Comic Book Candy

(For those joining late, please see the introductory post on Odyssey X, where I explain my attempt to read every X-Men title during X-Men: Schism) Uncanny X-Force #15 Writer: Rick Remender Artist: Jerome Opena Cover Price: $3.99 Uncanny X-Force isn't just the best X-Men titles being released; it's probably one of the best Marvel books period. Remender continues to push the boundaries of the X-Men line by infusing more than a few genres into this super-hero title. At the end of the last issue, Psyloche chose to stay behind in an attempt to save Warren, while her teammates fled from their losing battle to regroup. The Life Seed is being used to alter time itself by creating a new evolutionary path for Earth, one where life's mutation never reached the plateau of mankind. The dreamlike sequences of Archangel and his followers witnessing time and evolution re-form makes one hell of a subject for Opena to draw, and he more than meets the challenge. X-Force feels the lea...

It's hard to think of an equal comparison for the downfall of the X-Men titles; once flagship books that were consistently among the top sellers in the industry, the last several years have seen dismal sales despite increasingly talented creative teams coming aboard. The likes of Warren Ellis, Ed Brubaker, and Matt Fraction have tried - and failed - to rejuvenate the once crowning jewel of the House of Ideas. That lost luster has come at a high price as once loyal readers are reluctant to give the books another chance. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I'll never buy your book again. Or so should be the saying in comics. With the econapocolypse showing no end in sight, readers are more selective than ever and that's not even considering competing (cheaper) entertainment. X-Men books brought me into a comic book shop as a 15 year old girl. Specifically, I wanted to be Jean Grey; intelligent, beautiful, sought after by many suitors, and oh yeah, insanely powerful. ...

 If only the Teen Titans were this much fun (mash-up by Cliff Chiang )  That headline will either make you roll your eyes and loudly sigh, or you are eagerly awaiting to hear about new books treading familiar coming-of-age territory. You can count me in the latter category! I've always enjoyed melodramatic adolescent adventures, whether in early seasons of Buffy or between the pages of Invincible . But as the average age of comic book readers has climbed higher, the need to appeal to teen readers has declined. Beloved characters have grown up as well; Spidey falls somewhere between 20-something and young professional, the X-Men have been teachers longer than they've been students, and the original Teen Titans have opted to drop the Teen. Even the once young Robin has taken on Batman's role in the past year. The newer generation of teen-centric titles are scarce compared to yesteryear, not to mention the fact that they've seen a noticeable drop in quality an...