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X-Men Noir #1
X-men: Noir
Collects X-Men Noir #1-4. The Brotherhood is re-imagined through a Noir prism as Xavier, a discredited shrink sits in a jail cell, wondering what in the world his little refugees from the Xavier School for Exceptionally Wayward Youth are up to now. Other than staying one step ahead of Magnus and the Brotherhood, that is.
116 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 24, 2009
19 people are currently reading
554 people want to read
About the author
Fred Van Lente
1,359 books320 followersFred Van Lente is the New York Times-bestselling author of comics as varied as Archer & Armstrong (Harvey Award nominee, Best Series), Taskmaster, MODOK's 11, Amazing Spider-Man, Conan the Avenger, Weird Detective, and Cowboys & Aliens (upon which the 2011 movie was based), as well as the novels Ten Dead Comedians and The Con Artist.
Van Lente also specializes in entertaining readers with offbeat histories with the help of his incredibly talented artists. He has written the multiple-award winning Action Philosophers!, The Comic Book History of Comics, Action Presidents! (all drawn by Ryan Dunlavey), and The Comic Book Story of Basketball with Joe Cooper (Ten Speed September 2020).
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.
Van Lente also specializes in entertaining readers with offbeat histories with the help of his incredibly talented artists. He has written the multiple-award winning Action Philosophers!, The Comic Book History of Comics, Action Presidents! (all drawn by Ryan Dunlavey), and The Comic Book Story of Basketball with Joe Cooper (Ten Speed September 2020).
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
January 29, 2013
This book re-imagines the X-Men for the gritty and stylish noir genre, relocating them back to the early 20th century. The story opens with the body of Jean Grey found brutally murdered as our protagonist, Tom Halloway starts his first day as a detective on the trail of the elusive gang the X-Men who are linked to numerous murders throughout the city. But things are not as they seem especially with the morally dubious Chief of Police Magnus in charge.
My biggest complaint about the book is the artwork. All of the characters dress alike wearing similar suits, hats, long coats, and their facial features aren’t especially prominent. A few characters stood out like Cyclops who wears red glasses, Logan with his haircut, Xavier for his non-haircut (baldness) but other than that all of the characters look the same. The female characters, what few there are, are even worse because they are basically identical. I couldn’t tell who they were. Is that… Scarlet Witch? Or Mystique? Or Rogue? Or Kitty? Or Jubilee? I know it’s noir but Denis Calero’s approach is too dark, drawing in too many shadows across faces. That and the washed out colour palette and overall darkness of the book, coupled with the difficulty in distinguishing the characters in the first place, makes for a really confusing read. Wait, who’s that? Is that Angel? Nope. Oh, that was Beast? But… argh!
Then there’s the main character, Tom Halloway. Yes, THE Tom Halloway. You know, that most famous of X-Men Tom Halloway. Don’t recognise the name? Me either! I don’t know who Halloway is but for some reason he’s the main character in the book – and he dresses like Superman!!
You know how in regular X-Men books they’re referred to as “Homo Superior”, the next stage in evolution? It makes sense because they have powers and so on. In this book they don’t have any powers – none, zilch – but still writer Fred Van Lente tries to work in a similar line except it makes no sense. Apparently the X-Men are sociopaths (which, in this book, is a good thing – why…?) and they are the next phase in human behavioural evolution! Whaaaaaat?
They might not have powers but they are recognisable for certain objects associated with their characters. So Gambit has playing cards, Iceman, rather hilariously, has an ice-pick (!) and Cyclops has red glasses though they’re not protecting everyone from his deadly lasers so… no clue why he has them. I’m also clueless why Logan has a piece of wood with 3 knives stuck in it as a hand-held weapon. Yeah I get that it’s supposed to mirror his claws but they look just impractical as hell, as if they’d hurt him more than his opponents. And seeing how he doesn’t have a healing factor, I don’t know why he’d stick with them.
