Mike Carey's X-Men From The Beginning : 2006 ~ 2011

[sweetdumbass]

Here we are, to reminisce and appreciate one of the most beloved and durable X-Men run of all time. Mike Carey is a comic-book writer (The Unwritten, Lucifer) who started working on the X-Men with issue 188 in 2006, following Peter Milligan's run on the series. At the time, Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men was (mistakenly) considered the flagship X-title and Ed Brubaker, strong of the success of his run on Captain America, had been given X-Men's sister title, Uncanny X-Men and was tasked to tell the story of the third Summers brother. Mike Carey couldn't use most of the classic X-Men and so was forced to put together a team comprised of B to D-listers but he managed to give them that authentic X-Men feel by penning their adventures with a love for the X-Men mythos that few writers have matched, before or since. Following Messiah Complex he was given the complex task to tell compelling stories focusing on single characters, first Xavier and later Rogue before coming back to a team setting. Mike's run on X-Men Legacy ended in 2011 with issue 260 but ever since then his fans have wished him to come back to the universe that gives him and us such joy. In this thread we'll be reviewing the stories that comprise Mike Carey's run on the X-Men, not only his X-Men and X-Men Legacy issues but also the numerous mini-series, one-shots and anthologies that he wrote. Over 90 issues that testify to the love this man has for the Children of the Atom.

I will now pick my X-Men #188 copy and read it, after what I'll post a summary and a review. Let's start discussing people : tell us what Mike Carey's X-Men mean to you : what you liked, what you disliked, the bits that made you laugh or cry. Debate is encouraged as long as everyone stays courteous.

Reviews :

X-Men #188 : Supernovas Part 1
X-Men #189 : Supernovas Part 2
X-Men #190 : Supernovas Part 3
X-Men #191 : Supernovas Part 4
X-Men #192 : Supernovas Part 5
X-Men #193 : Supernovas Part 6

Buy the issues on Comixology :

X-Men #188 (1.99)
X-Men #189 (1.99)
X-Men #190 (1.99)
X-Men #191 (1.99)
X-Men #192 (1.99)
X-Men #193 (1.99)



* sorry if I made grammatical errors here, English isn't my first language.

[MartinRedmond]

Best one liners in all of X-Men history.

[Boozier]

I'm soooooo excited!

[stussyjones]

Gave lady mastermind the spotlight she deserves got mad respect for him

[Jackraow21]

The guy wrote a great Cable, and Bachalo's art was money on this run.

[stussyjones]

The guy wrote a great Cable, and Bachalo's art was money on this run.

Yeah Bachalo art was really good

[Washout]

He wrote two of the greatest casts of characters to ever grace comics.

[.A²]

Yes.

[ExodusCloak]

He wrote a great Xavier and Emma Frost. I'm really sad he left.

[Optic Rage]

I might join in on this, how often you going to do a new issue?

[Dr. Sonic]

Professor Carey made Iceman tolerable - that alone earns him a spot in the pantheon of comic book masters.
great thread, SweetDee. Looking forward to the reviews/discussions.

[ExodusCloak]

X-Men 188 is one of my favourite issues.

[Perfection/Emma 2]

So glad someone finally made this topic. Mike Carey is just so many levels of awesome. I hope he comes back real soon.

[fortyseven]

X-Men 188 is one of my favourite issues.

I was just thinking the same thing.
I actually have a copy of X-Men 188 that I got signed by Carey at San Diego Comic Con last year.

[sweetdumbass]

X-Men #188 : Supernovas Part 1 of 6



Summary :

• The issue opens with Sabretooth entering a mexican bar. Turns out he is looking for a way out of Mexico so he's meeting up with an associate that's supposed to help him. This friend, Tomas comments on the facts that Creed is apparently wounded but more than that, scared. Sabretooth leaves after getting what he wanted.
  
• Meanwhile, a team of X-Men comprised of Rogue, Emma, Cyclops, Cannonball and Iceman is conducting a rescue mission in what appears to be an hospital. When Emma and Scott get KO'ed by scientists with super-guns, Rogue takes matter into her own hands and, getting a little inventive with the use of her powers, she wipes the floor with her enemies. Meanwhile, Sam and Bobby find the person who sent them a distress call in the first place and who turns out to be Regan Wyngarde, daughter of the villain Mastermind but also another comatose woman, half-human and half-machine.
  
• Back to Nogales, Mexico, we learn a little more about who might have hurt and scared Creed as two individuals with highly developed technological means including invisibility shields are tracking him. Finding out he's already left the city, they just decide to wipe it off the map using a black hole generator. The girl seems reluctant for a second but doesn't argue and instead, give a protective shield to a kid to use her as a misdirection.
  
• The X-Men bring back the two victims of the clinic at the Institute and Scott commands Rogue on her skills during the mission. Professor Xavier seems to disagree with Rogue's methods but Scott and Emma simply blow him off, calling him out on his dishonesty (a reference to the events of deadly Genesis, but I'll get back to this later).
  
• While he is camping at the US/Mexican border, Sabretooth is attacked by two new characters whom we can assume are affiliated to the ones who blew up Nogales. They confess to having neutered his healing factor but he still manages to lose them by setting off explosives all around his camp.
  
• In Hank McCoy's lab, we find out that the second woman the X-Men saved is Karima Shapandar, one of Bastion's Omega Sentinels who broke free of her programming thanks to Professor Xavier and Magneto. Cyclops and Rogue discuss the necessity of a strike-team to react quickly to situations. Rogue accepts to lead such a team and enrolls Iceman, Cannonball and Mystique. Meanwhile, it appears that there's a fight going outside. Sabretooth has sneaked into the property despite the presence of Sentinels to watch the grounds and taken a student hostage. Following Rogue's instructions, Cannonball manages to take Creed down while Iceman attends to the student's safety. But Sabes wasn't hoping to sneak into the mansion and murder its inhabitants : he reveals that he actually wants to take up their offer of asylum.
  
• Finally, in Nogales that is now a huge crater, a journalist is interviewing the young girl that was given the protective shield force. She says she hasn't seen the responsibles but that an angel saved her and told her wwho did it : the X-Men

Review :

• Well, lots of things happen in this first issue. What I love more about Carey's stories, and I'll probably say it a lot in this thread, is his attention to continuity. Here we have references to Deadly Genesis, Milligan's run, the ongoing (at the time) Civil War/O*N*E conflict, Excalibur... Carey reads and loves all the X-Books and he loves to play with all those elements and he creates a captivating story by bringing them together. But he also like to come up with his own stuff to add to the table and in just one issue he's already introduced two plots : the mysterious assailants tracking Sabretooth down and "Pan", the brain behind that shady mutant hospital.
  
• I think no one will disagree when I say Carey knows how to write the X-Men. Rogue is unpredictable on the field when she steals her teammates powers to take on their enemies but we see what a responsible person she is when she appoints herself to watch after Mystique even though she didn't want her on the team. Iceman making jokes while looking at the corpses of mutants that were experimented on barely hides his discomfort. He even makes Beast funny and enjoyable ("If you wanted to take this conversation outside, I'd miss you but I'd cope"), something no one has done for me since Claremont during the Revolution.
• All in all, it was a solid first issue. It was well paced and well written but I thought Bachalo's interior art was hit and miss. His Iceman looked awful while the new characters he designed are wonderful.

I'll give the issue a 4/5, it was really enjoyable but the art brought it down a little and while I love the respect for continuity, new readers might get confused by some stuff.


Quote of the Issue : "I took some liberties with your prostate body, Emma. Didn't make me any happier'n it makes you." - Rogue