|
Or can you? That's the question on almost every x-books fan's minds this month, as Chris Claremont makes his much-hyped return to X-Men and Uncanny X-Men. Will this be also a return of the Claremont of old, with his intricate plots, and excellent characterization? Or will it be the parody of himself he has become, with silly plots, and more words per page lines in a Liefeld drawing?
Personally, I'm looking forward to it.
First of all, it can't be any worse than the drek we've gotten since Claremont left the books almost a decade ago. Aside from the Alan Davis stories, which were good, but nothing great, the intervening years have been almost entirely forgettable, what with characters become parodies of themselves, loosing all personality, and developing new sides which were mostly a step back. All the women became dependent and joined at the hip to whichever guy they were with, and the men became nothing more than macho studs.
Next, it would be nice to actually see some dangling plotlines get started, and actually resolved. Claremont comes from the days when they actually knew where a plot was going when they started it. Due to various circumstances, he couldn't always follow up on them, but he knew where they were going. Unlike Scott Lobdell, who would start a plot that was "kewl" with no idea where he was going, get an idea in his head as to where he would go with the idea, drop some hints, and the next month come up with a new idea, and drop some more hints. By the time he revealed what was really happening, there was no way it could make sense.
Some of Claremont's plans that we have been privy to thus far, are definitely controversial, such as his choices for new leaders, Gambit and Rogue. I don't have much of a problem with them. In the case of the leaders, he has come up with plausible reasons for the others to not want to lead, and this will present new situations and new interactions.
And that is the key to what is really interesting to me. Claremont wants to do new things. After the last few years, thank the Gods. We've just seen retreads of old stories with the same old characters. The X-Books may not need more characters to be introduced into the bordering-on-incestuous relations they have now, but fresh faces to provoke fresh responses from the characters are welcome, in my books.
Also this month, Warren Ellis comes in as the Plotmaster on Generation X, X-Force, and X-Man. If Ellis can polish the turd that is X-Man into gold, then he truly deserves the worship I heap upon him daily. I'm sure he'll find some way to slip his addictive chemicals into the inks to insure that will happen.
Anyways, thanks Claremont, and Ellis, for really sucking me back into X-Books. It's been a year since I dropped most of these titles, and I've been reduced to ranting on hearsay and limited series. This should fuel rants for MONTHS to come!! Speaking of which, once I've gotten the books in my hands over this coming month, I'll be back next month with my gut reactions on the first issues.
I'm back. Lock up your redheads!
|
