X-Men Gold & X-Men Blue
X-Men Blue & X-Men Gold go full '90's with an epic crossover featuring one of the teams most over the top villains. What brings Mojo to Earth and the two X teams together? Read on to find out.
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| Art by Mike Mayhew |
"X-Men Gold" #13-15, "X-Men Blue" #13-15 - The Blue team decides to visit the Gold team in their new Central Park headquarters for a friendly game of softball, a classic X team sport. It should come as no surprise that the game is cut short by giant Washington Monument-like spires dropping out of the sky and embedding themselves around Manhattan. The two teams go off to investigate and surprise, surprise, it's a trap.
One of the X-Men's oldest foes, the inter-dimensional, murdering, media mogul Mojo has came to Earth and decided to bring his unique take on reality television to it's people. As soon as the X-Men teams reach the spires, Mojo puts his plan into action. He splits the X-Men into various groups and sics versions of their various foes on them. Can the X-Men survive Mojo's machinations or will they be the victims of low ratings.
This crossover is a lot of fun. To cross companies, it reminds me a lot of the Arrowverse crossovers that happen every fall. It's fun to see these characters together after some time apart and it's not a huge shock that writers Marc Guggenheim and Cullen Bunn would decide to do a crossover since it's very '90's and these books do have a very '90's feel.
The writing is great here. Characterization is the thing that I look at the most when I'm reading a comic book. I have been reading X-Men comics for so long that I feel like I really know these characters. I know how they would sound, their personalities and how they would react to certain situations. It's clear that Guggenheim and Bunn do too. Everyone's voice is pitch perfect and it's a treat to get to read Bunn and Guggenheim's takes on characters that they don't really get a chance to write for normally.
I said this before, but this crossover is a lot of fun and I don't mean that in a derogatory way. Sometimes superhero comics get a little too dark and dour. There is a place for that, but there should also be a place for lightness and fun. Superhero comics should be thrilling and swashbuckling and that is definitely this. It's great to see the X-teams squaring off against classic X-villains in situations that all X-fans are familiar with.
That being said, while I appreciate the fun factor, a crossover should have real stakes that impact things once it's over. "Mojo Worldwide" doesn't feel like it does. Mojo isn't a really menacing villain and there are a lot of times when it feels like the story is being stretched to fit six issues.
The art for this crossover is sort of mixed bag and the fault in that lies firmly with "X-Men Gold"s contributions. Three different artists handle each of the three issues and none of them really have the same style. Mike Mayhew does the interior art for issue 13 and I'm a fan. I really love his hyper-realistic, painted style. It's gorgeous and detailed and never looks like he traced the faces of famous people and added X-Men costumes like some other artists. *cough, cough* Greg Land. Marc Laming pencils issue 14 and it's fine, but kind of a let down after Mayhew. The biggest issue is that all the faces look a lot alike. When Kitty and Rachel are in the same panel, it's only their hair color that really differentiates them. Diego Bernard closes out Gold's contributions to the crossover and it's really competent. His facial work is much better than Laming's and it's a lot more in line with the artwork in Blue.
Regular "X-Men Blue" artist, Jorge Molina, handles all three of the Blue issues of "Mojo Worldwide." I'm a big fan of Molina's artwork and his cartoon-y style really fits the hyper-stylized world that Mojo has placed the X-Men in. I wish that Bernard had handled all of the Gold issue, because his artwork would have really melded will with Molina's and the art changes would have been less jarring.
In the end, the crossover is just trying to be bombastic fun between the two main X-books and despite the relatively low stakes and lackluster art in places, it succeeds. It's a fun diversion, but by the time it's over you are ready to get back to both series main arcs. For the Gold Team that will include a trip to the Negative Zone, while the Blue team have their own Crosstime Capers. You can pick up "X-Men Gold, Volume Three: Mojo Worldwide" on Amazon or if you're in Des Moines, at Mayhem.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this crossover and how you like Blue and Gold in general. Feel free to share them in the comments.
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| Art by Jorge Molina |
The writing is great here. Characterization is the thing that I look at the most when I'm reading a comic book. I have been reading X-Men comics for so long that I feel like I really know these characters. I know how they would sound, their personalities and how they would react to certain situations. It's clear that Guggenheim and Bunn do too. Everyone's voice is pitch perfect and it's a treat to get to read Bunn and Guggenheim's takes on characters that they don't really get a chance to write for normally.
I said this before, but this crossover is a lot of fun and I don't mean that in a derogatory way. Sometimes superhero comics get a little too dark and dour. There is a place for that, but there should also be a place for lightness and fun. Superhero comics should be thrilling and swashbuckling and that is definitely this. It's great to see the X-teams squaring off against classic X-villains in situations that all X-fans are familiar with.
That being said, while I appreciate the fun factor, a crossover should have real stakes that impact things once it's over. "Mojo Worldwide" doesn't feel like it does. Mojo isn't a really menacing villain and there are a lot of times when it feels like the story is being stretched to fit six issues.
 |
| Art by Diego Bernard |
Regular "X-Men Blue" artist, Jorge Molina, handles all three of the Blue issues of "Mojo Worldwide." I'm a big fan of Molina's artwork and his cartoon-y style really fits the hyper-stylized world that Mojo has placed the X-Men in. I wish that Bernard had handled all of the Gold issue, because his artwork would have really melded will with Molina's and the art changes would have been less jarring.
In the end, the crossover is just trying to be bombastic fun between the two main X-books and despite the relatively low stakes and lackluster art in places, it succeeds. It's a fun diversion, but by the time it's over you are ready to get back to both series main arcs. For the Gold Team that will include a trip to the Negative Zone, while the Blue team have their own Crosstime Capers. You can pick up "X-Men Gold, Volume Three: Mojo Worldwide" on Amazon or if you're in Des Moines, at Mayhem.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this crossover and how you like Blue and Gold in general. Feel free to share them in the comments.
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