I’ve read the other Marvel Noir books in the series and they at least give those characters some semblance of power that they’re known for. For example Deadpool is a master swordsman and hears voices in his head, Spidey has some Spider-man powers, and Tony Stark gets a crude Iron Man suit made up. But in this book? These aren’t X-Men. They’re basically ordinary people with guns. It’s not “X-Men Noir” it’s just “Noir”.
And not even good noir. I couldn’t tell what was going on at the best of times, there were too many characters, and an incomprehensible plot. There’s also a backup pulp story featuring Sentinels and Morlocks that is written in the unreadable style of the pulps with! too! many! exclamation! marks! I tried reading the first one and ending up skipping the rest. “Marvel Noir” is an interesting series, I’m all for new takes on old characters, but “X-Men Noir” is definitely the weakest book in the series. I heartily recommend skipping it and trying instead “Spider-man Noir: Eyes Without a Face”, “Deadpool Noir” or “Iron Man Noir”.
My biggest complaint about the book is the artwork. All of the characters dress alike wearing similar suits, hats, long coats, and their facial features aren’t especially prominent. A few characters stood out like Cyclops who wears red glasses, Logan with his haircut, Xavier for his non-haircut (baldness) but other than that all of the characters look the same. The female characters, what few there are, are even worse because they are basically identical. I couldn’t tell who they were. Is that… Scarlet Witch? Or Mystique? Or Rogue? Or Kitty? Or Jubilee? I know it’s noir but Denis Calero’s approach is too dark, drawing in too many shadows across faces. That and the washed out colour palette and overall darkness of the book, coupled with the difficulty in distinguishing the characters in the first place, makes for a really confusing read. Wait, who’s that? Is that Angel? Nope. Oh, that was Beast? But… argh!
Then there’s the main character, Tom Halloway. Yes, THE Tom Halloway. You know, that most famous of X-Men Tom Halloway. Don’t recognise the name? Me either! I don’t know who Halloway is but for some reason he’s the main character in the book – and he dresses like Superman!!
You know how in regular X-Men books they’re referred to as “Homo Superior”, the next stage in evolution? It makes sense because they have powers and so on. In this book they don’t have any powers – none, zilch – but still writer Fred Van Lente tries to work in a similar line except it makes no sense. Apparently the X-Men are sociopaths (which, in this book, is a good thing – why…?) and they are the next phase in human behavioural evolution! Whaaaaaat?
They might not have powers but they are recognisable for certain objects associated with their characters. So Gambit has playing cards, Iceman, rather hilariously, has an ice-pick (!) and Cyclops has red glasses though they’re not protecting everyone from his deadly lasers so… no clue why he has them. I’m also clueless why Logan has a piece of wood with 3 knives stuck in it as a hand-held weapon. Yeah I get that it’s supposed to mirror his claws but they look just impractical as hell, as if they’d hurt him more than his opponents. And seeing how he doesn’t have a healing factor, I don’t know why he’d stick with them.
I’ve read the other Marvel Noir books in the series and they at least give those characters some semblance of power that they’re known for. For example Deadpool is a master swordsman and hears voices in his head, Spidey has some Spider-man powers, and Tony Stark gets a crude Iron Man suit made up. But in this book? These aren’t X-Men. They’re basically ordinary people with guns. It’s not “X-Men Noir” it’s just “Noir”.
And not even good noir. I couldn’t tell what was going on at the best of times, there were too many characters, and an incomprehensible plot. There’s also a backup pulp story featuring Sentinels and Morlocks that is written in the unreadable style of the pulps with! too! many! exclamation! marks! I tried reading the first one and ending up skipping the rest. “Marvel Noir” is an interesting series, I’m all for new takes on old characters, but “X-Men Noir” is definitely the weakest book in the series. I heartily recommend skipping it and trying instead “Spider-man Noir: Eyes Without a Face”, “Deadpool Noir” or “Iron Man Noir”.
July 5, 2020
Before starting this book, I read Wolverine Noir and absolutely loved it. I gave it 5 stars which is why I'm shocked to have to give this book from the same universe 1 star.
