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X-Statix Collection (2014)

by Peter Milligan(Favorite Author)

4.38 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

889120336X (ISBN13: 9788891203366)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Panini Comics

review 1: I didn't really know what I was getting into with this book. I just knew it was a giant book filled with Mike Allred artwork and a bunch of weird mutant characters I had heard of but knew nothing about. Fortunately, the story ended up being pretty good, and although it kind of lost its purpose partway through (and it became obvious how it would have to end), I remained interested enough to see it through.Allred's art was what brought me to the book, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. There are some odd instances where its hard to tell what a character is doing or how he or she is moving, times where Allred made a mess of drawing hands, and some weird implementations of early 2000s digital effects and photo backgrounds that just don't fit, but for the most part, the style fit... mores the story very well. The other artists featured in the book tend to be not nearly as good, which always pulls me out of the story.Like Allred's art, Peter Milligan's writing is often good, but with weird parts where it seems like he just gave up. He left storylines unresolved and had panels with dialog that has nothing to do with the scene, but my biggest issue is with how the original premise gets lost later on the series, turning it into a more standard superhero comic than a satire of one. It was still alright, but not nearly as interesting. I did appreciate how it ended, though, even though I saw it coming from very early on.I had originally tried to find these books as trade paperbacks, but I only ever saw it collected as this giant tome, which I avoided at first because of how unwieldy it seemed. It's certainly a little awkward to read, but it worked out fine (just don't try to bring it on the train) and it's pretty cool to have all that content in a single book. Some of the non-X-Force or -X-Statix issues were unnecessary, but it doesn't really hurt to have them there. There are some odd things about the non-comic content of the book, though. For example, the issues listed on the dust jacket are all dated a whole decade too early; it seems like a rather careless oversight for such a fancy book. Also, the introduction contains a huge spoiler. It's foolish to assume only existing fans would pick up the book. Address those issues in an afterward, Milligan.I would have preferred to give this 3.5 stars, but half stars don't fly here. The early issues are definitely worth a read, but it suffers from later storylines, so I can't quite justify a 4.
review 2: At the beginning, this is an incredibly interesting, beguiling tale: Milligan and Allred manage to set a modern American satire firmly in the X-Men universe in a way that leaves you thinking: this can't possibly be canonical. It's constantly surprising and inventive, well-written and dangerous, and Allred's art is gorgeous.BUT, over >40 issues, a lot of the magic certainly wanes. By the halfway point, the whole series gets a lot more standard--the trappings of satire are still there, but there's an awfully lot of just punching bad guys. Storylines (even main characters) are introduced but never developed, plot threads are left dangling. The "danger" of the series has left. Early on, characters--even beloved characters--died with alarming frequency. That sense of peril is certainly missing in the last half of the book, partly because the characters have become much less compelling. Entirely from reading, I suspect that Milligan got too busy to give the series the time it deserved. It's particularly disappointing because the first half is SO good...And the ending of the series is a huge letdown. It's sudden, unannounced, and meaningless--not in a philosophical, nihilistic way, but more like a "oh, the series is cancelled so I'll just kill most of the characters" sort of way. Really disappointing, after 40 issues of coming to care about the characters.This omnibus edition also suffers from some other problems, like the inclusion of Brotherhood #9, the last issue of a series no one has ever read. I know the X-Statix were in it, but it's so unrelated (and boring, and it's the FINALE of something else) that it would be better omitted. Also, the Wolverine/Doop miniseries is pretty bad.Overall, I would recommend picking up the trades, maybe, of the first three or four volumes, then stopping, rather than slogging through the last half of the omnibus. less

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