Before I worked in comic book stores, I was biased reader. I liked most Marvel team books, and I liked Batman and his various close associates. That was pretty much it. In my earliest twenties, I got into the Vertigo line, but still didn't branch out that much, mainly as I was a casual reader who rarely spent time in shops. I started working in stores in 2007, and made it a point to read Whatever I could so that I wasn't a cliche, gatekeeping asshole like some of my peers. Some of this I owe to the fact that I was hired by two strong women (not like Wonder Woman strong, one was Carol Danvers level cool, fun, and in control, and the other was Mystique: confident, powerful, definitely needed mental health counseling that she wasn't getting). Apart from a few select stories, I couldn't get into Superman. I enjoyed some 90s and 2000s era Wonder Woman. I loved most of the Teen Titans. I liked The Flash when he wasn't battling villains whose power was that they could run. (I felt this way about the TV show in the 2010s, too.) I wanted to like Green Arrow and Black Canary but never did. And Green Lantern? Who could be bothered with color-coordinating space caps with magic jewelry? Geoff Johns helped change my perspective on both The Flash, and Green Lantern. And it was the lead up to Blackest Night that got me to go back and read as much post 70s lantern books as I could get. This Headcanon will be about building up to Blackest Night, and then have maybe a season or two of dénouement. While I haven't enjoyed much of the post-Blackest Night Lantern Mythos, there are still some books worth reading. This chronology isn't going to be precisely by publishing date, as reboots, reimaginings, and flashback stories get printed that improve on a legacy story to the point where the legacy story isn't really necessary to read anymore. If you're someone who loves the silver and early bronze age material, I'm sorry, there isn't going to be much of it here. This is going to be focused on modern storytelling. I'm setting up each entry as a television season of 15 "episodes", often contained in 5-7 trades...I'm not suggesting people read fifteen different books for each "season"...This is based on my readthrough of the series in 2015 but I'm rereading it and removing any books that are so out of print that you'd have to pay a small fortune on EBay for them. You should be able to get these at libraries, any store that carries graphic novels, an on DC Universe Infinite. Green Lantern Hal Jordan Volume One by Gerard Jones, Keith Giffen, M.D. Bright, Jim Owsley, and Romeo Tanghal Also featuring Carol Ferris, Abin Sur, Legion, Tomar-Re, The Guardians, Salakk, Kilowog, Sinestro, Tomy-Fai, Guy Gardener, Katma Tui Episodes 1 & 2: Emerald Dawn. The first arc is serves as a modern origin story about how Hal Jordan, who absolutely sucks in this story, becomes the Green Lantern. I like including this as a starting point because I think it's important to see what a bad person Hal Jordan was before he received the ring. It makes his downfall and later redemption more interesting when his origin story presents him as, not a heroic everyman, but a drunk driving loser who ruins his friends' lives. Also, the ridiculous Green Lantern trope of "willpower doesn't work on the color yellow" is laughably present. My own sidenote, when Grant Morrison took over this title in 2016ish, his first story was called "Intergalactic Lawman", and I always read it as "Intergalactic Lawnman". There is a wonderful panel in this book of Hal mowing a lawn with his ring. Episodes 3 & 4: Emerald Dawn II. Serving time for his DUI in the first volume, Hal breaks in and out of jail to foil bank robberies and other petty crimes until his cellmate is killed and he needs a lawyer to defend him. I honestly never knew Guy Gardener was a lawyer, and I feel like I've read dozens of books with him in it. We also get to see more of Sinestro, who briefly appeared as a background lantern in the the first arc. Now we see that he's a bit of a fascist on his own world. The jail storyline, and the Sinestro training storyline are nice counterpoints to one another. Green Lantern Green Arrow Vol 1 by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams Also Featuring: The Guardians, Black Canary, Appa Ali Apsa Episodes 5-7: Green Arrow. A collection of fifty year old stories that you can share with an comic "fan" who complains that comics are "too woke" now to show them that comics have always been progressive. The collection starts with Hal Jordan, who still sucks, rescuing someone who turns out to be an evil landlord. Green Arrow shows him who the real heroes and villains in the real world are, and Hal agrees to try and help him. It doesn't go particularly well, and then The Guardians seek to punish Hal for not being an obedient slave to the law. He and The Green Arrow convince The Guardians to send one of their members to watch them as they travel across America battling racism and capitalism. Several times they remind us that Nazis and Hitler were bad. So, if you missed that memo, it's here. It goes a bit off the rails at the end when Hal and Black Canary end up in a dimension full of Greek mythology, but it's a nice way of developing