God Loves, Man Kills (X-Men)

God Loves, Man Kills (X-Men)
Chris Claremont

To Sum: The X-men face off against a evangelistic foe, who turns one of their own against them. There are a lot of similarities (as well as a lot of differences) between this and the X-Men 2 movie. I would almost say that the movie was based off of the graphic novel.

Things to watch out for: There is a dream scene where a character is crucified, and the X-Men visit him in demonesque visages.* Also, there's a powerful scene early on between Kitty and her dance instructor involving a derogatory word for an African-American. In context, the word is needed to make the scene, and the point, work. However, in both cases, someone could get there knickers in a twist.

Where to shelve: Originally, this was printed without the Comic Code. What does that mean? It means it was probably intended for adults. I have this one in my adult collection, partly for themes, partly because of the religious aspect - Stryker is a Reverend and is the bad guy.

Marvel's website does list the book as being for "T+", which means 13+, with a caution that parents may want to preview first. I think I first read it at 15, so 13 seems a little young to me.

Who would like this: Most X-Men fans. People who want to read Watchmen, but it's checked out.

How I heard about it: This is one straight from my formative years. I picked it up when I was a teenager. I was very much into the "Classic X-Men" series, and starting to realize that there was a modern Uncanny X-men still running. I picked up this graphic novel because it still had the old characters - and my favorites : Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde.

* - I am trying not to interject too much of my personal life into this. However, when I had this as a teen, my dad flipped through it one day, and came across the part where the character is being crucified, and was not happy about me reading it. (I may have lied to keep it.) The crucifixion scene is eye catching, and seems to be where the book wants to open to.

Other reviews:

http://geoffklock.blogspot.com/2008/09/jason-powell-on-god-loves-man-kills.html (Not a glowing review, but gives you another view)
http://www.denofgeek.com/comics/98416/revisiting_the_xmen_god_loves_man_kills.html
http://www.thexaxis.com/minis/godlovesmankills.htm
http://io9.com/314748/must-read-x+men-god-loves-man-kills