X Volume 1: Big Bad [Dramatized Adaptation]

X 2013 #1

by Duane Swierczynski, Eric Nguyen

A masked vigilante known only as X dispenses justice without mercy to the criminals who rule the decaying city of Arcadia. When muckraking blogger Leigh Ferguson snoops down the wrong alley, she gets swept into X's bloody war with a politically powerful crime lord. Duane Swierczynski (Godzilla, Cable and X-Force) and Eric Nguyen ( Arkham Unchained) dish out nonstop, visceral action, with Dark Horse's most brutal and exciting character -- X! Collects issues #0 - #4 of the ongoing series. Adapted from the issues and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music. Performed by Eric Messner, Natalie Van Sistine, Matthew Bassett, Joe Mallon, Jonathan Lee Taylor, Christopher Graybill, Terence Aselford, Rayner Gabriel, Tyler Hyrchuck, Richard Rohan, Laura C Harris, Anthony Palmini, Cody Roberts, Ryan Haugen, Bradley Foster Smith, Mark Harrietha, Michael John Casey, Scott McCormick, Ryan Reid, Karen Novack, and Alejandro Ruiz.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Superheroes, Audiobook, Fantasy, Fiction

1 pages, Audio CD

First published January 28, 2014

About the author

Duane Swierczynski is an American crime writer who has written a number of non-fiction books, novels and also writes for comic books.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this much better upon a second read. Swierczynski writes a great Punisher even is he's disguised as X. It was smart to introduce the reporter as our way into this world as there's not much to the character of X other than bloody vengeance. I do not care for Eric Nguyen's art at all. It's too scratchy and sketchy for me.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it funny this has such low ratings when it's basically Punisher but without the Punisher name.

Saying that I don't love the Punisher or over the top violence usually. So X wouldn't be a fit for me, right? Well first you want to know what it's about. Think a Ninja like warrior going around a shitty neighborhood murdering rich pieces of shit who destroy cities and lives throughout their time. A mob-boss killer is basically what this is about. Then have a blog reporter following him around to get the "real" truth of it all.

Good: I liked the fights. Bloody for sure but fun. Also the reporter was a interesting enough character and her view point made it less about X and more about a observer watching all this from the outside. The art is also pretttttty solid!

Bad: The criminals or bad guys are over the top and done a million times before. X is basically Batman meets punisher. Also the start is a little shaky and not sure where it was going.

Overall this is pretty fun in a over the top 80's action movie type of way. I think I'll check out another volume or two to see if it gets better but as it stands this was pretty fun. A 3 out of 5.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Punisher knockoff, and a poorly introduced one, but decent art and a swift telling mitigate those flaws a bit.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seems to be pretty polarizing but I'm right in the middle of the road on it. I thought the art was good and the story wasn't bad either, but the violence seemed to be over the top just for the sake of being over the top. The graphic violence took away from the story rather than enhanced it in this case. The plot was a little thin but still, this was an old fashioned Punisher style war on crime so you don't need a deep plot ala Game of Thrones to get from point A to point B.

I'm a huge Punisher fan so I knew I probably wouldn't hate this, but I didn't love it either. Still worth a read though.

[David Dalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Violent? Yeah, a tad. Like Reservoir Dogs is a little violent or ending of The Wild Bunch is violent.

Thanks to my digital library I have access to Vols 1, 2, 5, & 6 (one would wonder WHY they did not pick up Volumes 3 & 4, but go ahead and get 5 & 6).

I am interested enough to go ahead and check out Volume 2 soon. How much MORE violent can it get (he asks)?

[Taylor Leszczynski-Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually a really good art style and written origin story to red x for this series. I’m definitely going to search for the next volume and get back into comics it was well worth the read and I can’t wait to read more soon!

[Charles · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stuff I Read - X: Big Bad Review

When I started reading X, I thought it that here was a series that was a lot like Punisher. There were mobsters. They were evil because, well, they were fat (obvs, yo). And they were killed in brutal ways because, well, I mentioned that they were evil and fat, right? And, okay, I thought that maybe the violence and the generic vigilante angle would last only for the zero issue, as a sort of teaser to get people who like the Punisher interested in the main story. Kind of like how Sin City can feel a bit at times like the Punisher. The main difference is where Sin City ends up distancing itself from the violence for its own sake and seeing the protagonist as not only always right but immortal, X comes off more as a story that was meant to be an actual Punisher story but instead got spun off as a new character.