Hal Jordan's character by playing him off of Green Arrow. Green Lantern Green Arrow Vol 2 by Dennis O'Neil, Elliot S! Maggin, Dick Giordino, and Neal Adams Also Featuring: Black Canary, Carol Ferris, Black Hand, Speedy, Guy Gardener, John Stewart, Lobo, Appa Ali Apsa Episode 8: Peril. Lantern, Arrow, and Canary deal with an evil school, and we see what's happened to Carol Ferris in Lantern's absence in the most underwhelming issue of this collection. This is followed by a showdown with Black Hand, another underwhelming villain who's going to be important down the line. Episode 9: Speedy. A classic hokey anti-drug story where Green Arrow discovers his former ward is a heroin addict. It was groundbreaking in the 1970s. Now, it's...well-intentioned. This very important issue for Green Arrow lore is not very impactful for our Green Lantern story. Episode 10: What Can One Man Do. Finally, meet John Stewart. No, not the Daily Show Host, the second Green Lantern in our chronology. Another case of "well--intentioned" and "didn't age well", it is nice to see a Black Person Of Color getting his own Lantern Ring. Also, you will be shocked to learn that Hal Jordan absolutely sucks as a trainer of lanterns, and has a severe case of Institutional Racism Bias. Meanwhile, Green Arrow witnesses a riot that takes a Black child's life, and decides to run for mayor. Episode 11: Savior Complex. We begin with a Bad Story with, again, good intentions. An anti-pollution/anti-Capitalism story that ends with a character you've just met being crucified on a plane, along with Hal Jordan and Green Arrow. They survive, he doesn't. There's another story after this, but my brain was so rotted by the pollution/crucifixion story that now, two minutes after reading it, I can't remember what it was about. Green Lantern Sector 2814 Vol 1 by Len Wein, Dave Gibbons, and Gil Kane Also Featuring: Carol Ferris, Javelin, Shark, Predator, The Monitor, The Flash, The Wrecking Crew, Predator, Jason Bloch, Green Arrow, Superman, The Guardians, Kama Tui, Wonder Woman, Mister Smith, Arisia, Tomar Re, Xax, Arkkis Chummukk, John Stewart Episodes 12-15: Take This Job And Shove It. We end the season with a somewhat hokey 1980s set of stories where Hal Jordan returns home from space (I know, I know, why didn't we get to see more space stories in this series about a space cop? Well, um, they didn't collect many decent space stories from this era. I promise we'll get there.), after a year away and ends up protecting Ferris Aircraft from some really low-rent villains like The Javelin, and The Shark. Meanwhile, The Monitor, who is going to wreak all kind of havoc in the DC universe is sort of hovering in the background. Well, Ferris Aircraft is destroyed, and Hal Jordan, who, remember, SUCKS, decides to give up his ring so that we can spend next season with a better Green Lantern.
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Marvel editorial has never been interested in streamlining their stories in graphic novel form so that you don't have repurchase stories that are contained elsewhere. This isn't the worst of their crime but it can make reading a chronology of sections of their universe difficult. While we are about to get into one of the very easiest eras to follow, we first have a few odds and ends to clear up before The Age Of Apocalypse. None of these books made the official Headcanon. Cable & X-Force Omnibus by Fabien Nicieza, Tony S Daniel, and Terry Dodson X-Force: Cable, Cannonball, Boom-Boom, Rictor, Warpath, Shatterstar, Domino, Siryn Also Featuring: Prosh, Thornn, Feral, Professor X, Beast, Emma Frost, Banshee, Jubilee, Husk, Dani Moonstar, Reignfire, Locus This review is purely for X-Force #39-43, which aren't collected elsewhere, for the other issues, check out my reviews of The Origin of Generation X: Tales of the Phalanx Covenant, Cable Classic Vol 2, Cable Classic Vol. 3, and Cable & X-Force Classic Volume 1. This is an odd weird reset after the Phalanx Covenant where Nicieza decides to move the team to a new homebase by making "The Professor" (Cable's AI interface) sentient, similar to what they did with Danger a decade or so later, and then having The Professor have to leave, meaning X-Force loses their computer system and Cable's ability to bodyslide. It's the most interesting thing Nicieza has done with the team so far. It does seem a bit clunky to give the Professor sentience and immediately remove him from the title, especially so close after the Phalanx storyline, but it's at least an interesting clunky. We then see a focus on Thorrn, a Morlock whose sister was the former X-Force member, Feral. Because no 90s X-Team could lack a canine- or feline-like hero with an aggressive streak. (See Wolverine, see Wolfsbane, see Kylun, etc.) Eventually, the team gets some downtime with the new New Mutants, Generation X, and then has an uninspiring adventure in NY. None of it is terrible. It moves the team in a new direction, as the entire X-corner of the Marvel Universe is about to be thrown into The Age Of Apocalypse. It's just kind of eh. If you like 90s X-Force, this is a perfectly acceptable story but it's neither crucial to continuity nor intriguing enough for someone who isn't a die-hard