Review: X-Men '97 #1

Finally I got to reading Marvel’s X-Men ‘97 comic run. Currently there are 3 issues out with the 4th issue releasing on June 26th. Since the animated show having ended, I’ve been putting off reading these issues as a way to expand the relevancy of X-Men ‘97. The first season was so good I didn’t want it to end. The comic certainly isn’t a 1:1 exact match to the show but it does share some similarities. 

Now initially I was unable to get issue 1 when it first came out and was pretty bummed. Instead I opted to just get issue 2 with hopes of finding the first issue somewhere else. A week or so passed and I decided I wanted to get another copy of issue 2. I went back to the shop and they had the reprints of the first issue available! I was stoked, picked it up along with the extra copy that I’m going to use to create some custom bookmarks.

Reminder of how these blog posts go:

• Cover Art

• Story

• Overall Rating 5 star rating system from Comic Geeks App

Cover

Unfortunately as I mentioned previously, I was unable to get the first issue, but I did manage the second printing of it. Overall I like the cover, the colors, the sunset mood, it’s all great. The only thing that makes it seem a little out of place is Jubilee drinking a beverage and eating popcorn. Had the setting been within the mansion, then I think that would make a lot more sense. But it just makes her seem a bit out of place cause the rest of the X-Men are all striking a pose. The little bits of detail like Gambit’s card aura and Bishop’s purple veins were sweet little additions.

Pretty fun action packed intro that made me question if this was actually going on…

Story

So the main question that a lot of people had with this is does the animated show have any tie in with the comic run? As of right now, I can’t really tell. From what I’ve seen on social media is that this is all leading up to where the show starts. So it kind of makes sense, since the little overview message at the beginning states that we know Henry Peter Gyrich has attacked Professor X. 

Then we jump right into it. I was really surprised because I thought the comic was going to be like a retelling of the animated show. But not quite. There is some good action that starts off with Wolverine breaking formation and trying to take on Magneto by himself. He is tossed aside like a ragdoll. The entire mission is a failure as Cyclops also struggles to keep control of his team and take down Magneto. Jean ends the Danger Room session because she is worried someone will get hurt. 

Right away we get an understanding that the X-Men are having a tough time trying to keep it together and clearly lack the leadership of Professor X. Cyclops and Wolverine are fighting, while everyone else doesn’t know who to follow. At this point the main plot of the story takes place, Dazzler has been kidnapped and it was caught live on TV. The X-Men meet up with Rogue and Gambit to take on a terrorist group of Friends of Humanity. They end up rescuing Dazzler just in time for her to perform the memorial concert for Professor X. We get our first introduction of Valerie Cooper as she shows up to arrest the Friends of Humanity punks. Wolverine though is suspicious about an agent named Denti, I wonder what that’s all about. 

Wish we got more of Wolverine and Cyclops fighting…

The rest of the issue pertains to more struggles of leadership as well as Jean unable to get some time alone with Cyclops to let him know she’s pregnant. Storm can obviously sense there is something wrong with Jean and opts to stay behind instead of going to see Dazzler perform. Jubilee ends up taking Bishop while Storm goes to comfort Jean. 

Absolutely loved the fact that Wolverine and Cyclops go head to head and fight. They clearly have a bone to pick with each other, I just wish we got to see more of it. Cut to the performance of Dazzler and we encounter another group trying to take her down or kidnap her. Luckily the X-Men are there, Bishop, Jubilee, Rogue and Gambit all spring into action to help out Dazzler. They end up getting away and we find out they were working for Mister Sinister. Who then punishes them for trying to apprehend Dazzler in such a public space. 

Mister Sinister ends with saying he needs to enlist some new help. Who will it be?...

Overall 4 / 5

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Review: X-Men Class of '92 House of XCII

Behold, the first X-Men comic on Coffee, Cannabis and Comics. This is one of the issues I picked up when I first went to my local comic book shop and with issue #2 coming out shortly I felt it was a good one to do next. For this one I smoked Sugaree Mama from my local shop, Callie’s Shoppe while reading and while writing this post. A reminder I will be reviewing the following:

• Cover Art

• Story

• Overall Rating 5 star rating system from Comic Geeks App

At the beginning when I was trying to figure out what comics I wanted to read or start reading, I had in the back of my mind to find a X-Men comic. Part of it has to do with the version of Wolverine that is featured in this run. So leading into the cover, here are the main things that stood out to me and got me to pick it up off the shelf.

Cover On the cover of this issue we have Professor X/Charles Xavier in the front of the group. Behind Professor X we then have Cyclop/Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Magneto/Erik Lensherr and Wolverine/Logan. It was pretty dope to see them all on the front together. I wish the hover wheelchair that Professor X looked a bit cooler but his Cerebro mask looks dope(at least I think it’s his cerebro mask)

But what REALLY drew me in was the way Wolverine was illustrated. I absolutely love this version of him with his yellow spandex costume and huge winged mask. Reminds me of the cartoons from awhile back.

I’m really digging this punk ruck neon color intro page.

Story We are brought right into the action in the first page of the comic with the X-Men fighting the Sentinels(pretty much mutant hunting robots) Storm, Jean, Cyclops, Wolverine, Gambit and Rogue are all kicking ass but also trying to not blast the walls because they are actually out in space! WTF! As we see in the spread below, Trask is mad at himself for renouncing his campaign against the mutants. But Wolverine seems to be hell bent on revenge. But we don’t know why and who they are grieving about. All of the sudden, Gambit throws his whole deck and blows a hole in the station. We don’t know who’s dead but Jean said she can’t sense Rogue, Beast or Gambit anymore. Right then, Cyclops/Scott is obliterated by a Sentinel.

Wolverine is so badass!! Man I love this illustration and seeing him go ham!

Trask is found by Wolverine and Wolverine talks too much shit that it allows time for Trask to send his data to another research facility. Jean can sense Trask’s relief and realizes they are too late. Rogue tells Jean to “Call him, Jean. Tell him the mission is in his hands now” but we don’t know who “him” is. The next panel we see Magneto destroying the station after saying “You have my word, Ms. Grey. Magneto shall end this.

I thought this illustration was great to show the power that Wolverine possess.

Meanwhile we are brought to Earth and end up at the Krakoan Embassy, New York City. Psylocke is giving a tour to someone and they are talking about if the X-Men are gone who will defend the people rush their doors. Psylocke sends a telepathic message to Cable asking for help. Cable sends three of their finest and they fight the angry group of people outside. As they are walking ,there is a huge explosion in the sky and they wonder if the X-Men were successful in destroying the newest Sentinel program.

The next spread shows Professor X with the group and Magneto. They talk about completing the mission and then that the Resurrection Protocols worked all thanks to The Five. Wolverine is pissed as someone died but was not brought back. They let him go grieve in his own way. We then get an explainer about Krakoa and that its a refuge for all mutants.

Then at the end we find out who was killed and not brought back, Jubilee. They didn’t know how to back up mutant minds using cerebro when she was killed; but we also find out that it was her death that united them all so she needed to be kept hidden/thought to be dead.

At the very end of Issue 1 we see Jubilee, has she been hiding this whole time??

Turns out that she was able to escape death at the last second but if she dies now, everything will reset. She then says that they needed to make sure the Orchis Protocols don’t come online, cause if they do everything will end. We then see Wolverine sniffing the cave and thinking it’s possibly Jubilee.

Overall Rating I give this a 4/5. The action, the illustration and the colors were all so good. It was a thrill to go through each page but I found myself having to Google quite a few things because I didn’t know back story on it all.

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