Comic Review: X-Men #500-504

Writers: Matt Faction and Ed Brubaker

Artisits: Greg Land, Jay Leisten, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson

If memory serves me right, the first X-Men comic I ever read was issue #36 (September 1967), in which Xavier's young students - at that time, back in the Dark Ages, Cyclops, Angel, Marvel Girl, Iceman, and the Beast - battled Mekano, a disgruntled college student with a strength-enhancing exoskeleton.

After that, I followed the adventures of Marvel's Merry Mutants sporadically, getting on board for good with the publication, in the Summer of 1975, of Giant-Sized X-Men #1, the book that single handedly reinvented Marvel. I was a loyal fan for years, enjoying the tales woven by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Paul Smith and others, but eventually the franchise started to collapse under its own weight. Where there had once been only a handful of mutants, now there were literally thousands. It seemed that, in the Marvel Universe, every other person you passed on the street was a mutant. It got to the point that mutants eventually had their own country, Genosha. It was impossible to keep track of all the characters coming and going, and I eventually lost interest and dropped the main title and all its spinoffs somewhere around issue #400.

Apparently, Marvel also felt that this was a problem, as they attempted to rectify the issue in their mega-event, Avengers Disassembled, when Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, obliterated virtually all mutants from the Marvel landscape with three little words cast as a reality-altering spell: "No more mutants."

All of a sudden, the vast population of mutant humanity was reduced to a relative handful. Perhaps now it would be possible to make sense of what was going on and who was who. At least after Marvel got the rest of their ultra-mega reality-altering events out of their system.

Well, now it's post-Avenges Disassembled, post-House of M, post-Civil War, and post-Secret Invasion, and, lo and behold, X-Men has hit issue #500. Traditionally, important issues like this are considered good jumping on points, so I thought I'd give Marvel's mutants another chance, even though I expected to be disappointed and confused.

What can I say, I was pleasantly surprised. Behind a beautiful cover by Alex Ross, writers Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction set to work establishing a new status quo for the X-Men, relocating them to San Francisco in the wake of the destruction of Xavier's mansion, their traditional home, in Westchester, NY.  Although there are a few plot points that go unexplained for new readers - like, why is there a Celestial standing in the middle of Golden Gate park? - overall this is, as hoped, a good place either to climb on board for the first time or to get re-acquainted with the franchise. Over the course of the next few issues, Brubaker and Fraction tell the story of a mutant named Empath who, under the control of the mysterious and enigmatic Red Queen, leads an anti-mutant hate group, beating up all the mutants who have now come to SF to join the X-Men. At the same time, Magneto - depowered in the wake of Wanda's spell - joins forces with the mysterious High Evolutionary for reasons that have yet to be revealed, and battles the X-Men, his powers seemingly restored. It's a good read, told briskly over the course of four issues. I give them credit for not padding it out to six issues as seems to be industry standard these days.

Fraction and Brubaker are two of the better writers working in comics today. Brubaker, of course, is the guy who did the seemingly impossible: he brought Bucky, Captain America's World War II-era partner whose death shaped much of Cap's character over the last forty years, in a way that didn't seem trite, forced, or ridiculous. And Fraction is the new writer on Iron Man, a book that, sadly, has floundered under a lack of creative direction for years. I have high hopes that he'll make the character worth reading again.

While the story is a good read, the art in #500-503 is less successful. Greg Land is a proponent of the photo referencing school of comic book art, in which he uses photos of real people as the basis for his drawings. This leads to a number of problems. First, virtually all of Land's people look the same, distinguished only by their costumes and hair color. Face and body structure are identical from figure to figure. Second, Land's poses are stiff and static, like his characters are posing for a product advertisement (no doubt many of them were). It's difficult to get involved with characters when they all look like they're posing for a Pepsodent ad, especially when they express emotions wholly inappropriate to the moment. Yes, Photoshop is a good thing, but it's being overused in comics today, especially in the work of artists like Land.

Things get better in issue #504, when the husband and wife team of Terry and Rachel Dodson take over the art chores. They have a far more pleasing style than Land, less stiff and photo referenced. They're particularly adept at rendering beautiful women, which this issue definitely spotlights. With any luck, they're on the book for the long haul.