reader. Cable Classic by Jeph Loeb, Larry Hama, David Brewer, Adam Kubert, Steve Skroce, and Ian Churchill 1st Appearances: Marrow Also Featuring Mikhail Rasputin, Colossus, Storm, Bishop, Thornn, Domino, Cannonball, Siryn, Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Phalanx, Stephen Lang, Psylocke, Caliban, Foxbat, Beast, Dark Riders, Genesis, Gambit, Rogue, Angel, Professor X, Lilandra This review is focused on issues Cable #15, and #17-20. My review concerning Cable #16 and Wolverine #85 are in The Origin of Generation X: Tales of the Phalanx Covenant, and can best be summed up by the fact that I mentioned the best of The Phalanx Covenant issues in Origin Of Generation X were also collected in Generation X Classic, Vol. 1, with the worst issues missing. They're in this collection. The non-Phalanx portion of this collection focuses on Cable forging a stronger bond with his father, Cyclops, and on trying to figure out what happened to The Morlocks when Mikhail Rasputin seemed to kill himself, and take The Morlocks with him. Issue #15 is listed as the first appearance of Marrow but she's sort of a non-entity only referred to as Sarah in this collection. Thornn is the remaining Morlock, who we get a better look at in X-Force. Later, Caliban joins in the Morlock research, which leads to The Dark Riders and their new leader creating a new problem for Cable and the X-Men. This is a decent book. Especially if you skip over the Phalanx storyline. It's clearly laid out to bridge the gap between the Phalanx and Age Of Apocalypse, and it does so, even if it does so a little unevenly and without an interesting throughline. Cable fans may enjoy it for the lore, casual X-Men fans probably won't be too excited by it. X-Factor Epic Afterlives by Kurt Busiek, JM DeMatteis, Todd Dezago, Scott Lobdell, Fabien Nicieza, John Francis Moore,Mtthew Friedman, Amy Meyer, Pat Broderick, Jan Duursema, Mat Broome, Bryan Hitch, Tony S Daniel, Ken Lashley, Paul Broges, Kerry Gamill, Roger Cruz,and Steve Epting X-Factor: Forge, Havoc, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy, Random Also Featuring: Spider-Man, Flash Thompson, J Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Prof X, Storm, Moira MacTaggert, Val Cooper, Quicksilver, Haven, Prof Power, Malice, Mr Sinister, Ruckus, Hairbag, Slab, Gorgeous George, Blob Another book where we're going to skip some repeated issues because of the Phalanx Covenant. So this review is for Spider-Man & X-Factor Shadowgames, and X-Factor #101-105 & 107. There's a typical Marvel editorial snafu where this book is supposed to focus on what happens after Jamie Madrox died in the previous volume but this story begins with a Spider-Man crossover where Jamie Madrox is very much alive, even though he contributes very little to the story. The Spider-Man crossover is not super pertinent to X-Factor fans. It mainly reminds you that they work for the government, and it involves some inconsequential villains who I don't think we ever see again. Once we get to the main X-Factor title, it's mainly about how they are all very sad that Madrox is dead, which is appropriate and makes sense for the title. It then sees a long-term member decide to leave, has Storm and Forge resolve their love storyline from X-Men, tosses in a good old government conspiracy that ends up involving Malice and Mr. Sinister, and even gives us Professor X trying to determine Haven's intentions in the last collection. It's decent continuity but not an exciting set of stories. Skipping, the Phalanx stuff, there is a battle with the former Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants/Freedom Force that will feed into LegionQuest, which kicks of The Age Of Apocalypse. That's a lot of plot description for some fairly boring stories. I enjoyed David's run on X-Factor but, several creative teams later, it is definitely falling victim to the law of diminishing returns. The villains are forgettable, the grief and self-examination gets tiresome as it continues to dominate the story long after its expiration date, and the jokes get flatter and flatter as the title is passed to other writers. ] The whole collection is sloppy, as it collects several different storylines that don't so much intertwine as interrupt each other. None of them are bad but it's neither fully coherent nor incredibly entertaining. If you're not a completist, this is a real easy collection to skip, since the best parts are collected in The Phalanx Covenant or Age Of Apocalypse Prelude. Rogue by Howard Mackie and Mike Wieringo Also Featuring: Gambit Belladonna, Storm A completely forgettable Rogue & Gambit adventure that I've often wondered where to place in the continuity. In the Age Of Apocalypse Prelude, it's mentioned several times that this adventure takes place between issues. While it should be an important milestone in Rogue's history, the writing is just so flat, and the plot is so drawn out (there's about eight pages of story in this ninety-six page collection) that I can't recommend anyone track it down to read it, even if you're super invested in Rogue & Gambit's relationship. There's nothing here worth reading. This is a very focused, if not very good, section of the X-Men