Comic Vine Review

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100th Anniversary Special: X-Men #1

4

Journey to the future to find out if the X-Men stand a chance at a happy future.

The Good

Despite having mixed feelings on some of the other 100th Anniversary Specials, it's always fascinating seeing what the future might hold for the X-Men. Robin Furth takes us to a future where Cyclops becomes the President of the United States. Part of the fun before diving into the story is reading the recap. There's a whole backstory to the events leading up to this time period.

We're used to pretty much all of the future timelines for the X-Men to be extremely cruddy. Despite Cyclops' new role, things aren't going as smoothly as they'd like. There is a huge faction that still stands against him. He soon discovers what happiness he does have will be torn away from him in a manner you might not see coming.

Throughout the story, we do get to see several familiar characters. It's great to see everyone at an older age. Unlike last week's Spider-Man story, this isn't a matter of having a sliding timescale or possible reboot 49 years from now. This is the current timeline and continuity, about two decades in the future. At the end, there is a bit of a message as to what may or may not be what the X-Men and Cyclops' fates should hold.

Jason Masters does a good job aging the characters. You can see the resemblance in most of them. Tiny details given to different characters will make you wonder what could have possibly happened to them between now and then.

The Bad

In some ways it's good because it ties this story more to the current comics but it's almost too tied to the current continuity. We largely see characters that are currently playing big roles in the X-Men books. We know the different members come and go over the years. In some ways it's hard to imagine so many of the current characters would still be so closely associated with each other.

The ending could open up some decent conversations. As the story is building up, when we find out who is responsible for the current problems, it feels a little odd. The reason has to deal with the current characters' future and it doesn't seem possible the 'person' responsible would have the ability to see their future.

The Verdict

The X-Men and future storylines go hand in hand. This 100th Anniversary Special gives us a look at the current continuity of X-Men in the future. It's always interesting to see what may or may not happen and Robin Furth does a great job in taking today's X-Men and putting them in a possible future scenario. Jason Masters ages the characters accordingly and you'll find yourself pausing while reading to wonder what might have happened to some of these characters in the time between. As a 'special' one-shot and future story, there obviously won't be huge repercussions for today's books but it's a pretty cool look at how the X-Men's world could be. The last page will make you wonder if that should or shouldn't be where the characters are headed.

26 Comments

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HopesummersFORtheFUTURE

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i liked it

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Grey56

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@mercy_ said:

I was......kind of super not into this issue at all. I felt that some of the writing was weak and the overall Jean Grey revenge thing was just.......no thanks. I'm so over that particular story thread being repeated ad nauseum in the X-Men universe. Time to move on to something new.

There were things about it that I did really like and generally I'm a fan of alternate timeline stories and 'how things could be' stories if only for fresh takes. But the entire basis of this story was....not a fresh take, and that really hindered my possible enjoyment of it.

almost too tied to the current continuity

This is a gripe I have with basically every future-timeline story. Standing on their own merits of was this an entertaining/good read is fine. But I always feel like people shouldn't give them that much weight or importance as a solid 'this is how things will end up' book. They're really alternate future stories (and I mean technically, this was, regardless). It was like X-Men: The End. I love love loved those stories. But they were so tied in with things that were going on specifically during that time period of the X-Men books that there was no way it was going to be long-term believable as a future that could actually come about. Especially when you look back at it now.

Mostly these are my thoughts. I do have one more though; instead of placing great talent on things which have already been done - why not roll the investment dice a little and offer a prestige one shot (or 3 issue mini all on premium material) that truly stretches the boundaries?

I am all for the bottom line and keeping your consumer base happy with their tried and true preferences; it keeps the publishers in business and allows me to keep reading. What I don't understand is, if this is a limited print & non-cannon story - why not truly try something new? Even at the cost of a possible loss up front - if it generates critical acclaim and fan interest - that can pay a lot of other costs forward.

Maybe I'm getting old - but truly I just will not spend my hard earned money on these tropes. Either do one of two things: give me great creators on established (read: not reissued/volumed every 2 years) titles or give me high quality 'else-world/what-if' stories that truly push the boundaries of cannon.

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brucecapell

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Edited By brucecapell

If anything this issue was all about Cyclops. Jean saves Cyclops yet again and even gives him his hearts desire. This issue felt like a fan fic.

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deactivated-097092725

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I have to say it. I have to. As much as I love the X-Men, even I can't spin this issue into something okay-ish. It was just awful. My gripes with it has been touched on by some of the posts above (enough with the freaking Jean Grey/Emma crap. For both these characters' sakes.)

There was the obvious ageing of Cyclops but not Emma. The presumption Scott would be stupid enough to do what he did and (be desperate enough to do it all because of his missing wife) and then, to top it all off, there's Wolverine? Like, seriously? Is Marvel not pushing this joke of a death on us fans right now, only to okay this piece of drivel? 100th Anniversary issue?

I think I need to not post everything I disliked about this issue. I want to enjoy my evening in.

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Teerack

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I didn't really like anything about this at all. The only thing I took away from this is it could take over fifty more years for Jean Grey to finish rebuilding herself in The White Hot Room :/

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narasinha

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@rubear said:

Let's look at details where devil always hid.

1) She began with Emma. "Ha, screw you Emma".

2) She choose to act after events cause this future, not prevent it.

3) She act not simultaneous, like Wanda create House of M, but step by step.

4) By her method she choose not mind-wipe, not reality warping, but erasing from existance.