It just didn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. Perhaps I just haven't read far enough, but I did read the issues of this volume and so I must judge them alone for now. The main character of the story is actually Leigh, a sort-of journalist who runs a blog and presumably makes money off of ads because otherwise I don't know how she lives. But she stumbles upon X, the violent murderer, and decides to help him. Again, this didn't seem justified enough for me, because there really wasn't enough done to show who the victims were. There are no good people (aside from Leigh, I guess, and maybe one security guard) in the entire city. So it means that X can kill basically anyone because they are all bad.

And that just seemed very lazy. It made it seem like this was a story written for other characters, like this was just a Punisher story because then at least it would have made more sense. But because this was all on its own I didn't get why any of this mattered. It didn't help that the series seems to prefer violence over exposition, so I wasn't sure what the backstory of the city was, what really happened, or even who X might have been. It's clear that his identity is supposed to be a big mystery, but I couldn't bring myself to care because there are no clues. So people know him when they see him, but that was never shared with me, and so what do I care who he is. He's just a killer who sees everyone as acceptable collateral damage.

I guess I just didn't feel that the violence or the devices used in the story were really earned. X is superhuman. He is divine justice. Only I'm not really sure what these villains did other than be bad. I'm supposed to believe they're evil because they're fat and it's just not that good. It could have been so much more, and instead it is just violence mixed with a complete lack of explanation or justification. X is a mystery, but more than that he's one I couldn't care about. And with that said I can really only give this a 3/10.

[Christopher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ooof...I did not like this one at all. It's a perfect distillation of all the worst tendencies of the sort of grim and gritty comics that dominated the 1990s, a book that mistakes violence and swearing for mature or adult. That might not be so bad if the book were clever or interesting in any way, but it's not. It's just a stupid, ugly, nasty piece of work that doesn't have anything to say beyond the idea that violence is kind of awesome. It honestly feels like a misanthropic 12 year old boy scribbled his idea for the ultimate Batman story in his notebooks while ignoring the teacher's lessons. The art is just as bad, full of ugly character designs and confusing action. All in all, this is probably the worst of the relaunched Dark Horse Heroes line, and a book that will only hold appeal for those folks who don't realize that Rorschach in the Watchmen is someone who should be pitied rather than admired.

[The Wintermute System · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to start the Omnibus - well, volumes 1 and 2 - soon because I forgot how much I enjoyed this: it's another vigilante who is an antihero, but I find sometimes the good guys don't have quite the edge I'm looking for. I like antiheroes: not quite villains, but the overly simplistic avoid killing someone at all costs can grate on me, too. The question of if, say, Arkham - or our prisons - is a revolving door is one I find compelling.

Is Batman thus at least responsible for Jason Todd's death, and the many mass murders perpetuated by the Joker, the Riddler, the Scarecrow, for not taking out these villains who are arguably unable to be rehabilitated? And while I think the answer of 'why not kill them' is more nuanced in real life - we are talking real, flesh and blood people - antiheroes allow for a certain lack of nuance - yes, kill them all - without harming actual people. In other words, antiheroes are a cathartic revenge fantasy where one can explore a more simplistic, yet emotionally rewarding, story arc in which things are wrapped up without having to wring one's hands over the moral implications of even considering this in real life.

My main complaint is lack of realism in that a random person suddenly, without training, becomes a vigilante who can take out those who even seasoned heroes cannot. Punisher? Had the training. Vigilante? Got the training before he could - at least this is gone over in depth in the comics, and referenced in the Peacemaker show. Same with Black Bat. X also avoids this trap, at least to some level; I started the archives a while ago so can't remember the old comics that well, but at least in the new series, it's implied he has the training and I'm willing to accept that until I find out his whole backstory, which is once again, implied here but not gone over completely. (Some may find it a more concrete yes, he has the training, I am not at this point.)

It's a pretty typical vigilante story, but as I said, it's fun, and the Leslie telling it partly via her blog/talking to the readers is new, at least to me. And like romance readers, I'm not necessarily looking for something that turns the genre on the head; as multiple friends have pointed out, in a romance, you know the ending, and enjoy the journey getting there. For something that's pretty much on point, this still manages to make an entertaining journey and that's all I wanted: something not light, but necessarily genre-bending and a fun ride. I needed that, in fact, due to stress at home and this was just what I needed.