readthrough. The first three collections focus on trying to untangle the Summer Family Tree by first sending Rachel Summers into a new future, then having her pull Jean Grey and Cyclops in, so that they can raise Cable, then showing us Jean Grey and Cyclops traveling back in time to interfere in the origin of Mr. Sinister, and wrapping the whole time travel angle up by showing us a bit more of Cable growing up after his parents and sister are removed from his life. The second half of this era shows unusual X-Men teams battling The Phalanx, leading to the introduction of the fourth Generation of X-Men: Generation X. This is a bit more straightforward and entertaining than the first half, except when, in the midst of a Phalanx battle, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Cable, and Wolverine end up having to take the entire time traveling saga and having all the characters figure out how that impacts their lives in this timeline. It's clumsy as all hell, and distracting from an otherwise fun story. The title in Boldface is something I consider Headcanon, meaning that if you're only going to read, say forty(?) of the over 500 X-books, this one should be on your list. X-Men Phoenix by John Francis Moore, Pascal Alix, and Alan Evans 1st Appearances: Ch'Vayre Also Featuring: Apocalypse If Marvel editorial really wanted people to get the full story of the Summers family's time traveling adventures in a sensible order, they would release a collection that began with Phoenix, then had The Adventures Of Cyclops & Phoenix, followed by the Further Adventures Of Cyclops & Phoenix, and ending with Askani'Son. Four underwhelming time travel stories that attempt to make sense of Rachel Summers, Cable, Apocalypse, Mr. Sinister, and how they fit into Cyclops & Jean Grey's family history. The Phoenix story picks up after Rachel disappears from Excalibur, introduces us to Ch'Vayre, who's going to pop up in two of the other three chapters of this story, and tosses in Apocalypse for a humdrum future timeline story. We also meet other characters who we know not to get attached to because this is just a setup story designed to let us know how Phoenix becomes Mother Askani. It does a real disservice to Apocalypse who's supposed to be being setup as this time conquering super-villain but who comes off as one of those weak 1960s punching bag villains. It's really difficult to imagine this version of Apocalypse becoming the focal point of X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic, Book 1. X-Men Cyclops And Phoenix Past & Future by Scott Lobdell, Tom DeFalco, Peter Milligan, Gene Ha, Kyle Hotz, and John Paul Leon Askani Tribe: Cyclops (aka Slym), Jean Grey (aka Redd), Cable (aka Nathan Dayspring), and Rachel Summers (aka Mother Askani) Also Featuring: Ch'Vayre, Apocalypse, Stryfe, Jubilee, Mr. Sinister I remember reading comics when this book was coming out, and seeing "see Cyclops & Phoenix limited series #1" and wondering if the Cyclops and Phoenix go into the future to raise Cable story would be interesting. There is a ton of story potential, and I knew nothing about it. Twenty years later, when Cable went into the future to raise The First Mutant Born After Decimation, I remember thinking "I wonder if this is anything like that old Cyclops and Phoenix story. Maybe the whole thing is a cool homage." No, Cable time traveling in the future to raise Hope was am interesting storyline, where they gave us new glimpses of characters' personalities, and seemed to be having fun writing an adventure story. Cyclops & Phoenix in the future is a dull slog. While it's interesting to see what happened to Rachel Summers after she disappeared in Excalibur, the main plot of Cyclops & Phoenix in the future doesn't add anything to their lore, Apocalypse's lore, or the Ch'Vayre who we initially meet in X-Men: Phoenix #1. Really, the only interesting thing is finding out that Rachel is Mother Askani, which...ehh. The second half of the book, where Cyclops & Jean end up in the past where Nathan Essex is slowly evolving into Mr. Sinister is also a slow-moving, uninteresting story which manages to add things to Sinister's lore that just don't make the character any more exciting. He had a sick wife? Ok. His kid died? Sure. He knew Charles Darwin? What is their relationship? Oh, they argue a couple of times when it's convenient for the plot but otherwise don't have a relationship? I guess that's fine. The best part of the Mr. Sinister story is John Paul Leon's art, which evokes Mike Mignola in the best possible ways. Overall, though, unless you're a completist, this is a completely skippable pair of side stories. Askanison by Scott Lobdell, Jeff Loeb, and Gene Ha Starring Cable (as Nathan Dayspring) 1st Appearances: Blaquesmith Also Featuring: Apocalypse, Ch'vayre, Stryfe, Zero Askani'Son isn't much better than the other time traveling tales. Lobdell tries to cram so much exposition in this story that there's no room for the plot to breathe or for any of the characters to do anything but move from Point whY to Point Zzzzzzz. Much like The Adventures Of Cyclops And Jean Grey Past & Future, this is a completely skippable side story that drains the energy of the larger X-Men story rather