What do you think?
Mr. X #2
Mister X: The Brides of Mister X and Other Stories
After revolutionizing the worlds of design and storytelling in 1984, Dean Motter's Mister X reinvented alternative comics. Radiant City's utopian design and futuristic architecture should have made it the City of Dreams. Instead, a flaw in the city's psychetecture caused an epidemic of insanity among its residents. After years of exile, one of Radiant's original architects, Mister X, is given a chance to redeem himself and the city when he is asked to redesign the skyline in hope of a cure. But some of the originally designed structures that were never built have begun appearing - with subtle changes - and Mister X must find the secret behind this mysterious urban renewal before Radiant City's inhabitants tear the city apart!
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
320 pages, Hardcover
First published June 21, 2011
About the author
Jeffrey Morgan
47 books3 followersJeffrey Morgan is a Canadian writer who is best known for being the authorized biographer of both Alice Cooper and The Stooges.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 28, 2023
I’m a Mister X fan from way back. I bought the original issues from volume one off the racks as they came out. But when volume two came out five years later in 1989 I bought the first issue and that was it. I guess I didn’t like the new creative team or maybe time had passed and I lost my interest in Mister X in general. I’m not even sure why. From then on in I referred to volume one as the Mister X I liked and volume two as the Mister X I didn’t like.
Now it’s 2023 and for the past 20 years or so I’ve been reading and enjoying all the new Mister X comics that Dean Motter has been doing with Dark Horse. But there hasn’t been any new Mister X stuff in a while so it dawned on me recently that there was a big hole in my Mister X reading that was volume two.
This collection of Mister X “The Brides of Mister X” collects the twelve issues of volume 2 plus a few extra short stories. Volume one was in color but volume two is black and white.
This volume starts out a little slow but then keeps getting better and better. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it since in my mind it was still “The Mister X I didn’t like.” Not anymore. This is a terrific book.
There are three main stories in the twelve issues and each one gets more mysterious. Mister X has always been a mysterious character but in the first story there is a lot of clarity about him. We know who he is, what his job was, and the main heavy of the piece is his old college roommate. By the end of the book who he’s a mystery again. There is usually a lot of misdirection with Mister X. That’s how he lives his life.
The art and storytelling by D’Israeli is terrific. The artists in all Mister X comics have always strived to be stylish. It’s a hallmark of the series and D’Israeli upholds that tradition with a lot of imagination. A lot of graphic design work went into the illustrations and each page is an inventive pleasure to look at without ever losing the thread of the visual narrative.
The city, Somnopolis/Radiant City, that Mister X designed and lives in is an important part of the story and D’Israeli draws the heck out of it. Lots of city design mixed in with the graphic design and it looks really good..
The printing in this book makes the art look good. Since it’s a black and white book the modern printing of rich black ink on the bright white paper gives the art maximum contrast and therefore all the design elements look their best. I actually pulled out my old newsprint version of issue one to compare the printing and there is no contest. As much as I love single issues of comic books the newer collects edition printing looks much better.
So if you’re a fan of mysterious stories with stylish art give this one a read.
Now it’s 2023 and for the past 20 years or so I’ve been reading and enjoying all the new Mister X comics that Dean Motter has been doing with Dark Horse. But there hasn’t been any new Mister X stuff in a while so it dawned on me recently that there was a big hole in my Mister X reading that was volume two.
This collection of Mister X “The Brides of Mister X” collects the twelve issues of volume 2 plus a few extra short stories. Volume one was in color but volume two is black and white.
This volume starts out a little slow but then keeps getting better and better. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it since in my mind it was still “The Mister X I didn’t like.” Not anymore. This is a terrific book.
There are three main stories in the twelve issues and each one gets more mysterious. Mister X has always been a mysterious character but in the first story there is a lot of clarity about him. We know who he is, what his job was, and the main heavy of the piece is his old college roommate. By the end of the book who he’s a mystery again. There is usually a lot of misdirection with Mister X. That’s how he lives his life.
The art and storytelling by D’Israeli is terrific. The artists in all Mister X comics have always strived to be stylish. It’s a hallmark of the series and D’Israeli upholds that tradition with a lot of imagination. A lot of graphic design work went into the illustrations and each page is an inventive pleasure to look at without ever losing the thread of the visual narrative.
