Days of Past Future…
By JIM BEARD
By now, you’ve heard the old adage that you can’t go home again; well, legendary artist writer John Byrne has and he survived the experience, proving he can still fan the flames in the hearts his fans once thought cold.
What’s that, you say? In case you haven’t heard the hullabaloo — Byrne’s returned to the X-Men.
X-Men: Elsewhen Vol. 1 is the first of three hardcover graphic novels from the man offering a simple premise: What if he and he alone picked up the story after the cataclysmic (and yeah, even controversial) events of The X-Men #137 in 1980… and ran with it.
It’s a heady thought, one that X-fans and Byrne himself have pondered all these decades, but now it’s a reality thanks to what is essentially one of the biggest, baddest pieces of fanfic ever to be produced by a guy who is one of the most popular and successful creators produced by the Bronze Age of Comics.
Elsewhen has everything you could want from that classic early X-era — Professor X, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Sentinels, Magneto, Moira, Lilandra, and a clutch of character cameos that will make your 1980s old ticker flutter with excitement. And it’s all in that singular John Byrne style that you’ve missed all these years. (Click here to check out a SNEAK PEEK.)
It’s also a few other things, and I’m here to dig into it, Bunky. Face front and let’s X it up.
I won’t spoil the story here, but suffice it to say it’s crafted as something very much of the days-past Marvel era it emulates, being both episodic… and not episodic. John has an overarching tale to tell of the post-Phoenix story, sure, but with many sidelines, many “Oh, and this is going on over here, too” type of sub-plots. His writing—no surprise—is not that of his former co-X-creator Chris Claremont, but maybe that’s a good thing.
Elsewhen is story-driven, not necessarily character-driven. There is no excessive dialogue, no too-wordy inner monologues of character development. It’s not about that, which is the point, really. This is John Byrne’s idea of where things went with the characters after the conclusion of the Phoenix Saga. And he likes action. There’s not a lot of time to sit around and ponder the meaning of mutant life. There are Sentinels to smash, wonders to see, and not a few guest-spots to highlight.
As for characters, yeah, they’re all here—but also not all here. What I mean is that this is not your modern X-Men, not the literal army of members one expects today. Elsewhen follows the classic core group of fan-faves — Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, and yes, Sprite. That’s right: Sprite. Kitty Pryde takes Pride of Show herein, and she’s very much what you’d expect of the era, cute and implacable. Jean Grey, on the other hand, is… well, that would be telling. The story isn’t really about her, but it also is, if you take my meaning. It’s all part of what makes up the back story of the book.
And that’s another unique-cool thingie about Elsewhen. It’s Byrne acting like this is taking place in the early ’80s, but it also isn’t. It’s a version of the ’80s seen through the lens of the 2020s because our artist-writer knows where it went “for real” and weaves that into the story. It’s a time-traveler’s view of the past. It’s what “should have happened but didn’t, so I’m going to fix that.” And along the way, Byrne nods to his own future-past with appearances—not just cameos—by Marvel Universe denizens he would/did eventually take on to great prominence: the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, albeit versions of them you might expect from the early ’80s. Magneto is bad here, by the way, thoroughly bad, like he used to be. Refreshing in its way.
To borrow a phrase from another big franchise, it’s all very timey-wimey if you think about it.
The book’s art is classic John Byrne, sort of. (Yes, I keep doing that, but bear with me; it’s unavoidable with a project like this.) It’s all the dynamic layouts, designs, and details you’d expect from the man at his height — stuff I’ve actually missed over the decades — but now with age having crept in. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because a reasonable, rational person will expect and accept that. John’s older, obviously (his author photo knocked me over a bit), and it shows, but what’s also evident is the sheer exhilaration he must have felt while drawing these pages. Elsewhen was crafted for him, and him alone, with no supposed intention to see it published. That’s also apparent. He says in his introduction that the work drew him on and flowed out of him, capturing something within that he might’ve thought was gone, maybe forever. I believe that. No way you can’t when you just gaze at these pages.
The inking is sometimes rough, but a sit-up-and-take-notice happens when newcomer Paul Wills steps in to lend a brush. I actually thought those pages were the best of the bunch, and I wish there were more. The coloring is nice, too, giving Elsewhen another of those peeks into the “future” — we never had colors that nice back in the day. I almost wish they could have been more flat to evoke the era.
The overall production value is top-notch. Marvel/Abrams ComicArts gave it the quality and attention it deserves. John Byrne is back with the X-Men; how could they do otherwise? When the three volumes are complete, they’re gonna look mighty nice sitting on the shelf together. They’ll be keepers.
Is Elsewhen for everyone, every X-fan, every Marvel fan? No. I won’t try to gush around that one. Is it for all the Byrne Victims out there? Yes, definitely yes. This is pure John Byrne, tempered with age, absolutely, but also laced with a youth and an enthusiasm that speaks to what once was, and what could have been.
In a way, the X-Men never had it so good. Or will have. Or something like that.
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X-Men: Elsewhen Vol. 1 is a 232-page hardcover, published by Abrams ComicArts, under license from Marvel. It lists for $39.99.
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MORE
— SNEAK PEEK: Inside JOHN BYRNE’s Long-Awaited X-MEN: ELSEWHEN. Click here.
— PHOENIX: THE UNTOLD STORY Facsimile Edition Coming to Prep You for JOHN BYRNE’s X-MEN: ELSEWHEN. Click here.
