Collected Editions

Top 12 X-Men Collections of 2011 – New Material

January 10, 2012 by krisis

Uncanny X-Men issue #534.1, from Uncanny X-Men: Breaking Point

Today I bring you a list of the best collections of new X-Men material released in 2011, which collect stories originally published over the last 18 months of comics.

Occasionally I wonder if comic collecting as an adult is merely a shameless attempt at recapturing our youth now that we have the budget to appreciate it properly – especially as I and many other fans (let’s be honest) fetishize premiere format reprints of the comics we coveted as a kids. (Last week’s post covered the best of those from 2011.)

Is there anything to this hobby other than rewarding our inner teenage geeks?

If there’s an answer to be found in X-Men comics, it must be on this list. These are the twelve new X-Men stories that captured my imagination like those old issues I still obsess over, and I categorize “the wonder of feeling like a kid again” separately from “trying to recapture youthful feelings with a dose of well-preserved nostalgia.” [Read more…] about Top 12 X-Men Collections of 2011 – New Material

Top 12 X-Men Collections of 2011 – Reprinted Material

January 3, 2012 by krisis

Welcome to 2012 – I am still a comic book geek.

Specifically, the X-Men.

Yep. That’s a lot of comic books.

Specifically, I own something like 95% of every X-Men comic book ever reprinted.

On New Years’ Eve I said to myself, “You dashingly handsome scoundrel, how can you use your obsession to aid people who like the X-Men a normal, healthy amount – unlike you?”

The answer? I will count down for you the top twelve collected editions reprinting X-Men comics originally released before 2010. There’s a vast world of thousands of X-Men comics that have been released since 1963, and not all of them are readily available to buy in book format. These reprints mean that hard-to-get, or never-before-reprinted issues can be bought in handy collections with better reproduction of the line art than original issues.

(As for new X-Men material from 2011, that will require a whole new post to cover!) [Read more…] about Top 12 X-Men Collections of 2011 – Reprinted Material

X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, Late September Edition

November 8, 2011 by krisis

Back after a while in mothballs, it’s my X-collections recap!

Marvel hardly lets a single comic book issue go uncollected in book form, which means every week brings new hardcovers and trade paperbacks packed with their most major heroes – including The X-Men.

Read on for capsule reviews of the X-books out in the second half of September, which were unusually focused on past stories. Plus, get the skinny on all of Marvel’s other new collected editions from the latter half of the month.

If you’re looking for more X-info, head over to my Definitive Guide to Collecting X-Men Graphic Novels. Or, for a more basic approach, my Intro to X-Men (on a budget). New to the X-Men? Try my Where to Start Reading X-Men to pick a place to jump in.

X-Men Collection of the (latter half of the) Month:
New Mutants: Fall of the New Mutants TPB

CK Says: Buy it! When I first picked up the hardcover version of this collection earlier this year it was out of habit, but I quickly discovered the book was impossible to put down. Writer Zeb Wells capitalizes on a dangling plot thread from 80s blockbuster Inferno anda year of slow-boil character development to deliver a complex saga worthy of the X-Men’s rich dramatic history.

It’s hard to imagine a story more harrowing or epic than what the team had just endured in Second Coming, but Well’s pulls it off with art from Leonard Kirk, an efficient, unflashy penciler I’ve grown to love. I don’t want to spoil the story – if you enjoy this team of characters you’ll love it, particularly developments for Cannonball, Moonstar, Karma, and Magik.

X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 9/13 Edition

September 13, 2011 by krisis

Marvel has just a handful of X-Men books out in this week’s collected editions, but only one you might want to pick up. Read on for a capsule review, plus the skinny on all of Marvel’s other new collected editions out this week.

If you’re looking for more X-info, head over to my Definitive Guide to Collecting X-Men Graphic Novels. Or, for a more basic approach, my Intro to X-Men (on a budget).

Uncanny X-Men: Breaking Point TPB
Collects Uncanny X-Men #534.1& 535-539.

CK Says: Consider it. Kieron Gillen takes over Uncanny full-time and quickly solidifies his A-team as Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magneto, Namor, Kitty, and Colossus and uses them to delightful effect. The .1 issue is a one-off anti-terrorist adventure intercut with Magneto’s meeting with a public relations expert trying to downplay his own terrorist history.

The Breaking Point storyline plays out a dangling plot from Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men, but it gets a little tiresome. #539 is a Wolverine and Hope one-shot, which maybe features the first likeable take on Hope we’ve seen so far. On the whole this collection is good-not-great, but it’s as enjoyable as Uncanny has been in a long while.

(Uncanny X-Men always releases direct-to-TPB except for events and crossovers.)

xXx

Keep reading for the list of other collection editions out from Marvel this week, plus a few of their later add to last week’s list that missed the cut for my recap. [Read more…] about X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 9/13 Edition

X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 8/17 Edition

August 16, 2011 by krisis

Here’s a recap of the X-Men hardcover and trade paperback collected editions out this month so far, penned by the (only?) blogger who owns almost every X-issue that’s ever been republished! Plus, a quick look at Marvel’s other collected releases.

Whether you’re a major X-Fan or a casual reader, I’ll share my opinion on what’s worth buying, and recap the rest of the field. If you have any questions, just let me know – I’m happy to help. This is a supplement to my Definitive Guide to Collection X-Men in Graphic Novels, which tells you how you can buy any X-issue ever printed. Ever.

If you’re new to X-Men in comics form, you should read my recent Intro to X-Men (on a budget) post.

xXx

Collection of the Week:
X-Men: X-Tinction Agenda Oversized Hardcover
Collects Uncanny X-Men #235-238 & #270-272, New Mutant (1983) #95-97, and X-Factor (1986) #60-62.

CK Says: Buy it! This hardcover debut of the 1990 “X-Tinction Agenda” crossover is as close as any single storyline collection gets to being an X-Men greatest hits collection. I already have my copy, and it is a thing of beauty.

Paired with the included classic four-issue introductory arc, X-Tinction Agenda features nearly every possible member of the X-Cast through 1990 with few exceptions (notably Xavier, Polaris, Madrox, Magik, Magma, and Mirage/Moonstar). Also, the creative team is untoppable – script by 80s essential X-writers Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson, art by all-time greats Marc Silvestri and Jim Lee – oh, and some guy named Rob Liefeld.

As for the story, it brings together the various X-Teams after over a half-a-decade apart while introducing the island of Genosha, where mutants are abundant – as a persecuted slave-race! This collection lays the groundwork for future X-stories, including Grant Morrison’s New X-Men and the recent blockbuster Second Coming.

xXx

What other books came out in the first half of August, including a side-story book that outclasses it’s main-story brethren? [Read more…] about X-Men Hardcover & Trade Paperback Review, 8/17 Edition