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.

Batman/Joker: Switch

This has got to be the weirdest Batman/Joker story that I've ever read. 

On the streets of London, the Clown Prince of Crime finds himself having been drugged and with his signature smile surgically planted onto the back of his neck. Taking a page out of his arch-adversary, The Batman's, book, the Joker decides to get to the bottom of this mutilation. Of course, with Joker's fractured psyche, his version of a Dark Knight Detective is pretty warped, resulting in chaos, tragedy and death in his wake. 

I had to read this book twice to understand it. It's very confusing and I think that's because writer Devin Grayson (Nightwing) tried to write most of this book from the Joker's point of view. 

Part of the blame also falls on the cover writer. I really thought that the description of this book made it sound like the Joker was trying to be like Batman. But he's not trying to be the Batman. The Joker is only switching roles in playing detective instead of criminal. The Joker is just being a really bad detective because he's nuts and he's a murdering psycho!

The art was quite good. It's painted. And it reflects that fractured psyche of the Joker. Angles are invented. Shadows are exaggerated. Plus, artist John Bolton (Batman: Manbat) has a sensual style, especially with a trio of beauties that the Joker kidnaps. 

Speaking of those beauties. One of the girls intrigued the heck out of me. She stands up to the Joker and the villain refers to her as his 'Robin'. I'd love to see more of her in comics. But it's been 9 years since this graphic novel was published and if she's yet to have shows up in further Batman comics, I doubt the character is gonna show up now!

Enjoyable Read. But man was it confusing and very demented.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.