than giving us a new and exciting lore.. X-Men/Excalibur Road To Phalanx Covenant by Scott Lobdell, Chris Cooper, Richard Ashford, Eric Fein, Kim Yale, John Royle, Ken Lashley, Amanda Conner, Klebs Jr, Paul Abrams, Daerrick Gross, Hannibal King, Yancy Labat, John Romita Jr, Lee Weeks, and Joe Madureira Excalibur: Moira MacTaggert, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Captain Britain, Meggan, Ahab, Douglock X-Men: Prof X, Beast, Iceman, Angel, Storm, Banshee, Psylocke, Jubilee, Gambit, Forge, Bishop Also Featuring: Zero, Jamie Braddock, Amanda Sefton, Selene, Yukio, Emma Frost This is a review of a Trade Paperback Collection That Doesn't Exist But Should. X-Men/Excalibur: Road To The Phalanx Covenant featuring Excalibur #78-81 and Annual #2 & Uncanny X-Men #311-315. At the end of Excalibur #77, we get two pages of story that show Zero, a weapon left behind by Stryfe after X-Cutioner's song is on a mission of repair when we see a fusion of two dead New Mutants, Warlock and Doug Ramsey, seemingly fused into a new creature called Douglock. Issues #78-81 mainly focus on a pedestrian, poorly paced story about Zero and Douglock trying to Pinocchio into real boys while being doubted by Kitty Pryde and the newish form of Captain Britain. I can see why the story hasn't been collected, as it's not on-par with Lobdell's other work from the era. It does however feed into the Phalanx story which is big enough that it introduces a whole new X-team soon. Uncanny X-Men #311-315 mainly focuses Storm, Yukio, and Gambit crossing paths with Phalanx in New York and struggling to find its weaknesses. We learn that a few previous villains have merged with The Phalanx and that they are concerned that Douglock doesn't seem to be falling in line with their plans. This is also not Lobdell's best work but is a bit better. We also see Sabretooth briefly loose, get some more character time with Bishop, and we see how The White Queen adapts when she inhabits Iceman's body and learns to use his powers in ways he hadn't before. This is also not necessarily Essential X-reading but I am surprised it hasn't been collected in some form. The Origin Or Generation X by Scott Lobdell, Fabien Nicieza, Larry Hama, Todd Dezago, Joe Madureira. Andy Kubert, Jan Duursema, Roger Cruz, Ken Lahley, Steven Epting, Tony S Daniel, Adam Kubert, and Steve Skroce X-Men: Banshee, Jubilee, Emma Frost, Sabretooth Excalibur: Prof X, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Meggan, Captain Britain, Moira MacTaggert, Douglock, Amanda Sefton (as Daytripper) X-Factor: Forge, Havoc, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy X-Force: Cannonball, Boom-Boom, Rictor, Warpath, Shatterstar, Siryn Generation X: Monet, Husk, Blink, Skin, Synch Also Featuring: Jean Grey, Cyclops, Wolverine, Cable, Beast, Storm, Bishop, The Phalanx, Cameron Hodge, Steven Lang The beginning of this origin story for Generation X is really intriguing. All of Lobdell's issues in this collection are above-average X-Men stories about specific characters in the X-Men franchise trying to deal with a crisis where technology is evolving to kill them. They're well-paced, introduce the characters who will become Generation X, and are really fun to read. Fabien Nicieza's issues aren't quite as good but they're ok. He crams in too many characters and they get a bit disjointed but they're still recognizably part of the overall story and have some fun moments. Larry Hama's issues are unreadable garbage by a writer who wasn't up to the assignment of working on this crossover. In addition to dealing with the Phalanx storyline, he also tries to work in all of the time-hopping Summers family adventures which he does clumsily and unnecessarily. The first few issues had me thinking I was going to put this into the X-Men headcanon but it really goes too far off the rails during the Hama issues for me to recommend this to anyone. I'm not including the final issue in this collection (Generation X #1) because it also appears in the next book. 13. Generation X Classic Vol 1 by Scott Lobdell, Fabien Nicieza, Joe Madureira, Roger Cruz, Andy Kubert, and Chris Bachalo X-Men: Banshee, Jubilee, Emma Frost, Sabretooth Generation X: Banshee, Emma Frost, Jubilee, Husk, Sync, Monet, Skin, Blink, Chamber 1st Appearances: Penance, Emplate, DOA Also Featuring: Prof X, Jean Grey, Cameron Hodge, Steven Lang, Beast, Cyclops, Bishop, Angel, Iceman, Gateway, Nanny, Orphan Maker I mentioned that there were some really good issues in The Origin Of Generation X that were bogged down by some terrible ones. While this collection doesn't have all of the good issues from that volume, it has most of them, and none of the bad ones. So you get an intriguing X-Men storyline about the Phalanx that becomes the origin story for X-Men Gen 4 (Gen 1 is the original team, Gen 2 is the Uncanny Team from the 80s, and Gen 3 is New Mutants/X-Force). The adventure for How The Team Comes Together is fun, and once the actual Generation X story gets started, we get to see a nice evolution in how mutant teams exist. This isn't gorgeous Jean Grey the psychic and telekinetic with her nerdy suck-up boyfriend, the athletic Cyclops. There's no bouncing gymnast with snappy patter who is