X-Men: To Serve and Protect

X-Men: Miniseries

by Christopher Yost, Brian Reed, James Asmus

We're knee-deep in the Heroic Age, and the X-Men are smack-dab in the center of the Marvel Universe!

In San Franciso, two X-Men have donned masks and taken to the streets as the new vigilante protectors of the people against a huge Spider-Man villain. Who are these X-Men, and why are they disguising themselves? Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Marvel Universe: Fantomex and Batroc fight over a stolen diamond! Spider-Man and the Stepford Cuckoos dance their cares away! A visit from Thor to Wakanda ends with Storm becoming a true Goddess of the Weather! A new Contest of Champions is held! Friends become lovers! Lovers become enemies! THE SKY WILL FALL, so do not miss this epic anthology!

Collects X-Men: To Serve and Protect #1-4

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, X Men, Marvel, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book

136 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2011

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an anthology of humorous X-Men stories with the theme of X-Men getting out there and being all heroic and stuff (This takes place during Marvel’s Heroic Age, whatever that is). The centerpiece for this collection has teenage mutants, Rockslide and Anole sneaking out of the school at night and fighting crime on the streets of San Francisco (where’s Karl Malden?). Rockslide is made from granite and huge; Anole is some sort of lizard kid. As a disguise, they both wear fake mustaches. Rockslide wears a hockey mask as well; he even comes up with his own catch phrase. If you read nothing else from this volume, check this story out - it’s hilarious.

The rest of the stories, from a variety of writers and artists, range from good to fair.

This is a fun collection!

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology of X-Men interacting with the greater Marvel universe. Worth it just for the Anole and Rockslide story that crosses all four issues. It's hilarious.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you go in to this knowing that it's a collection of short (some very short) stories by a variety of authors, it would probably help your overall enjoyment. Because there isn't really much of a connecting thread, and the quality varies as much as you can expect in a decent anthology. The incredibly vague theme that sort of ties the collection together is that it each story features at least one X-character doing something at least vaguely heroic, possibly while teamed up with a random non-mutant character.

It's worth reading for the good stories. Like Anole and Rockslide going out in disguise (a false mustache for Anole, a hockey mask for Rockslide) to fight crime like real heroes. Like a surprisingly good story where Emma Frost confronts Blink narrated by, of all people, Doctor Strange. Like Sue Storm comforting a permanently phased Kitty Pryde. Even the silliness of Emma's confrontation with Z-list villain Mandrill, or Fantomex vs. Batroc the Leaper. There are a few duds. Aren't there always in collections like this? But the good stories make the whole more than worth a read.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most anthology mini-series, this is a mixed bag of stories. The standouts include the opening tale that pits Anole and Rockslide against Mister Negative, a short story featuring Ghost Rider and X-23, and a Blink story starring Doctor Strange. However, there are your fair share of poor stories too, such as the Dazzler story, or the Hellcat/Gambit one.

If you've read a mini-series like this before, you know what to expect. If you haven't, To Serve and Protect is a good example of what you get from an anthology mini-series: some jewels, but also some crap to go with them.

[Verity Coates · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved all these little stories the drawing I was especially taken back by cause they were amazing but I am a big big BIG marvel fan so it was a big hit for me :)

[Marco · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of the eponymous anthology limited series during the short lived "Heroic Age" phase. The main story is a humorous tale written by Christopher Yost, who is generally less well known for his funny stories than for killing off characters on a scale that not even George R.R. Martin could keep up with. Here, Rockslide and Anole steal away from the X-Men to patrol as vilgilantes and end up fighting actual supervillains. It ran through all four issues of the previously mentioned mini series. Very entertaining and easily worth four stars.
The rest of the stories are eight page team-ups between X-Men and characters from the wider Marvel Universe, written and drawn by different creative teams. Some of these are pretty good, others less so, but a few of them are simply too short for the subjects they deal with. And in the case of the Kitty Pryde/Fantastic Four story I was bugged by the apparent lack of continuity. There was a whole limited series dealing with the problem Kitty has here when she had it once before, so Claremont's "Fantastic Four vs. X-Men" should at least have been referenced.
Anyways, mostly entertaining, though not particularly deep: 3 stars.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm putting these interspersed in my Fraction bind, even though they technically take place a year or so later. I didn't think to put them into my Gillen books. And the Fraction bind is already full of small side stories from Nation X, I figured it could take these too. They do revolve around the X-Men in SF, so they match the theme, and don't really cause any continuity issues. They're obviously a mixed bag, but are overall real fun.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barely scraping in at 3-stars for me, this hodge-podge of light-hearted vignettes is a real mixed bag, with some dreadful bits (Marc Guggenheim’s lame Storm/Thor story), some fun bits (the Stepford Cuckoos taking down bank robbers), and some funny parts (watching Anole and Santo trying to be heroes with fake moustaches was occasionally amusing.) For X-fans only.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too short but a good time. It was fun to see many artists and writers take classic characters and show off their person and powers. Left me wanting more X-Men, but what's offered here isn't mind-blowing

[Alexa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would say only about 40% of the stories in here were cool. The rest were forgettable and not that interesting. I had a couple of laughs here and there, but overall it wasn’t all that great of a read.

