X-Men Noir #1

This book was recommended to me by a few people, so I made my way back to Tony's Kingdom of Comics this evening to pick up a copy. I almost picked it up yesterday, but for some reason I didn't. I like the X-Men, but I have been reluctant to start reading X-Men books because there are so many of them. I don't even know how many monthly books there are, but there are a lot. It's almost its own world - just the X-Men. But this book is different. This can be read on its own because it is very different.

X-Men Noir is an alternate world story set in the 30's to 50's, no date is given and it's hard to tell exactly. Fedoras, trench-coats, and the cars make it obviously in that range though. I have not read many else-world stories and I have never read an else-world X-Men story (I don't know if there have been any), so for me, this was new and different just in that respect.

I am also a fan of the noir style. The art was good, but not excellent in that regard though. It could have been more "noir-like" with deeper shadows, less color (maybe even B&W), and more stylized. Facial expressions also seemed a bit drab - to be nit-picky about things. Don't get me wrong, it was good... it just wasn't Frank Miller's Sin City (but really, what ever could be?).

I'm sold on the concept of the book - I love it! The X-Men are the bad guys (with apparently no mutant powers) and the Brotherhood are the good guys. This first story arc (is it only going to be one story or will there be many? I have no idea...) appears that it will be about solving the murder of Jean Grey.

This book takes the roles of the X-Men characters, reverses them, takes away their powers, plops them in a 1940's noir world, and starts a crime-mystery. I like that. I'll be buying issue 2 when it comes out in January.

Two quick last gripes: the book has "parental advisory" on the front and yet they still block out the swearing in the book. It's no mystery what words are muffled by the black box over them and they have a parental advisory... so why bother with the black boxes? It's annoying and detracts from the story as you are reading. Also, there are a lot of ads. They stick out more in this book because it is darker and more stylized. I have also been reading mainly trades with no ads lately, so they stick out to me more anyway. Those are minor complaints, but I wanted to share them anyway. Those last 2 complaints are more complaints with Marvel and DC mainstream books in general though, not this particular issue.

I liked it. It was good. The writing was solid, the art was average/good, and the concept was excellent. I recommend this one. I'll be anxiously awaiting issue #2.

Here are a couple pages: