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X-Men: One-Shots
X-Man: All Saints Day #1
X-Man stars in a tale of gothic horror in his very first bookshelf! Nate makes his way to Transylvania after encountering a bizarre Gypsy woman in Washington Square Park with an ominous portent about his life and death--and quite possibly his salvation from his own life-threatening mutant powers!
50 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
21 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Raab
310 books8 followersBenjamin Raab (New York City, New York) is an American comic book writer and editor and tv writer and producer. He has written stories for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, WildStorm, Moonstone Books, Malibu Comics, Harris Publications and Ludovico Technique LLC.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 31, 2020
X-Man Nate Grey was never an A-list character in Marvel's universe, not even in the X subset, but was the star of this short graphic novel from 1997. It's not a bad book, fun as long as you don't think about it too much. (Why did he use his telekinetic powers to fly to Transylvania and then get on a train to take him to the village instead of just landing there? That kind of think thing.) The story's rather weak, but the art, by the Dodsons, is very good. The curious thing about the art is that the mad doctor, Absynthia, is almost identical to Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk) in almost every panel. Not just the skin color, but the physique, hair, facial expressions, etc. I wonder if that was coincidence or something I missed or a link that never got followed. A quick fun read for a grey morning...
February 9, 2017
Synopsis
Nate Grey, AKA X-Man, has met a young boy who is confined to a wheelchair. Nate wants to help this boy and so he travels all the way to Transylvania in search of a powerful sorceress who can cure the boy’s condition. Even though Nate seems to be doing this all for the good of the boy, there seems to be quite a bit of self-hate and some strange sense of atonement Nate feels the need to make. Will Nate succeed? Or, will his underlying motives cause more mayhem than healing?
“X-Man: All Saint’s Day” One-Shot by Ben Raab
★★★
Genre: Comic Book/Sci-Fi/Superhero
Release Date: January 1997
Source: Half Price Books – Bought
On My Shelf: No
I don’t have too much to say about this book today. It was alright, but nothing I would recommend. Parts were enjoyable but many just didn’t work for me.
The plot was something that didn’t work for me. I didn’t find this plot engaging. It was too much for such a short story. This story is maybe 30 pages, if that, and Raab tried to cram too much into it. Because of this, I felt that much of the plot was rushed without being properly setup. There was too much going on that it crossed the line making this story too unbelievable. And the ending was incredibly underwhelming.
Another thing that didn’t work was the writing. I found the writing to be boring, unexciting, and sometimes vague. Because Raab was trying to fit so much in, the writing felt rushed and didn’t allow me to connect with the story.
On top of all that, I found Nate’s character to be obnoxious. I was okay with most of the other characters, although I thought many of them lacked depth and personality. Most of that, I think, was due to the story being so rushed on so many levels. As much as I wanted to enjoy Nate, his character, and his story, I couldn’t find myself doing any of the above. I was reading to finish and not reading to enjoy.
The one positive thing I will say is that the artwork was absolutely gorgeous. It was the reason this book received 3 stars instead of 2. I loved the details and the way everything was drawn and the colors were absolutely beautiful. I would say picking this up just to flip through the pages of this comic would be worth it to revel in how pretty every panel it is.
However, I would also say go ahead and skip this one. This story had a lot of potential, but I feel like nothing was executed well except the art. This was just a meh read for me, and I doubt I’ll pick up any X-Man again.
Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Dreaming Through Literature.
Nate Grey, AKA X-Man, has met a young boy who is confined to a wheelchair. Nate wants to help this boy and so he travels all the way to Transylvania in search of a powerful sorceress who can cure the boy’s condition. Even though Nate seems to be doing this all for the good of the boy, there seems to be quite a bit of self-hate and some strange sense of atonement Nate feels the need to make. Will Nate succeed? Or, will his underlying motives cause more mayhem than healing?
“X-Man: All Saint’s Day” One-Shot by Ben Raab
★★★
Genre: Comic Book/Sci-Fi/Superhero
Release Date: January 1997
Source: Half Price Books – Bought
On My Shelf: No
I don’t have too much to say about this book today. It was alright, but nothing I would recommend. Parts were enjoyable but many just didn’t work for me.
The plot was something that didn’t work for me. I didn’t find this plot engaging. It was too much for such a short story. This story is maybe 30 pages, if that, and Raab tried to cram too much into it. Because of this, I felt that much of the plot was rushed without being properly setup. There was too much going on that it crossed the line making this story too unbelievable. And the ending was incredibly underwhelming.
Another thing that didn’t work was the writing. I found the writing to be boring, unexciting, and sometimes vague. Because Raab was trying to fit so much in, the writing felt rushed and didn’t allow me to connect with the story.
On top of all that, I found Nate’s character to be obnoxious. I was okay with most of the other characters, although I thought many of them lacked depth and personality. Most of that, I think, was due to the story being so rushed on so many levels. As much as I wanted to enjoy Nate, his character, and his story, I couldn’t find myself doing any of the above. I was reading to finish and not reading to enjoy.
The one positive thing I will say is that the artwork was absolutely gorgeous. It was the reason this book received 3 stars instead of 2. I loved the details and the way everything was drawn and the colors were absolutely beautiful. I would say picking this up just to flip through the pages of this comic would be worth it to revel in how pretty every panel it is.
However, I would also say go ahead and skip this one. This story had a lot of potential, but I feel like nothing was executed well except the art. This was just a meh read for me, and I doubt I’ll pick up any X-Man again.
Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Dreaming Through Literature.
December 9, 2024
Harmless but not very fun, this very brief X-Man special is about Nate Grey going to Transylvania to meet a green Dr. Frankensteinish ... vampire? lady with green skin in order to rescue a wheelchair-bound child from an early death. It's cheesy, it toys with an espionage plot, but it's mostly just Nothing. Oh, and it starts off with the comic equivalent of a protagonist voice-over explaining who the character is and where the action starts.
Not much of X-Man is available in spined collections, though, so if you're in a pinch for a Nate Grey fix, this is probably fine even if, ultimately, it doesn't lead anywhere but a 1980s After School Special ending.
Not much of X-Man is available in spined collections, though, so if you're in a pinch for a Nate Grey fix, this is probably fine even if, ultimately, it doesn't lead anywhere but a 1980s After School Special ending.
October 17, 2021
Fun little spin on Frankenstein, with solid artwork.
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August 5, 2022Edición española del one-shot de Halloween.
November 4, 2022
Nice story great art
June 14, 2024
Libro de historietas con ISBN propio. Tomo especial.
August 6, 2011
As a fan of the X-Man series from the Age of Apocalypse, this little one-shot tale allows Nate Grey to move beyond all powerful mutant into a savior figure - later seen in Warren Ellis's reimagining. Fittingly on Halloween, Nate encounters a diabolical doctor capable of creating life; Nate must determine if he needs to be saved from his impending doom that badly.
June 17, 2009
Hmm, an X-Man Halloween special where Nate Grey's cursed short life span is juxtaposed against the curse of being immortal. The Dodsons on art. Exactly as mediocre as it sounds.
January 16, 2014
great stand alonestory
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews