Sometime in the not too far distant past, someone at Marvel Comics decided it would be neat to move the Marvel stable of superheroes back to the 1930s and put them in settings reminiscent of the detective fiction of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. In fact, the series is called Marvel Noir. I’m not convinced it was a bright idea.
My first encounter was actually the second installment of X-Men Noir. Mark of Cain unites Logan, Cyclops and the Angel on a quest straight out of Indiana Jones: they are after the mystical Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, hidden in the Temple of Juggernaut in the deep jungles of Madripoor. Ranged against them are Charles Xavier and the X-Men, in this version a group of young sociopaths, in league with Emma Frost, warden of one of those prisons that have become so popular in superhero comics — possibly, not that I would impute a political subtext to any of this, mind you, because they are so popular among certain elements of American society, including the government.
There are, of course, layers of double-cross, not to mention forms of mind control ranging from simple torture through brainwashing to who knows what. And, of course, ample doses of simple, direct mayhem. Did I mention the sociopaths? Oh, and there’s at least one case of multiple personality disorder, which is about as persuasive as — well, it is, after all, a comic book.
It may be symptomatic of something that in the day or so between the time I read this volume and the time I sat down to write this review, I had forgotten the story almost completely. Fred Van Lente’s script is not the most coherent I’ve run across lately. Exposition is blatant (I find myself getting annoyed when one of the characters stops the action to fill me in on the backstory), characterizations are slightly better than rudimentary, and transitions are often abrupt. And it is kind of jarring to have the X-Men split into two groups working in direct opposition to each other.
Dennis Calero’s drawing has a lot more clarity to it that I had thought at first, although the overriding mood is murky rather than atmospheric and there are passages that are only slightly better than illegible. On the plus side, his smoothly modeled images do give the page a great deal of presence, and there are some frames that are quite striking.
I might have been in better shape if I’d been able to read the first X-Men installment beforehand, but I tend to doubt it. As for the Marvel Noir idea, I’m withholding judgment for the time being.
(Marvel Comics, 2010) This volume collects X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain #1-4.
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