Broken Frontier

My first exposure to the X-Men was Uncanny X-Men #168. The cover was the main reason why I picked it up. It featured Kitty Pryde with her back against the wall, bruised and beaten, but with a look of grim determination on her face. I had to buy the book just to find out what the comic was all about.

While the art got me inside the door, the writing kept me there. The issue was a spotlight for Ms. Pryde, as she struggled to find her place on the X-Men and battled a dangerous alien hiding in the X-mansion. It was action-packed, but the quieter, talkier moments were just as good if not better than the fight scenes. I didn’t know much about the X-Men, but in one issue Chris Claremont made me care about them. This is where I first gained an appreciation for his writing.

I soon became an X-Men fan. Claremont shocked me when he gave Storm a mohawk, made me sad when Wolverine and Mariko’s wedding was called off, and made me fearful when the team faced the deadly Mutant Massacre in the New York City sewers. His mix of strong characterization, well-constructed plots and dramatic action made me want to read more by him.

Chris Claremont’s first professional comic work—as per a variety of sources—was X-Men #59, an issue he had co-written with Roy Thomas. But he worked on a number of Marvel properties in between that issue and when he took over the X-Men full time in 1975.

He did an issue of Daredevil here, an issue of Incredible Hulk there, and a bunch of horror titles along the way. He also collaborated with John Byrne on Iron Fist, worked on Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman and had quite a lengthy run on Marvel Team-Up.

While he’s written just about every Marvel character at one time or another, the X-Men is what comes to everyone’s mind when they think of Claremont. He worked on Uncanny X-Men for over 15 years straight. He created the spin-off New Mutants, Wolverine and Excalibur titles and wrote the team’s crossovers with the Teen Titans, Micronauts, and the Fantastic Four. It was an era where it seemed anything even remotely mutant-related had Claremont’s name attached to it.

But eras are not meant to last. He left Uncanny in 1991 and began work for other companies, including creating the Sovereign Seven at DC and working on the Aliens property at Dark Horse. He came back to both the Uncanny X-Men and X-Men titles in 2000, was taken off in 2001 and given the new series X-Treme X-Men to write, and returned again to Uncanny alone in 2004. He stayed on this title until the recent reshuffling of the X-Men line a few months ago.

As has become de rigueur on the X-books, the creators were shaken up and shifted about. Ed Brubaker was brought in on Uncanny and Mike Carey took over X-Men, leaving Chris Claremont looking for other books to write besides New Excalibur. Just as the company created X-Treme X-Men during one of the previous reshufflings, Marvel found him something again. They had him take over the Exiles series and created a brand-new book for him called GeNext, which would have taken a look at the X-franchise if the characters aged in real time. 

But before he could take over these titles, Claremont was struck with a debilitating illness that forced him to take a sabbatical for several months. Frank Tieri filled in on New Excalibur, GeNext was shelved for at least the time being, and series writer Tony Bedard stayed on a little longer on Exiles.

Claremont is now healthy and back in action to take the reins with issue #90. The ragtag Exiles could be right up the writer’s alley. He excels at writing unique and individual characters like the current team and is great at showing the conflict their meshing brings. And the book’s essential concept—a group of heroes from different realities joining together to fix discrepancies in other realities—is one that Claremont seems to enjoy working with based on his Cross-Time Caper from the first Excalibur series.

While I doubt that this title will cause anyone to forget his time on the X-Men, it might be an opportunity for both the title and the writer to shine. And that is something everyone should be excited about.    

Also out this week:

• She-Hulk 2 #15: Not that you need another reason to pick up this title—it being one of the best comics on the market should be enough—but there is a good motive for all Marvel fans to pick up this issue. It starts the “World Without a Hulk” arc, and will act as a bridge between the Civil War crossover and this year’s World War Hulk event.

The plot revolves around Jen stepping up to the plate to take on all of the Hulk’s old villains. The new director of S.H.I.E.L.D is shipping Jen out to wherever Bruce Banner’s bad guys rear their ugly heads. The storyline promises to be packed with action, mystery and excitement and serves as an excellent jumping-on point for new readers.

Dan Slott (W), Rick Burchett (A), Marvel Comics, $2.99. Ongoing series.

• Conan & The Midnight God #1:  Dark Horse’s successful Conan franchise gets another entry this week with this new mini-series. It serves as a sequel/follow-up to the Dysart and Rodriquez’s story in Funcom’s Age of Conan comic, which was a giveaway at last year’s San Diego Comic Con. If half of the 450,000 people who received the giveaway pick up this book, Dark Horse will have a major success on their hands.

Conan has won the throne of Aquilonia and the hand of its queen Zenobia. He doesn’t even have a chance to get the seat warm when the country is attacked by an evil sorcerer. The question is not whether or not Conan will fight back, but rather if Hyboria will be able to survive the conflict. 

Joshua Dysart (W), Tone Rodriguez (A), Dark Horse Comics, $5.99. Five-Issue Miniseries.

• Mike Carey's One-Sided Bargains: From the twisted mind of writer Mike Carey comes two tales of deals with the devil gone wrong (yeah right, like they ever go right). He merges the original Faust legend with a gothic horror story set in Victorian times to create a bone-chilling graphic novel from Image’s Desperado imprint. 

A little girl goes missing and ends up in the hands of a cult of Satanists who intend to use the child as a ritual sacrifice. However, things don’t turn out the way they expected and the deal goes horribly wrong. But that often happens when you make a deal with the Prince of Lies. 

Mike Carey (W), Mike Perkins & P.J. Holden (A), Image Comics, $5.99. One-shot.

• Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp #1: Dr. Fate has been one of my favorite characters to come out of DC’s Golden Age. I wasn’t around when he made his first appearance in 1940’s More Fun Comics #55, but I grew to like him through his appearances in All-Star Squadron and other books.

The events of the Infinite Crisis and Day of Vengeance temporarily removed him from DC’s landscape, but this is the first in a line of one-shot specials that will re-establish him into continuity. And it features one of the wackiest characters to come out of DC’s Silver Age, Detective Chimp. The Simian Sleuth has enjoyed a resurgence in the above mentioned series, so it seems natural he’d be there to welcome Dr. Fate back.

Bill Willingham (W), Shawn McManus (A), DC Comics, $2.99. One-Shot.

• Roadkill Zoo #1: Did you ever see a dead animal on the side of the road and recoil in horror? Have you been filled with revulsion by viewing the guts and gore? The creators of Roadkill Zoo tap into this primal fear, add some typical horror conventions, and create an original tale of terror.

A group of college students gets lost in a Louisiana swamp and manages to accidentally run over a raccoon. This is unfortunate because the swamp is home to a voodoo witch doctor who has been reanimating the roadkill into a personal army for his own uses. The zombie menagerie is thirsty for revenge. Guess who becomes their number one target?

Nicole Jones (W), Buddy Setiawan & Derek Fridolfs (A), Novaris Entertainment, $2.50. Six-Issue Miniseries.   

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William Gatevackes is a professional writer living in Mamaroneck, NY with his wife Jennifer. Bill also writes periodic comic reviews for PopMatters and writes title descriptions for Human Computing’s Comicbase collection management software.