Comics

X-Men #1 by Jed MacKay & Ryan Stegman

I've been (supposedly) getting back into reading regular comics for a while now — my first post about it was in February 2023, and that acknowledges I'd already been buying for about five months. My initial plan was to get caught up on 2000 AD, then start on my literal pile of US comics (as referenced in June 2023). The fact I'm filling in this backstory now probably indicates how well that's gone — i.e. not very. But, today, I'm finally starting... with a new(-ish) release, rather than any of my two-year-ish backlog. At least I'll be up-to-date on something.

Why this one, then? Well, Volume 7 or 8 of X-Men (sources vary, but either way: crikey! That's the perceived need for constant renumbering for you) begins the line-wide "From the Ashes" relaunch. Relaunches are really about attracting new/lapsed readers by indicating a new era or starting point in the narrative. I guess it's worked this time, in the sense that it's got me picking up various X-books. And that's why I intended to start reading straight away: because I've signed up for three or four of these titles, and rather than let them pile up for years, I'm gonna find out if I actually enjoy them now (you know, like a normal person would: actually reading the stuff I've bought. What a shocking concept).

That hasn't quite gone to plan: this series is already up to #3 (although I've only just received my copies of #2 and #3), but it's sort of ok, because the third of the three main series only began this week, so I'm not that far behind... so long as I do actually start them all soon, and keep them up...