[BOOK REVIEW] X-Men: Days of Future Past by Chris Claremont

Title:  X-Men:  Days of Future Past

Author:  Chris Claremont

Artist:  John Byrne


Genre: Superheroes / Action / Adventure


Year Published: 1981


Year Read: 2012


Series: Uncanny X-Men


Publisher: Marvel Comics

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 11+ (Death, Fighting Scenes and Some Intense Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 
 

Brief Introduction:

As I read through these older X-Men stories originally written by Chris Claremont, I wondered to myself about how the X-Men stories were like back then versus how they are now.  The stories back then seemed to flow together nicely and the character interactions were fantastic and reading some of the newer X-Men stories currently being made, they seem to lose that magic that made them great in the first place.  But enough about my little rant on the state of the “X-Men” comics nowadays, this is about the most popular story in “X-Men” history since “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” “Days of Future Past.” This graphic novel does contain the popular story “Days of Future Past” written by Chris Claremont with artwork by John Byrne, but it also contains issues 138 – 143, so there are multiple stories in this collection that were quite enjoyable!

What is the story?

This collection of stories takes place after the events of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and the X-Men get into more adventures which includes the inclusion of a young Kitty Pryde into the X-Men! There are a total of six issues in this collection and therefore there are six stories that include:

Elegy – After the events of “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” Cyclops decides to leave the X-Men in order to cope with Jean Grey’s unfortunate death.

Nightcrawler’s Inferno – When Nightcrawler’s soul is stolen by an evil force in the Inferno, the X-Men along with Doctor Strange journey to the Inferno to save Nightcrawler’s soul from the evil forces of the Inferno.

Something Wicked This Way Comes and Rage! – Wolverine and Nightcrawler journey to Canada and not only meet up with the mutant team Alpha Flight, but they also discovered that a monstrous beast named Wendigo is on the loose in the Canadian wilderness!

Days of Future Past and Mind out of Time! – In this classic tale, Kate Pryde (who is Kitty Pryde in the future) goes into the past and takes over Kitty Pryde’s mind in order to warn the X-Men about the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants’ attempt at assassinating Senator Robert Kelly that will unfortunately cause a terrible chain of events that will cause the Sentinels to kill all the mutants in the future.  The X-Men then try to stop the Brotherhood of Mutants from killing Senator Robert Kelly in order to prevent this terrible future from happening!

Demon – On Christmas Eve, all the X-Men left the Institute to spend the holidays with their families, leaving Kitty Pryde by herself.  Unfortunately, Kitty Pryde will soon realize that she is not alone in the Institute when a frightening demon comes to the Institute and tries to attack Kitty!

What I loved about this comic:

Chris Claremont’s writing: As usual with most of the older “X-Men” comics written by Chris Claremont, Chris Claremont’s writing was truly excellent and exciting!  I loved the way that Chris Claremont makes sure that the readers understand what was happening over the years that the characters spent their time as the X-Men, especially in the first story of Cyclops telling readers about the events that happened while he was with the X-Men from the day he first became an X-Men to the death of Jean Grey when she turned into the Dark Phoenix.  I also loved the way that Chris Claremont portrayed the relationships between the X-Men, especially between Storm, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Wolverine and Nightcrawler as all of these members have an extremely close relationship with each other and it was hilarious seeing the witty banter that takes place between Colossus, Wolverine and Nightcrawler.  I especially loved the way that Chris Claremont wrote the story “Days of Future Past” as it was the first X-Men story where the X-Men deals with an apocalyptic future that would soon inspire many other apocalyptic themed stories in the future and the dark and dreary mood of the dystopian world that that X-Men would face in the future was done extremely well and I often felt so much remorse for the X-Men as they had to survive in a world where mutants were becoming extinct.  I also loved the story “Nightcrawler’s Inferno” as Chris Claremont clearly showed the close relationship between the X-Men and Colossus was just so awesome in that story!

John Byrne’s artwork:  John Byrne’s artwork was so fantastic and beautiful and I especially loved the appearances of most of the characters, especially of Kitty Pryde herself having a cute face and long and wavy brown hair (even though I often wonder why she is drawn with having a long face). I also loved the way that John Byrne illustrated the dystopian future in “Days of Future Past” as the world looks dark and dreary with images of buildings being worn down and Sentinels occupying everything in its mist.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this book:

The only problem with this collection of stories is that each story is a bit too long to read through as the pages are littered with information about what happened in past events and the characters are constantly talking about the limits of their powers and how they plan on defeating their enemies.  Now, I love stories where there is so much information about the characters, but in a graphic novel or comic format, it might be a bit too much for new readers to handle and you might get a “brain burn” after you try to read all the information about the characters and the story itself.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Days of Future Past” is easily one of the most memorable “X-Men” stories next to “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “God Loves Man Kills” and I am definitely sure that “X-Men” fans will take delight in reading this story!