ostracized because he has big feet. Nobody looks like an angel, and nobody looks like a regular teen until he turns on his ice powers. When Paige is injured, she has to peel off her skin to reveal a new, uninjured body. Angelo's body has too much skin. And while Monet, Jubilee, and Everett look like normal teens, Jonathan appears to have a nuclear furnace where most people has a face, and the girl known only as Penance has a razor sharp body, not cool claws that they can push in and out of their skin like Wolverine, her whole body is razor sharp. It's basically a team of Nightcrawlers, in that they can't really hide that they're mutants. In their first set of storylines, they battle the parasitic Emplate, they have to figure out how to interact with one of Emplate's non-verbal victims, Penance, and then they're sent to rescue a mutant teen who's taken a class hostage because the school kicked him out. His powers? He doesn't have any. He's just physically deformed and has trouble breathing. But he's treated like he's a violent criminal who the police assume is bulletproof because he's a mutant. Despite a lackluster ending (The Holiday Spectacular is slightly holidayish but not at all spectacular), this is a worthy volume for my headcanon as we get to see a new team get together and we see new sides of Banshee and Emma Frost, who serve as the heads of the new Massachusetts Academy (you know, the school where Emma Frost was training The Hellions until she fell into a coma and most of her team died). The only negative caveat I have for this book is that if you really like the series, you should know that most of it hasn't yet been collected into trades. Despite an epic moment in X-history: the wedding of Jean Grey and Cyclops, this is a solidly forgettable era of X-books. While The Legacy Virus looms in the background, we spend these volumes following Cable and the X-Force through a series of Fabien Nicieza anti-climaxes, and experiencing an actually entertaining storyline where we learn about Nightcrawler's family history while also seeing what happens when Sabretooth ends up at the X-Mansion. I would absolutely read a collection that only included the Excalibur and X-Men Unlimited Nightcrawler stories and the Sabretooth parts of Uncanny X-Men (along with his first mini-series) but the way they're collected in these volumes includes a lot of dull stories that either don't lead anywhere or else don't have a humongous effect on any other titles. None of these books made Headcanon, though The Wedding Of Cyclops & Jean Grey came fairly close. X-Force Toy Soldiers by Fabien Nicieza, Matt Broome, Tony S Daniel, Rick Mays X-Force: Cable, Cannonball, Sunspot, Boom-Boom, Rictor, Feral, Shatterstar, Warpath, 1st Appearances: Reignfire I usually like to point out that, while it has been en vogue for over thirty years to blame the EXTREME pouch-filled nineties superhero garbage at the poorly drawn feet of Rob Liefeld, the real culprit is Fabien Nicieza, who has the writing skills of a damp crouton. Heaps and heaps of bad ideas stacked on top each of other, forgotten, left to wither in someone else's X-book. He is nearly always the worst part of any X-book that has his name on it. This is not true of this collection. The writing is mostly forgettable, he continues to try and cram some sort of accent into Feral because that's what Chris Claremont did with all his characters. Claremont was inconsistent but hid it by beating the reader over the head with the same catch phrases until the accent didn't matter. Nicieza just throws in the occasional colloquialism when he happens to remember it. His worst crime (and again, he's not the worst part of this book) is that he compares mutant rights to abortion, saying unborn fetuses should have the same rights as mutants. It's clunky and out of nowhere, and might have been something people seized on to complain about Nicieza but at this point in the X-Force run, anyone buying it was looking at the pictures and mouthing the words they don't understand. I presume most people dropped out when they started in on Immortal Cannonball and spending 1/3rd of the book focusing on Cable, who had his own book, also written by Nicieza. The worst of this book, though, is Matt Broome's art. His backgrounds are fine. His anatomy is no worse than The Marvel Way taught people in the early to mid-90s. His faces are sketchy abominations that aren't helped by sharing a book with a young Tony S. Daniel who hadn't yet hit his stride but already had a mastery of facial grammar and an ability nobody else at Marvel in the 90s had: he could draw a person with their mouth open and their teeth showing without it looking like they were taking a particularly difficult dump. The Rick Mays/Greg Adams' issue of Nomad (1992-1994) #20 also looks like a masterpiece in comparison. If you are super into Cable and X-Force, this might be fine for you. And while I made a cheap shot about mouthing the words and looking exclusively at the pictures, there's no shame in enjoying this book if you like the characters. If the jokes land for you and the fact that there's a character introduced in this book alternately called Adam X or EXTREME makes you happy, you should buy the issues