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Friday Links Rides With Lady Justice Robotech Rewatch 56: I WAS NOT EXPECT...

Issue #1 – X-Men ’92

Title: X-Men ‘92

Writers: Chris Sims & Chad Bowers

Artists: Scott Koblish (art), Matt Millev (colour)

The Buzz: It’s a comic loosely based on what the X-Men looked like in the early 90’s, both in the animated series (which taught me everything I knew about the X-Men for years) AND the comics which were weirdly similar in many ways. The writers recently appeared on the Rachel & Miles X-Plain the X-Men podcast and it sounded like they were having a whale of a time writing this super fun comic. But really, you put 90’s Jubilee and her bubblegum pink accents on a comic cover, I’m gonna buy it.

All You Need To Know: It’s still the whole Battleworld schtick: all of the Marvel universes have been destroyed, various versions of the characters are living in distinct isolated territories, whatever. Don’t worry about it. You might get an extra layer of in-jokes if your concept of X-Men was forged in the 90’s (everything happens at the mall!) but basically, it’s all explained – Magneto’s dead, Senator Kelly is the ruling Baron, and the X-Men are happily protecting mankind from giant robots on a regular basis, mostly at the mall.

Story: It’s the classic X-Men team up, only they’re playing laser tag at the mall. Watch Wolverine snark at Cyclops! Watch Jean Grey be warmly tolerant. Watch Gambit be a pushy flirt and Rogue call him on it in her beautifully rendered Southern Accent. It’s X-Men, sugah! Oh and there’s some politics stuff to do with Cyclops vs. Professor X and whether Baron Kelly is a bad guy or not. I don’t care, it’s all awesome and there are fights with banter! (Hugs comic)

Art: Exactly what you would want from a comic with this premise – the colouring in particular is a masterwork in nostalgia, especially the neon greens and the shades of yellow and pink that mean ‘Jubilee’ in every language. Did I mention Jubilee is great in this? JUBILEE! This is one of those comics designed to be read as digital first, which means cool effects like panels appearing in stages, layers building up as you swipe across, and so on. Very nicely done.

But What Did I Miss?: It’s a pretty good Issue 1, setting up their immediate backstory – the Westchester Wars – and the conflicts between the characters. It also works primer for new X-Men readers, as the animated series was before it. It’s also kid-friendly so far, which is great to see. This is basically the comic I needed in the actual 90′s when the cartoon made me think I’d like X-Men comics but all the ones I picked up confused the hell out of me.

Would Read Issue 2?: Wayyy ahead of you.

Read it if you Like: THE NINETIES, Jubilation Lee, Rogue and Gambit’s phonetic accents, and bubblegum pink.