Another thing to like about the current status quo of the team is the use of long-established characters. For quite a while, it seemed, the X-Men were populated entirely by second stringers. Now, Cyclops is in charge as team leader with Emma Frost as his second. Also on the team are the Angel and the Beast - both founding members - Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine (the most overexposed character in the history of comics. Are we really supposed to believe that Logan can be a functioning member of this West Coast-based team while, at the same time, serving as part of the East Coast-based Avengers. Come on.), with intriguing newer characters like Pixie thrown in for good measure. The use of these long-established characters restores a sense of history to the team, and brings them back to the forefront of the Marvel Universe, as one of the premiere super teams.

All in all, it's a good effort that make the X-Men more accessible than they've been in years. My hat's off to Fraction and Brubaker for putting this once-mighty book back on track.

Rating: Three Ravens (Land issues), Four Ravens (Dodson issue) out of Five.

What Censorship Is... And Is Not

Over on my friend Keith's blog, he talks about a discussion we had on New Years Eve about blogging. I told him that I had just started doing this, and the question about what to or what not to blog about came up. I feel strongly that, in this day and age of technological sophistication, when these blog posts are available to anyone with an Internet connection, one has to be extremely careful and thoughtful in what one posts, especially when one is in the position, as Keith and I both are, of looking for a job. What we write, once posted, becomes public content, not easily eradicated, for which the consequences can be potentially severe.

For that reason, I'm likely to shy away from talking about issues and disagreements I've had with past employers. First of all, that's really nobody's business, and secondly, that would probably be looked on with disfavor by a future potential employer. Certainly, I've had my share of disagreements and resentments with people I've worked for in the past - everyone has - but I don't really see a value in flaunting those here in a public forum. Yes, there is value in "getting it off my chest," but that's what friends and family are for. I can, and sometimes do, spend whole evenings bitching about this and that to Judy or Keith or any number of people, but that's private and not a subject of public discussion.

So far, after reading his post, I think Keith would agree with most of what I've said. But then he goes on the say,

"So I have a quandary… since my blog is part of my personal site that includes my resume and my portfolio, do I start censoring what I do and do not comment on? Do I maintain the level of transparency I’ve grown accustomed to in the name of intellectual honesty and risk losing future jobs? Do I keep up the honesty, but move the blog to a different, more anonymous outlet, impugning the intellectual honesty but lessening the degree I cut off my own nose to spite my face ’cause I can’t keep my damn mouth shut? For anyone else, these would probably be easy questions, but for a guy who refused a needed Christmas bonus and declined a wanted job interview to avoid compromising his admittedly too-frigging-rigid ethics, not so much (look up the definition of “Pyrrhic” in the dictionary sometime, you’ll see my picture).

This is the part that I really disagree with. Let's start with the line, "...do I start censoring what I do and do not comment on?" Maybe Keith just chose the wrong word, but censorship isn't the issue here. The Oxford English Dictionary - the best language resource on the planet, bar none - offers the first definition of the word "censor" as:

"An official who examines material that is to be published and suppresses parts considered offensive or a threat to security."

The first two words there are key. "An official" refers to an outside agency that reviews a work and decides whether or not it can be presented to the public. It's done without the original author's participation or consent. It's typically a bad thing, flying in the face of one of our most basic human rights, the right to the free expression of ideas.

However, the word has no application here, as there is no outside agency trying to "censor" Keith's blog. What he's talking about is part and parcel of the process of creation: deciding what goes into the finished work and what doesn't. Artists and writers do this all the time, with varying degrees of success. Every book ever written has gone through an editing process, for example, in which parts of it are trimmed, either to improve the pace of the story, to make the book more marketable, to increase comprehension, or whatever. This isn't censorship, even if it's done by an editor that is not the author. That is the editor's job. It's also not censorship when a publishing house declines to publish the novel that you've worked so hard on. That's a business making a business decision that they have every right to make.

Frankly, the word censorship - an incredibly loaded and potentially divisive word - is thrown around far too freely in this age of "inalienable rights." No rights are absolute, and that includes the freedom of speech. Yes, you can express yourself, but then you have to deal with the consequences of that expression. Libel and slander laws are just two ways in which we limit the scope of free speech. That, too, is not censorship, it's responsibility.

