Take a photo of a barcode or cover
crookedtreehouse 's review for:
X-Men, Volume 1: Primer
by Brian Wood
An X-book can only be as good as its first storyline. I don't believe I've ever read someone's run on a book that started weak but got better. I've seen some start strong get weak, and then further improve, but if your initial idea isn't great, your book is unlikely to be a classic.
The first issue in this volume is great. Our point-of-view character is Jubilee, who we haven't seen for a while, returning to the X-Men with a baby, and being followed. Great hook! I like that the focus on female X-Men isn't just Storm, Jubilee, Rachel Grey, Kitty Pride, and Psylocke, but also extends to Mercury and Bling, who we haven't seen for a while, and even Pixie gets a task.
Unfortunately, the actual storyarc is completely forgettable. A possible reimagining of John Sublime, a character who seems to be constantly reinvented but never really interesting, and a new villain who is Sublime's (yawn) sister. There's a buildup to a possibly interesting story in the vain of the Phalanx Covenant and then ...pffffffffffffffffffft... nothing happens. A character who's been in a coma wakes up at just the right time, offers to sacfirice themselves, doesn't, and then the villain is deafeated off-screen, and the story moves on as if it never happened. Textbook bad X-writing.
The collection includes Jubilee's first appearance, which also wasn't a great issue. I always falsesly remember her origin as being the one from the Animated Series because it's way better written.
I don't really recommend this. It's fine. A focus on the female characters is well-intentioned but it doesn't really elevate them in any way. It's just a C+ X-Men story.
The first issue in this volume is great. Our point-of-view character is Jubilee, who we haven't seen for a while, returning to the X-Men with a baby, and being followed. Great hook! I like that the focus on female X-Men isn't just Storm, Jubilee, Rachel Grey, Kitty Pride, and Psylocke, but also extends to Mercury and Bling, who we haven't seen for a while, and even Pixie gets a task.
Unfortunately, the actual storyarc is completely forgettable. A possible reimagining of John Sublime, a character who seems to be constantly reinvented but never really interesting, and a new villain who is Sublime's (yawn) sister. There's a buildup to a possibly interesting story in the vain of the Phalanx Covenant and then ...pffffffffffffffffffft... nothing happens. A character who's been in a coma wakes up at just the right time, offers to sacfirice themselves, doesn't, and then the villain is deafeated off-screen, and the story moves on as if it never happened. Textbook bad X-writing.
The collection includes Jubilee's first appearance, which also wasn't a great issue. I always falsesly remember her origin as being the one from the Animated Series because it's way better written.
I don't really recommend this. It's fine. A focus on the female characters is well-intentioned but it doesn't really elevate them in any way. It's just a C+ X-Men story.