Shattershot, X-Men Survival Guide

X-Men Survival Guide to the Mansion

A fun orientation guide for new students to Xavier’s.  The spiral binding is a really cute touch. There’s not much substance to it, but elementary school me would have loved it with all the ‘insider’ info and the technical drawings of the mansion and all the vehicles.  Richard Bennett does most of the illustration, and I wish once again that he’d done more comics. I love the detail in his work. Looks like he’s primarily a movie storyboard artist now.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

X-Men Annual 1

Uncanny X-Men Annual 16

X-Factor Annual 7

X-Force Annual 1

The Shattershot crossover.  Fabian Nicieza, who writes all four issues, makes a wise decision in using only the slightest of threads to connect them together.  It saves him from having to come up with a convoluted plot and fit four teams’ worth of mutants into the same page. Instead, Arize of Mojoverse is the only commonality, wandering from one annual to the next without dragging everyone else along with him.

My overall impression of these issues is that it’s a fun enough set of stories, mostly drawn by people who will eventually go on to do far, far better work.  I remember first buying X-Men Annual 1, with its gorgeous Jim Lee cover, and being supremely disappointed that he hadn’t done any of the interiors.  Not only that, but it was drawn by committee, a bunch of guys who couldn’t come close to Lee’s awesomeness. (With the exception of Mark Texiera, who I did like.)  Yet I look now at the roster of pencillers and see a murderers row of top notch artists - P. Craig Russell, Brian Stelfreeze, Adam Hughes, Stuart Immonen, Dan Panosian, and Greg Capullo.  That’s some serious muscle!    

But reading this again, I stand by my original assessment that the art is still lacking.  I’m assuming that this was a rush job, but that still means that these pages wouldn’t grace the submission portfolios of any of these men.  

I wanted more of this!

Jae Lee does all of the Uncanny annual, and it’s super sweet.  I only remember him doing this and the X-Factor issues of the X-Cutioner’s Song.  I would have liked to see him do more mutant work.

Love how he does Bishop's silhouette.

Detecting a ton of Walt Simonson here, especially in Storm's cape at the bottom.

The giant wings are epic!

Joe Quesada does his usual great work in the X-Factor annual, but the standout is Peter David’s backup story (with early Joe Madureira art!).  It’s his tribute to Calvin and Hobbes, with a little Guido mixed in.  It’s delightful, and I absolutely love the lettering on Moe’s words.  

Kudos to Dave Sharpe.

I’m a big fan of the future version of X-Force in the final issue of the crossover.  Aside from being well-drawn by Greg Capullo, there’s an inherent likability to the members of that team.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice (Fine for X-Men Annual)