The story was all over the place and was very confusing to me. There were too many characters that only showed up for a couple of pages each. The art was no where near as good as the Wolverine book. The story mainly focuses on the characters Jean Grey and Angel, neither of whom are my favorite members of the X-Men, but I wanted to give this a shot anyways because I love X-Men as a whole. Even Wolverine (my favorite superhero) showing up couldn't save this book for me.
However, I will read some more Marvel Noir books in hopes of finding another gem.
The story was all over the place and was very confusing to me. There were too many characters that only showed up for a couple of pages each. The art was no where near as good as the Wolverine book. The story mainly focuses on the characters Jean Grey and Angel, neither of whom are my favorite members of the X-Men, but I wanted to give this a shot anyways because I love X-Men as a whole. Even Wolverine (my favorite superhero) showing up couldn't save this book for me.
However, I will read some more Marvel Noir books in hopes of finding another gem.
August 21, 2010
Weird and confusing...and not in a good way.
March 24, 2019
Wth did I just read? How do I give this confusing mess a minus star rating.
May 1, 2024
I'm fairly new to Marvel characters as comics, but I love super heroes and noir, so I was really excited when I saw this. Unfortunately, while it was intriguing and enjoyable to see the X-Men characters in such a different world, the story was too confusing to follow.
There seemed to two main characters; Peter Magnus (Quicksilver), a rookie detective whose father Erik (Magneto) is the corrupted Chief of Detectives; and Tom Holloway, a Marvel character I was completely unfamiliar with called the Angel (not Warren Worthington's Angel). Holloway's storyline was choppy and strange, although it made more sense once I googled his character, so if you’re already familiar with the character, you’ll probably have a better time than I did. Peter's was actually kind of neat, but his story didn't seem to connect to the end of the story at all, even though we were introduced to him first.
I haven't made up my mind yet on whether I like the reason why the X-Men were "special" in here (it’s a mental health twist, beware), but it was kind of interesting to read. There are no super powers or mutations, but I really liked the comparisons to their mutant conterparts’ abilities, like Peter almost being an Olympic runner, Rogue being really good at imitating people, and Jean being able to talk people into almost anything.
There were pieces of a comic written by one of the characters scattered throughout the book, but they were disjointed and made the main storyline harder to follow.
As for the noir part of the story, there were several interesting points, but they were just kind of floating there. The story suffered for being as short as it was.
The artwork was really neat, all dark and very atmospheric. My only complaint was that, except for a few visually notable characters like Professor Xavier, Cyclops, and Wolverine, it was difficult to tell characters apart.
Overall, I enjoyed parts of the story, but this series is not for me.
There seemed to two main characters; Peter Magnus (Quicksilver), a rookie detective whose father Erik (Magneto) is the corrupted Chief of Detectives; and Tom Holloway, a Marvel character I was completely unfamiliar with called the Angel (not Warren Worthington's Angel). Holloway's storyline was choppy and strange, although it made more sense once I googled his character, so if you’re already familiar with the character, you’ll probably have a better time than I did. Peter's was actually kind of neat, but his story didn't seem to connect to the end of the story at all, even though we were introduced to him first.
I haven't made up my mind yet on whether I like the reason why the X-Men were "special" in here (it’s a mental health twist, beware), but it was kind of interesting to read. There are no super powers or mutations, but I really liked the comparisons to their mutant conterparts’ abilities, like Peter almost being an Olympic runner, Rogue being really good at imitating people, and Jean being able to talk people into almost anything.
There were pieces of a comic written by one of the characters scattered throughout the book, but they were disjointed and made the main storyline harder to follow.
As for the noir part of the story, there were several interesting points, but they were just kind of floating there. The story suffered for being as short as it was.
The artwork was really neat, all dark and very atmospheric. My only complaint was that, except for a few visually notable characters like Professor Xavier, Cyclops, and Wolverine, it was difficult to tell characters apart.
Overall, I enjoyed parts of the story, but this series is not for me.
