Brand New Feature: X-Men #1 (Marvel Comics)

by Brian Wood, Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales, Laura Martin

A new X-Men number one issue. Written by Brian Wood. All female team. There were several new books out this week all in incredibly capable hands, but this new series from Wood and Coipel was not to be pushed aside for any other. Should the title be something else as there are no actual "men" on the team? Do we need another X-title? There are as many detractions from this book as there are highlights and maybe that's what makes it so exciting to open up.

Brian Wood has a very cold, factual writing style. It seems similar to Jonathan Hickman's plot-first writing style. The book opens with two separate events transpiring in overlaying panels. At the same time, Wood scripts a narration that describes an event that is both on a genetically microscopic level as well as a cosmic level at the same time. It is an excellent opening that sets the tone for a grand story. We are then slowly introduced to the main cast of characters through a strange situation unfolding.

Tales from the Long Box: Is Marvel Winning the Comic Book Wars?

Every week Seth goes into his back issue bins, picks out a single issue, story arc, or creative run, pours through it and then writes about it. He calls it Tales from the Long Box. Though old and now either retconned out of existence or made irrelevant by the latest event, these books still share something in common... they're bagged, boarded, and a part of comics history.

Is Marvel Winning the Comic Book Wars?

On the most recent episode of our podcast (out now) we were sent an e-mail by faithful listener Michael/@Ctcher asking us if we believed, like him, that Marvel is currently the better company. He mentioned the depth of Marvel's character roster as well as their stable of creative talent. Paul and I got into it a little bit on the show but I felt I had more to say on the subject. So here is me saying more on the subject.

For my part, the importance is always placed on the creators. Sure I love Batman but plenty of bad writers have written awful Batman stories. This was a lesson I learned when I first started reading comics regularly. It all comes down to the creators. When you look at the big guns at Marvel, names like Hickman, Bendis, Fraction, Brubaker, Aaron, Loeb (regardless of how you feel about his work, he's still a big draw for many people), Zeb Wells, Waid... I could go on. At DC you have Johns, Morrison, Lemire, Snyder... I guess you could toss Gail Simone in there but she's only writing one title currently. This isn't to say there aren't more solid writers at either company; there are. But these are the guys who will sell a comic based on name recognition alone.

Buy This! - Feb 8th 2012 (and a quick rant about DC collected edition hardcovers)

Every Monday Seth picks out three items that are due to ship on Wednesday and directs you toward your best bets for a quality purchase. Some times it's a single issue of a comic, other times a massive omnibus edition of a beloved series, and occasionally a figure or shiny bauble that caught his eye. Read on to find the three items you shouldn't leave your comic shop without this week.
Sorry for the lateness of this week's column. My only excuse is that I've been stricken with a virus seeking my destruction since Sunday and other than a few hours at my place of employment today, I haven't done much other than sit on my couch watching Community and old episodes of the Office on Hulu. I also managed to read a Fables trade and work my way through one the Wolverine VS the X-Men story arc from Jason Aaron's Wolverine run.

Anyway, I wasn't sure if I'd work up the energy to plop this column down or not but I finally managed to psyche myself up on enough tea to get me going so here I am. Bed worn and slightly unaware of what I'm typing exactly. Due to the fact that I can, at a later date, claim I didn't realize I was ranting I'd just like to take a moment yet again to proclaim that DC really is taking things in the right direction with their collected editions while simultaneously continuing to frustrate me every time I crack a cover.