and frame them. But if you're just a casual X-fan or you're looking for some underrated mutant books of the 90s, this ain't it. X-Men The Wedding Of Cycloops & Phoenix by Scott Lobdell, Fabien Nicieza, Kurt Busiek, Jeph Loeb, Glenn Herdling, John Romita JR, Andy Kubert, Aron Wisenfeld, Ian Churchill, Richard Bennett, Mike McKone, Ron Randall, Tim Sale, Ken Lashley, Tom Lyle, Jae Lee, Ron Garney, and Bill Sienkiewicz X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel, Banshee, Storm, Rogue, Psylocke, Revanche, Jubilee, Forge, Gambit, Bishop 1st Appearances: Threnody Also Featuring: Sabretooth, Moira MacTaggert, Maverick, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, Blob, Toad, Pyro, Crimson Commando, Phantazia, Jonathan Chambers, Peter Gyrich, Trish Tilby, Infectia, Mr Sinister, Gamesmaster, Silver Samurai, Amelia Voght, Shinobi Shaw, Tessa, Caliban, Stevie Hunter, Cable, X-Cutioner Bishop Mountjoy Crisis by Josh Ostrander and Carlos Pacheco 1st Appearances: Mountjoy Also Featuring: Storm, Prof X, Gambit, Shard, Forge, Bantam, Psylocke, Angel What should have been a story running in the background of X-Men: The Wedding of Cyclops & Phoenix, Mountjoy Crisis sees yet another time traveler from Bishop's future flung into the current X-timeline to wreak havoc. Theoretically, this expands on Bishop's origins and gives his character more depth but there isn't really anything interesting to add from this collection. It's told well, there just isn't really a full story's worth of plot here. Certainly not four issues worth. Ostrander is a decent storyteller and Carlos Pacheco's art is better than most of the ongoing titled, so it's a shame there isn't enough story to make this worth the read. Excalibur Epic Days Of Future Yet To Come by Scott Lobdell, Dan Slott, Evan Skolnik, Richard Ashford, Steve Buccellato, Ken Lashley, Terry Shoemaker Excalibur: Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Summers, Meggan, Cerise, Kylun, Micromax, Feron Also Featuring: Corsair, Hepzibah, Raza, Ch'od, Lilandra, Fang, Gamesmaster, Moira MacTaggert, Siena Blaze, Ahab, Spoor, Mr Sinister, Amanda Sefton, Captain Britain, Mystique, Graydon Creed, Rogue, Forge, D'spayre, Margali Szardos, Zero (I reviewed issues #59-67 as Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis, Vol. 3, I read #68-77 in issues) I struggle to think of many positives to this run on Excalibur. As someone who was already not a fan of the series, the constant shifting of a team I didn't really care about gave me a bit of motion sickness. Characters I didn't like or care about were given dramatic sendoffs, and then, remarkably, not replaced until the team dwindled down to a bare bones ancillary X-Men team. Once that happened, I actually started enjoying the book. I don't imagine that's the case with the people who loved Excalibur up until this point but, for me, a team of Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, and Rachel Summers trying to figure out their places in the X-Men universe was way more interesting than shifting through magic and fairy-themed alternate universes. The highlight for me was the issue where Nightcrawler joins up with Rogue to learn more about his parents. This is connected to a storyline in Sabretooth, and feeds into another storyline in the X-Men. This is the type of story I connect to more than A Bedpost With A Face Gains Sentience And Chews Through Barriers Between Worlds, Some Featuring Nazi Versions Of Heroes. If the latter sounds awesome to you, then you're a better match for Excalibur than I am. By the end of the story, (view spoiler) it seems like we're going to get a new status quo with a team more similar to the original Excalibur lineup than the trio we focus on at the end of this volume. We also get a peek at a villain who's going to be an important part of the next X-Force story. X-Force Child's Play by Fabien Nicieza, Jim Kreuger, Tony S Daniel, Darick Robertson, Paul Pelletier, Mike Weiringo, Brandon McKinney, and Arnie Jorgensen X-Force: Cable, Cannonball, Boom-Boom, Rictor, Shatterstar, Warpath, Domino, Siryn New Warriors: Thrash, Justice, Nova, Firestar, Kymaera, Speedball, Rage, Silhouette Also Featuring: Gamesmaster, Siena Blaze, Magma, Empath, Dani Moonstar, Husk, Icarus, Trevor Fitzroy, Shinobi Shaw, Graydon Creed, Fenris, Mantek, Forge, Banshee, Nimrod, Apocalypse, Saul, Gideon, Feral, Forearm, Wildside, Jade Dragon, Collective Man, Reignfire Fabien Nicieza's plots are usually inconsistent and tenuous. The first half of this collection is a focused storyline. Unfortunately for me, as a reader, it also heavily features another of Nicieza's teams, The New Warriors, who I'm not very familiar with, and who aren't very interesting in this volume. The overall plot of the first half, that The Gamesmaster and The Upstarts have set a contest to kill all the original members of The New Mutants and The Hellions is interesting. Unfortunately, like most Nicieza stories, it doesn't really end so much as fizzle out. There's no satisfying comeuppance but also no cliffhangers for any future storylines, it just sort of ends, mostly off-panel. The rest of the book is short stories about Nimrod, the Mutant Liberation Front, and the Externals. None of