So what is censorship? Suppose the New York Times was about to break a story on the political abuses of an extremely unpopular and corrupt vice-president, a story that could very well lead to criminal charges against said public figure. If the White House were to put pressure on the NYT to prevent them from running the story, that would be censorship. It was precisely to avoid this kind of thing that the venerable Founding Fathers included "Freedom of the Press" in the Bill of Rights, as this kind of behavior was far too common under the monarchical system they were trying to get away from. It's a right that has served us well, no doubt, but it has to be used responsibly.

Perhaps Keith would prefer the word "filtering," as in "... do I start filtering what I do and do not comment on?" Actually, he already does, as he decides what to write about and what to leave out. I have yet to see a description of his daily breakfast on his blog, or a moment-by-moment account of his drive from Mesquite to Lewisville. Forget the fact that these are mundane activities, he's already deciding what to and what not to write about, therefore he is already self-filtering. He's not censoring himself by deciding not to write about these things, he's engaging in a constructive process of creative filtration.

He then says:

"...Do I maintain the level of transparency I’ve grown accustomed to in the name of intellectual honesty and risk losing future jobs?"

"Transparency?" "Intellectual honesty?" These are both fine qualities that we expect in our public officials, but what do they have to do with blogging? There's no real requirement for either in a blog, as the only person you're responsible to is yourself. As much as bloggers don't want to hear this, the vast majority - and I mean 99.999% of people writing blogs out there - are not journalists in any way, shape, or form. They may be diarists - and there's nothing wrong with that - but they are not journalists. I mention this because journalists - those who research and report on news - are held to  a higher level of transparency and intellectual honesty. That's not the case in blogging. Unless you're paid by someone to blog on a particular subject, you are under no obligation to be honest or transparent. I could, if I wanted to, blog all about my recent trip to Antarctica, where I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and shot an elephant in my pajamas. Not only would it be a lie and  intellectually dishonest, but I'm under no obligation to tell you it's a lie, thus eliminating the requirement for transparency. And guess what: nothing would happen. The Blog Police wouldn't knock down my door at 3 a.m., Judy wouldn't leave me, my friends wouldn't shun me... nothing. This blog is exactly what I wnat it to be, nothing more. You, as the reader, have no rights here. I will tell you what I want, when I want, in whatever way I want, and you will either read it or not.

And that's the crux of the matter: a blog is about what the writer wants it to be about. If you want to post the details of every conversation, every real or imagined slight, every disagreement, every argument, go ahead. But then, when you're asked the unanswerable question, such as "Does this make me look fat?," you'd best not filter your thoughts or compromise your intellectual honesty and give a true, honest answer.

And suffer the consequences.

The Beginning of a New Year

So 2009 is here at last. Personally, I thought 2008 would never end. That sure was one for the books.

I know lots of people are posting New Years Resolutions these days, but I hate those, as they're doomed to failure. Instead, I'd offer this outstanding video from Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band, which seems to me to be just about the best possible way to approach the coming year. It's called "Dream Big," and it's a great song to take to heart, especially in these troubled times. We've all lost so much, whether you measure that loss in dollars and sense, hope, jobs, lifestyle, or whatever, and often our dreams are the only things we have left. Shupe expresses thise perfectly.

I've just discovered this band, and I really think they're great. Another song that's a personal favorite is "Even Superman," a really touching tune.

So here's wishing everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous 2009. After the last few years, we deserve it.

I Join the iPhone Revolution

I'll admit I'm something of a gadget freak. I love new technology and can't wait to get the latest cool gizmo. I adopted VHS early on, and started building a home video library back in the days when VHS tapes were relatively new and most were priced at the ridiculous sum of $89.99. Still, having the ability to watch such classics as RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK or ROBOT MONSTER at any time, day or night, was worth the price of admission.

I got a CD player when those were fairly new, when record stores still sold, you know, records, and when CDs made up a miniscule portion of their inventory. Once again, the chance to be in the forefront of a technological revolution was pretty great.

And now we come to this, Apple's iPhone 3G. I resisted getting the first, and even the second iteration of this groundbreaking device, knowing that they would be plagued with bugs. And apparently I was right. There were a number of problems with those earlier versions. But Apple has apparently worked hard to resolve them, and, while I'm sure that this latest version will have its issues as well, it's a pretty slick device.