November 3, 2010
I was kind of on the fence about this book from the get go. And the beginning didn't really reassure me too much. Let me start off by saying that stylistically the story, characters and art are dead on. Imagine that this is much like what Neil Gaiman did for the WHOLE marvel universe in "1602" but it focuses on the universe of the X-men and places them in the 1920's in a pulp noir setting (thus no powers). Now 1602 had 8 issues to do what this one did in only 4 issues. This lead to the story feeling a bit rushed and unfocused. However, Fred Van Lente pulls it out be the later half of the book. It ends with a strong and bloody last quarter that really redeems the whole book for me. It was almost a 4 star rating for me, cause the art and story work well together to convey the dark gritty noir themes, but the beginning is just too rushed and chaotic for me to give it 4 stars. I wish this mini-series had been given at least 6 issues if not 8. This could have lead to something truly epic, instead its just "neat".
December 16, 2016
After I read this, I looked over the reviews. I'm just glad I wasn't the only one who found this confusing.
I think there was a cool story buried under the confusion, as there were several cool noir tropes that popped up. However, I was so confused by the time I reached the twists in the story that much of the impact was lost. The art wasn't bad, but it was very shadowed. Think of watching a movie where most of it is filmed in the dark or at night. Unfortunately this only added to the confusion.
I am a big fan of noir, so the story still had it's good points. It was also interesting which characters were used and how they were used. But really, it wasn't enough to save the story and i found this one just a little better than okay.
I think there was a cool story buried under the confusion, as there were several cool noir tropes that popped up. However, I was so confused by the time I reached the twists in the story that much of the impact was lost. The art wasn't bad, but it was very shadowed. Think of watching a movie where most of it is filmed in the dark or at night. Unfortunately this only added to the confusion.
I am a big fan of noir, so the story still had it's good points. It was also interesting which characters were used and how they were used. But really, it wasn't enough to save the story and i found this one just a little better than okay.
February 5, 2014
This was definitely a dark and gritty departure from the X-Men stories I normally enjoy.
February 1, 2025
Interesting story but the art was too dark. I know, I know. "But it's noir, of course it's dark!" Brother, if I can't discern any details from a panel it isn't well done. If the panels were done in the style of the cover, or even just with a bit more contrast in general, I would have enjoyed this much more.
October 2, 2018
Sorry, this didn't work for me.
June 23, 2013
A very good series which manages to take the iconic figures of the Marvel universe an translate them to a very hard-boiled world without the conventions of magic or science fiction (no one has "powers" beyond those of the desires, drives, an wills of normal people living on the edge) that we're used to seeing - Magneto as an immigrant who bought into the corruption of the police force to distance himself from his past; Xavier as the former head of a defunct juvenile hall; even Beast as a man constantly using malapropisms to make himself seem superior - all of these elements (and more) come together in a gritty, crime-ridden world that pays homage to the pulp detective stories that were overshadowed by the advent of the FBI. The entire series itself is peppered with excerpts from a non-existent sci-fi rag that, on its own, evokes shades of Norman Spinrad'sThe Iron Dream, except instead of the story being told by (an alternate timeline) Hitler, the reader is told tales of futuristic mutant-hunting Sentinels by B. Trask.
This may rival Marvel 1602 for my favorite alternate timeline story set in the Marvel Universe.
This may rival Marvel 1602 for my favorite alternate timeline story set in the Marvel Universe.
October 18, 2023
"X-Men Noir", true to its title, reimagines the X-Men in a a 30's/40's Noir context. For the most part this approach works. The new versions of the characters fit the genre well but are still mostly recognizable. However, the plot is hard to follow and the dark and shadowy background exhibited in most of the panels often makes the visual narration of the book confusing. This is definitely recommended for those fans who are into alternative versions of superheroes and / or classic Noir. However, this book is not likely to be easily accessible to readers with more mainstream interests.
September 11, 2015
Me ha dejado sorprendido este mundo donde nuestros personajes mutantes favoritos son los villanos! No me convencieron los dibujos :( eran tan negros y se veía oscuro que no se distinguía las caras! Se pasaron de Noir jajaja
September 6, 2013
nowhere near as good as Spiderman noir was. Xmen as gangsters.....?????
