(I originally read these comics in early January 2017)
You should cherish this post if you're an X-Men fan, because I won't be making many of them. The X-Men and their sundry spin-offs are the Marvel franchise for which I have the least affection. However, that's not to say I don't enjoy some X-Men comics. Given that their convoluted continuity is my main barrier to enjoying them, self-contained, short stories like those in the 'Origins' one-shots should be much more palatable. At least, that's the theory.
Released between 2008 and 2010, each of the comics purports to tell the origin story of a long-standing X-character. In reality, they're really just recaps. Even as a casual (at best) X-fan, there wasn't much here I didn't already know or hadn't read elsewhere. Mike Carey's script for the Beast comic is hampered by having to retell what was already a crappy story with a silly villain. However, the frankly weird art style that looks like painted-over photographs really skewers it. His Gambit book is marginally better (an' I say dis as an avowed Gambit-'ater) and showcases an interesting art style by the combined talents of David Yardin and Ibraim Roberson. The Colossus book is better and has the benefit of moody art by Trevor Hairsine, but content is slim. It's Mike Mayhew's art in the Jean Grey comic that's the standout amongst the first half dozen titles. While I'm no great fan of painted comics, Mayhew's work is simply beautiful, presumably heavy on photo reference but without the stiffness that often results. Jean's journey from traumatised tween to powerful teen telepath is sensitively handled.
There's not much room for sensitivity in the Wolverine or Sabretooth comics, but then that's not what their fans are after. Kieron Gillen's Sabretooth 'origin' doesn't offer much beyond violence, but Dan Panosian's art is great. With more history to recap than most, Chris Yost's Wolverine one-shot is superficial and you'd expect him to have remembered who out of Logan and Colossus he'd had join the X-Men first, instead of having both his efforts blatantly contradict each other.
Of the latter five titles, the ones featuring Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Iceman are the best, though that's not saying much. Jesse Delperdang shines on the art for the Cyclops one-shot, which recaps Scott Summers' background from parents' deaths to assumption of the role of X-Men leader, taking in their first clash with Magneto in the process. The Nightcrawler one at least has a Universal horror film vibe that I appreciated, but the rest are hit or miss.
Deadpool still sucks.
One thing that becomes apparent in these stories, to the point of it being a running joke, is just how willing these kids were to ditch their families, maybe forever, to follow a creepy, bald dude. Whether engaging in an endless battle to "protect a world that hates and fears them" or ending up faces frozen in time and staring out from the sides of of milk cartons is the worse fate, I'll leave up to you to decide.
X-Men Origins: Beast (2008) # 1, X-Men Origins: Colossus (2008) # 1, X-Men Origins: Gambit (2009) # 1, X-Men Origins: Jean Grey (2008) # 1, X-Men Origins: Sabretooth (2009) # 1 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) # 1 are collected in:
Hardcover:
Softcover:
X-Men Origins: Colossus (2008) # 1 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) # 1 are collected in:
Hardcover:
X-Men Origins: Colossus (2008) # 1 is collected in:
Softcover:
X-Men Origins: Cyclops (2010) # 1, X-Men Origins: Deadpool (2010) # 1, X-Men Origins: Emma Frost (2010) # 1, X-Men Origins: Iceman (2010) # 1 and X-Men Origins: Nightcrawler (2010) # 1 are collected in:
Hardcover:
Softcover:
X-Men Origins: Deadpool (2010) # 1 is collected in:
Hardcover:
