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Comics I Don't Apologize For pt 1
2007-08-06 17:38:35

MARVELS COMICS: CODENAME: X-MEN #1

This week, another exciting series, proving once again that it's easier to have a theme going than to try to come up with a new idea to write about every day.

There are times in this business when you hit the ball wrong. There are times when something misfires, or a creator disappears, or events larger than you conspire to screw up a project. And then, there are projects on which everything goes more-or-less right, but still fail to click with an audience. These are the comics I don't apologize for, the comics that I'm still very happy with and proud of, despite what anybody else thinks.

First up is CODENAME: X-MEN #1, one of the six MARVELS COMICS titles that we produced in the year 2000. The central conceit of the MARVELS COMICS books was that they were the comics that were on sale within the Marvel Universe itself, where the writers and artists wouldn't have all the facts, and would have to add their own spin into teh mix, even for the licensed hero comics like FANTASTIC FOUR.

CODENAME: X-MEN concerned a covert government project overseen by Colonel America, which had rounded up 666 rogue subhuman mutants, and used them as shock troops to hunt down others of their deranged kind. Written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Sean Phillips, it was full of big, crazy ideas and manic energy. (My one meager contribution of note was the notion that Cyclops' gaze turned people into stone.)

It's hard to believe in these days when he's become such a big talent, but Mark's concepts did not go over at all, especially with the dyed-in-the-woll X-Men crowd. They didn't like seeing their favorite characters treated like subhuman monsters, they didn't get the pace and the tone and the satire that was inherent in what Mark and Sean were doing (having become used to quite a different sort of style on the X-titles of that era), and they didn't like feeling like they were the butt of the joke. Which wasn't the intention, but there's really no calming down fans who've taken offense to something, intended or not.

But for those who're willing to meet it on its own terms (which I suspect is a bit easier now, with so many other popular Mark Millar comic books to prime the pump), it's a fun little thrill ride. I also quite liked the cover treatment, a modernization of a style used in the early 70s.

More later.

Tom B

Which just goes to show, it's less about the talent of the creator than how they're marketed.

Posted by CylverSaber on 2007-08-06 23:03:58

@ CylverSaber - I can’t seem to figure out the purpose of such remark!

Tom, thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. I’ve been coming here regularly and find it very interesting to know more about the creative process behind the comics that I read, the good and bad ones.

Posted by citizen x on 2007-08-07 05:32:27

Just that Mark's work was still the same quality back then-- but it took a marketing push like the Ultimate line to make him the superstar he is now.

Posted by CylverSaber on 2007-08-07 07:23:46

I remember this event and liked most of the issues that came out, but I can't for the life of me remember this issue. I'm pretty sure I bought and read them all, and I vaguely remember the cover here, but the plot doesn't ring a bell at all. I suppose it didn't click with this reader, either. I wasn't reading X-Men at the time, so probably wasn't too offended by the concepts. Guess I just didn't care for it.

Posted by KentL on 2007-08-07 08:26:41

@ CylverSaber - I agree that the marketing push helps but how do you explain maintaining that push for 26 issues (many of them shipping many months apart).
In this case it looks like, unlike the Ultimates, it simple didn't strike a cord with the readers.

Posted by citizen x on 2007-08-07 09:44:15

That looks like a really interesting series, i wonder if its possible to get anywhere

Posted by Rain on 2007-08-07 13:15:44

Thanks!
Interesting as always.

Posted by PseudoSherlock on 2007-08-07 14:43:32

I agree with Citizen X. Marketing is one thing, but you have to be able to sustain the popularity over time, and Millar has managed to do that.
I don't think its warranted to say that just because he didn't become a icon by writing a mostly ignored fifth-week event book that marketing is the only thing that has made him succesful. Lets not forget that his break-out book had nearly no promotion and got buzz just from people liking it (The Authority)

Posted by IanZL on 2007-08-08 00:45:19

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