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Yeah, were finally back, after a few months off.
Sorry for the delay, but you know how life can bog ya down
some days. Er, months.
Anyways, before we get started, lets give the
Collector Times a big congratulations to making it to its fifth
anniversary! Way to go, everyone! How you managed to
survive putting up with ME for five years, I will never know.
But, here we are. Hopefully for a few more years yet.
So, this month, if it couldnt be guessed at from the
title with the badly spelled word, we are taking a look at
Marvels recent X-Miniseries, Mekanix, starring Kitty Pryde.
Thank you, Marvel, for yet another word that gives my word
processors dictionary the fits. I blame Liefeld.
On top of that, why does Marvel have to keep saddling
Chris Claremont series with horrible titles? Its a general
consensus that X-Treme X-Men was once the dopiest title
currently in comicdom, then they gave us X-Treme X-Men:
X-Posé - giving us at long last an X-Title with the
abbreviation XXX - and now Mekanix.
I can understand the first two, a little. This team of X-
Men was taking an "extreme" view and breaking away from
the team, and the next was the news looking into the now-
public existence of the X-Men, and the X-Treme team in
particular, so it was an exposé on them. But Mekanix? The
reasoning they gave was just plain weak. "Theyre creating
their future, the mechanics of their own destiny." O...kay.
Thats paraphrased from an interview, mind you, and not the
exact wording. It is close, though. The title is more aptly
named that because they mess around with robots for the last
three issues.
Now, aside from the title, I have to say this was, hands
down, one of the best X-Men miniseries for some time. In a
lot of ways, thats not saying much, mind you, but still. This
is Chris Claremont back writing at the top of his game. He
even manages to shut up for a few panels an issue to let the art
tell the story. Hes still wordy, he wouldnt be Claremont
without a high word count, but we thats why we love him.
Many of his other quirks, which have been magnified for the
last decade or so, are almost non-existant here, even more so
than X-Treme.
Oh yes, those covers. If theyve been seen on the
newsstands, they almost certainly did grab attention. My
reaction would have been, if I hadnt know it was a Kitty
series, and by Claremont, so I knew Id probably like it, would
have been to avoid it. They were done by a fashion designer,
and you can tell in the loose linework, and odd body postures
and style. I give Marvel credit for experimenting, but I
wouldnt be surprised if those horrid covers drove folks away.
The interior art is not, thankfully, by the same person, and is
much, much better.
The art is by someone whos new to me, Juan Bobillo.
He handles the art chores quite well, able to tell a story with
real people, and a few fantastical elements, such as the
aforementioned robot Sentinels. His people look like every
day sorts, not the ultra-realised babes and men that is rather
common, nor Frank Quitelys inhuman creatures some folks
consider art. My only complaint with him is that he makes
Kittys face look like what can only be describe as Angelina
Jolie. Way to large lips, and the style of it just isnt right.
The story centers around Kitty Pryde, now in college,
and trying to deal with a psychiatrist, a mutant-hate group,
and attacking Sentinels. Claremont goes a little bit over the
top when he has some government agents investigating her
apartment without her consent, a commentary on recent
events by our own government walking over peoples civil
liberties. A bit forced, but still a nice thing to bring up, and
not too cliche yet. The story all comes together well in the
end, tying up loose plots, except for a few in hopes of a
sequel, or maybe even an ongoing series.
The odds of that are, however, rather unlikely.
Mekanix was not a top seller, so making more isnt exactly an
economically feasible move for Marvel right now. However,
they are printing a trade paperback of the six issues, and
prologue from an issue of X-Men Unlimited, packaged as a
volume of the X-Treme X-Men series of trades, and if you
havent checked out the series yet, I urge you to go pick it up.
Now, Id like to kick off a new section of this column,
something Im calling X-Panded Horizons. Ill every month
or so, as the urge hits me, reccomend a comic I like that is
outside the realm of the X-Books that is, in my opinion, good,
different, and deserves a chance.
To kick things off, the first X-Pansion is a little comic
you may remember me mentioning, called Brath, from
CrossGen Comics. Brath is about a Celtic-like warchief,
struggling to unite the various tribes of his land against the
invading armies of a Roman-like civilization.
Why is this the recommendation? It is a well-written,
and gorgeously drawn comic, for starters. Anything of this
quality should be checked out, at the least. In todays market,
it is also totally unique. Some have compared it to Conan, but
thats about as far as saying Superman and Batman are the
same guy because they wear tights and fight crime.
The creative team has done extensive research, and the
artist is from Rome, so this book is being carefully crafted to
be highly accurate, yet still based in CrossGens far-flung
future settings. Before that sparks any confusion, let me
elaborate. CrossGens comics all take place several thousand
years from now, and man has colonized many planets, many
of which, over time, have come to resemble various points in
our own history, hence the Celtic and Romanesque
civilizations on the planet in Brath.
Definitely a book worth checking out, just to drool
over the top-notch artwork, but there are more than enough
reasons to keep coming back. Brath is brought to you
monthly by Chuck Dixon, Andrea DiVito, Brad Vancata, and
Rob Schwager.
That wraps up another month, folks. Let me know
what you think of the new addition to the column, and well
see if it sticks around. And once again, Happy 5th, Collector
Times!!
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