Angel:Revelations

it was a good week for the X-men. i went to the comic shop this week, and i bought a ton of comics. good comics. i don't read a lotta X-Men books these days, but among the books i got was Giant-Size Astonishing X-men (concluding the storyline of the ghettoManga Award nominated team of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday), which was really good (more on this later i think), but i'm really here right now to say that if you went to the comic shop and didn't pick up the first issue of Angel: Revelations by Roberto Aguierre-Sacasa and Adam Pollina, GO BACK NOW!!! i don't know why Marvel has picked now to do a Year One treatment of the most neglected of the founding class of the X-Men, but they knocked it outta the freakin' park on the first at bat.

After a long, productive stint in illustration and design that included work on the movie Terminator 3, video games like NBA Street 2, James Bond: Golden Eye, Def Jam: Vendetta Wrestling, God of War, and other numerous high and low profile projects, X-Force artist Adam Pollina makes his triumphant return to comics for the best reason there is: Love. "Marvel is allowing me a wonderful opportunity to simply draw, and hopefully make art in the process. I had to first leave comics to fully appreciate just how much creative freedom our industry allows an artist. I won't ever take that for granted." Pollina explained in a great interview with Newsarama from Heroes Con in Philly.

Pollina and Aguirre-Sacasa create a rich, eerie debut for the 5 issue Marvel Knights mini which expands and delves into the origin of Warren Worthington III, the high-flying Angel. the story frames the dawn of the Mutant Age in spiritual terms, as a young girl's visions foretell the formation of the Uncanny X-men, attracting a mysterious priest-like hunter who presumably will be the series' villain. "Really, it’s an expansion of the origin that was a back-up feature in X-men #54" explains series writer Aguirre-Sacasa, "But that was a five-page story and this is five issues, so the canvas is a lot, lot broader, and we could really make this Warren’s definitive, defining origin story."
obviously, this will be collected in a TPB eventually, but i can't help but recommend getting your hands on Angel: Revelations right now! i'm definitely gonna be copping the monthly issues as they come out this summer, and Revelations is getting the highest recommendation, being put on the BEG-BORROW-STEAL list for the summer!
holla!
-gM