The X-men Omnibus Vol. 1

Its xmen its Pog

X-Men is often cited as the worst of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s early work. For readers in the ‘60s, I can see how that might have been true. The plotting is repetitive for the first few issues, as Magneto hatches one silly scheme after another. There is certainly no trace of the nuanced character he would later become. In addition, Kirby’s art was rushed and inked poorly.But from a modern perspective, I found these issues much more readable than early Spider-Man or Daredevil. This surprised me, as Spider-Man is usually held up as the Stan Lee work that has aged the best. But X-Men stands out for its unique premise, the idea that our heroes are unique beings born with their powers, who must race to find others of their kind before they’re recruited by the evil mutants.Yes, the Magneto stories can feel repetitive, but there’s still a propulsive quality to the fight against Magneto that the villain-of-the-week stories of other Marvel mags lacked. There are also a couple of charming side plots, namely the (non)-romance between Cyclops and Jean, and the budding heroism of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Kirby’s art, though maybe not his best, still serves up a bunch of Silver Age goodness. I loved the square-jaws and the bright colors.X-Men is definitely of its time – hardly an issue passes without someone hitting on Jean. And good luck spotting a single non-white character! But some of that datedness is enjoyable in its own right. I had genuine laughs at dialogue such as “You know, if you twist my arm, I think I could learn to like you!” or “You’re just beefin’ ‘cause you muffed your own shot at ramroddin’ that kooky crew!”The included letter columns also provide a lot of laughs. Fans were BRUTAL in the 60s, and it’s funny to see how much differently readers approached comics back then versus today. It’s actually a good lesson in writing, taking the note behind the note. You can see Stan grappling with the criticism of Magneto. His solution was to move away from the mutant conflict, and do more traditional villain-of-the-week stuff. But I think this was the wrong tactic – he needed to just write Magneto better, and come up with more genuinely unique mutants for him and the X-Men to fight over each week. That was the core premise that made the book interesting.Once he writes off Magneto, he inserted a boring string of unstoppable Hulk-types, namely Blob, Unus, and Juggernaut. Though, to Stan’s credit, two of the three of those went on to be classic characters. And he finishes his run with the introduction of the Sentinels, who are great from the beginning.Unfortunately, Stan and Jack are gone by issue 20, replaced with Roy Thomas and Werner Roth. This was Thomas’s first book, and he was over-eager to embrace superhero tropes. All that made the book special disappears as the X-Men fight terrible villains-of-the-week such as the Locust, El Tigre, and Warlock. Roth’s art is just not as unique and fun as Kirby’s. It’s a total slog to get through the last third of the omnibus.However, I enjoyed the beginnings of the X-Men enough to where I would still recommend this collection. If you’re a big X-Fan, how can you not want to revisit where it all began? Just give yourself permission to read the first 20 issues, skip to the Banshee issue, then move on to the next omnibus. The collection also features about a half-dozen different essays by the likes of Lee and Thomas, giving you a bunch of interesting behind the scenes info. Back-up material includes promotional art from the time, some of Kirby’s original pages, and covers from previous collections.PS – I notice another review on here mentioning the book’s odor – I too noticed a bit of an aroma, though it didn’t bother me as much, and seemed to fade over time.

I probably read some of these comics back in the late 1960's when they were contained in UK publications such as "Pow!" Since then, I'll have read the odd issue here and there when I picked it up in some Marvel reprint collection. Never, though, have I had the opportunity to read every issue of "The X-Men" (from #1 to #31) in chronological order... and it proved a bit of an eye-opener.At almost sixty, I was surprised to find myself appreciating the work of Lee & Kirby and Thomas & Roth far more than I did in the years when I first started to read (and collect) American comic books.The early X-Men comics were, quite frankly, not a big sales success and the threat of cancellation hung over the title for many years. What people tend not to appreciate, though, is that its later world-shaking success was the result of different creators using largely different characters with the earlier issues largely being consigned to the "Not everything that Lee and Kirby created turned to gold" pile.However, the seeds of that later success were largely planted in these earlier issues and, consequently, I found them much more interesting than I thought they might be when I ordered the book on a whim. Particularly worthy of reassessment is the work of the largely forgotten (and occasionally maligned), Werner Roth; he had a particular talent for drawing attractive women of which I was wholly unaware before enjoying this enthralling Omnibus edition.Roll on Vol. 2.

Quelle belle initiative que cette édition Omnibus comprenant les 31 premiers numéros des X-Men dont la période court de septembre 1963 à avril 1967.Nous avons le plaisir de retrouver Colossus, Unus l'intouchable, Magnéto, Kazar, le fléau, etc.Bonne lectureCes épisodes devaient voir le jour près de 7 ans plus tard en France chez Lug et l'incontournable Strange.Qualité du papier, couleurs superbes.Un monde d'écart si l'on compare cette édition avec les VO que je possède : les comics originaux sont de piètre qualité, fragiles avec une colorisation terne. Nos amis américains doivent applaudir à deux mains.Reliure très solide et format convenable en font un livre très agréable.

The first 31 issues of perhaps one of the most influential storylines in history. More than just a comic book, X-Men mirrored how being different from the norm can be dangerous. Simply by existing. Oft times met with hatred and fear, they continue fighting for a better tomorrow for all humankind. Truly, "The Strangest Super Heroes of All".