X-Men: Prisoner X

Marvel Berkley/Byron Preiss Productions Prose Novels

by Ann Nocenti

On a mission to rescue their former teammate, Longshot, from an orbital prison called UltraMax, the X-men find themselves locked in a deadly contest with the prison's mastermind, an insane villain from another dimension

Genres: X Men, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy

294 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

About the author

Ann Nocenti is most noted as an editor for Marvel Comics, for whom she edited New Mutants and The Uncanny X-Men. She made her comics writing debut on a brief run of Spider-Woman (#47-50) and subsequently wrote a long run of Daredevil (1st series) #236-291 (minus #237) from 1986 to 1991, directly following on from Frank Miller's definitive Born Again storyline. She also wrote the 1986 Longshot limited series for Marvel, and in the same year produced the Someplace Strange graphic novel in collaboration with artist John Bolton. She wrote "the Inhumans Graphic Novel" in 1988. In 1993, she wrote the 16-issue run of Kid Eternity for the DC Comics imprint Vertigo.

In Incredible Hulk #291, published in September 1983 (cover date January 1984), Ann Nocenti made a cameo appearance, talking to Dr. Bruce Banner, in a history written by Bill Mantlo, drawn by Sal Buscema and inked by Carlos Garzón and Joe Sinnot. That time Ann Nocenti was Assistant Editor for Larry Hama on Incredible Hulk and X-Men.

She is noted for her left-wing political views which, particularly during her run on Daredevil, caused some controversy among some fans who didn't agree with her politics.

She created several popular characters, including Typhoid Mary, Blackheart, Longshot and Mojo, and wrote the 1998 X-Men novel Prisoner X.

Although Nocenti left comic books in the '90s after the industry sales collapsed, she later returned to the field, penning stories such as 2004's Batman & Poison Ivy: Cast Shadows.

In Ultimate X-Men, a reimagination of the X-Men comic, the character Longshot, who was invented by her, has the civil name Arthur Centino. His last name, Centino, is an anagram of Nocenti and a homage to Nocenti. The name Arthur is for the co-creator of Longshot Arthur Adams who was Ann Nocenti's artist on the Longshot Mini Series.

She edited High Times magazine for one year (2004) under the name Annie Nocenti and is the former editor of the screenwriting magazine Scenario.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Preiss-produced prose X-novel from the late-'90s by a well known comics writer, Prisoner X is a good story centering on the incarceration of Longshot and the attempt to free him. Wolverine figures in, as does one of the big Marvel love-triangles of the time. X stories weren't just for mutants anymore! X-celsior!

[Rosaria Battiloro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was soooo '90s!

[Lance Lumley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book at a library book sale, and thought it would be a cool story, especially since I like the X Men but never read any of the novels. The book started out slow but soon picked up and I found it hard to put down.
Another great thing about the book is that the character Longshot is detailed in it, which I had the Longshot debut comics when I was younger (but the books ended up being damaged in a basement-typical comic book fate to many of us).
The story is relevant today (even though the book was copyrighted 1998) with the theme of reality television and the topics of violent videogames in youth culture, which is what the X Men have to contend with as they get sucked into a prison in space.
This was a good book that I enjoyed and will have to look at several more of these types of novels, since I have recently gotten back into collection comics.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited when Parker asked to read an X-Men book so we browsed my collection of Marvel novels. He was interested in reading about Mojo so we chose this one, despite my personal lack of interest in Longshot, aka Prisoner X. The X-team assembled her itself isn’t my favorite either outside of Gambit and Rogue, but it’s what the boy requested. As for the book itself, it’s a bit too heavy for a five year old (so most of the book was read to myself when he fell asleep) with all the prison talk and violence, which there wasn’t too much of, as the action left a bit to be desired for an X-Men book.

Comic writer Ann Nocenti, who created Longshot and Mojo, definitely leaned into her background as an editor for Prison Life Magazine and drilled home how tragic the prison system can be, another downside for what I was hoping to be a fun comic based story. The writing also dragged a bit with more “telling” as opposed to “showing” and oftentimes relying on drawn out lists of descriptors and items.

[Hyann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Action is typical for a superhero novel...

Plot is really really thin... even weak.

If you didn't that life in prison is hard, this book will tell you every 10 pages...

[Emmett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn´t dislike this book, but I went ahead and gave it two stars because that´s supposed to signify that I thought it was ¨okay¨, rather than actually liking it. I love the X-men, and had I read this in middle school or high school, I probably would´ve appreciated it much more than I did reading it now.
The novel is 284 pages... barely anything happens. You would think within almost 300 pages, that the characters everyone knows and loves already would at least be a little fleshed-out. Not really. In lieu of character development, is it action-packed on every page? Hmm, no. Nocenti´s writing style is entirely suitable for a comic book, but just doesn´t seem to translate well to novel format. In fact, her writing just leaves a lot to be desired...

pg 268 ¨...the kind of crack that proceeds a lifetime of paralysis¨ Now I´m no English/Creative Writing major, but I would gamble that the word ´precede´ would be better used here.

There just seemed to be too many pages for a book with a plot that is entirely uncomplicated and could be told within 2 or 3 issues in comic book-form.
I have to mention the introductory prison scene in this review as well... I wouldn´t call it a spoiler, as it´s just a description of some of the inmates, but if you would consider that one, then please stop reading.

¨The first is Charlie Fire, an African American who is obsessed with justice for his people. He believes that the black man is being sent directly from the projects to the prisons, from the ghettoes to the gulags... To Charlie Fire, the world is a very unfair place and it all spirals out of what color skin you are born with. Charlie Fire has a head like a clump of sod, hair sticking straight up on a head impossibly flat, as if his mother dropped him at birth, or his father slammed him on the head too many times when he was little. He holds his thick hands like they´re hatchets.
Chico Dolor... is the gang king, he speaks for the Latino population... Chico, to put it mildly, is a dirty fighter. Chico has basset hound jowls and ferret eyes that seem to burn into your flesh, as they sweep over you. His rows of too many teeth overlap each other as if he was growing a spare set.
Longshot watches Crush, an enormous Asian con, as he plays chess. Crush is an artist and a bookworm who is both prison librarian and leader of the Asian population which includes the Yakuza... A trusted and connected prisoner, he has access no one else does. He... stands, bowing in a formal, respectful manner... They understand each other and have no need for the usual macho tests and games.¨

Holy stereotypes, Batman! The hot-headed Latino and the black man who thinks everyone is against him because he is black? Not to mention the Asian prisoner, who is much more respectful and intelligent... All the leaders of their respective races within the prison, none of them are mutants. Who is the leader of the white men in the prison? Nocenti never mentions that, or the white prisoners. You know, besides Longshot... who is from another dimension, so that would kinda exclude him from being Caucasian in Earth terms... I´m just going to let you make of those descriptions what you will, but I wouldn´t dare to call her writing anything more than amateurish.
Don´t get me wrong, the book is readable, but I would have rather spent my time on something else. If you absolutely LOVE the X-men and want to read everything about them, go ahead and read this. If you´re just a casual fan, I would look for something else. From what I remember, I really did enjoy Codename Wolverine by Christopher Golden when I read it back in high school, so I would recommend that instead.

[Michael P.]

Ann Nocenti has a pleasing prose style, and I first thought this would be a rare comic book novel that was worth finishing. I only got through 20%. In the pages read, only one chapter was about story, and it was a thoroughly unpleasant story about thoroughly unpleasant characters doing thoroughly unpleasant things. That is reason enough to bail. The other chapters introduced the heroic characters. Chapter after chapter after chapter introducing the heroic characters. Few of the natural readers of this book need an introduction and if you must introduce them, a deft paragraph will do the trick. Worse, the introductions written are a series of cliched scenes. If Wolverine is in a bar, you know there is about to be a fight, for example. How many times have we seen that? Nocenti is a good stylist, but she has no idea who to construct the story. No stars since I could not bring myself to finish this loser.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read right many superhero novels over the past few years, including several about the X-Men, but this is a bit different than any of them. Although the mutants' stories aren't light-hearted in the way Superman's and Spider-Man's are, Prisoner X was the darkest X-Men book I've read. Aside from the usual superhero(es) versus supervillain(s) action, it actually makes for a very chilling portrait of the way our society is becoming or already is, in the style of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four or Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron". Prisoner X is a good read, but it's decidedly different from typical Marvel Comics fare.

[Marc Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually this was a 4 1/2 star read. The ONLY reason I picked this up was due to the fact that they had Longshot in it. This was one character that I loved. It was good to see that the love triangle between Longshot, Rogue & Gambit was played out.