September 15, 2015
wtf? I'm confused
May 13, 2020
Reprints X-Men Noir #1-4 (February 2009-May 2009). When the body of Jean Grey washes up on the shore of Welfare Island in the East River, reporter Tom Halloway goes to the jailed Professor Xavier to question him about his studies of sociopaths. Xavier’s attempts to teach sociopath’s to use their abilities branded them the X Men and ended with Xavier in jail. Now, the X Men are in the wind and committing crimes around the city. As Magnus and the police work to quash the X Men because they refuse to join his secret crime society called the Brotherhood, Tom has his own goals…and seeking out a former X Man woman named Anna-Marie could be the key to uncovering the murder of Jean Grey.
Written by Fred Van Lente, X-Men Noir is a Marvel Comics limited series falling under their Noir limited series imprint. Featuring art by Dennis Calero, the issues in this collection were also included in Marvel Noir: Wolverine & The X Men.
The Noir titles were something I can remember being released and staring at with little interest. I like pulp heroes, and I liked books like Sandman Mystery Theater, but the Noir titles did little for me. When I got a chance to pick up some of the digest size collections, I got a majority of them (minus of course the expensive Spider-Man Noir collections). While the first few collections I read were mildly interesting and rather quick reads, X-Men Noir was a roadblock…and even powering through it didn’t help.
There are a lot of problems with X-Men Noir. The plot is so unnecessarily confusing and polluted that any twists and turns that exist don’t really matter because you aren’t exactly sure what is going on. The story is filled with flashbacks that fill you in on the characters backgrounds, but the flashbacks make about as much sense as the modern day stuff.
The art is a big problem with the story. The X-Men wear garish costumes and the idea of these Noir titles is that they are heroes in the lines of Sam Spade or in the case of Iron Man a steampunk style mechanism to simulate the modern day character. With everyone looking almost the same it take almost twice as long to read the issues because you are trying to figure out who you are reading about.
The next problem is the choices made in the characterizations. I don’t particularly like the X Men or Magnus in this collection. They all just come off as jerks. The X Men being mentally ill sociopaths who need medical help instead of gifted people seems like a slight against the original idea of the X-Men which was about acceptance. The story is further confused by the lead of Tom Halloway who is the World War II comic book hero Angel (they could have just made him Madrox or something to keep it in the X-Men) which is further confusing since he is not Angel from the X-Men. He wears a costume and maybe glides? It’s kind of unclear and further muddies the plot…I don’t care if he is a twin at the end. I (like many) have no idea who he is, and why I should care about him.
X-Men Noir is a miserable read that maybe, maybe could have had some potential if it had been worked out, deconstructed, and better designed. I don’t know that I blame Calero (it is his style for the series), but Fred Van Lente’s writing has been much better in other titles. Keep to the other Noir titles (if you must) and avoid this one. X-Men Noir was followed by a sequel series X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain.
Written by Fred Van Lente, X-Men Noir is a Marvel Comics limited series falling under their Noir limited series imprint. Featuring art by Dennis Calero, the issues in this collection were also included in Marvel Noir: Wolverine & The X Men.
The Noir titles were something I can remember being released and staring at with little interest. I like pulp heroes, and I liked books like Sandman Mystery Theater, but the Noir titles did little for me. When I got a chance to pick up some of the digest size collections, I got a majority of them (minus of course the expensive Spider-Man Noir collections). While the first few collections I read were mildly interesting and rather quick reads, X-Men Noir was a roadblock…and even powering through it didn’t help.
There are a lot of problems with X-Men Noir. The plot is so unnecessarily confusing and polluted that any twists and turns that exist don’t really matter because you aren’t exactly sure what is going on. The story is filled with flashbacks that fill you in on the characters backgrounds, but the flashbacks make about as much sense as the modern day stuff.
The art is a big problem with the story. The X-Men wear garish costumes and the idea of these Noir titles is that they are heroes in the lines of Sam Spade or in the case of Iron Man a steampunk style mechanism to simulate the modern day character. With everyone looking almost the same it take almost twice as long to read the issues because you are trying to figure out who you are reading about.
