X-Men: X-Club

Collecting: X-Club (miniseries) 1-5Bonus: Pencil Gallery & Art Process GalleryI have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by this miniseries. The issues collected here feature the X-Men's ("the real X-Men of Utopia" as Cyclops points out) science team: Dr. Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, Kavita Rao, and Danger. As a fan of the X-Men I was aware of these generally peripheral characters, and I was dubious about a series spotlighting them. However this graphic novel contains at its core a fun romp through quantum theory interspersed with a man-machine love story with some Nazis and a hilarious starfish thrown in to round out the story.Yes this is one of more "out there" x-plots, but the novel also has enough nods to the mainstream x-series that I think it is worth picking up. Cyclops in particular comes across as nearly desperate in his post-Schism position.Writer Simon Spurrier handles the series well. Spurrier tackles science/theory jargon with Big Bang Theory timing. He also manages to cram a lot of philosophical food for thought between these covers including: the relationship between science and religion; the definition of life; the multiverse.Artist Paul Davidson handles some unenviable tasks well (how exactly does one draw a person being disincorporated across eleven dimension?). Moreover Davidson's art particularly after Nemisis is beaten within an inch of his life really humanizes the pompous doctor.A few notes of disappointment about this graphic novel. First the paperstock is extremely thin. I prefer graphic novels with glossy durable pages, the paper here feel cheap and the artwork look about the same as in the magazine/serial version. A nicer paper could have made the art "pop." Second (and this only for shoppers and in no way reflects on novel itself) I received this directly from Amazon in a padded bag, no backboard or anything. So it had some bent corners and dings. Shoppers may want to ask for a box or cardboard backer when purchasing.Overall I was pleasantly surprised to find a mini-series featuring some lesser known characters that was fun to read. I can recommend this to x-fans for the chance to see some of the science team's characters developed more fully than in the mainstream comics.

Having read the disappointing  X-Men: S.W.O.R.D. - No Time to Breathe  TPB, which was about an X-men-related "side team" from the Astonishing X-men run, I came into this TPB - which is about a different X-men side team - with low expectations. Fortunately, this book was way better than I thought it would be."X-club" consists of Dr. Nemesis, Dr. Rao, Danger, and Madison Jeffries; if you have no idea who these characters are, skip this book - it is not for you. However, as long as you have seen all 4 of these characters before - even if you're not particularly attached to any of them - this book is worth a read...ESPECIALLY if you like Dr. Nemesis. He absolutely steals the show in this book.The plot of this book is rather absurd, but it's a fun ride. It's chaotic, but manages to remain understandable. And it's quite funny in places.This book gets 5-stars if you have any interest in the X-club members, but if you don't know about these characters beforehand, it's probably going to be a junky read for you.

This 5 issue miniseries is a complete-in-itself fun romp with three scientists (Dr. Nemesis, Kavita Rao, and Madison Jeffries) plus Danger, the A.I. formerly known as the X-Men's Danger Room. I don't think you really need any familiarity with these characters or the X-Men (who are only tangentially involved) to enjoy this story. Marvel should do more with these characters!

There are those stories which, for better or for worse, we know we are supposed to take seriously.Then there are those whose writer’s intentions are designed to tweak our sensibilities and require us to leave our sense of the moderation outside of the room.This arc is definitely in the latter category.Starting off with the X-men’ in the post Schism, pre AvX era. Scot Summer is still intent on the Working With Humanity strategy. The X-Club scientists and in collaboration with an commercial outfit have produced Stringstar ‘The first viable space elevator’, which is anchored in the sea; at the launch day appear a group of Atlanteans raising environmental concerns, suddenly there are very spectacular spontaneous mutative effects on sea dwell life caused by a type of terrigen (as in ‘Inhumans’) and the adventure is off and running.Naturally the commercial outfit has a secret agenda and a shadowy leader, whose origins will be obvious from the flashback on first couple of pages set during the end of The Second World War and involving the Invaders and it falls upon the shoulders of the X-Club to foil this scheme. The line-up for this tale being Dr. Nemesis, Madison Jefferies, Kavita Rao and Danger.So there is a plot involving computers, clones, other dimensions and a villain whose drawn out style of speechifying even he doesn’t like ‘…My villainous explanation. I understand such things are obligatory…’ Nothing new in the world of super-heroes. The attraction here is the sheer volumes of oddities and the verve in which they are displayed before us. I don’t want to go into too much detail you should discover the elements for yourselves.Madison Jefferies responsiveness with machines attracts the villains’ computer which hates its servitude role and yearns to be free and requires Madison to open up to his ‘secret’ side.Danger at one getting out of control and also in touch with the cyber-female side of its nature in an exceptional way – Madison and Danger also share ‘moments’- which for readers for all things X-men should be categorised as ‘Yeh that figures’.Kavita Rao sympathising with an Atlantean widow and being the only stable one on the block, even with Madison Jefferies and Dr. Nemesis ‘hitting’ on her (In somewhat odd ways, the former to prove a point, the latter-well read on.)And of course the star-turn Dr Nemesis. Now we know he is the foremost practitioner of the sardonic in the Marvelverse. In this story due to an excursion undersea he has an empathetic mutant star-fish attached to his head (no kiddin’) which causes him to speak out loud his most secret thoughts; you might not be surprised to learn these are weird; weird to the extent that the tale begs for Deadpool to be teamed up with him.; after seeing him ride a mutant shark singing ‘Kill the wa-bbit. Kill the wa-bbit’, ….Well! Just who is going to top that!Overall some of these are so cheerfully outrageous in their concepts that you feel Scott Summers and the rest might want to tip-toe away quietly and re-build their gravitas on an isolated island.Surprisingly there is some measure of the serious and rational within the overall tale to make it readable for plot also.The art although does a good job on Nemesis and Kavita’s various expressions of surprise and exasperation, can be a bit cartoony on the villains, the other X-men tend to look quickly put together and there is one panel where one rather generic female member of the team seems to have left the lower half of her costume in the locker (rear view lads by the way).Overall though something of a idiosyncratic treat amongst all the weighty arcs of Schism, AvX and post-AvX. Quite a light read really and time-out from those other portentous arcs.Certainly not to be missed by those who like all things X-Men.Final note: Plot-hole. We see Namor in a background shot and yet consider a fair amount of action takes place under the sea and Namor is always only too willing to take offense at the slightest infringement by surface dwellers then where was he most of the time? (Not to worry)