Comic Book Review: X-men ’92 #1

STORY BY

Chris Sims, Chad Bowers

ART BY

Alti Firmansyah

COLORS BY

Matt Milla

LETTERS BY

VC – Travis Lanham

COVER BY

David Nakayama, Afua Richardson, Pasqual Ferry, John Tyler Christopher

PUBLISHER

Marvel Comics

COVER PRICE:

$3.99

RELEASE DATE

Mar 30th, 2016

Synopsis:

The X-Men of the 90s are back! Continuing from the hit Secret Wars series starring the X-Men of a more EXTREME decade. With Cassandra Nova defeated, the X-Men have taken in all the young mutants she had rounded up and are officially reopening the Xavier School for Gifted Children…but being responsible won’t stop them from having crazy adventures! Especially when Omega Red shows up with the (Formerly) Soviet Super Soldiers!

Review:

I loved the 90’s X-men cartoon. To me it was something I’d watch every day when I got home from school. Homework, studying, eating, everything was put on hold so I could watch X-men. Now, I have the entire series on my hard drive, and the theme song as a ringtone. So when I heard this series was going to harken back to that era of stories and feel, I got excited. I guess I was mistaken because what I got instead was a sort-of watered down Claremont-like setting from the 90s with some hit or miss art. While it was nice seeing Beast in his older glory days, and less like the odd lion/panther look he has since Morrison’s run, I just couldn’t get behind Firmansyah’s art here. At times it was pretty spot on and at others, very wonky and warped. The story didn’t really connect to anything that was going on in the 90’s Claremont world or the 90’s cartoon world so I’m not sure what universe this belongs too. This could turn into what X-men Forever never did, but something tells me this will just be a series where characters have the look and feel of the 90’s counterparts, maybe even some dialogue options, but won’t quite capture that essence. For what it’s worth, Chris Sims and Chad Bowers do craft an interesting story here involving the Von Strucker twins, Omega Red, and weapon x favorite –Maverick. While I was hoping for something more like X-men Adventures, I’ll be willing to see where this storyline goes and how Sims and Bowers handle the characters.

• The Hey!: You get a look back at the character designs and attitudes of the X-men from the 90s, which is fun for a quick Nostalgia kick.
• The Eh: Likewise, nothing ties into anything from the 90s so this is treated as if it was issue “x” within an x-men series already taking place in the 90s.
• The What?: Firmansyah handles action sequences well, and we get some big ones in this issue.
• Who should read this series?: It’s definitely marketed to fans who want to drift down memory lane and enjoy some of their favorite x-men characters from the 90s, but I’m not sure how much enjoyment they will get once they start reading.
• Why should you buy this book?: Simply to read it. There isn’t any backstory here, as it is expected you already A) know the 90s character and B) have read the one off from the recent Secret Wars issue. If you haven’t, it still doesn’t hurt you going into this issue.

Score: C

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