The next problem is the choices made in the characterizations. I don’t particularly like the X Men or Magnus in this collection. They all just come off as jerks. The X Men being mentally ill sociopaths who need medical help instead of gifted people seems like a slight against the original idea of the X-Men which was about acceptance. The story is further confused by the lead of Tom Halloway who is the World War II comic book hero Angel (they could have just made him Madrox or something to keep it in the X-Men) which is further confusing since he is not Angel from the X-Men. He wears a costume and maybe glides? It’s kind of unclear and further muddies the plot…I don’t care if he is a twin at the end. I (like many) have no idea who he is, and why I should care about him.
X-Men Noir is a miserable read that maybe, maybe could have had some potential if it had been worked out, deconstructed, and better designed. I don’t know that I blame Calero (it is his style for the series), but Fred Van Lente’s writing has been much better in other titles. Keep to the other Noir titles (if you must) and avoid this one. X-Men Noir was followed by a sequel series X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain.
August 10, 2022
In 1940s New York, Eric Magnus is the chief of police. In the pocket of several crime bosses, Magnus let crime take over the Big Apple while putting on a show in front of the press with his war against the X Men. As for the X Men, they aren't heroes. Instead, they're a bunch of former juvenile delinquents who were 'reformed' into the ways of crime by the noted psychiatrist Charles Xavier.
Our story opens on the first day of Eric's son Peter's first day as a detective. Peter and his partner have been called to the docks to investigate a death- that of Jean Grey. Meanwhile, a reporter is snooping around into the history of the X Men. His investigation seems personal. But what those motivations are just aren't clear. But upon an interview with an incarcerated Xavier, the journal is given an urgent tip- 'Find Marie Rankin'- the rogue X Man!
X-Men Noir is an interesting take on the Marvel mutants. I've seen medieval X-Men. Fairy tale X-Men. I've even encountered X-Men Babies. While this may not be my favorite incarnation of the group, I much preferred these gritty heroes to the Noir version of Daredevil that I read previously. There was an air of Batman: The Animated Series to this book. Plus, Daredevil was set in the 1930s. X-Men Noir was in the post-war 1940s and since technology has always been an important element to the Children of the Atom, I think that change of time period was a key element to my enjoyment of this book.
In the Daredevil Noir review, I complained how I didn't like that there were a few characters added that did not have modern comics counterparts. This book includes a character from when Marvel was known as Timely Comics and I loved that touch of nostalgia! While this character isn't an X-Man staple, I did appreciate the addition.
One element of sentimentality that I wasn't such a fan of was the inclusion of a prose story set as a sci-fi pulp multi-parter. While that tale allows for more of the vast cast of X-Men characters to appear in this book, it just felt a little unnecessary. Plus, the story was supposed to be written by a eugenics advocate and entertaining that little bit of prejudice and bigotry felt outdated.
X-Men Noir wasn't prefect. But it was an entertaining mystery. If you enjoy films like Rudolph Mate's D.O.A. or the Bogart classic The Maltese Falcon, then this is the sequential art story you've been looking for. If you decide to skip the prose story at the end of each chapter, you won't be missing anything. But don't skip the BTS stuff at the end of this hardback. They're visually stunning pages!
Our story opens on the first day of Eric's son Peter's first day as a detective. Peter and his partner have been called to the docks to investigate a death- that of Jean Grey. Meanwhile, a reporter is snooping around into the history of the X Men. His investigation seems personal. But what those motivations are just aren't clear. But upon an interview with an incarcerated Xavier, the journal is given an urgent tip- 'Find Marie Rankin'- the rogue X Man!
X-Men Noir is an interesting take on the Marvel mutants. I've seen medieval X-Men. Fairy tale X-Men. I've even encountered X-Men Babies. While this may not be my favorite incarnation of the group, I much preferred these gritty heroes to the Noir version of Daredevil that I read previously. There was an air of Batman: The Animated Series to this book. Plus, Daredevil was set in the 1930s. X-Men Noir was in the post-war 1940s and since technology has always been an important element to the Children of the Atom, I think that change of time period was a key element to my enjoyment of this book.
