What would convince a director like Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) to take on the project of adapting a venerable old comic series like X-Men for film, much less embark on a series of X-Men films, especially considering he had never even read the comics? This handsome volume more than ably provides the answer. It conjures a rich universe where mutants—the next evolution in human history, according to Marvel Comics—with names like Cyclops, Storm, Rogue and Wolverine become less muscle-bound action heroes and more grand, emotionally complex, mythological figures fighting prejudice and intolerance. Not surprisingly, the story attracted A-list talent like Singer and his laurels-heavy cast. The book's chatty opening text (which details Singer's introduction to the X-Men in all their mutant glory), the lavishly detailed art and storyboards, and complete text of the shooting script illustrate well not only the dedication of the members of the film crew to this peculiar mythos, but the ways in which they have expanded on it since the first film. The book will satisfy the desires of raving fans and the more cinematically inclined; it's a coffee-table book that both camps will actually read through, cover to cover; that great two-page spread of Wolverine in action doesn't hurt, either. (June)
