Like I was saying yesterday, between GIRL COMICS and the Bushoujo statuettes, Marvel’s certainly giving its heroines a lot of love, lately. So when you want to complete that trifecta, who do you bring in? Legendary X-MEN writer Chris Claremont, who, among many other things, is known for giving mutants with that elusive double X-factor (get it?) a bigger spotlight. Marvel’s released a preview for X-WOMEN, a 46-page one-shot coming out this July from Claremont and Milo Manara, the superstar artist from Italy.
Here are some choice quotes from Mr. Claremont regarding this comic…
"There are pirates. There are dastardly villains. There's a plot to destabilize the world. There is Kitty phasing through a yacht parked in the harbor and discovering that there are things that happen on yachts that young ladies shouldn't look at. There are severed heads galore. Destruction. Mayhem. Storm being inflicted with the usual annoying Claremont cliché of 'Oh look, I'm the prisoner of a pirate. Oh, and he's married. And I'm getting shot at from both sides.' It's a classic scene where everyone else gets hammered to their knees and confronted by villainy and the more they hammer the taller Storm stands. If I can't poke fun at myself, what's the point? And thrill and excitement and hopefully a happy ending. And lots of ancient airplanes. Because, what the heck, it's my story and I like ancient airplanes."
Good to see that even as revered a writer as Claremont can poke fun at himself. Taking place a little out of continuity, the story concerns a sextet (seXtet, perhaps?) of Xavier’s finest - Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Rachel Summers, Emma Frost and Psylocke - - seeing their Mediterranean vacation interrupted by some dastardly pirates. I doubt there’s going to be any ABBA songs therein, but I suppose it’d be fun to conceive of this one-shot as MAMA MIA! by way of GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS.
Looking over Manara’s catalog of art, I’ll have to say that X-WOMEN looks to be a little toned down, but just as sensual, in comparison. I think this is the second such special X-project Claremont’s done with a European artist. I recall that he was working on a Storm OGN for a while with Igor Kordey. However, I’m not sure what happened to it. Can any of you resourceful individuals in the metropolitan Comic Vine community help me out here? Did that comic ever comic? Did it ended up being broken up and serialized as a mini-series?
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia. Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this April - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.
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