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Title: X-Men: Children of the Atom by Joe Casey, Steve Rude ISBN: 0-7851-0805-X Publisher: Marvel Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.86 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: the beginning
Comment: This is a must for X-fans. This is the story of the beginning of the X-Men. Not X-Men #1, but what came before. How the professor got the original team. It's really well-done.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good retro origins for the original X-Team
Comment: Joe Casey's run on the Uncanny X-Men titled left a lot to be desired. Somehow, he was hampered by the fact that he was trying too hard to match up to Grant Morrison's New X-Men (something not humanly possible). IMHO, Casey's best writing was on Cable, Wildcats and here in this tiny little piece of gem - a retelling of who the X-Men are and how they came to be.
The original X-Men comic started around 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The story begins with Prof. X mentally summoning his students to gather before him in their gaudy, '60s uniforms (not costumes). "Children of the Atom" serves as a prequel to the story in X-Men #1. Who were these people before they became students of Charles Xavier.
There is a "work-in-progress" kind of feel to the whole story. The mutant fear is only beginning, with its flames stoked by a very "American-History-X" cult leader. Both Xavier and Magneto appears to be busy preparing for the upcoming problems/war. But the highlight of the story has to be the original five students - Scott Summers, Hank McCoy, Bobby Drake, Warren Worthington and Jean Grey. Here, they are presented as flesh-and-blood CHILDREN. Not the iconic superheroes of the movie or the comics today. Scott is shown as an Oliver Twist character who stuggles with moral issues (he is shown reading Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil"). Hank is a genius and intellectual but acts like the average "non-geeky" jock to be "accepted". Bobby stuggles with questions of identity and insecurity (it's not difficult to see the evolution of this insecure kid into the practical joker of the Xavier Alumni). Warren idolizes superheroes and long to be like them - his first outing as one got him hunted by a Sentinel, leading to a rude awakening that he can never be "just like a superhero" - he's ultimately a mutant. Jean is pure Jean - painfully gorgeous and vulnerable.
I love this work. For its humanity. For the writers obvious affection for these "children". And for Steve Rude's clear, Kirbyesque art. Alas, Rude did not stay for the duration of the series. The last chapters were illustrated by Essad Ribic and Michael Ryan - good enough art but it'd be even more fulfilling had Rude completed the whole thing. Last but not least, a gold star to anyone who can spot the sly reference to Monica Lewinsky's mutant power in this book!!!
Rating: 3
Summary: The Story that Made Them Be
Comment: It all began with a dream of peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. Forty years from now, the dream is still living on strong in the hands of comics creators and quite recently movie studios. The X-Men franchise is the most popular of all comic mythos and collectively has take on the like of the big guns like Superman and Batman. It all began with a simpe idea, that people wherever they are can live and coexist with others of a minority. Be it race, social status and age. Going back to how the dream began makes the person only fathom of how the X-Men have gone through their drastic changes to become the force in comics they are now.
Joe Casey weaves a good story at first on how he introduces his early mutants that made up Prof X's first batch of students, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman and Angel. Kids with the only difference from others is that they're different. Everyone who has ever been through the teen years feels that difference and you don't require the X-gene to know it. The story begins with the shadow of Columbine still looming over certain plot scenes. By the end, however, it seems that the story was rushed and the originality of the first three issues is lost on training, bickering and a dominating personality readers are not used to in Prof X's character. He's more of a school master than a father figure that he is these days. Even his restaurant confrontation with Magneto is anything but benign. He actually threatens to wedge a knife in the guy's brain. Are we talking about the same old, kind man of the early series. Not really. Casey, just fails to capture the essence of Xavier's dream.
The art also goes through this twist. Steve "the Dude" Rude is known to emulate greats such as Jack Kirby in his retro style art, but when the other fill in artists take over, it becomes another X-Men story and not the flashback to what is already being chunked out in the monthly series.
The book is good and you learn how these X-Men came to be. The best scenes include those with Magneto in them. That guy is great wherever he appears and no matter how many times Marvel tries to kill him, you have to admit, he's the best X-villain out there. It's a wonderful read for the first few issues, but then the story and art becomes eclectic and too out of track. Casey is a good writer, but needs to work more on his story contination. Rude is a bonafide genius. 'Nuff said!!!
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Title: New X-Men Vol. 5: Assault on Weapon Plus by Grant Morrison, Chris Bachalo, Phil Jimenez ISBN: 0785111190 Publisher: Marvel Books Pub. Date: December, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
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Title: X-Men: Phoenix Rising by Roger Stern, Bob Layton, John Byme, John Buscema, Jackson Gulce ISBN: 0785107118 Publisher: Marvel Books Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: X-Tinction Agenda (X-Men)(STAR0364) by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Rob Liefeld ISBN: 0871359227 Publisher: Marvel Books Pub. Date: November, 1992 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Terry Austin ISBN: 0785111476 Publisher: Marvel Books Pub. Date: August, 1990 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Essential X-Men Volume 3 by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum ISBN: 0785106618 Publisher: Marvel Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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