Uncanny X-Men: Poptopia

The X-Men are back in London. No, the mutant superteam Excalibur hasn't reformed. Though an original member of the group is one of the heroes visiting England. Cerebro, the X-Men's mutant locating super computer has registered a large population of mutants underneath the streets of London. Nightcrawler, Ice Man, Archangel and Wolverine are on a mission to offer membership to their brethren. However, they'll need to offer sanctuary as an enhanced madman is on the hunt for these 'genetic freaks.'

The X-Men also have a secondary agenda: retrieve the AWOL member of Generation-X, Chamber. After a catastrophic encounter that lead this new generation of X-Men fractured, Chamber fled to London, hoping to find himself. Instead, he finds himself as the British tabloids latest subject when he catches the eye of pop superstar Sugar Kane. 

This volume is book-ended with 2 solo stories. Jean Grey and Wolverine must address their complicated relationship when they are transported into the fracturing mind of a brand new mutant who is enamored with the militant ways of Magneto. Then Warren Worthington, III learns that his family run mega-corporation has invested in a place called the X-Ranch. It's pretty much what you think. The X-Ranch is a sordid bordello where wealthy homo sapiens spend a ton of cash to get their kinky licks in the arms of a harem of seductive homo superiors. 

Published in 2001, this era of the X-Men occurs after Grant Morrison's revamp of the Children of the Atom. Those really cool black with yellow trim uniforms are still in service. Only now everyone looks like they're a cross between a model for American Eagle and a goth frequent shopper at Hot Topic. 

For the most part, the art is really good. Only the costume and character design is too cyberpunk. And there's one issue where the guest artists tried to emulate the fantastic Bill Sienkiewicz and just failed miserably. Joe Casey's plots are good. But the dialogue needs work. Who used the phrase 'What's your major malfunction?' back in 2001. It's an example of how the dialogue was about 20 years too late to appear in a Marvel comic book. 

I found this book at a thrift shop where I don't think I paid more than $2 for it. The UK Sun stylized cover really caught my eye and the price was nice, of course. 'Poptopia' was like riding a roller-coaster. Only it wasn't because of the level of action. Instead, there were extreme moments of superior quality dipping into depths of really bad comic book creating. I'm one to talk. I'm sure that Sean Phillips and Ashley Wood, among others, are much better artists than I will ever be. However, I also felt like a very good portion of this collection of X-Men comics wouldn't have met the standards of former editors Stan Lee or Jim Shooter 

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

X-Men: Rarities

I'm not really sure what this X-Men collection is titled Rarities, considering that I've read 2 of these 5 included stories before. 

The opening story, taken from an issue of Bizarre Adventures marks Bobby Drake, Iceman's first silo adventure which occurred about 3 full years before his 4-issue miniseries by J.M. DeMatteisx. The middle story, penned by Chris Claremont, originally appeared in the pages of Al Milgrom's Marvel Fanfare. It depicts a tense truce between Storm and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutant's Mystique over the soul of Rogue who at the time of the story has ironically gone rogue. 

Those were the two stories that I had previously read. The new-to-me stories include a peek at what happened after the Giant-Size X-Men rescued the Uncanny X-Men from the menace of Krakoa. An untold tale presented in Classic X-Men, it's a story that covers a period of mutant history that I had never really thought about and yet it's such a brilliant idea! When the introduction of the new X-Men concludes, there's like a dozen people now on the team. What happened that fateful first night together that caused Havoc, Angel and several others to decide to forgo membership as part of Professor X's team? Chris Claremont answers those questions with some stunning artwork by John Bolton.

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko are highlighted with a story developed for the pages of Amazing Adults Fantasy #14. 'The Man in the Sky' is a pre-X-Men story, considered by many to be the concept that gave birth to the Children of the Atom. It's a very short story that ends with a typical Ditko finale that is anything but. It makes me wonder if the character of Tad Carter, being Marvel's first official mutant, ever made an appearance in the X-Men universe of comics. (Turns out he has in the pages of X-Men: The Hidden Years.)

The last story, starring Generation X, is in my opinion the only real rarity in the book. An introduction for the all-new team of mutants led by Sean Cassidy, was a Comicon exclusive in 1994. Since this promo comic was only offered to the lucky few who tried to San Diego, I feel like this is a title that can officially be declared a rare find. If you ask me, X-MEN: Rarities should have been comprised of promo stories featuring the legion of mutants that house the Marvel Universe. That would have been more appropriate than putting in several stories that just happened to be published in more lesser known publications.

Finally, I want to comment on the story that starred Mystique. Originally published in 1988, the story offers a revealing glimpse at the character's gender fluidity, since Raven Darkholme is a shape shifter. But even more groundbreaking is what happens after Storm departs the underground club in which Mystique summoned her foe. Right in the middle of the club is Irene Hadler- Destiny! The woman who just recently wed Mystique in the pages of some X-Men book and caused countless fanboys to lose their minds! 'Woke Comics!', they cried. And yet, here's Raven and Destiny as lovers 36 years prior! Seems that these so-called Marvel comics experts know nothing about the history of one of the X-Men's most popular foes!

A fairly decent grab bag of X-Men stories. I think my idea of a collection of promo comics has merit and is more entitled to the title of 'Rarities.' But this is still a good read.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.