Maybe I'm overrating this, or overselling it, but part of my star rating is emotional: hit the right trope, do something I love, even with flaws, I could potentially rate it five star if the emotional resonance is right for me. Then again, I review mostly for myself and am happy to explain inconsistencies in the review. This comic held up to my memories - I do remember enjoying it a great deal when I read it earlier - and hit the right emotional sweet spot this time around.

Furthermore, I can't really think of something where I would want something to change. The art is moody, effective, and. compliments the story perfectly. Arcadia, the city X works in, is gritty and dark and moody, and as I recall, always has been a sewer of dark angst and corruption. The writing manages to be dark without being so dark it's a big depressing hole, just bright enough in spots where the innocent are saved, or the guilty executed, that you can see the sun breaking through the clouds.

So I might have mentioned knocking off a star or a half star, but I wouldn't do anything differently, and don't want anything done differently with this, so that seems like a good enough reason for five stars.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ultra violent vengeful mystery anti-hero. It was okay. Sometimes the writing was downright bad, but overall it was passable. I don't regret reading it. I'd like to read one more volume to really give it a proper rating.

The art was decent. Sometimes not great, but overall was above average. It was pretty gross sometimes. This book is seriously violent. In one scene, X kills a guy by shoving a flat pry-bar through his head. Another (pretty stupid) instance, a bad guy gets his tortured (by X) face replaced by a legit (allegedly) plastic surgeon with a pig's face, snout and all. He then can no longer feel anything in his head, so apparently falling from one rooftop to a lower rooftop onto his face causes no damage because he can't feel it. WUT? Like I said, sometimes it's really stupid writing.

The end of the book revealed the face of X to the bad guy and the reporter lady, but it's off screen. Their reactions are all "oh my god, it's him!!" except nothing is revealed and it seems like such a lazy cop out at a cliffhanger. Irritating, really.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I am so glad that I picked this as my "X" for the Litsy A to Z challenge. This is dark, graphic, brutal, gross, and bloody, but I really enjoyed the story. It's obviously a set up for a longer series, more of an origin story than anything else, but it has definitely piqued my interest in the rest of the tale. I'm pretty squeamish when it comes to blood and gore, and this really tested the limits of my gag reflex, but I find myself craving more.

[Emily]

I just desperately needed a book that started with X for my reading challenge lollll this was not my vibe but it was the wildest audiobook I’ve ever listened to

[Unai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nos encontramos en este tomo de Dark Horse que publica Aleta, una ciudad llamada Arcadia, que marcha a toda vela a convertirse en un puto infierno. Violencia, corrupción política y moral, desesperación y todo el que aun continua en Arcadia es porque no tiene los medios para irse. En esta profunda oscuridad un enmascarado tuerto llamado X, es el contrapunto al poder corrupto.

X es el terror hecho vigilante y a pesar de que en un primer vistazo pueda recordar a Spawn, es mas un cruce entre con un 25% de Punisher y un 75% de El Cuervo. De hecho ahora que lo pienso, es incluso mas cercano a Eric Draven de lo que digo así como la propia Arcadia también está alejada del cierto orden criminal de por ejemplo Gotham.
En este tomo conoceremos a X, aunque no su identidad, por una periodista que se empeña en saber mas sobre el, cuando este empieza a acabar salvajemente con los poderosos que controlan la ciudad, sin tener ningún reparo en matar, desemembrar, torturar y aterrorizar. X no es un héroe, ni un superhéroe, es un Punisher pasado de vueltas y en eso y en no saber quien es ni que le ha llevado a ser el lobo feroz, reside el mayor interés del tomo. Bueno en eso y en el festival de violencia, sangre y vísceras.

[Tomás · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leer este comic es como ver una peli de acción ochentosa con actores que no hacen muy bien su trabajo y guiones flacos y sin profunidad pero...que placer culpable el disfrutar de este tipo ficciones. No son buenas, pero nos pasamos un buen rato divirtiéndonos con esos productos porque están hechos para eso: divertirse y no tomarse nada demasiado en serio.

