At this point, I feel as though the review should actually get around to discussing the comic itself, but I do think the points made thus far are important ones, crucial to the reading of the book. As a display of artistry, "X-Women" is undeniably fantastic. As a piece of entertainment, though, it's merely okay. There are some great character moments that hint at quite how good this comic could have been, but they are far and few between. With Claremont's plot returning to well-trodden "mutants losing their powers" ground, and his dialogue and narration as over-written as usual, it never quite gets going in the way it should. Forget the gratuitous imagery. The real way in which this comic does the female X-Men members a disservice is by failing to give them an adventure truly worthy of their time -" or, indeed, of Manara's. Read Full Review

"In Celebration of the Male Gaze"

X-Women #1
Words: Chris Claremont | Artist: Milo Manara | Publisher: Marvel Comics

**Review**

Full Disclosure I review Comics, but I also have a Facebook page and group called Bluelines: Babes, Cars, Comics and other cool $hit. This page celebrates the female form in every shape and size, real or imaginary. I wanted to preface my review because this story is right up my alley. However, I am very aware that this story would never be told in current year.

If you are sensitive to women being sexualized this comic is not the one for you. Milo Manara is an expert artist, but he is primarily known for depicting traditional variations of femininity and sexuality. The art direction is not offensive but if the comic were released in 2022 there would be significant changes, fair or not. If this book were released 2022 one or more characters would be LGBTQ, frumpy or morbidly obese.

What I liked about X-Women beyond the art is that the characters feel real and true to themselves. This is a testament to Claremont’s reverence for these characters. The X-Women are the characters know and love, but the setting is a lot more relaxed than that you would see in a regular comic. It is also refreshing that there is no social justice messaging in this book.

There are excesses to this story. The plot between Storm and the Pirate Captain is a bit overboard and I am surprised Marvel approved this plotline even in 2010.

Other than the cited gripes X-Women is an excellent X-Men story. I enjoyed it more than about of the 90% of the X-Titles released today and would like to see more from Claremont and Milo.

In Short: X-Women perfectly encapsulates comics before political correctness stifled creativity.

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