X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain

The sequel to X-Men Noir has a much different tone. The story starts in jungles of Madripoor with the original '40s Angel, Wolverine, Cyclops and Puck seeking the legendary Eye of Cyttorak. In desperate need of cash, these survivors from the first miniseries take a job for a crime lord which results in a double cross! But when the boss winds up dead back in the States, there's a second chance to score some bread from this rotten deal. The only thing standing in their way- recently paroled Professor Charles Xavier and his newly formed Uncanny X Men!

This Marvel Noir entry had a little bit of everything. The first chapter was like if Indiana Jones was a mutant. Then there's a Hong Kong crime picture. Horror thriller. Mission Impossible type heist. And a wrap up with a Body Heat/Double Indemnity type mystery noir. 

While I did feel that the Mark of Cain was much better than the first X-Men Noir book, it wasn't perfect. At times, this book was a bit schizoid. That's not me trying to be poetic or something. That's a literal assessment.

One thing that I appreciated more with this series was the lack of the prose pulp that really caused the first volume to lag. I think those extra 2-3 pages were needed. This story definitely was action packed!

The behind the scenes stuff was a lot more in-depth this time around too. So many great images. And those variant covers- breathtaking!

The final image of this story sets things up for a third volume. That would round out a trilogy. Alas, that just doesn't seem likely. Mark of Cain debuted on shelves in 2009. I just don't see Marvel rounding things out any time soon. Marvel does get nostalgic and returns to it's theme storylines from time to time. Marvel2099 is making a return currently. Could Marvel Noir be awaiting in the wings? If so, I hope we find out what happened immediately after the curtains feel on this adventure.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

X-Men Noir

In 1940s New York, Eric Magnus is the chief of police. In the pocket of several crime bosses, Magnus let crime take over the Big Apple while putting on a show in front of the press with his war against the X Men. As for the X Men, they aren't heroes. Instead, they're a bunch of former juvenile delinquents who were 'reformed' into the ways of crime by the noted psychiatrist Charles Xavier.

Our story opens on the first day of Eric's son Peter's first day as a detective. Peter and his partner have been called to the docks to investigate a death- that of Jean Grey. Meanwhile, a reporter is snooping around into the history of the X Men. His investigation seems personal. But what those motivations are just aren't clear. But upon an interview with an incarcerated Xavier, the journal is given an urgent tip- 'Find Marie Rankin'- the rogue X Man!

X-Men Noir is an interesting take on the Marvel mutants. I've seen medieval X-Men. Fairy tale X-Men. I've even encountered X-Men Babies. While this may not be my favorite incarnation of the group, I much preferred these gritty heroes to the Noir version of Daredevil that I read previously. There was an air of Batman: The Animated Series to this book. Plus, Daredevil was set in the 1930s. X-Men Noir was in the post-war 1940s and since technology has always been an important element to the Children of the Atom, I think that change of time period was a key element to my enjoyment of this book.

In the Daredevil Noir review, I complained how I didn't like that there were a few characters added that did not have modern comics counterparts. This book includes a character from when Marvel was known as Timely Comics and I loved that touch of nostalgia! While this character isn't an X-Man staple, I did appreciate the addition.

One element of sentimentality that I wasn't such a fan of was the inclusion of a prose story set as a sci-fi pulp multi-parter. While that tale allows for more of the vast cast of X-Men characters to appear in this book, it just felt a little unnecessary. Plus, the story was supposed to be written by a eugenics advocate and entertaining that little bit of prejudice and bigotry felt outdated.

X-Men Noir wasn't prefect. But it was an entertaining mystery. If you enjoy films like Rudolph Mate's D.O.A. or the Bogart classic The Maltese Falcon, then this is the sequential art story you've been looking for. If you decide to skip the prose story at the end of each chapter, you won't be missing anything. But don't skip the BTS stuff at the end of this hardback. They're visually stunning pages!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Daredevil Noir

The idea behind the Marvel Noir books is that instead of coming to being in the early 1960s, the Marvel Universe explodes in the 1930s or 40s. My first experience with the Noir universe was Nicolas Cage's voice over of the gumshoe Spider-Man from Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Thanks to that occurrence, I know that the Marvel Noir books are supposed to be more edgy, sexier and deadlier than what you'd expect from an Earth-616 based comic.

Daredevil Noir was given an Parental Advisory rating. While it wasn't as tawdry as a Vertigo Comic, there was definitely an edge to this story. Probably because there was such a huge body count. 

Instead of being doused with radioactive chemicals, the Noir Matt Murdock was born blind but always imbued with his radar-like abilities. Known for being fearless and a bit of a daredevil as a child, Murdock works for attorney Foggy Nelson as his private detective. Nobody suspects a blind guy as being a snitch. 

Nelson and Murdock are hired by the girlfriend of an up-and-coming gangster. She's been abused by this thug and seeks revenge by having the guy brought down a peg or two. The fact that the crime boss is also the man who killed Matt's father in cold blood is just the icing on the cake to take the assignment.

This is one of those series that I have to blame my qualms on the inker or the colorist. Or both. The story by Alexander Irvine (Iron Man: Rapture) was pretty good. And the artwork by Tomm Coker (Black Monday Murders) was absolutely brilliant. But the coloring of this story is so dark that I had trouble making out characters. I'd know who were the main characters. But you throw in some smaller roles and with that constant addition of rain and shadow, this made it impossible for me to figure things out from time to time. 

Being published in a slightly larger format than that of a digest didn't help the visuals either.

Don't get me wrong. The ending was great. Open-ended but tremendously well choreographed. The big reveal towards the end was jaw-dropping. However, I wasn't such a big fan of including characters that had zero parallel to a modern Marvel counterpart. But I guess if you did that, then that major twist would've been ruined. 

When you add everything up, I think the pluses and minuses equal each other out. I was entertained. But it's not something I will consider keeping in my collection.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.