Some people might not know this, but I arrived a little late for the X-Men party. It was already a crowded room, filled with white hair, bald heads, blue fur, and lots of yellow spandex. There seemed to be hundreds of mutants, while their fans numbered in the millionsand they were very, VERY passionate. This party was over thirty years old, and when I walked in, it felt like one of those classic moments where the record player scratched, the music stopped, and everyone fell deathly silent. All eyes were on me. Watching. Waiting to see what I would do.
It was awkward at first. I had never read an X-Men comic book. Back then, Nightcrawler was just another name for a worm. Wolverine and Sabretooth could have been sports teams, and Rogue and Mystique sounded like womens perfumes. And those were just their codenames, never mind their real names, histories, conflicts, and an endless amount of powers.
Unfortunately, there wasnt a family album or users manual to this complex universe, so instead of shyly standing in a corner, I dove in. I met everyone. I read the comics and watched the cartoons until I was as blue in the face as Beast. What I quickly discovered was that beyond the telekinetics, shapeshifters, and teleporters, X-Men contained a very poignant and relevant human story, one about outcasts.
There are times when we all feel like mutants. Whether its the first day at a new school, a new job, or leaving the nest and venturing out into the real world, our lives are dotted with periods where we just dont fit in. For most, the awkward moments might be temporary, but for some, they seem to last a lifetime. In our world this isolation might be a matter of race, sexuality, or religionvarious factors that cause us to feel like an outsider, even among friends and family.
These themes of identity and the struggle of a minority are what appealed to me the most. It gave the comic book a hearta message. Something that made me feel oddly comfortable among these misfits. I saw a bit of myself in these characters, and in a way, I became one of them.
So while my introduction to the X-Men came a little later than others and might have been a little awkward at first, it was the beginning of a friendship that has lasted to this day. A book like this might have made the introduction a little easier, but whether youre a lifelong fan or a new recruit like I was, think of the following pages as the X-Men family album that I never had. Just dont be too surprised if you find yourself becoming one of them.
- Bryan Singer
unless it another book its 75.00 at my borders!!!...is in 29 online??
and it was at my local Costco store
Amazon are selling it for $47.25, Barnes and Noble $54.00 and Costco are listing it as $44.99 and thats not even including packaging/shipping costs. Similar books like the DC Comics encyclopedia cost me much less than that so thats why i say 'expensive'.
