X-Men: Days of Future Past, Comics and Movie – A LitFlix

One of the greatest covers in all of comics. Days of Future Past. Uncanny X-Men 141.

There’s plenty that could be said about X-Men:Days of Future Past. That’s why I’ve been highlighting it on our Tumblr this week, and am writing multiple posts about it. Expect another on Friday, focused on Kitty Pryde.

That means the goal for me tonight is simply to focus on our LitFlix style: comparing the movie to the comics. These comics are some of the X-Men’s finest, and come in at an astounding 2 comics. That’s it. For as enduring an idea and a storyline as it was, for as many characters and situations as it opened up, it accomplished an amazing amount in a short amount of time.

The movie goes both bigger than this, and smaller. It’s a time travel story, set both in a dystopian future and what is now decades past. The movie makes the future big, with no holds barred. The past, meanwhile, is pared down to only a few characters, and spends a lot of time going in-depth into their souls. Quick review? Great comics, read them, no question. Great movie, go see it, and enjoy.

Spoilers to follow for both!

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Battle of the Atom – A Marvel Event Reviewed

Recently, the Battle of the Atom – an X-Men crossover event – just finished up, and I read my way through it. I had been flagging on several of the X-Men series, including Uncanny X-Men – the comic about Cyclops and his post-villainy days – and All New X-Men – the comic about the original X-Men coming forward to the present. (I have reviewed both of these comics before here.) However, I decided to stick it out through this event.

At first, I thought this was just a crossover event for the sake of a crossover event. Entirely possible. I also thought it might be the end of some of these comics, in the same way the X-Termination event ended a couple of comics earlier this year (which I also reviewed). However, one other thing came to light: this is the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the X-Men, of their first issue, and this event was both homage and a way of looking forward to the future.

As such, this event was just kind of fun. It set up the future of several of the series, of the characters, of the whole X-Men world. Except, hopefully, all those things will be changed. We’ll see! For now, Here’s my review of the Battle of the Atom! Spoilers to follow!

My Review of Marvel Now!

Alternate Title: Who is this Brian Michael Bendis?

How do you do a reboot without doing a reboot? Time Travel. Brought to you by Marvel Now! and Brian Michael Bendis!

I have been exploring a lot of comics lately, and have been doing reviews here on the blog. Comics like Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, New Avengers, All New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men… and I keep running into one name. One creator.

Brian Michael Bendis.

When I saw his name randomly scroll past during the credits of the movie The Avengers, as a consultant, I knew I had to write a post a bit about him. And this made the most sense in terms of Marvel’s current marketing campaign, Marvel Now! So, note I have not necessarily done any research here, this is just my observations.

A Character Study of Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

I recently came across a lit of the top 100 Comic Book Villains from IGN. I was working my way through, seeing who I knew, agreeing and disagreeing with the various rankings for the villains. The top ten is pretty excellent, but the top spot is a surprise. I’ll give you a minute to look at the list, go ahead.

Okay, you might have guessed from my post topic, but beating out the Joker for the top spot was Magneto. What is it about this villain which so fascinates us? Is he truly a villain – or a victim? Is he right in all of his fears? After all, none of this tension has been resolved yet – in the comics, in the movies, anywhere.

And what about the group he surrounds himself with – his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants? Any group that includes “Evil” in the name is problematic, because does the truly evil person consider themselves to be so? Or is this Magneto just playing into society’s expectations – calling themselves evil because the humans will call them so?

Comics Review – All New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men

Another review in my quest to find new comics to read! I have looked at the New Avengers, and at the Uncanny X-Force and Uncanny Avengers. I think between these I have found one that I think will be short lived, one that I will probably keep reading to find out where they are going with it, and one that I am probably good with.

However, in my original post where I hit the end of some comics, I got a great recommendation from Michael Allan Leonard of Public Domain. He recommended two of the new Marvel X-Men line-up: the All New X-Men, and the new run of Uncanny X-Men.

I read these in the wrong order: I checked out the Uncanny X-Men first, and then the All New X-Men. Mistake! So let’s look through these in the right order.