Book Review: Marvel Masterworks X-Men Vol. 4 by C. Claremont et al.

Marvel Masterworks: X-Men Volume 4 written by Chris Claremont, penciled and co-plotted by John Byrne, art by George Perez

The X-Men face a variety of enemies in this collection. They also get reunited with Professor X and other associates. Moira MacTaggert summons the X-Men to her island lab just off Scotland's shores. A powerful mutant (who happens to be her son) manages to escape confinement. The X-Men reunite with Jean Grey, who came to Scotland after the volcano erupted in Antarctica. Jean is being stalked by Jason Wyngarde, who psychically makes Jean have odd flashbacks to a life in the 1800s. In the fantasy he's created, she's enamored with him and plans to marry him. Jean becomes more confused as readers' understanding becomes more clear--Wyngarde is a member of the Hellfire Club, a gentleman's club in New York City full of powerful people who want more power. They are behind a lot of shenanigans and are clearly on their way to being the next big problem for the X-Men.

This series also sees the introduction of Kitty Pryde, Dazzler, and Emma Frost as well as the exit of Banshee, who seems to have permanently lost his powers. He stays behind in Scotland to comfort Moira after that story ends. The story is exciting, especially the ongoing Jean Grey plot. Her powers are only growing while her mind is deteriorating. Dark Phoenix is on the horizon!

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Ant-Man/Giant-Man: Growing Pains by S. Lee et al.

Ant-Man/Giant-Man: Growing Pains written by Stan Lee, Steve Englehart, George Perez, and Christos Gage with art by Jack Kirby, Don Heck, George Tuska, Jeff Moore, and Tom Raney

This anthology of stories focuses on Hank Pym, the scientist who discovered Pym Particles and was the original Ant-Man. The first story reintroduces him as Giant-Man--he uses the particles to make himself bigger rather than smaller! In the second story, he renames himself Goliath. In the third story he's going by the moniker Yellow Jacket. In the fourth and fifth stories, he's back to being Giant-Man (with occasional moments of being ant-sized if not Ant-Man).

In case you didn't deduct it, Hank Pym is both a brilliant scientist and a man suffering from a massive insecurity complex. So he has to fight both super-villians and his own feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt--often at the same time. The balancing of the two is hard to do from a story-telling perspective. The fourth story is the longest (a four-parter, the rest are single stories) and most successful at telling a story that combines outer conflict and inner conflict. Hank is working with a partner to use a variant of Pym Particles to end world hunger. Some side-effects cause monstrous insects to appear and various other characters exposed to Pym Particles (like The Wasp and second Ant-Man Scott Lang) to have serious difficulties with their powers. The overall problem is labyrinthine and eventually Hank Pym figures it out, but not until he's gone through a lot (including a stint in a straight-jacket).

Mildly recommended-the book is interesting but full of hits and misses.

Book Review: The Infinity Gauntlet by J. Starlin et al.

The Infinity Gauntlet written by Jim Starlin, pencils by George Perez and Ron Lim, inks by Joe Rubinstein, Tom Christopher and Bruce Solotoff

The mad Titan Thanos is resurrected by Mistress Death, who assigns him the task of halving the universe's population. He's filled his gauntlet with the six Infinity Gems giving him control over the Soul, the Mind, Power, Time, Reality, and Space. For all practical purposes, he is God. But he is also a madman, a nihilist, and in love with Mistress Death. If that wasn't bad enough, his main advisor is Mephisto, the Devil himself. Once Earth's heroes become aware of the situation, they marshall their forces to stop Thanos. But what can their relatively puny powers do against a madman with infinite power out to impress a female who is seemingly impressed by nothing?

Marvel launches another epic storyline where the slaughter of half the sentient life in the universe includes half of the Marvel heroes. The remaining heroes band together to fight the infinitely powerful Thanos. They also have their losses, leaving very few heroes until a late plot twist (which seems really obvious from early on) undoes the damage. Much like the Age of Apocalypse storyline, this makes an interesting "What if?" scenario that's undercut by the ending that returns everything to normal with hardly any consequences.

Such a story would be okay if it includes some interesting insights into or commentary about the nature of power or love, or the characters are well drawn and interesting. The most interesting character is Mephisto, who walks the thin line between sycophant and betrayer. Thanos himself is just power-mad and love-struck without any real genius on his part. He has some character development by the end but not enough to wow a reader. The other characters do their usual thing. Thanos's love for Mistress Death reads like generic character motivation, not genuine emotion. The reflections on his infinite power are more engaging but not particularly deep or insightful. The mythology about the Infinity Gems is interesting but is quickly glossed over. Maybe the story of Thanos getting the Gems would be more compelling than when he actually wields them.

Having a bunch of diverse characters band together to fight a villain is the main appeal of this book to me. The bigger issues were too flat and generic to make this a great epic.

Book Review: Wonder Woman: Her Greatest Battles by G. Ruka et al.

Wonder Woman: Her Greatest Battles written by Greg Ruka, George Perez, John Byrne, Gail Simone, Geoff Johns, and Brian Azzarello with art by many talented artists

Ares, Medusa, Cheeta, Power Girl, Superman, and a host of others (including the vengeful children of Ares!) face off against Diana of Themyscira, better known as Wonder Woman. This book takes seven single issues from the past thirty years and gives readers almost literally Wonder Woman's greatest hits. The stories are epic and entertaining, showcasing not only her amazing strength and agility but also her intelligence and integrity. She is a powerful fighter and often makes tough sacrifices in order to save the mortals of Earth.

The art ranges from good to great and the writing is very well done. Highly recommended!