By Jeff Parker, Scott Gray, Roger Langridge, Craig Rousseau, Roger Cruz, David Williams, David Calero, Sean Galloway, Joe Infurnari, Cameron Stewart & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-4051-4104-4
In 2006 the deliriously naive secret school-days adventures of the Marvel’s Merry Mutants were re-imagined as X-Men First Class (a comicbook iteration, not the movie) which updated and reinterpreted the seminal 1960s adventures for the far more sophisticated contemporary audience.
An 8-issue miniseries and a One-Shot Special led to a further 16 issue run: retrofitting old stories, creating new material by in-filling existing narratives and especially by integrating the kids with the mainstream continuity through team-ups with assorted guest stars such as Doctor Strange, Man-Thing, Gorilla-Man, Thor and Invisible Woman. The experiment was a conceptual success and even led to a number of spin-off series based on the same winning “untold X-tales†format.
However all good things come to an end – until the next time a few years from now – and the junior league finally had to move on into their later lives and rejoin the ongoing Marvel Universe continuity. Thus in 2009 the 4-issue miniseries X-Men – First Class: Finals revealed the story of the trainees’ graduation and fed directly into the landmark tale which introduced a thoroughly modern new team…
In 1975 Len Wein & Dave Cockrum revived the revered but painfully uncommercial fan favourite in Giant Size X-Men #1, replacing most of the 1960s team – Iceman, The Angel, Marvel Girl, The Beast, Lorna Dane and Havok – with a second generation of edgier international mutants young and old.
With both field-leader Cyclops and wheelchair-bound telepath Professor Charles Xavier remaining to carry on the dream of brokering peace and achieving integration between the sprawling masses of humanity and an emergent off-shoot race with terrifying extra abilities, the stage was set for “All New, All Different†adventures, and the fledgling squad rapidly became the company’s biggest hit and asset.
Comic fans have an insatiable appetite for untold tales and details, so this fresh iteration of the First Class concept, rather than rewriting or updating canonical tales already perpetually in print and utterly familiar to fans, opted to exploit gaps and spaces between scenes and stories with all new yarns…
Collecting one-shot Giant-Size Uncanny X-Men: First Class #1 and the first four issues of the follow-up Uncanny X-Men: First Class from 2009, the revelations begin as quintessential good Soldier Cyclops struggles to adapt to the undisciplined strangers who comprise his unwelcome new team.
After an ill-omened and almost catastrophic battle against a giant mutant fungus, the lone remaining graduate of Xavier’s original intake takes stock by studying the early exploits of Storm as a thief in Cairo, Banshee‘s battle against a Faerie Bog Ogre in Ireland, Nightcrawler‘s formative days in a German circus and Peter Rasputin‘s very first transformation into a living steel Colossus.
Of course Wolverine‘s revelations were clearly a cover-story – if a hilariously funny one – but the effort to understand his new comrades in arms soon allowed a connection to be made by the earnest, dedicated, determinedly single-minded team leader…
That initial outing – a collaborative jam-session from writers Jeff Parker, Scott Gray & Roger Langridge and assembled illustrators Craig Rousseau, David Williams, Dennis Calero, Sean Galloway, Joe Infurnari, Cameron Stewart, John Beatty – was capped off with an hysterical glimpse at the list of ‘International Mutant’s Who Didn’t Make the Team’ before the regular series commenced with ‘Refugee’ by regular series scripter Gray and artist Roger Cruz.
Set just after Marvel Girl Jean Grey “died†and was resurrected as the cosmic entity Phoenix (approximately between X-Men #108 and 111 if you’re counting) the drama begins after demonic-seeming Nightcrawler Kurt Wagner was attacked by the very humans he had saved and went into a depression of disappointment and disgust.
Thus when the Royal Family of the mysterious Inhumans came to visit Professor X as part of a cultural exchange, the dejected hero was intoxicated by the concept of an entire society that venerated the concept of being physically different…
The Inhumans were conceived as an incredible lost civilisation and debuted in 1965 (in Fantastic Four #44-48, during Stan Lee & Jack Kirby’s most fertile and productive creative period).
They are a race of disparate (generally) humanoid beings, genetically modified by aliens in Earth’s distant pre-history, who consequently became technologically advanced far ahead of emergent Homo Sapiens. Few in numbers, they isolated themselves from barbarous dawn-age humanity, first on an island and latterly in a hidden Himalayan valley, voluntarily closeted in their fabulous city Attilan – until a civil war brought them into the public gaze of the modern world.
The hidden race practised a ritual and doctrine wherein almost every member of their society – was on reaching maturity – subjected to mutagenic Terrigen Mists which transformed them into an utterly unique being: something Wagner was unaware of when he made a fervent request of Xavier and Inhuman monarch Black Bolt and his queen Medusa…
In the meantime his cousins Triton, Karnak, Gorgon, and Medusa’s bewitching sister Crystal (and her giant teleporting dog Lockjaw) were being entertained by the other X-Men until abrasive alpha-dogs Wolverine and Gorgon clashed and a bombastic battle broke out…
With no real harm done, arrangements were made and Kurt, accompanied by best friend Peter “Colossus†Rasputin, became guests in the hidden Himalayan retreat, enjoying the easy camaraderie of the society of strangers, until Kurt witnessed the Terrigen ceremony and went ballistic, incensed that perfectly healthy, normal youngsters were deliberately turned into monsters… just like him…
Struck down for disrupting the sacred ritual in ‘To Err is Inhuman…’ Nightcrawler was held for trial, but Triton and Colossus secretly warned the rest of the X-Men, and Cyclops led a rescue mission which quickly escalated into a small, short war that almost destroyed Attilan before order and peace were restored…
Banshee was the focus of ‘The Next Life’ as wise old Sean Cassidy was targeted for revenge by the father of his long-dead bride. That was bad enough, but the cruel weapon of choice was a mutant who could materialise ghosts of lost loved ones…
Meanwhile in space, astronomer astronaut Peter Corbeau of the UN satellite Starcore One detects three impossible entities cavorting on the surface of the sun…
This premiere volume concludes with a classic girl’s night out and a cosmic cliffhanger in ‘Sisters of the Dragon’ illustrated by David Williams, as African émigré Ororo Monroe (AKA Storm) joins Jean and her martial arts/Private Eye pals Colleen Wing and Misty Knight for some downtime, chat and socialisation, only to be ambushed by queen of criminality Nightshade.
The devious diva needs something from the impregnable S.H.I.E.L.D. Heli-carrier and unless the weather witch gets it her friends will die horribly. Complying and completing her task before spectacularly turning the tables on Nightshade, Ororo doesn’t realise the seriousness of messing with the vindictive spy agency…
Meanwhile Professor X is psychically shocked by a telepathic distress call from old colleague Corbeau. Starcore has been invaded by a trio of sadistic solar horrors… and Earth is next…
To Be Continued…
This superbly entertaining collection wisely keeps the continuity baggage to a bare minimum, determined to deliver a compelling, rocket-paced rollercoaster ride of thrills and chills, heavy on action and light on extended sub-plots.
Engaging, exciting and extremely enjoyable, these new adventures are a welcome continuation of the Good Old Days that will delight fans and newcomers alike, offering another bite of that long-lost perfect cherry for all lovers of grand mutant Fights ‘n’ Tights action, mirth and mayhem…
© 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.