Month: November 2020

Written by Sean McKeever

Art by Mike Mayhew & Nate Piekos

Cover Art by Mike Mayhew

SUMMARY:

Published by Marvel Comics for October 2008, this untitled one-shot explores Jean’s first childhood encounter with Professor Xavier, as she eventually makes a transition from patient to student.  Helping Jean recover from the devastating guilt over a friend’s accidental death, Xavier senses her true need is to be a ‘perfectly normal teenager.’ 

As seen in Danger Room simulations with her fellow original X-Men, Jean’s self-doubt occasionally immobilizes her.  After the team departs for an unknown crisis, the X-Men realize that Jean is playing hooky.  Quietly taking downtime in a nearby town, an ambulance crash forces the inexperienced Jean to resolve this emergency alone. 

REVIEW:

Supported by exquisite Alex Ross-style visuals (including a terrific cover image) by artist Mike Mayhew, this classy one-shot is a poignant examination of Jean Grey’s childhood.  Writer Sean McKeever does excellent work portraying Jean’s worried parents, as well as progressing the student-mentor bond between Jean and Xavier.  Of note, McKeever smartly makes this story more about Jean’s recovering psyche instead of solo heroics. 

The only thing that McKeever doesn’t satisfactorily explain is how Jean could abscond without the X-Men not immediately noticing.  In other words, it’s a minor plot contrivance, but the way McKeever later concludes this issue definitely makes up for it.  For Phoenix fans, X-Men Origins: Jean Grey is a stellar read.  

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:

A full page is dedicated in homage to the late Michael Turner.  There’s is a full-page cover reveal for the next X-Men Origins one-shot — The Beast.  

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                        9 Stars

Note: Another McKeever one-shot worth finding is Firestar # 1.

Written by Roy Thomas

Art by Steve Kurth; Cam Smith; Virtual Calligraphy’s Joe Caramagna; & June Chung

Cover Art by Alex Maleev

SUMMARY:

For its six-part adaptation, Marvel Comics released this second issue for August 2007.  The first page summarizes the storyline thus far.  In 1757, facing imminent doom from a Huron assault, Natty “Hawkeye” Bumppo and his six companions are trapped on an island at Glenn’s Falls.  Sensing they have no other choice, Natty and his Mohican allies reluctantly concur with Cora’s idea to leave the two Munro sisters behind to the Hurons’ mercy.  Staying behind, Major Hayward and David Gamut are captured with the Munro sisters by Magua’s forces. 

Cora’s sister, Alice, and Hayward protest, as Cora considers sacrificing herself as Magua’s new bride.  An irate Hayward’s defiance stalls the group’s imminent execution.  It’s enough of a diversion for Natty, Uncas, and Chingachgook to attack the Huron renegades. 

Note: To Marvel’s credit, a ‘parental advisory’ on the cover alerts one to the visuals depicting frontier mayhem.    

REVIEW:

Cued by the lavish, high-caliber cover, Marvel’s art team’s visual inspiration comes from Michael Mann’s breath-taking 1992 film starring Daniel Day Lewis and Madeleine Stowe.  The result is a beautifully-illustrated, painting-like gem with writer Roy Thomas at the top of his game adapting James Fenimore Cooper’s text.  Including the relevant back-up feature, this issue is a stellar read.  

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:

Writer: Roy Thomas  & Art: Dennis Medri; Virtual Calligraphy’s Joe Caramagna; and Irene Lee

Impressively rendered, the five-page back-up feature continues a pivotal tale from Natty Bumppo’s youth in The Deerslayer.  Natty declines the Hurons’ demand that he deliver Judith Hutter and Hist-oh-Hist as intended new brides for the tribe.  Judith bequeaths the rifle, Killdeer, to Natty.  Resigned to a grim fate, Natty returns to the Huron Tribe.  An impromptu clash with the resentful brother-in-law of a tribal member Natty killed has deadly consequences.     

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                    10 Stars