X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (REVIEW) AT FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, 

Simon Kinberg, Hutch Parker

Screenplay by Simon Kinberg

Story by Simon Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn, 

Jane Goldman

Based on Days of Future Past by 

Chris Claremont and John Byrne

Directed by Bryan Singer

Starring Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, 

Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, 

Ellen Page. Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, 

Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Daniel Cudmore, 

Evan Peters, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, 

Josh Helman, Lucas Till, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart

Director Bryan Singer is back for an epic cross-time caper with X-Men: Days of Future Past. The latest Marvel Comics summer blockbuster merges the casts of the previous X-Men films and offers a glimpse at a not-so pleasant future.

Drawing inspiration from the comic book storyline of the same name, mutants in the future are forced to wear inhibitor collars or fear being eliminated by robotic Sentinels.

There are differences in the stories, however.

The movie doesn’t take direct cues from the famous storyline, rather it deftly adapts plot points from each of the other X-Men movies (Including Matthew Vaughn’s 2011 X-Men: First Class) to weave in and out of possible timelines. Are you a fan of Doctor Who and The Wolverine?

Singer delivers with this all-star cast and intelligent storytelling.

The movie opens on the future, as Bishop (Omar Sy), Blink (Fan Bingbing), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Kitty (Ellen Page) and Ice Man (Shawn Ashmore) fight off Sentinels. Our new brand of Sentinels are unlike any you have seen in the comics, more T-1000 than robot, with the ability to change form to fight the mutant enemy.

Before long, we’re treated to a meet up in China where surviving X-Men meet up with the old guard of X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Professor X and Magneto. Actors Barry, Jackman, Stewart and McKellen are of course all reprising their signature X-Men roles. 

Divergent from the comic storyline, Kitty has a new skill whereby she is able to send someone’s consciousness back into the past (reserved in the comics for Rachel Summers). In order to escape their current fate, someone must go back in time to stop the Sentinels from being invented. Wolverine takes Kitty’s place this time because of his healing factor and the fact that he doesn’t look all that different! 

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COMICS IN FOCUS: CHRIS CLAREMONT’S X-MEN (REVIEW) AT FORCES OF GEEK

“To me, it’s all one story. Because life is a single story” 

— Chris Claremont

To prepare for the cross-time caper that is Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, we were treated to a preview of Comics in Focus: Chris Claremont’s X-Men. The documentary produced by Patrick Meaney forRespect! Films and the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization includes  interviews with Chris Claremont, and other instrumental professionals involved in the Claremont Era of X-Men including Len Wein, Louise Simonson, Ann Nocenti and Jim Shooter. 

After Stan and Jack’s X-Men run, Roy Thomas and Neal Adams attempted to revive the book before it devolved into reprints and remained a essentially a third tier book.  May 1975’s Giant Size X-Men #1 was the shot in the arm the series needed to continue to prosper.

Written by Len Wein and drawn by Dave Cockrum, the success of the book prompted a renewal of sorts with former Marvel intern Chris Claremont starting writing chores on the book in August of 1975.

The new international team of mutants would have their life stories told by Claremont, Cockrum, John Byrne and Terry Austin for years to come. 

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EARTH PRIME TIME: KEY KICKSTARTER COMIC PROJECTS

Some of our friends are hard at work cutting out the middle man by raising money for their own comic book projects directly from fans on the popular Kickstarter platform. Here’s a preview of some funded projects that we will be learning more about in 2013.

Back in July, we gave you a heads up about Joe Martino’s The Mighty Titan comic miniseries where a superhero’s alter-ego is stricken with cancer. A cancer survivor himself, Joe’s comic is much a story of support from his friends, family and the comic book community at large.

In a little over a month this summer, his $12,500 goal was achieved and the fans will get some great bonus material when the book comes out.

The Mighty Titan - art by Luca Cicchitti

August gave us the incredible oversized multi-media experience TOME from super art collective 44 Flood. While many of the creators using Kickstarter also make a living off of comics professionally for large companies, the artistic vision of a Kickstarter project remains pure and authentic by bypassing outside input.

One of the projects we are highlighting today was created by Renae De Liz, who is responsible forWomanthology (now an ongoing series smartly scooped up by IDW). The Womanthology book has given the opportunity for over 140 female creators to see print, all from a successful grassroots Kickstarter campaign.

Peter Pan: The Graphic Novel — Vol. 1 is a fully funded project, with just hours left on the countdown at the time of publication. Renae De Liz and husband Ray Dillon are known for a variety of projects together, but most famously their New York Times Bestselling adaptation of Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn also published by IDW.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]