The city, Somnopolis/Radiant City, that Mister X designed and lives in is an important part of the story and D’Israeli draws the heck out of it. Lots of city design mixed in with the graphic design and it looks really good..
The printing in this book makes the art look good. Since it’s a black and white book the modern printing of rich black ink on the bright white paper gives the art maximum contrast and therefore all the design elements look their best. I actually pulled out my old newsprint version of issue one to compare the printing and there is no contest. As much as I love single issues of comic books the newer collects edition printing looks much better.
So if you’re a fan of mysterious stories with stylish art give this one a read.
August 2, 2011
In the 80s, Dean Motter's Mister X was one of my favorite comic book series. I remember the original stories, by Motter and various collaborators, very vividly. They were perhaps the most effective fusion of science fiction and noir that I've ever seen, and hold up very well today.
I don't have such strong memories of the stories collected in this volume, and rereading them today, I understand why. While perfectly effective stories in their own right, they don't feel like Mister X stories, at least not like the ones done by Motter. These stories are written and drawn by other creators, and while the writer is a friend of Motter's, they're still clearly the work and vision of another creator.
In this book, Mister X turns away from the iconic imagery of a bald, mysterious man in dark glasses and a trench coat. That immediately distances it from my strong memories of the original series. The story also seems to be a bit more personal this time around, which is also an uncomfortable fit for me. In the best stories, Mister X always seemed to exist on the fringes, even when the stories directly involved him. Here, he feels like a bit less of an outsider, and it's jarring.
In a way, it's as much of a paradox as the series often seemed to be: hardcore fans of the character and comic, like myself, will be happy to see still more classic Mister X back in print, even if it doesn't feel quite "real." It's an enjoyable enough book, with enough of the weirdness of the original to feel like a close family member. But if you want to understand the compelling nature of Mister X, I definitely recommend starting with the first volume.
I don't have such strong memories of the stories collected in this volume, and rereading them today, I understand why. While perfectly effective stories in their own right, they don't feel like Mister X stories, at least not like the ones done by Motter. These stories are written and drawn by other creators, and while the writer is a friend of Motter's, they're still clearly the work and vision of another creator.
In this book, Mister X turns away from the iconic imagery of a bald, mysterious man in dark glasses and a trench coat. That immediately distances it from my strong memories of the original series. The story also seems to be a bit more personal this time around, which is also an uncomfortable fit for me. In the best stories, Mister X always seemed to exist on the fringes, even when the stories directly involved him. Here, he feels like a bit less of an outsider, and it's jarring.
In a way, it's as much of a paradox as the series often seemed to be: hardcore fans of the character and comic, like myself, will be happy to see still more classic Mister X back in print, even if it doesn't feel quite "real." It's an enjoyable enough book, with enough of the weirdness of the original to feel like a close family member. But if you want to understand the compelling nature of Mister X, I definitely recommend starting with the first volume.
February 22, 2018
A complete change from the original Mister X, which serves as a compliment to the author. It is an equal accomplishment.
Black and white, with the building scale even larger (if that is possible), the offices and entrances so tall that roof is out of the picture, with a gallery of insanely amusing and weird back characters and another memorable female protagonist added to the already quite full list, it compensates for the simpler and straight forward story lines. The framing composition, together with the hyper stylized shadow play, is so far out that many of the pages can be taken for the wall size posters. It takes the black and white format for a spin, playing around with Mister X's negative as an intricate story telling instrument. I could not shake the feeling that it is a precursor for Frank Miller's Cin Sity.
Pure joy.
Black and white, with the building scale even larger (if that is possible), the offices and entrances so tall that roof is out of the picture, with a gallery of insanely amusing and weird back characters and another memorable female protagonist added to the already quite full list, it compensates for the simpler and straight forward story lines. The framing composition, together with the hyper stylized shadow play, is so far out that many of the pages can be taken for the wall size posters. It takes the black and white format for a spin, playing around with Mister X's negative as an intricate story telling instrument. I could not shake the feeling that it is a precursor for Frank Miller's Cin Sity.
Pure joy.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews