Catch it 'fore it's gone... (Generation X Comics in general)

Member Name: Matt B

Product:	Generation X Comics in general
Date:	22/12/00 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clear cut artwork, good writing and sense of characterisation, a powerful theme about being the outsider in soceity.

Disadvantages: The series is being cancelled in a few months. The backissues of the comic vary in quality.

Recently, the Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Comics, Bob Harris, stepped down from the plate and was replaced by Joe Quesada. One of the first things Joe stated was that he was going to clean up the 'X-Line' of comics (A line of comics that have all sprung up from the core titles 'X-Men' and 'Uncanny X-Men'). At the time that Quesada made the statement, the comic marketplace was swamped with titles featuring misunderstood mutants who were hated and feared by the general public.

A few weeks ago, the ramifications of Quesada's statement became clear - the X-Line of comics were being 'pruned', and several of it's titles were up for the chopping block.

Generation X is one of the titles.

The reason for Generation X's cancellation is clear and fair - it was deemed too similar to another X-Title that has been launched this week as part of Marvel's new 'Ultimate' line of comics. But that's no reason to believe that Generation X is a bad comic. The fact is that up until now, Generation X has been consistently a better title from the two comics it was spawned from.

Except that period with the rubbish art and the oversized magical talking pooka. But I won't go into that here.

I would recommend to the reader that they should pick up the last storyline of Generation X before it's impending cancellation. So far, it's really good stuff. The current artist on the title has really hit his stride at drawing the characters, and the story has never been stronger.

Of the current storyline, one issue has been released so far. It concerns the story of one of the characters in the group 'Generation X', a mutant named 'Chamber', who's chest and the majority of his face have been completely decimated by a continuously burning psionic furnace. As such he communicates with others via telepathy, as he has never been able to talk since his powers manifeste
d. In this issue, Chamber takes a trip to the city to look for rare records and meets someone that is just as much a loner as he; a deaf girl. The two teens strike up a day-long relationship, but at the end of the day Chamber makes a heartbreaking decision about the future with this girl.

You should enjoy this issue because of the clearcut artwork, great story, wonderful sense of character and the continuing theme of all teens being outsiders, in a way.

If you are interested in this issue, which you should be able to find in any comics shop, you may be interested in picking up the previous storyarc, entitled 'Come On Die Young', when anti-mutant feelings and hatred combine at Generation X's home, with devastating results. Pick up the best issues of this series while it's still going.

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