There are a lot of comics out there, but some comic book series stand out head and shoulders above the pack. With “Don’t Miss This,” we want to spotlight those series we think need to be on your pull list. This week, we’re spotlighting “X-Men.” “X-Men” is devoted to fleshing out Marvel’s team of Mutants in the Krakoan Age of comics. In recent issues of “X-Men” we have seen the team fight alien species. Today we are going to dive deep into Marvel’s main “X-Men” ongoing series to explain why you can’t Miss this intriguing core Marvel title on the heels of the ‘Fall of X’ crossover.
Who’s this by?
Marvel’s flagship “X-Men” comic book is currently written by writer Gerry Duggan. According to Marvel.com Duggan’s writing debut at Marvel was on “Deadpool” as part of Marvel’s ‘Marvel NOW!’ publishing initiative alongside comedian Brian Posehn featuring art from Tony Moore. Duggan continued writing “Deadpool” before helping out author Rick Remender on “Uncanny Avengers” #8 with art from Adam Kubert. Duggan continued to work on titles like “A+X” further combining the nature of Avengers and X-Men properties. Duggan collaborated with writer Zeb Wells on “Nova” #10 featuring art from Paco Medina, David Lopez and Carlo Barberi. Duggan has continued to work on fascinating Marvel titles including “Guardians of the Galaxy” with artist Aaron Kuder and a Marvel event called “Infinity Wars” with artist Mike Deodato.
Artist Joshua Cassara’s first credited Marvel title on Marvel.com is “New Avengers” #7 written by Al Ewing. Following this issue, Cassara collaborated with writer Derek Landy on “Secret Empire: Uprising” #1. Cassara also contributed art to the “Secret Empire” crossover event at Marvel starting with issue #5 written by Nick Spencer with art from Rod Reis and Andrea Sorrentino. Cassara worked on “Falcon,” “Sentry,” and “Venom” before contributing art to “X-Force” #3 with writer Ed Brisson.
What’s it all about?
Marvel’s latest “X-Men” title is about the main X-Men team of Krakoa battling alien species from across The Marvel Universe. “X-Men” has continually laid the ground for future stories at the publisher including “Sins of Sinister” and “Fall of X.” Will Marvel’s Mutants be able to suppress the mutant hate group known as Orchis to save the Nation-State of Krakoa?
What makes it so great?
One of the core aspects that makes this modern run on “X-Men” great is the unique tone of the series. Gerry Duggan writes relatable dialogue for his X-Men characters and has a knack for pairing them off in really strange scenarios. One of the other fantastic aspects about this run are the talented artists who have contributed to this series including Stefano Casselli, Pepe Larraz and Joshua Cassara who illustrated the most recent issue, “X-Men” #22.
Marvel’s core “X-Men” series started strong with a battle between the X-Men and patrons of Cordyceps Jones’ deep space casino. Duggan’s emphasis on Orchis started early in his X-Men run as Duggan worked with artist Pepe Larraz to flesh out villain Feilong. This “X-Men” series has switched directions a number of times and also has introduced subtle ties to future Marvel events. “X-Men” has been foreshadowing the “Fall of X” heavily thanks to the influence of Orchis. “X-Men” also carried a focus on “Sins of Sinister” with Dr. Stasis. “X-Men” has established fascinating plot threads for “Judgment Day” with Ben Urich’s involvement in the narrative. The way Duggan has subtly used Captain Krakoa in this series to introduce his upcoming “Uncanny Avengers” run is a work of comic book genius!
Artist Joshua Cassara is able to depict motion in a fascinating way on the page. In “X-Men” issue #15, the page zooms in on Forge’s machete in the South American Jungle to capture lots of intrigue in the narrative. Cassara is also great at adapting to plant-based environments for locations like The Vault or Krakoa that are instrumental in this modern run of X-Men. Forge and Caliban’s trip to The Vault is captured in a remarkable way in issue’s #15 and #16. The new form of Caliban has great dialogue from Duggan but Caliban’s strained expressions from Joshua Cassara’s artwork really sells some of the science fiction aspects of the book. Cassara’s artwork in “X-Men” #17 looks even more detailed than #15 as Cassara’s art has improved on this series.
Continued belowWith a recent story centered around The Brood, author Gerry Duggan crafted fascinating scenarios for the X-Men that had a touch of body horror. A more recent cliffhanger for “X-Men” issue #22 continues the insane scenarios by introducing a wild plot thread in the issue. Artist Joshua Cassara has the intensely difficult task of trying keep the plot intact with the insane scenarios threatening to derail the narrative. Cassara’s art is great at injecting humor through the facial expressions while keeping the narrative believable.
The art in “X-Men” #17 carries fascinating purple hues from GURU-eFX when the series calls moody lighting. “X-Men” #1’s colors featured more green hues when Marte Garcia was working with artist Pepe Larraz. Both colorists fit the tone of “X-Men” really well and have delivered brighter hues than readers might be accustomed to given how dark the subject matter is for a lot of these X-Men titles. The sinister yet glee expressions from Dr. Stasis and Modok are captured well in the latest chapter, “X-Men” #22 with Cassara’s line rendering a lot of the gritty details of the vicious forces of Orchis.
How can you read it?
You can purchase “X-Men” monthly from Marvel Comics wherever finer issues are sold. The first collection of the series, titled “X-Men By Gerry Duggan Vol. 1” is on-sale now. The ‘Fall of X’ is just on the horizon for the X-Men!
