this sounds very crotchety- like something your slightly racisct grandfather would say. And yes, I realize that the original cigar smoking Fury is intact- But doesn't the whole thing smell like a marketing ploy when it's all said and done? The fact that the movie version Of Fury, which will now get more exposure than ever with the upcoming Avengers, actually features S. Jackson fulfilling the role modeled after him both excites the fanboy in me and irritates the grown cynic I've become.

Just this afternoon (well after I started writing this tirade a week ago) I passed by the TV and caught my nine year old watching yet another animated version of the Avengers on TV, a ploy that even my children recognize is marketing for an upcoming movie as opposed to an original production with artistic merit. Sure enough there was an African-American Nick Fury (but with hair- so totally different from the other versions- ushering a newly awakened Captain America about the modern world. I recognize the need to keep 46 year-old characters fresh and induct new fans like my kids, but you'll never stop professional Haters like me from stomping my feet and shouting that Nick Fury ISN'T AN AVENGER! And wasn't responsible for the formation of the group- no matter what revisionist history is the current / popular version.

And while I recognise that I'm getting farther and farther away from a review of Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., let me comment briefly (if possible) on X-Men: First Class, which I just watched for the first time the other day. Here is a movie that is as revisionist as anything (Darwin an original member... Havok older than Cyclops.. Phooey!) and yet completely retains the SPIRIT of the original. And makes many nice nods to the original X-Men comics, the greatest of which is using the original setting of the sixties. Certainly liberties have been taken with the characters and stories (the X-Men didn't know the Hellfire Club existed until the eighties (shouts the crotchety blogger)) but the core dynamic of ethical ambiguities in the light of persecution and bigotry is portrayed beautifully. One can only hope that the big screen tent-pole production (is that a new term?) of the Avengers retains the same glory of the original... oh wait, The Avengers has always been a big-screen story of star-spangled super-powered doofs banging out their internal issues through violence and spectacle.

What we won't see in the Avengers is the psychedelic and epic art of Jim Sterenko. Sterenko is awesome. He took what should have been a campy rip-off of James Bond using a campy WWII comic book character during the era of campy Stan Lee-Jack Kirby comics and slowly infused it with late sixties psychedlia and pop culture coolness. His backrounds and effects ooze groundbreaking art pastiches that took the rest of the industry years to emulate. The equipment and outfits he gives Fury are so cool it takes even the most hardened reader back to elementary school daydreams of 'wouldn't it be cool if..' And even Fury's hap-slappy dialog and Dum-Dum backslapping get toned down over the course of this collection of fifteen page short stories to portray more dimensional and real characters. Sterenko is the reason that Nick Fury survived the Golden Age of comics and is still around for Sam Jackson to try and pump new life into.

*1 We do that now, but it doesn't stop comic book writers from both companies retro-ing characters and stories whenever and however they want.

Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men: Vol. 2

1965



The Sentinals. Juggernaut. A backstory that explains Xavier's true intent when forming the X-Men- the future of mutantkind? No! Alien invasion!!

Okay, sure, these comics are cheesy like all old comics. Kirby was great, but like all of Stan Lee's work you have to try and read these comics as though Marvel was still a ground breaking phenomenon instead of a flimsy outline of what other writers and artists would do in the following decades.

But if you can swallow that pill of cynical suspension, these stories really are awesome. Where I recommended volume 1 to only diehard loyalists, this volume is a much more entertaining and well rounded collection of stories that truly expanded the X-Mythos and made all that incredible storytelling in the 70's, 80's, 90's and beyond possible.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: X-Men

1963-1965

At last! The age of Marvel's Merriest Mutants! Although many iconic characters came out of the Marvel Bullpen during the early sixties, my favorite has always been the X-Men. X-Men #8 is the oldest comic in my collection (would be worth hundreds if it wasn't in pretty raddy shape). The X-Men have gone through many different versions over the last 48 years, but they have always been underdogs and lived on the fringe of the superhero cosmos. DC's many heroes were adored by their public and rarely fell into disfavor, and when they did it was usually caused by a simple misunderstanding. Similiarly, the Fantastic Four and Captain America were generally accepted by both readers and their fictional worlds to be great heroes. But Stan Lee really does deserve his place in comic book history for the real-world dynamics he brought to otherwise outlandish characters. For all of Spider-Man's problems and the Hulk's status as more monster than hero, they were still accepted by readers as popular culture.