For all intents and purposes, this is like having a computer in the palm of your hand. It handles email, plays movies and video, accesses the Internet via the Safari web browser, and does virtually everything your home desktop does. The only things that I can see that it lacks so far are basic word processing and spread sheet programs, and I wouldn't be surprised to see those in the somewhat near future.

The best part about the iPhone are the applications, or "apps" that one can download and install. Although many of the apps are for sale, there are a number that are free, and I've been downloading those like crazy. Some of my favorites:

1. Lightsaber: This one puts a lightsaber on your screen, complete with music. When you move the iPhone, it makes cool lightsaber noises. Just about the closest you can come to actually being a Jedi.
2. Shazam: Whoever came up with this should be burned at the stake as a witch. I mean, this is just this side of black magic, and just as cool. Run Shazam, hold you iPhone up to any music source, and it will listen to the song, analyze it, then identify the song and tell you where you can buy it. It's not infallible - it failed to identify some Celtic music I heard on the radio - but it's pretty damn good. I'm in awe of the people who developed this incredible app.
3. Yelp: Using the 3G's built in GPS capabilities, the iPhone can find a variety of businesses, including restaurants, bookstores, drugstores, banks, and much more, all located within a defined area around your current position. I can't imagine how helpful this is going to be.
4. Flixster: Being able to watch movie trailers in the palm of your hand is what technology is all about.
5. Mobile News: Instant headlines from the world's top news feeds.
6. iSushi: Again, using GPS coordinates, my iPhone can now tell me where the nearest sushi restaurant is located. Yum.
7. Pumpkin: Incredibly dopey, this app let's one create a scary pumpkin face, complete with flickering candle light and spooky sound effects.

That's just a few of the cool apps I've downloaded, and I'm sure there will be more to come. It seems that new things are being created and posted everyday.

And now, it's time to stop blogging and go back to playing with my iPhone.

Me and Stan the Man

From time to time, I'll post some of my favorite pictures, and I can't think of a better one to start with than this.

That's a picture of me with Stan "The Man" Lee. For the tragically unhip, Stan was the writer and co-creator of such pop culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Iron Man, the X-Men, Spider-Man, and much, much more. When I was a kid - a kid who was deeply into comics - I idolized Stan. Even more than the artists - legends like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Gene Colan, and George Tuska - Stan was, to me, the heart and soul of Marvel. He was the one who created the "clubhouse" feel that made Marvel seem like more than a big corporation (like rival DC), but like a bunch of friends who loved comics as much as I did. Stan wrote virtually every title Marvel published in the early years, and, even in the books he didn't write, his presence was felt through the "Bullpen Bulletins Page," and his monthly "Stan's Soapbox."

What made Stan so different from virtually everyone else writing comics at the time was that he wrote stories that both adults and kids could enjoy. He wasn't writing pretentious "graphic novels," like so many "creators" seem to be doing today, nor did he write down to his audience, assuming they were semi-literate morons, as many writers - then and now - tend to do. No, Stan knew how to write engaging, fast-paced stories that would stand the test of time. Don't believe me? Then check out such personal favorites as CAPTAIN AMERICA #106 ("Cap Goes WILD!!"), FANTASTIC FOUR #48-50 (the justly famous "Galactus Trilogy") or JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #114-115 (the introduction of the Absorbing Man in Thor). These are just a few examples of the way Stan could write a story that could be enjoyed on a number of levels, and illustrate just why I think he's one of the greatest writers of the modern era.

Anyway, when I joined Heritage Auction Galleries as their founding director of Rare Comic Book and Comic Art Auctions, I soon had the chance to meet and work with Stan to sell his collection. While not a collector himself, Stan had amassed a treasure trove over the years (or so we assumed: even Stan admitted in our preliminary talks that he had no idea what he might have), so the decision was made that I would fly to Los Angeles and inventory his stuff.

If you're into comics at all, you know what a thrill this was. Not only was I going to meet one of my lifelong idols, but I was going to get a chance to dig through his closets! After the initial shock wore off, I started to have second thoughts, though. What if Stan wasn't the kind of guy I imagined him to be? What if he was a nasty, bitter, cynical old man who just wanted to cash in on past glories? If that was the case, I knew that nearly forty years of adulation and hero-worship would go down the drain (on a much smaller scale, I had had a similar experience with Frank Perdue some years earlier. In his chicken commercials, Perdue always seemed like a decent guy, and so when I heard he was doing a local store appearance, I made sure to stop in. I can't imagine a meaner, less friendly person.  I know that everyone has a bad day once in a while, but he really went above and beyond. What a jerk.)