In the Daredevil Noir review, I complained how I didn't like that there were a few characters added that did not have modern comics counterparts. This book includes a character from when Marvel was known as Timely Comics and I loved that touch of nostalgia! While this character isn't an X-Man staple, I did appreciate the addition.
One element of sentimentality that I wasn't such a fan of was the inclusion of a prose story set as a sci-fi pulp multi-parter. While that tale allows for more of the vast cast of X-Men characters to appear in this book, it just felt a little unnecessary. Plus, the story was supposed to be written by a eugenics advocate and entertaining that little bit of prejudice and bigotry felt outdated.
X-Men Noir wasn't prefect. But it was an entertaining mystery. If you enjoy films like Rudolph Mate's D.O.A. or the Bogart classic The Maltese Falcon, then this is the sequential art story you've been looking for. If you decide to skip the prose story at the end of each chapter, you won't be missing anything. But don't skip the BTS stuff at the end of this hardback. They're visually stunning pages!
December 9, 2020
Люди Ікс - нуарна банда поганців, Ксав'є сидить у тюрячці (бо його... так, ви правильно зрозуміли... його підставили). Замість Братства Мутантів - Братство Копів. Магнето звуть Магнусом, він великий начальник у поліції. Звичайно ж, поліція корумпована.
Люди Ікс під підозрою. Нагадаю, що надможливостей у нуар-серії не передбачено, їх замінюють чимось альтернативним і більш реалістичним. Логан тут ходить з якоюсь японською зброєю у вигляді гаків, у Циклопа просто червоні окуляри, якими він прикриває червоне око з літерою "X" (чи то вставне, чи то це просто татуювання на оці), Звір та Айсмен наче й не виділяються нічим (Айсмен, здається, в оригіналі кілька разів каже "freeze", але то лише мої здогадки після прочитаного, бо читав я лише переклад).
Сюжет кілька разів робить кардинальні повороти, але за ним важко слідкувати, бо сам малюнок занадто темний, і самі фрази побудовані так, що у читача немає додаткового контексту. Наче опиняєшся посеред історії, де всім усе відомо, крім тебе. Потім напружено вдивляєшся в темні силуети, намагаєшся виділити щось у бійках, слідкувати за окремими персонажами; кілька разів повертаєшся до попередніх глав - занадто багато зусиль для історії, яка мала б тебе розважати. І фінал, який просто не сприймається, бо не дивуєшся (знаючи долю певних персонажів в основній серії, чогось такого і очікуєш).
Помітно більше тексту, ніж у нуарному Кейджі, але через це втрачається динаміка.
Занадто паскудно намальовані очі. Іноді їх наче і зовсім немає. Надто різкі пропорції облич у кадрі, інколи це змахує на кітч, а не на кримінальну драму в темних тонах.
Люди Ікс під підозрою. Нагадаю, що надможливостей у нуар-серії не передбачено, їх замінюють чимось альтернативним і більш реалістичним. Логан тут ходить з якоюсь японською зброєю у вигляді гаків, у Циклопа просто червоні окуляри, якими він прикриває червоне око з літерою "X" (чи то вставне, чи то це просто татуювання на оці), Звір та Айсмен наче й не виділяються нічим (Айсмен, здається, в оригіналі кілька разів каже "freeze", але то лише мої здогадки після прочитаного, бо читав я лише переклад).
Сюжет кілька разів робить кардинальні повороти, але за ним важко слідкувати, бо сам малюнок занадто темний, і самі фрази побудовані так, що у читача немає додаткового контексту. Наче опиняєшся посеред історії, де всім усе відомо, крім тебе. Потім напружено вдивляєшся в темні силуети, намагаєшся виділити щось у бійках, слідкувати за окремими персонажами; кілька разів повертаєшся до попередніх глав - занадто багато зусиль для історії, яка мала б тебе розважати. І фінал, який просто не сприймається, бо не дивуєшся (знаючи долю певних персонажів в основній серії, чогось такого і очікуєш).
Помітно більше тексту, ніж у нуарному Кейджі, але через це втрачається динаміка.
