Post by RPD on Jan 31, 2004 18:06:55 GMT -5
I'm not sure if I'm in the minority here, but I've always been a sucker for Marvel's satire superhero series. I recently started reading X-Statix after Agent X was cancelled during the summer, and I've been impressed. Here's the Cliff's notes:
Marvel ran their X-Force team into the ground. Cable was no longer selling comics like he used to and the rest of the team were either off joining other X-Men sects or weren't entertaining enough to maintain the fanbase. So they decide the best thing to do with the book is have the old X-Force fake their own deaths and have a new kind of supergroup take their place.
That's where X-Statix came in. The team literally just stole the name X-Force and went to work mixing superheroing with publicity and movie deals. The members of this new superhero team all had lucrative endorsement deals and spots on popular talk shows. There were X-Force cafés popping up all over the country ala Planet Hollywood selling X-Force/X-Statix dolls. Every battle they fought was taped and edited for mass consumption during prime time.
So what we get is a very different approach to X-Men. Instead of people fearing them, they are embraced and idolized by the general population. Without having to worry about backlash, the only thing they have to worry about is dying in the heat of battle, which happens to them a lot. In fact, in the first issue alone, every member but two die by the end. The mortality rate hasn't fared any better since.
Highest recommendations for people who don't mind a comic that doesn't take itself or the X-Universe seriously at all.
Marvel ran their X-Force team into the ground. Cable was no longer selling comics like he used to and the rest of the team were either off joining other X-Men sects or weren't entertaining enough to maintain the fanbase. So they decide the best thing to do with the book is have the old X-Force fake their own deaths and have a new kind of supergroup take their place.
That's where X-Statix came in. The team literally just stole the name X-Force and went to work mixing superheroing with publicity and movie deals. The members of this new superhero team all had lucrative endorsement deals and spots on popular talk shows. There were X-Force cafés popping up all over the country ala Planet Hollywood selling X-Force/X-Statix dolls. Every battle they fought was taped and edited for mass consumption during prime time.
So what we get is a very different approach to X-Men. Instead of people fearing them, they are embraced and idolized by the general population. Without having to worry about backlash, the only thing they have to worry about is dying in the heat of battle, which happens to them a lot. In fact, in the first issue alone, every member but two die by the end. The mortality rate hasn't fared any better since.
Highest recommendations for people who don't mind a comic that doesn't take itself or the X-Universe seriously at all.