And so I flew out to meet Stan. Bear in mind that this was right around the time that the first SPIDER-MAN movie was coming out, so Stan was incredibly busy doing interviews and personal appearances, with enough stress to test the mettle of a man half his age. I was, to say the least, nervous.

And then I met him. He came into the room where I was working and gave me a warm handshake, introduced himself (as if I wouldn't know who he was), and apologized for not being more accessible. And then he invited me to go to lunch with him. Best of all, he even bought my lunch. Stan "The Man" bought me lunch!

Stan turned out to be the nicest, friendliest, most down-to-earth guy you could possibly imagine. As much as he comes across bigger than life in his TV appearances, he couldn't have been more genuine in the time I got to spend with him. On a subsequent trip, he invited me to his home, where I met his utterly charming wife Joan. Honestly, they don't get much better than Stan.

The photo above was taken in his office during a later trip, when I presented him with the first check for the sale of his comics and memorabilia. In the storage area, in the midst of everything, I managed to find a near-complete collection of important Marvel first issues, including FANTASTIC FOUR #1, AMAZING FANTASY #15, INCREDIBLE HULK #1, TALES OF SUSPENSE #39, and many more. Working with Steve Borock at CGC, we were able to encapsulate and label the books as coming from the "Stan Lee Collection," and they sold for astronomical prices when offered. The auction itself was a thrill, but meeting and getting to spend time with Stan was really one of the high points of my life.

So that's the story behind the picture. It hung on my mother's refrigerator for years, and now it's here. Enjoy.

Beginning to Blog

To be honest, I'm not sure why I'm doing this. I've never been big on blogging before, but, with 2009 just around the corner, and my need to make my Not So Humble Opinions known to as wide an audience as possible (although I'm under no illusion that anyone will ever read this), perhaps it's time to boldly press on into the new world of Blogiture.

That being said, just what exactly does one talk about in a blog? Anything one wants, I imagine. Now that we're - thankfully - past the most entertaining and absorbing presidential election of my life (YAY! The good guy won for a change!), I"m sure we'll see a sharp decline in the number of political blogs. I mean, c'mon, Obama can't possibly give pundits as much to work with as good ole George W., can he? Let's hope not.

So, for this initial post, I guess I'll start with a few things that are on my mind right now:

1. My first book - CAPES, CROOKS, AND CLIFFHANGERS: A Visual History of Heroic Serials through Vintage Movie Posters - is almost done. I'm working on the final edits now, and then it's off to the printer. This has been a labor of love for the past four years, and I can't wait to actually see the finished product. I'm really proud of the way it's turning out, and I hope the reaction to it is good.
   
2. Being unemployed sucks. I know you know that, but I just wanted to say it. For the first few weeks, the feeling of being on vacation is pretty cool, but after that the charm wears off fast.
3. And speaking of that, can we talk about health care for a minute? I really understand how it is that so many people are uninsured these days. I'm eligible for COBRA, but they want - are you ready for this? - $600 PER MONTH to continue my coverage. With that being the reality, I'm going to have to decline coverage and take my chances until a better option comes around.
4. Comic Buyer's Guide #1651 should be out soon, with my first cover feature for that magazine, this one on Marvel's Illuminati. You really should check it out.
5. Facebook: I've just set up a Facebook account, and am having a ball connecting with old friends from high school and college.
6. What I'm watching right now: Dexter Season One on DVD, Property Ladder, Kitchen Nightmares, Heroes, Spartacus on DVD.
7. What I'm reading right now: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (an interesting story, but way overwritten and overwrought. As much as I can see where Rand's going, the fact is that her characters are cartoon people who only exist the way they do to make her point. The book is, in the end, about as realistic as The Hobbit, and far less entertaining), and Dexter in the Dark, the third of the Dexter books by Jeff Lindsay (very entertaining and exciting, and a very fast read. It's easy to get caught up in pulpy potboilers like this).

That's enough for this first post. I'm sure I'll have more to say later.