Classic mutant adventures – review of the comic book “X-Men” from the series “Marvel Classic”

Necessary support

Collective edition of classic X-Men comicswe start when Charles Xavier is dead, Magneto is missing, the group is broken, and the hunt for mutants begins. The remnants of the squad have to deal with not only hostile people, but also aliens in the form of Nanna and her helpers. Then we move on the teenage story of Storm, and also learn what changes have occurred in Psylocke’s life. In addition, we go with Wolverin and Jubilee to Japan, where “Wolverine”, haunted by visions of Nick Fury and Captain Marvel, remembers the story from World War II, when he met Captain America and the Black Widow. All these events have little in common. Some people lack a beginning or an ending and get lost in them very easily. Fortunately, we are supported by a guide. On the first pages of the comic there is an introduction by Kamil Śmiałkowski. It explains the genesis of the notebooks and summarizes the events taking place between them. We also learn that Egmont’s goal was to only include works that were created by Jim Lee. Initially, the author only replaced other cartoonists, so overThe X-Men worked part-time. Hence, some shortcomings in history that the aforementioned helper guides us through.

Space Opera

When we get through the first few dozen pages, everything starts to get consistent and the guide’s support is no longer needed. This is the moment when Jim Lee was entrusted with the X-Men permanently, and his cooperation with the screenwriter of mutant adventures, i.e. Chris Claremont, began in earnest. We are also starting a classic space opera. Homo superiorthey travel to another galaxy to fight for the future of the Shi’ar Empire. We have the opportunity to meet already known heroes such as Storm, Wolverine or Colossus, but also to meet completely new (at least at that time) X-Men, i.e. Gambit or Jubilee. At the same time, on the mysterious land known as Savage Land, the united Rogue and Magneto are fighting, supported by SHIELD with Nick Fury at the helm. Both stories have a lot of unexpected twists, they are full of life and death fights, and everything is decorated with love threads.

Nostalgic line

The author of the script for X-Men is the already mentioned Chris Claremont. It was he who took care of these homo superior ones in 1975 and talked about them for the next fifteen years. During this time, he also created the New Mutants series and considered one of the best-ever story of the Phoenix Dark Saga . I must admit that he never lacked ideas, and although the events presented in the collective edition of Egmont are the “end” of his work with mutants, they are still full of fantasy and panache. The reader experiences successive adventures with the heroes and, like them, is surprised by subsequent twists and turns when a friend suddenly becomes an enemy, or vice versa.

Although Claremont did a great job, and in the comic we get the most famous heroes with Wolverine, Storm or Rogue at the helm, the real star who still attracts crowds of fans is Jim Lee here. It was the line he created, which was then an inspiration for many other artists, that is the quintessence of the 90s. No wonder then that it is his name that appears on the cover of the comic. Although both artists deserve great respect. The first X-Men comic book published by this duo sold 8.1 million copies and made it into the Guinness Book of Records .

Looking at the comic book, I immediately think of the work of Todd McFarlane, whose Spider-Man I recently reviewed. Both men created in a similar period and their style is similar. This can be seen above all in the way women are portrayed. Each lady is extremely sexy, her feminine shapes are emphasized, and she often reveals a lot, but not everything, to our imagination. However, the work of the author of Spider-Man is much darker, grotesque, mysterious and full of monstrosities. Lee, in turn, devotes much more attention to the action. His heroes do not lurk around the corner, but start fighting right away.

How to rate the classics?

X-Men from the Marvel Classic series is an unusual comic. It became a hit in its time for a reason. Today, probably many of us will also gladly come back to it. The younger ones will have the opportunity to see previously unknown adventures of mutants, while the older ones will gladly return to their childhood. Adventures of homo superiorby Chris Claremont and Jim Lee were published in Poland thanks to the TM-Semic publishing house. Certainly, to this day, individual notebooks can still be found in old collections, cellars and attics, and perhaps here and there stand proudly on shelves, like relics of times past. And how is the adventure itself? The scenario is addictive, full of action, fights and surprises. What distinguishes from today’s comics is not only the drawing style, but also the dialogue. It contains many more conversations than modern editions and at times it seems to us that we are reading a book. The author focuses mainly on the characters, their movements and emotions. Every muscle or hair on the skin is shown. On the other hand, much less attention was paid to the background. In many cases, these are just blurry spots intended to represent a forest or a wall. Details are rarely found here. The main thing is the hero, not what is happening behind him. So you have to get used to this style and get carried away by the events in which X-Men are involved.