Mr. X Volume 1: Who Is Mr. X

by Dean Motter, Paul Rivoche, The Hernandez Brothers

Complemented by a special eight-page color feature, this entry in the cult classic series follows the enigmatic megalopolic master planner known as Mr. X, whose obsessive quest to build the ultimate... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743493346
• ISBN13: 9780743493345
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: iBooks
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.7" x 10.2"

Customer Reviews

WHO-- IS-- "Mister X" ?????

Designers Dean Motter & Paul Rivoche concocted the premise of a detective working in "Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS". Cool idea. A slew of promotional posters set the comics world on fire anticipating the series. But before the 1st issue was ever drawn, Motter got bored with the concept, and creative disagreements saw Rivoche walk without pencilling a single issue. Sheesh. DESPITE this, a dense, FASCINATING, sometimes stunning, if often flawed work emerged. Under a dazzling series of covers by Rivoche & Motter, The Hernandez Bros. (LOVE & ROCKETS) supplied the art for the initial episodes, which introduce the locale and the characters. We have Arnie Zamora, a gangster-gone-(not quite) straight, his faithful goons and his irresponsible moll, Patrice; Mercedes, the sweet-hearted waitress (my favorite character in the series); and the mysterious title character, who seems to be known by different names to quite a few people. "X" gets in Zamora's way, Patrice plays a joke on her man, and by the end of part 2 things take a VERY abrupt, surprising turn for "poor" Arnie. Parts 3 & 4 find "X" hospitalized due to an accident. While there, he hallucinates about his past... but is it really HIS past we see? A picture begins to take shape about who this guy Mercedes calls "Santos" really is, and one might mistakenly get comfortable by the end of episode 4. But then things go REALLY strange in Ep.5, "The Bizarre Death Of Walter Eichmann"-- when the man we've been led to believe "X" really is turns up, fills us in on a completely DIFFERENT view of events, only to get murdered before we're sure one way or the other. Klaus Schonefeld's pencils this episode, and his architecture seems to capture Rivoche's original intent better than the Hernandez boys; but I prefer their people to his. Ty Templeton's inks are sharp & refined. Sadly, the new team lasted only ONE episode. Schonefeld began his own "sister book", KELVIN MACE, a comedy (?) about a halfwit, excessively-violent detective who appears to operate in the same town as Mister X; while Templeton did the genuinely funny STIG'S INFERNO. Ty went on to do a lot of work at DC Comics (JUSTICE LEAGUE, etc.) while tragically, Klaus was killed in a biking accident after only completing 2 issues of his own series. Newcomer Seth picked up the ball for the rest of the long initial storyline. Frankly, his art is too "loose" for my tastes-- not just "cartoony" but like someone still learning how to draw people. Also, the "storytelling" is a bit more distant, dense and hard to figure out. It's been said one should either tell simple stories in a complex fashion, or complex stories in a SIMPLE fashion. When you have a complex mystery and the storytelling makes it VERY difficult to figure out what you're looking at, it can be a problem. At any rate, ep. 6, "The Revenge Of Zamora", sees a maddened Arnie, escaped from jail, out to get the people who did him wrong. As it unfolds, it becomes more and mor