Uncanny Origins #1: Cyclops
Writer: Ben Raab
Ink: Bill Anderson 

Maybe I should sent this book to Wil so he can learn a little bit of origin shiznit. Or maybe I shouldn’t because it’s so full of crappy ’90 slang and colloquialisms. But regardless, I always enjoy reading “Origins” series; it’s fun to see different writers take on the same character. This was a take on Cyclops I had never seen before, but it was far outweighed by its ’90s cheesiness. 

Why were the years between 1989 and 2000 so tacky? I guess that’s dumb question seeing as years before and after then were also cheesy, but I feel like the ’90s was an era unlike any other in the spectrum of cheese, corn, and tack. We had the Backstreet Boys and those tacky pants that I can’t remember the name of but had leopard skin and other crazy print (they were basically a form of sweatpants). We had movies like The Wizard and books like, well, this one. The funniest part was that everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Some of my prime years were spent in the ’90s. I was young enough to be part of the group that enjoyed what the ’90s was throwing at us. I thought Britney Spears was hot, and I felt sympathy for the blue hedgehog that was Sonic. I luckily never joined hold of the Pokemon epidemic, but I did memorize the Digimon theme song. 

When I think back to the ’90s, it still feels like yesterday. I don’t think of the world as much different today, but it was nothing like the world we live in now. Walking down the street feels entirely similar, and a luxury car today felt like a luxury car did then. All that has changed is technology, and while I know a lot of the older generations complain that society is falling apart with our “damn ipods and playstations,” I completely disagree. It still feels like yesterday. We still feel like the same people.

Now let’s just hope this financial crisis doesn’t tear us apart.