You understand why this looks more like unnecessary psychological torture?

There is several editions ? In my digital copy Jean never say "screw you Emma" or anything like that. In fact, she never show speaking until the last 2 pages, in the white hot room and she doesn't even mention Emma...

Uh... the future Phoenix is preventing didn't happened yet : it is about to happen (Phoenix shows the future that is about to happen to Scott : "Look into my eyes, Scott, and see the future). Seems kinda right for a future to be (about to) happening before you can try to change it : Else you would keep trying to change infinite futures that wouldn't happen anyway. (Not that the whole stuff about time/changing future/changing past make any sense anyway)

I would say that "erase from existance" is what happen to the present/future when you change the past and replace it by something else. That's why, as Phoenix says, "technically they have never existed". Anyway, that's not even what is happening : Phoenix says that she needed "to combine her power with their life-force (not just Emma or the X-men but many mutant as shown a few pages before) to transform time and space". Naturally, this may be just a load of BS but why would she says that ? If you look at the last picture, you can see that Emma is still here in the altered space-time (and we can assume all the other mutants). She wasn't erased from all existance, only from the present/future that will never happen anyway.

I think some people are missing the point : It's not Jean. It's the White Phoenix (Both Scott and Phoenix stats it clearly). So it's a cosmic entity or even a god. By definition the White Phoenix isnt evil and isn't human. Such entity is probably not much concerned by petty vengence on Emma... In fact there isn't anything that is "about Emma" in this whole story...

Also note that Phoenix didn't went and promised anything to Scott. When he asked if he would be happy in the new reality, she didn't really answered but instead said that he would have what he most wanted. (not exactly the same thing)

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Rubear

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@akbogert said:

Side note: why does everyone keep saying this issue made Jean evil or vengeful or whatever?

She made it pretty clear that she did what she did because it was necessary to make sure Scott would abandon this world -- to prevent a terrible future. Sure, she benefitted from it, but this wasn't just a "ha, screw you Emma" move like so many people seem to have thought it was.

Let's look at details where devil always hid.
1) She began with Emma. "Ha, screw you Emma".
2) She choose to act after events cause this future, not prevent it.
3) She act not simultaneous, like Wanda create House of M, but step by step.
4) By her method she choose not mind-wipe, not reality warping, but erasing from existance.
You understand why this looks more like unnecessary psychological torture?

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deactivated-5baf755c5bf81

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Kreniigh

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That was awful. The X-Men came off as totally inept for no reason other than plot convenience.

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akbogert

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Side note: why does everyone keep saying this issue made Jean evil or vengeful or whatever?

She made it pretty clear that she did what she did because it was necessary to make sure Scott would abandon this world -- to prevent a terrible future. Sure, she benefitted from it, but this wasn't just a "ha, screw you Emma" move like so many people seem to have thought it was.

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akbogert

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Mercy_

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I was......kind of super not into this issue at all. I felt that some of the writing was weak and the overall Jean Grey revenge thing was just.......no thanks. I'm so over that particular story thread being repeated ad nauseum in the X-Men universe. Time to move on to something new.

There were things about it that I did really like and generally I'm a fan of alternate timeline stories and 'how things could be' stories if only for fresh takes. But the entire basis of this story was....not a fresh take, and that really hindered my possible enjoyment of it.

almost too tied to the current continuity

This is a gripe I have with basically every future-timeline story. Standing on their own merits of was this an entertaining/good read is fine. But I always feel like people shouldn't give them that much weight or importance as a solid 'this is how things will end up' book. They're really alternate future stories (and I mean technically, this was, regardless). It was like X-Men: The End. I love love loved those stories. But they were so tied in with things that were going on specifically during that time period of the X-Men books that there was no way it was going to be long-term believable as a future that could actually come about. Especially when you look back at it now.

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Transformers1024

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akbogert

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I thought this was the strongest of the anniversary issues. Not necessarily strong, but better than FF and WAY better than Spider-Man. I'm only getting them for the connecting covers, which on a side note tells me I've well and truly lost any sense of reason where comic books are concerned.

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jorgeareizaga

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JEAN GREY RULES!!

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derf_jenkins

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I thought the issue was ok. I didn't find myself hoping that I could read more of the story tho.

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Novemberx2

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I hope emma frost is long forgotten by the time of the really 100th anniversary. or at least used as sexual object anymore

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AndySynn

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Yeah, I felt generally betrayed by this and just that the whole thing was incredibly uninspired after the initial idea.

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Veitha

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Ehmm reaaallyyy?
4 stars?

4?

You gave Original Sin three stars and this terrible piece of crappy fanfic 4 stars? it's the worst comic I've read in a long time. I seriously threw up while reading this. And the ending--- how to disrespect two characters (Jean and Emma) at the same time.

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Rubear

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That was cruel.

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kivatt

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So basically Emma can never win.

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xrs10

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God this was horrific. I mean I gave it a chance after this review but no... just no.

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longbowhunter

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Haven't picked up a single one of these 100th Anniversary Specials. Though I do plan on buying the Avengers next week. That sweet James Stokoe art.

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lagozzino

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I saw this in the store and read a couple pages to see if would catch my interest and, honestly, the dialogue was so poorly written that I had to put it down. Everyone just sounded so stiff and without their usual voice. No one sounded like a person.

I'll grant that I only read maybe 4 pages, so maybe I just landed on the worst pages in the book, but it really did not come off as a well-written issue.

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ShadowSwordmaster

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This sounds interesting I might check it out.