I didn’t have this in my pull list, and I picked it up on a whim as I liked the cover and the “old timey” vibe to it. I’m glad I did.It’s a bit pricier then your monthly books by $2.00, but it’s got a very unique feel to it, and that’s getting rarer these days. Also, if you have interest in the X-Men after the Disney purchase, and you have no desire to purchase Marvels back catalogue, this is a relatively good “jumping on” point to start from.

This first chapter was written and pencilled by Ed Piskor. Ed Piskor is someone who you might call an “Alternative artist”. He is a former student of the Kubert School ,and has done a variety of underground “minicomics”. I vaguely remembered seeing some of his previous work on a book called MACEDONIA about 10 years .He’s got an interesting style in that X-Men: Grand Design, actually felt like it was  written in the 1940’s and the art harkened back to the comic strip style popularized then.

The story itself is a pretty comprehensive “Re-telling” of X-Men lore from the very beginning. Obviously there are spoilers aplenty in these pages ,so if your new to the X-Men this may not be the best place to start your journey on their history. Having said that, if your a “X-Men completionist” this is a pretty cool gift of their history told in a very unique format. As alluded to earlier ,it feels like a 1960’s X-Men story told in a 1940’s comic strip style. Original in that aspect to say the least.

I’m not usually a fan of  comic “gimmicks”. I’ve seen enough Gatefold/Foil/Embossed covers to last me a lifetime, but the “yellowed” paper effect that they have brought to this book makes for a pretty cool reading experience. It even smells like older newsprint paper.Definitely brings a sense of history and reverence to the subject if nothing else.

If you’ve been an X-Men fan for years there’s not much new brought to this book ,other then the aforementioned presentation. I even noticed at certain points that were a few liberties taken with that documentation. Definitely more a book of “experiencing ” the X-Men then reading any new material from them. There is a neat bibliography in the back listing the timeline and issues in which these events took place.I thought that was a nice historical reference.

This book is Part 1 of a trilogy. Chapter 2 is already out, and the rest of series is expected out later in 2018  It’s not a “must have” for me at this point in time, but it was a cool read .

P.S Pop back by on Jan.23rd as i’ll be taking a look at IMAGE Comic’s “Days of Hate” which came out just this past week. Cheers for now.