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A review by bmaackreadscomics
Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men, Vol. 1 by Jack Kirby, Chic Stone, Stan Lee
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The Problematic:
Exclusively white cast. Misogynistic / patriarchal vibes toward Marvel Girl and The Scarlet Witch are pretty common place in every issue. These women are love objects first, people and heroes second. That said, Jean Grey does get some cool moments in here that might have been considered controversial for a female character at the time (i.e. she learns how to disassemble and reassemble a rifle with her telekinesis)
The Bad:
The art is hardly ever engaging. Occasionally there’s a larger panel with some cool stuff going on, but not a lot can be gleaned from the art itself. This unfortunately means that everything must be explained to the reader by way of ceaseless, corny narration. These issues read incredibly slow compared to modern standards because of how wordy they are. Finally, the crossover issues, especially the one with The Avengers, were really unnecessary. These crossover issues felt the most formulaic and superficial; the crossover characters (e.g. Sub-Mariner, Ka-Zar, etc) never made a lasting impact in the X-Men world.
The Good:
The adventures are fun, simple, and have a classic feel to them. This is not a complex soap opera of mutant against mutant. The villains are very clearly evil (minus Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch which is a nice little nuance) and the heroes always do the right thing. I was genuinely surprised at the continuity (albeit minuscule) in these first 10 issues of X-Men. The X-Men actually graduate Professor Xavier’s tests, Cyclops becomes the interim leader, and Beast briefly leaves the X-Men for half an issue. Coolest villain was actually The Blob in my opinion. In the end, The Blob chose not to be an X-Men nor a part of Magneto’s evil mutants and instead went back to his life in the carnival. Neat to have a character break the binary.
Overall:
A slow-going but enjoyable read. I don’t feel like my time was wasted, but I wouldn’t say too much of this holds up to today’s standards. If anything, it’s more fun to read these with a “history-of-comics” lens. Most importantly, it feels really cool to get to know the origins of these characters and it will be interesting to see how many of their personality traits continue into future series and runs.
Exclusively white cast. Misogynistic / patriarchal vibes toward Marvel Girl and The Scarlet Witch are pretty common place in every issue. These women are love objects first, people and heroes second. That said, Jean Grey does get some cool moments in here that might have been considered controversial for a female character at the time (i.e. she learns how to disassemble and reassemble a rifle with her telekinesis)
The Bad:
The art is hardly ever engaging. Occasionally there’s a larger panel with some cool stuff going on, but not a lot can be gleaned from the art itself. This unfortunately means that everything must be explained to the reader by way of ceaseless, corny narration. These issues read incredibly slow compared to modern standards because of how wordy they are. Finally, the crossover issues, especially the one with The Avengers, were really unnecessary. These crossover issues felt the most formulaic and superficial; the crossover characters (e.g. Sub-Mariner, Ka-Zar, etc) never made a lasting impact in the X-Men world.
The Good:
The adventures are fun, simple, and have a classic feel to them. This is not a complex soap opera of mutant against mutant. The villains are very clearly evil (minus Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch which is a nice little nuance) and the heroes always do the right thing. I was genuinely surprised at the continuity (albeit minuscule) in these first 10 issues of X-Men. The X-Men actually graduate Professor Xavier’s tests, Cyclops becomes the interim leader, and Beast briefly leaves the X-Men for half an issue. Coolest villain was actually The Blob in my opinion. In the end, The Blob chose not to be an X-Men nor a part of Magneto’s evil mutants and instead went back to his life in the carnival. Neat to have a character break the binary.
Overall:
A slow-going but enjoyable read. I don’t feel like my time was wasted, but I wouldn’t say too much of this holds up to today’s standards. If anything, it’s more fun to read these with a “history-of-comics” lens. Most importantly, it feels really cool to get to know the origins of these characters and it will be interesting to see how many of their personality traits continue into future series and runs.