Comics Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past

X-Men: Days of Future Past by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.

Reviewed by Adam St.Pierre

Disclaimer: This review is written by someone who hasn’t read every single X-Men story arc, but has read quite a bit and loved every bit of the X-Men television show from the 1990s.

If you haven’t seen the newest installation of the X-Men movie franchise, Days of Future Past, you need to. Pretty much immediately. The film is a true comic book movie and does a phenomenal job of highlighting all of the characters from the highly lauded story line from Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Now that doesn’t mean that you can’t nitpick certain elements from the movie and compare it to the original story or talk about how certain characters were not written like that because you most definitely can do that and that kind of critique can be fun … but, ladies and gents, comics and by proxy comic book movies are supposed to be fun. 

Luckily, your library has two different collected editions of the Days of Future Past story line to help you get reacquainted with or introduced to that classic tale. Why do we have two different editions you ask? Well: The first collected edition brings together X-Men #138-141, Uncanny X-Men #142-143, and X-Men Annual #4. This one is a good primer for folks that:

1.) Have not seen X-men First Class or cannot remember much about First Class

2.) Just want a short overview on X-men comics during the 1960s when it was mainly monster of the week

3.) Have not seen X-men Days of Future Past yet

4.) Don’t care about the minutiae and want the book quicker (the waitlist is currently shorter)

The only disappointing thing that I came away with this particular collected edition was that it only contains one issue that is relevant to the Days of Future Past story line.

The second collected edition is a Marvel reprint that came out earlier this year. It collects X-Men #141, Uncanny X-Men #142, New Mutants Annual #6, X-Factor #5, X-Men Annual 14, Excalibur #52, Wolverine: Days of Future Past #1-3, and Hulk: Broken Worlds 2. Which is basically every single possible issue that could deal with the Days of Future Past story arc. This is a great complete edition for folks that:

1.) Want to analyze every part of the movie and compare it to the source material

2.) Need to go back after the movie is over and fact check

3.) Want to have a protracted debate and compare it to the 1990s television show

Either collected edition is a fantastic read and honestly you could read one or both of them to get the full effect. Regardless, the T.V. show’s theme song is totally stuck in my head.

Comics Review: East of West The Promise

East of West Volume 1  by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta. Reviewed by Adam St.Pierre.

So after two consecutive reads, I think I’m ready to give reviewing this thing a shot. Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta have done something wonderful here mixing serious science fiction, alternate history, and western elements to build a story that could easily garner as much attention as Saga has over the past year or so. The story begins by showing three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, being reborn/reincarnated as children without Death. Once War, Famine, and Conquest realize that Death is not with them they decide they must find and kill him, immediately setting up the conflict that carries throughout the rest of the story arc.

After the reincarnation scene, Hickman and Dragotta piece together what happened from the Civil War to 2066, and how we form the Seven Nations of America. Our protagonist, a Clint Eastwood-like Death dressed entirely in white, is finally shown exacting his brand of bloody vengeance upon all who have wronged him.

What exactly occurred between the Horsemen and a myriad of other questions are introduced very quickly to the reader which can make the story a bit difficult to keep up with at first. The payoff is definitely worth it and the end of the trade seriously leaves you wanting for more. Check out Volume 2 soon!

Comics Plus

We’re excited to introduce a great new comic book resource, Comics Plus. It’s really easy to use: create an account and then click on “Browse Library” at the top of the page. You can browse titles by your favorite publisher (everything from Archie to BOOM! to Red 5), age range, or by using the search bar to type in a title. Simply click “Check out” by the title you’d like to read and it will appear on your shelf! Titles check out for seven days and you can check out up to five comics per week. There’s no software to install and titles are automatically returned. Take a look at the Comics Plus InfoGuide to find out more.

Comic Book Review: Best of 2013

According to the experts at Comic Book Resources, Goodreads, Publishers Weekly, and a few others we’ve compiled a list of the best Comics and Graphic Novels of 2013. What are your favorite Comics and Graphic Novels of 2013? Check your local library branch or our Comics and Graphic Novels infoGuide for New comics.