Este comic es de esos, con un poquito de nostalgia hacia los comics violentos de los 90, la historia no ofrece mucho más que un anti-héroe que va dando tiro hacia el más forro de los forros, dejando un camino de muertos a su paso. Mucho tiro, mucha espada, mucho gore, pocos diálogos buenos, personajes sin demasiada profundidad pero muy divertido y rápido de leer.

Los dibujos de Nguyen son excelentes, me gusta mucho su manera de dibujar y le da imagen a la violencia de manera bastante dinámica. Digamos que el dibujo se entrega al guión (y muy bien).

Para divertirse y no pensar demasiado. A veces hace falta leer este tipo de cosas, por más de que seamos conscientes que podemos leer algo de más calidad o profundidad. No jodamos, a veces hay que entregarse a estos "placeres culpables".

A seguir con el vol 2.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

The X trade paperback volume is kind of a film noir-ish comic, which I dig. The art is fantastic and the violence is pretty over the top. I'm not sure that I necessarily find the excessive violence mandatory, but it is a bit off-putting to old school comic book readers. I am looking forward to Volume 2 to find out more about X.

[harlequin {Stephanie} · Rating 1 out of 5]

The art was nice and well... the art was nice. No real story to be found just some vigilante killing mobsters for no real reason, but wait a thread of something is implied, but you have to read next issue. mhmm. Cheap thrills.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. This is similar to the Punisher. However, the protagonist is a costumed mystery man. He goes by X. And as you might suspect, he torments and kills the "dirty." This also follows an online reporter/writer. She encounters X and begins to follow him, leading herself into trouble. She posts the information online (like a dumbass).
The story is rather lackluster, but I suppose there's some promise. I really hope the story develops into something of its own. It's too generic at this point.
I'd like to know why X only has one eye. Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle?
2.5 - 3 stars.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Punisher style comic, but lacking. There is no story here, maybe a little intrigue but overall it's just a dude killing what we are assuming are corrupt bad guys in overtly bloody ways. The artwork is fine, but the characterizations are very overdone - bad guys are ugly, fat, hairy men. Good guy is super muscled and "who is he?" mystery. The token woman, of course a reporter, looks like an outcast but cute. Seen it all before. You can have super violence and a storyline with characters, but this comic is not it.

[Radwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strong and gory beginning to the series. We have a vigilante anti-hero who's killing off corrupt men in his city. he's mysterious and leaves them an X mark to indicate he's coming for them. he's ruthless, so he's not like the nice superheroes.

he's joined by Leigh, an ex-reporter aand very sneaky and manages to prove her worth to him in a shared goal to save their city, Arcadia.

there's a lot of blood and intensity, X's characters isn't really fleshed out, we know more about Leigh than him by the end of the 1st volume. but I'm interested enough to continue.

[alejandro galvez · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun and bloody comic!

This book was really fun and graphic. Loved all the blood shots and creativity in all the kills. People who say this is a Punisher knockoff don't know what they are talking about. Punisher now is a shadow of himself now a days anyways, so what a better replacement than X!? Marvel is so woke, its asleep on its best sellers. This book is all action and has no hidden agenda of politics or preachy messages. Just gore and action. Pick it up if you are on the fence about it. Its really fun.

[Trekscribbler · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some individual comic book titles that for personal reasons I just can’t handle reviewing on a month-by-month basis. It isn’t that I don’t feel I have any relevant to say in the customary thirty day window; it’s just that – as a reader – I’m far more excited about seeing more detail about where this whole train is heading. In order to do the work justice, I tend to wait for a handful of issues or – better yet – a completely collected storyline to be concluded so that I can sound-off on the greater thematic nature of the piece, instead of just giving lesser blurbs as the story progresses in chunks. Occasionally, I’m able to overcome this personal deficiency, but when I’d read the first two glorious installments of Dark Horse’s rebooted X title I knew this would be one I’d have to use my best ‘wait-and-see’ approach as I didn’t want to spoil anything for myself or for those who might find my review.

Now that the first arc is available in a trade paperback format, get ready for both barrels.

(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last three paragraphs for my final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)

The city of Arcadia hasn’t so much fallen on to hard times: it’s crashed, burned, and is smoldering in its own ashes. Crime has picked the city clean, and what morsels of wealth and power are left only attract the vilest filth imaginable. Scum like Mr. Berkshire will strip the place clean, feeding his illicit machine so long as there are crumbs worth scavenging. However, X has returned from the city’s dark past – a masked, one-eyed crimefighter who necessarily operates outside the restrictions of the legal system – and when a muckraking cyber-reporter draws the attention of the criminal elite, the man will join forces with her in order to see a bloody reign of terror brought to a fitting end.