[River Shen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good stories that are dragged down by some really boring ones. 3/5 seems fair.

[Mingo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta entrenido, mi favorita es la última historia, ver a Modok en patines me ganó

[XMCU · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the stories. Most of these seem like necessary reads. So five stars.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute collection of short X-men stories.

[SmokingMirror · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun anthology with lots of unusual mutants and art that is less detailed than in the main books. It works fine for these short stories. The covers by Camuncoli, one of my favorites, are very nice, although I was forced to see a side of Emma Frost I had not really wished to see. My experience is that I like her better in any story in which she is not depicted in that weird bat cloak Hellfire Club garb. Actually, she's pretty likeable in her sympathetic therapist mode in the story with Blink and Doctor Strange, and she's in the bat cloak in that one. Not much happens in it besides Strange getting insight into what being an X-Man entails.

The Gambit/Hellcat story is contrived, and probably anathema to many readers for its main characters, but the art and story by the Immonems has its moments.

It's always great to see Misty Knight and Colleen Wing--I think Misty might have the best hair in the entire Marvel universe--yes, better than Medusa's. They appear in Dazzler's story, and it's either the most wonderful Marvel story you will read this month or the worst, or among the worst, you will ever read. The depiction of Dazzler as a baby food advertisement in blue eye shadow does not improve matters. I've just spent too much time on such a trivial tale.

I'll repeat what all the other reviews have said, that the Craig Yost story about Anole and Rockslide is the best in the volume. It's longer than the other stories, and Yost knows how to create an exciting structure. I've always like the New X-Men and Anole is a particular favorite. Spider-Man may give the story an unnatural lift but Mr. Negative is one of Spidey's best foes and it's nice to see him go against other Marvel heroes.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a few really good stories in here. For instance, the dynamic between Anole and Rockslide makes their story great even though the plot is very standard. And there are a few nice character moments, like Kitty Pryde and Sue Storm, and some good funny moments (Fantomex, the Cuckoos, Emma vs. Mandrill). But nothing can really make up for the fact that this collection is just a bunch of random 5,6,7-page stories. It just is what it is. And there are a few really bad ones in here, too (I'm looking at you, Cypher, with the "basic verbal syntax" of binary and the suicide bomber who has a voice-controlled bomb, for some reason.)

[Sammi McSporran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fun anthology of stories from the Marvel universe, with a wide range of characters focusing around the X-men.
As someone new to comics this was a good collection for me, featuring headline characters such as Emma Frost and Storm alongside ones I'd never even heard of like Anole and the Stepford Cuckoos. I also loved the stories involving the non-X-men such as Spiderman and Thor, showing how all the characters in the Marvel Universe co-exist and work together.
Artwork and humour is on-point.
Four Stars.

[Jase · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give it 3 stars because the art is pretty good. The story I wasn't overly impressed with and I get sick of issues that have tons of mini stories only proceeding a character along for whatever reason (mostly copyright probably, keep them in circ). I hope the series gets better as I'm pretty sure it will be...it's Yost! Loved X-Men Academy.

[Tanabrus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storia inutile, e il secondo capitolo è tutto Spider-Man che fa la predica su come sia cattivo il bullismo. Sembrava la morale finale dei cartoni di He-Man, ampliata però a episodio intero.

E in più, il finale è privo di senso.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two or three of these short stories have really nice art. It also has a cover by Nick Bradshaw. Other than that, this collection has no merit. From now on, I will avoid all X-Men short story collections.

[Gensan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really digging this arc guest starring spider-man

Plus, dark beast is always just so gleefully evil.

[Lord · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and interesting stories with the exception of two of them, one being written by Kathryn Immonen whose dialogues sucked as usually.

[Simon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hrmm. The second volume in this run of the x-men isn't all that much better than the first.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really bad stories, some mediocre stories, a few good stories, and a damned funny Dazzler story. But, on the whole, barely worth reading.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

mediocre collection of shorts.

[Sharon]

Individual issues on marvel unlimited

[Kate Egerton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's ok. None of the stories are really long enough to actually get into. fine for a quick lunch break but nothing more...

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun. A welcome change of pace from the usual death and emoting.

[La Revistería Comics · Rating 3 out of 5]

O más bien "distraer y entretener", algo que este tomo promete (y cumple) ni bien uno ve los autores involucrados. Incluye un mini semi preludio a La guerra del caos.