Uncanny X-men The Complete Collection By Matt Fraction Vol.1

Why haven’t you read an x-men title? Maybe because it’s always been hard to follow, if you haven’t been reading since the Chris Claremont days. The title x-men has suffered so much from continuity it’s hard to tell a story without having to refer to a dozen other stories for an explanation and for a while there were so many mutants that they didn’t seem so much of a minority anymore then m day happened a took away most of the mutants on earth. Leaving only a couple hundred x-men left after the events of this Cyclops the leader of the x-men decides to move out to San Francisco in hopes of protecting the last of the mutant population and that’s where the fun begins!

The Good

This book begins matt fractions run on Uncanny X-men. Most x men books are full of continuity and for that reason most x books are impenetrable by the typical comic reader. In Fractions run there really is no need for a lot of pre knowledge of the x-men because it’s all explained and explained well at that it’s not boring and the explanation of characters you don’t know are short and sweet. The X men were always seen as outcast but as the years went on there was more and more mutants so they weren’t such a minority anymore, after m day they became a minority again and where do minorities go? San Francisco of course! It is really great seeing a super hero team in the west coast since most of the marvel universe it based in New York this gives the X-men much needed room to breathe away from the rest of the universe.  In that room they grow stronger as a team because since they are in a new land there are new bigots like the hell fire cult who threaten to kill the rest of the living X-men. In dealing with the new evils that face them the story becomes more of a fight for civil rights and equality and this story comes with a great message that everyone despite who they are or what powers they use to or do have, everyone should be treated equally. As for the writing its Fraction at his best he makes every character in the marvel universe unique and different whether its Namor, Cyclops, Emma Frost, or the first human torch none of these characters ever feel boring or the same, This also applies to the female characters since he is a male writer most male writers have problems writing women and if there are many women their personalities  tend to be exactly the same thus making most female characters boring, fraction doesn’t have this problem. Fraction weaves many stories in this book in too a  pretty little bow such as Pixies troubles with racism, colossus dealing with losing kitty pryde , Cyclops dealing with the X-men's move across the country, and beast forming a rag tag group to try and kick start the mutant race all and all this is a great read for the story alone. As for the Art it remains consistent between the three artists.

The Bad

This book suffers from the most clichéd things that happen to the x-men the first is one of Cyclops X wives comes back to life and the other is a character that is thought to be dead returns to life. These are the two parts of the story that left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Score 7/10

If you enjoy Matt Fraction and want to read an x-men book this is where you should start. Matt Fraction does a great job of using many characters of the marvel universe far and wide and makes a breathe taking story.

 

 

Batman: The Black Glove Deluxe Edition Review

Who is your Batman? Is it the Adam West, Michael Keaton, or Christian Bale Batman? Or do you prefer the writings of Denny O’Neil, Frank Miller, and Jeph Loeb? Also what about animated movies and Cartoons from the 90s? Who is your Batman? Grant Morrison takes all batmen from all times neglecting none of his stories in the past seventy years and throws them into a magical caldron mixing them with masterful writing, philosophy, great art, and imagination. Making one the best batman stories of the century; showing that you should respect all batmen from all times no matter the silliness. This is why it’s so great.

The Good

The book begins like an old comic from the fifties with batman and joker going at it. There’s a flying joker copter and batman fighting with swords man bat assassins it’s a hell of a lot of fun! In this book we are introduced to a brand new character Damien Wayne and it turns out that he is the son of Talia al ghul daughter to the league of shadows leader Ras al ghul.  Honestly I believe Damien is one of the better batman characters to be created in the past couple of decades. He is different from all the members of the bat family and the way he treats Tim Drake is awesome, he is a cocky little shit and is every way different from his father but in some many ways he is just like his dad for example he is a great detective and a good fighter and deep down he wants to do right. In this book there is a one shot story about Damien being batman in the future and its great he is even more dark and gritty batman then his father plus he has a trench coat and uses guns! After the batman and son arc is over it begins the black glove half of the story it deals with the three ghosts of batman and the club of heroes. Batman’s three ghosts are cops that have been trained and driven insane by Dr. Hurt in an attempt to kill batman. The club of heroes which was my favorite part in the book is a story where batman and robin are invited for a reunion of the club of heroes. It’s basically a justice league with all batmen from different countries. It happens to be that they were all invited to be ambushed and killed by the black glove but the batmen and sidekicks foil the plan and escape. I loved all of these stories because they took parts from all of batman’s old continuity use them in interesting new ways that have never been done before in a batman comic, such as the club of heroes which was in a comic from the 50s and Damien comes from the story batman son of the demon where Bruce and Talia get it on, but it doesn’t end there are lots of references to old batman stories in here. This is a story that will be remembered for ages to come and it’s just the beginning of Grant Morrison’s critically acclaimed run on batman. As for the art Andy Kubert does a great off drawing batman and the more silly things that happens like this

he is masterfully in every way. The other artist J.H Williams draws the club of heroes story which is awesome if you loved his Batwomen then you’ll enjoy seeing him draw other members of the bat family his art and style is on a whole another level. There is so much to enjoy from this book if you love batman like I do it is a must read.

The Bad

There is not a lot of bad in this book just a couple gripes I had such as in the middle of the book there is a short story with computer generated images, for me it was off putting so I skipped it. Also the changes in the art might bug some people but perfectly fine since there great artist. And finally it might take more than one read to understand fully what grant Morrison is trying to say, there are very complex ideas in this book so don’t be afraid to read more than once for a full understanding and to catch stuff you missed. 

THE SCORE: 8/10

If you love batmen of all shapes and sizes, then you’ll love this great tale of the batmen as we go through some forgotten parts of his history. It’s a great read and if you want to start Grant Morrison’s epic run on Batman this is the place to start