X-Marathon

Shortly after my World of Warcraft marathon, I had another one, this time starring Marvel's most enduring mutants: the Uncanny X-Men. I read issues 500 to 514 in a row, plus a few pertinent extra issues, and I had a lot of fun.

The first story arc was SFX, which I had already read and written about here. SFX was drawn mostly by Greg Land, and even though plenty of people seem to dislike his work, I really like it, so that was a blast. The second arc was Lovelorn, which I started back in January but never actually finished. This one was drawn by Terry Dodson, and man is he good. His style is very different from Land's, and I like it even more. I actually got to meet Dodson at the San Diego Comic Con last July, and we chatted about his European series Coraline. He also had a bunch of his original pages there for display, and I was almost drooling over his incredible illustrations. I would love to get some of his original artwork, but it is just too expensive. He was very nice and friendly, though, and the fact that he is so talented makes me even more willing to support him and buy his X-Men issues.

Greg Land illustrated the next story arc, Sisterhood, which is about the return of Psylocke. I liked it too, but not as much as the previous three. Still, seeing Domino after such a long time was a treat, and I must say Land's Dazzler looks, well, dazzling.

This brought me to issue #512, a surprisingly fun story drawn by Yanick Paquette. Throughout the previous ten issues, Beast had been gathering a brain trust (the X-Club) to solve the precarious situation the mutants are in, and this unlikely team of scientists (plus Psylocke) travels back in time to the 1920's for a retro Victorian adventure that I really, really enjoyed. Was I the only one who thought Psylocke looked great in that long skirt? Well, she did.

Fortunately, the team was back in time for the next story arc, Utopia, which was a crossover between UXM and Dark Avengers. In true Marvel fashion, you needed to buy the opening one-shot and the closing one in addition to a couple of Dark Avengers issues if you wanted to understand what was going on. Luckily for me (bad luck for Marvel, though, but see if I care), a friend had already bought them and I could borrow them, so I was able to enjoy the whole story without having to part with my cash. Luke Ross draws the DA issues, and my beloved Terry Dodson draws the UXM chapters, which were interesting but there was just too much fighting for my taste. However, the mutant status quo at the end of this event is very intriguing, and I wonder what's going to happen next. Regardless of what it is, as long as Land and Dodson keep rotating and delivering the goods, I will be there to find out.