So far as this reviewer is concerned, X is the ultimately vigilante read. Just to be perfectly clear, Batman will always (for personal reasons) be my individual favorite monthly read – with Superman being a very close second – but when I want my fill of over-the-top, theatrical violence, I happily turn to X. He’s part Dirty Harry, part samurai, part Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH, part Snake Plissken, all wrapped up into the total badass package. He’s an unstoppable killing machine who shows up crawling out the darkness behind you when you least expect it. As frightening as he is, he’s precisely the kind of monster you’d want on your side should the chips go down.

Duane Swierczynski’s take on X might be one of the single greatest re-imaginings this forty-year-comic-book veteran has ever seen. There’s a kind of organic chemistry to all of it – one part violence plus one part redemption equals nothing but quality reading – and it’s all been concocted in such a way that one simply can’t wait for the next chapter in the man’s brutal full-frontal assault on the big city’s underworld. Arcadia might be dead, but, so long as there is breath in X, he’ll be fighting for its resurrection.

All praise aside, I have to say that I honestly didn’t much care for the appearance of a kinda/sorta sidekick to this seminal slugger. I have nothing wrong with Leigh – as a character, she’s just fine for most of the purposes she served – but I find it very hard (almost inconceivable) to believe that X would take her under his wing so easily, bringing her in so close so that she can be a yin to his yang. In X’s world, there’s no need for a reporter. But I suppose as it looks like she’s put down roots I’ll just have to see what develops. So long as it doesn’t bud into anything resembling love, I might be able to swallow that dirty pill.

X – VOLUME 1: BIG BAD is published by Dark Horse Comics. The story is written by Duane Swierczynski; the art is provided by Eric Nguyen; the colors are by michelle Madsen; with lettering done up by Richard Starkings and Comicraft. This volume collects the story previously published individually as Chapters 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. Lastly, this collection includes a handful of sketches as a postscript which shows the various versions of character profiles of those featured within the covers. This collection bears the cover price of $14.99, and, yes, that’s a bargain if this kind of gloriously gory material is your cup of tea.

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION POSSIBLE. You might wanna leave your stomachs at home, kiddies, because this first volume of X’s triumphant return is likely to leave you tossin’ your cookies if hardcore blood, guts, and violence isn’t to your liking. X is the ultimate masked vigilante who’ll stop at nothing to rid what’s left of his fair city of the scum who’ve robbed it deaf, dumb, and blind. Despite being shackled with a bit of a know-it-all sidekick in this incarnation, he’s still punishing evil the way evil is best left: stone cold dead unless it’s barely breathin’.

In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Dark Horse Comics provided me with a digital reading copy of X – VOLUME 1: BIG BAD by request for the expressed purposes of completing this review.

[Brian Dickerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

BCDER: 29

I really wanted to like this. I guess I did somewhat since I'm moving on to the next volume but it's really a lot of violent non-original storyline which can be a guilty pleasure read. I guess.

I'd like to know what happened to his left eye. I flipped back through to make sure I didn't miss something. I guess it's missing at the beginning. The art is so gritty (not necessarily bad), I didn't notice X only had one eye until later in the book.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this on the heels of the first volume of Swierczynski's Black Hood, and they're essentially the same comic, although Hood at least makes an attempt at placing its violence and dark mood in a real world setting (Philadelphia), while X is just your generic, bad old city. I liked it, though I recognize there isn't a lot of substance beyond the bloody violence.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. Something about it left me a little cold, though.

[nooker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the original

[Derrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel like the whole point was just trying to introduce a new character that's been done before. Too bloody and weird for me and all I could think was Batman is way better.

[Justin Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know much about X & Arcadia City, so I don’t want to necessarily too much of a downer. I honestly don’t how intriguing this series might be to me.

[Lucas Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love graphic audio. I read the comics years ago but was very cool doing it as a movie in your mind

[Jody Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful, character design was sloppy, but I got my X for my alphabet challenge I guess

[Tiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say? I'm a sucker for a psychopath in a mask, dressed in tight black clothes, with a gruff voice and a dark past.