The End of History

The artistry, as always, is top of the line. The story lines are familiar insofar as they don't have charecters with different powers than you grew up with them having. Also the story keeps the pace up to keep you interested.

Having read the X-Men sporadically since Claremont left in '92, I thought I'd give this a shot with his return. In only a few pages the magic was already back in the X-Men. His style of gearing each issue as if someone is picking up X-Men for the first time was a welcome style since its been so long for me. I picked up Grant Morrison's first few issues and was appalled to say the least. I can't describe how exactly, but nobody, I mean NOBODY writes the X-Men's words like Claremont. It's as if he has a direct connection into their brains. Although he had to work with all the other changes writers made over the years, he "made it his own" and "worked it". Reading this I felt like all was right in the comics universe.

Been a fan of Uncanny since issue 150 when Storm and Emma Frost switched bodies and the Hellfire Club kidnapped the Xmen the second time around back in about 1981 ('82?). Claremont is still the best writer this book has had in my opinion, but I also love Joss Whedon at the helm of Astonishing X-Men. I have really enjoyed reading the teamup of Davis and Claremont in this rework of this book, which I thought had gone way downhill after the "Draco" storyline where Kurt found out he really was half-demon. I didn't like the weird "adult-oriented" storylines and NC-17 dialogues, near-nudity that didn't add anything, and overfocus on characters like the Summers brothers, who are my least favorites, anyway. But I loved this collection, which I collected as individual issues. Marvel Girl's return was pure genius, particularly her rivalry with her father's lover, Emma Frost. The enmity and lack of sentimentality makes perfect sense, we all know Emma would make a horrid, wicked stepmother, and was the reason for Scott and Jean's divorce. Emma hammers the point home when she says "the child should never have been born." Hm. Still trying to figure out when Rachel's birthday occurs in Earth 616's timeline, if ever. We never really find out her true age. I also love the brewing chemistry between Storm and Logan, whom I figured have always had a faint regard for each other, anyway, albeit subtle. They have kissed in one or two issues before (i.e., Boys' Night Out during the Outback "Reavers" storylines, in the second to last frame, one of the issues prior to Inferno when Storm was seeking out Forge to get her powers back; Storm has also always argued on Logan's behalf when Xavier was about to kick him off the fledgeling team. X-Men: The End also points to these two has having a romantic connection in the future. I hope they continue it. They've both been orphaned at an early age, they both don't really fit with anyone else, they both are mavericks. They work. The plots in this collection are great, as well as the dialogue. I am, however, irritated that Cannonball walks off the team after two adventures after this book. Bad move. I don't want to have to collect every X-book that Marvel prints to have to chase down my favorite characters, but that seems to be their mad plot. I think Uncanny fans should buy this book if they really enjoy Claremont's work. And Alan Davis's work on titles such as the original Excalibur. Storm looks beautiful. My biggest complaint is that the partnership between this artist and writer is that it was too short-lived. Marvel can't keep their really great artists on long enough. The party was over by about issue 460, after the "On Ice" storyline ended, and then it all went to heck. Davis does, however, come back for "House of M." Look for it.

The X-Men: ReLoad event may have been highlighted by Joss Whedon writing the new Astonishing X-Men book, but one of Marvel's biggest announcements was the return of legendary X-scribe Chris Claremont on the title that he made famous. Collecting the first six issues of Claremont's return to Uncanny X-Men, this TPB opens with a baseball game at the school featuring every X-Man on the roster. It's something Claremont has used plenty of times before, but this is a homecoming for the much criticized scribe of X-Treme X-Men (which has been scrapped and replaced with a new Excalibur series also written by Claremont and worth checking out as well). Wolverine, Storm, Bishop, Sage, Nightcrawler, Marvel Girl, and Cannonball find themselves taking on an enemy called the Fury which may have killed Captain Britain in the first arc, and the second arc focuses on Murderworld. The first arc is undoubtadly the better of the two, featuring gorgeous art by Alan Davis (his rendering of Rachel "Marvel Girl" Summers is luscious to say the least), while the second arc is average at best, but the art by Oliver Coipel is solid. While dialogue has never been Claremont's strong point, his storytelling is still great, and it's fantastic to have him back on Uncanny X-Men. All in all, old time X-fans who tuned out in the mid-90's and felt burned by X-Treme X-Men will want to give this a chance.