365 Comics...283: X-Men: Season One (2012)

Erm, I'm kind of tired of origin stories.  I like Batman Year Zero, because it's not an origin story, but just a story that takes place near the inception of the vigilante.  The Marvel "Season One" books, from all perceptions I have of them, seem to be just a new retelling of the origins of various characters and teams, stories that have been told and retold countless times already.  These "Season Ones" are original graphic novels geared towards the bookstore market, though, aimed at the casual comics reader, or the curious movie goer who wants to read a comic-story of their cinematic heroes, rather than being for the avid comic book fan who have seen these stories countless times.  That's the main reason I avoided them, they're not for me.  But I couldn't resist this one, certainly not a 1/3 the price, because I love Jamie McKelvie's art, and Dennis Hopeless' Avengers Arena is one of my favourite superhero titles right now.

X-Men Season One is, well, inessential reading.  It's a decently entertaining read, perfect for the new comics reader as intended, but skewing even more towards a teen-aged audience, and even more towards a female readership.  I say this not because Jean Grey is the POV character, but because of the angle of the POV character, which is of a "can you believe this is my life" and a "which cute guy do I actually like" vein... it's essentially Dawson's Creek with superpowers (yes, I'm old and that's the only reference for a teenaged melodrama that I can pull).

McKelvie's style is flexible, but it's also the perfect style for teenaged melodrama.  It's exceptionally clean and everyone is pretty and his attention to fashion detail is second to none in the comics industry.  I may be becoming a McKelvie completist.  I'm not even sure I'm missing anything of his at this point.  I'll have to check.

I'm kind of glad I didn't read this before I started into Avengers Arena, otherwise I probably wouldn't have read it.  Hopeless handles teen melodrama exceptionally well, but I don't actually like teen melodrama...moslty because I hated hyperhormonal teen melodrama when I was a teen.  Thankfully Avengers Arena is pretty light on the melodrama, as it's pacing and it's conceit doesn't allow for the dust to settle long enough for melodrama to build up.

I'll be passing this one off to the 11-year-old, and in turn it'll be passed down to my daughter when she's around 9 or so.