As a small child I wanted to be Spider-Man when I grew up. The Incredible Hulk was one of the most popular shows on TV. But I don't think I had even heard of the X-Men until I became a serious collector around the time I was ten. In fact, they were very much a mystery to me until I was formally introduced to them in the infamous Secret Wars series. The X-Men were secretive and unappreciated in both reality as well as the Marvel Universe.

With early Marvel comics, you knew what you were about to read. The unitiated are quickly educated. There is high-camp, simple illustrations, and poor dialogue supporting weak plots. Stan and his writing team were silly, taking unabashed joy in their creations, even if it meant for cringe-inducing narrative and jokes. But Stan took the interrelations of the DC Universe (such as the JSA) and took the stories one step further. Battles in New York fought by the Avengers had ramifications that could be seen in other comic titles. Even in the earliest days with a handful of titles, the editorial staff was careful to note the order of the stories with connotations for the reader to understand in what order of events different events happened in different cross-titles. As far as I'm concerned, Stan Lee is the father of modern-day geek continuity. *1

The interrelations of the comic book characters was also an intentional motif on the storytelling. Not just to create a sense of realism within a city full of superpowered beings, but also to create dynamics and comparisons between the unflagging moralism of Captain America and the angry violence of the Hulk. The X-Men were hyper-aware of their sub-human social status in the Marvel U, and from their earliest days often made joking comparisons of themselves to the Fantastic Four and other "superheroes". These sarcastic comments carried a tremendous emotional weight about their own moral and social status that was unspoken in the text of the comics but carried to the reader through the simple medium of a twenty cent comic. This emotional context and 48 years of ethical dilemma storylines would not have quite the impact it does if the X-Men existed in a vacuum rather than living in the shadows of the Avengers and Fantastic Four.



It's not for me to pinpoint the apex of Jack Kirby's career. While some of the artwork here is crude compared to his later work, he gets major points for creating the look of the Marvel universe! But even as crude as much of it may be, some of the art in these early X-Men comics nail a style that was unprecedented and still sets the tone of modern mutant mystique.

Check out the very first appearance of Cerebro: The look of this mighty mutant-finding computer has changed many times over the years (often looking like an Apple II) but I think this original Kirby design is as good as any.

I love this battle spread. Small and simple by modern fold-out panorama standards, but this was the first time the teams met and in 1964 I bet this was epic.

And who knew Professor X had a boner for Jean Grey back in the day? Wasn't she a teen when she joined the group? That's just wrong!

While I'm on a roll here... What is up with Bobby Drake's milkshake? I hope that's a perspective issue, and not a malted milk bigger than his torso!

Clearly I've gotten side-tracked. Fear not loyal X-Fans! There will be plenty more of the X-Men to come in this blog. We've only just scratched the surface.



*1 In my sub-biased opinion, Marvel reached it's own epic heyday of continuity during Jim Shooter's dreadful Secret Wars II crossover event. Although the SWII comics blew harder than the Beyonder at his first gay club (*2), the organization of the massive tie-in comics spread across the entire Marvel roster. Hard-core readers like myself used the rectangular checklist on the editorial page each month to track the order of events sequenced across the entire Marvel Universe in order to track both the movements of the SWII storyline as well as other large crossover events happening at the same time. Although SWII is no defense of the much-hated Shooter, one can't fault him for putting a great deal of effort into keeping the Marvel Universe a cohesive and co-existing entity.


*2 In fairness to Jim Shooter, who has alienated many comic creators with his policies and alienated many comic readers with his tepid writing, I had the chance to meet him recently at a signing and he truly is a nice old guy. I've been following his blog in which he tells 'his side of the story' and I believe that he is a decent guy who loves the creative medium of comics and only ever intended to better the industry through sound business practices and good story-telling. But Secret Wars II still sucked, dude.