Занадто паскудно намальовані очі. Іноді їх наче і зовсім немає. Надто різкі пропорції облич у кадрі, інколи це змахує на кітч, а не на кримінальну драму в темних тонах.
October 3, 2018
Ugh. This might literally be the worst comic I've ever read. It wasn't just a bad story, it was bad everything, art, font, what have you. Firstly, you really need to be X-Men literate to get who everyone is, secondly, the art is so dark, as in I can barely make out the people in them, that you aren't able to really follow characters by appearance, third, WTF were those "space age" stories concentrating on eugenics all about? This was just a pile of shit, and I rarely use such harsh terms when I know hard work has gone into something, but this was a stinking pile of shit. A stinking pile of shit that really thought it could pull the wool over my eyes with twins pretending to be one person again? That's such an overused trope!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2021
К несчастью, очень сумбурный сюжет. И если завязка и развязка вполне себе в рамках классического развития истории, неожиданного в итоге, но прекрасного в своей олдскульности. То середина это какой-то провал, невозможно читать все это мельтешение имен, событий, встреч, самое обидное, мало ведущих к итогу комикса.
Очень понравился стиль рисунка, такой несколько "размытый". Непривычно, радует глаз.
В рамках серии прочитать конечно можно, отдельно я бы ругался :)
Очень понравился стиль рисунка, такой несколько "размытый". Непривычно, радует глаз.
В рамках серии прочитать конечно можно, отдельно я бы ругался :)
November 23, 2020
A clever reimagining, though the decision to make the little-known pulp-era version of Angel a main character undermines the point of putting familiar characters in new settings and leads to some confusing twists. The art style, while atmospheric, does not lend itself to clarity, which is essential in a world where superheroes aren’t wearing costumes.
December 28, 2022
I wanted to like it, I really really did want to. I think this reimagining just doesn’t work all that well. As other people have mentioned in the reviews, it’s confusing and hard to follow and hard to differentiate characters and their costumes compared to the Iron man or Spider-Man Noir reimaginings.
May 5, 2018
The Noir versions of the X-Men that Van Lente created are great. Instead of children of the atom, they are more the children of Freud.
Yet the backup story, Van Lente writing as a a sci-fi Bolivar Trask, might be even better than the graphic novel itself. It was really well done.
Yet the backup story, Van Lente writing as a a sci-fi Bolivar Trask, might be even better than the graphic novel itself. It was really well done.
May 31, 2019
The main story told in comic form seemed a little disjointed and there was very little use of the X-Men's powers, which was disappointing. However, I really enjoyed the short story, "The Sentinels" that was told in small chapters between each issue of the comic.
January 5, 2020
Only for the serious X-fan. Casual readers like myself will be utterly confused at the name-dropping and significance. The plot seems decent, but storytelling leaves much to be desired because it's almost impossible to differentiate between characters and even settings.
September 18, 2020
A 'noir' tale doesn't require the art to be muddy and dark.
The X-men - however well know generally to the public - are not so famous as to be identifiable in a story without their 'superhero' names being used, so most of the characters are mysteries.
The story itself was no good.
The X-men - however well know generally to the public - are not so famous as to be identifiable in a story without their 'superhero' names being used, so most of the characters are mysteries.
The story itself was no good.
March 29, 2021
If I could, I'd give this 0 stars. It's horribly written, tons of name dropping for no reason and the X-men aren't even mutants. There's no powers, just generic noir tropes but poorly done. This was awful. Avoid it
September 14, 2025
the art was cool, not totally my style. big Max Payne vibe.
the characters were hard for my little head to keep track because they could look.very similar at times in 3/4 shadow. I think this will really hit on a re read. overall cool story, cool take on some classic x men.
the characters were hard for my little head to keep track because they could look.very similar at times in 3/4 shadow. I think this will really hit on a re read. overall cool story, cool take on some classic x men.
October 8, 2025
first X-Men series, I actually did not like. The only redeeming arc was the Nimrod arc. The art choices of what they thought were "noir" was not. The dialogue, with its scribbled put words, was distracting. Oh, and worst of all, they were not X-Men; they were just men.
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