them are terrible but none of them are conclusive, either. Once again, Nicieza introduces some intriguing ideas and then gets distracted and the stories just end so we can move on to the next idea. I think you have to be a die-hard fan to enjoy the main Child's Play Story and/or the annual issue, which focuses on the Mutant Liberation Front. The rest of the stories in this volume are forgettable no matter how much you love X-Force continuity. There just isn't enough in this volume to care about ever reading it again. As we go deeper into the Lobdell/Nicieza Legacy Virus era of the X-Men, things are about to get fairly confusing. This is sort of a last gasp of logical stories for quite a while. While there are some phenomenal issues in some of these stories ("X-Aminations" and "Fatal Attractions", in particular, there's a lot of filler and a ton of continuity porn that ends up not being terribly important. There's also a ton of Genosha storylines which at least gives this era a strong feeling of purpose. As usual, anything boldfaced represents a highly recommended book that I include in my actual headcanon. 11. X-Factor Epic X-Aminations by Peter David, Scott Lobdell, Skip Dietz, JD DeMatteis, Shana David, Joe Quesada, Jae Lee, Chris Batista, Buzz, Jan Duursema, Terry Shoemaker, Paul Ryan, Greg Luzniak, & Cliff Van Meter X-Factor: Havoc, Polaris, Rahne, Quicksilver, Madrox, Strong Guy, Val Cooper, Forge 1st Appearances: Haven, Monsoon Also Featuring: Doc Samson, Random, Trish Tilby, Moira MacTaggert, Crystal, Prodigal, Amelia Voght, Unuscione, Katu, Colossus, Milan, Frenzy, Scanner, Kleinstock Bros, Rusty, Skids, Spoor, Sentinels, Robert Kelly, Cortez, Archangel, Icaman, Colossus, Cyclops, Prof X, Lila Cheny I'm skipping the X-Cutioner's Song issues in this volume because I already talked about them when reviewing X-Men: X-Cutioner's Song. The next issue is the story the collection takes its name from. It's part of David's farewell storyarc, and it's fantastic. It's each of the members of the team meeting with psychiatrist and Hulk antagonist, Doc Samson and trying to work out their benefits/problems with being part of X-Factor. It's a very twenty-first century issue but it came out in the early 90s. The team's trip to Genosha ends up adding a fascinating angle to the Havoc/Rahne issue as well as introducing the team to The Legacy Virus, which is going to ravage the X-portion of the Marvel Universe for years. We even see the introduction of a questionable guru character whose motivations and behaviors don't precisely align, as well as some inner-team turmoil when there's a possible betrayal. This is just a really solid collection of stories, especially if you skip the X-Cutioner's stuff. Nothing against the overall X-cutioner's story, it's a decent crossover but you only get three non-consecutive portions of it here which makes for a choppy and unsatisfying read. Otherwise, this is a must-have for Peter David fans while also being a decent primer for Scott Lobdell who does his best to keep David's charm while also adding his own ideas into the story. Cable Classic Vol 2 by Fabien Nicieza, Scott Lobdell, Glenn Herdling, Darick Rbertson, Dwayne Turner, Aron Wisenfeld, MC Wyman, Mike Miller, & Steve Skroce Also Featuring: Cannonball, Siryn, Sinsear, Zero, Domino, Mr Sinister, Askani, Tolliver, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Prof X, Kitty Pryfe, Rachel Summers, Moira MacTaggert, Omega Red, Amelia Voght, Unuscione, Katu, Colossus, Milan, Frenzy, Scanner, Kleinstock Bros, Rusty, Skids, Lee Forrester, Senyaka, D'spayre, Belasco, S'ym It's impressive that this book ends up falling victim to The Law Of Diminishing Returns given how terrible it begins. This is just a hodge-podge of half baked continuity ideas in a desperate attempt to make Cable seem interesting. It's a shame because Cable was interesting the moment that Louise Simonson introduced him. The idea of a time traveling military-styled leader of a generation of mutants is cool. The idea of him being the son that Cyclops had to send into the future to save him from a technovirus is also cool. But Nicieza's story about Cable being a clone of a villain or maybe the villain is a clone of him or maybe the moon is a potato clone of a dinosaur in chili sauce blah blah blah. Nicieza strikes me as someone who has never, in their life, completed a sentence. His ideas constantly shift, and they seem interesting on the surface but there's rarely any depth to them. He was sort of Vince Russo before Vince Russo was Vince Russo. This story is a mess. There's no reason to read it. Every time an interesting idea shows up (Lee Forrester is somehow back in the X-narrative?) it's squandered by bad 80's action dialogue (in a 90s book) and an aimless plot that doesn't take you to any of the potentially interesting destinations promised by the premise. If you love Cable, I guess you might like this. Otherwise, there's no real reason to bother with this. Deadpool Classic Vol 1 by Fabien Nicieza, Rob Liefeld, Mark Waid, Joe Kelly, Joe Madureira, Ian Churchill, Lee Weeks, Ken Lashley, and Ed McGuinness 1st Appearances: Slayback, Blind Al, T-Ray Also Featuring: Kane, Weasel, Copycat, Juggernaut, Black Tom, Banshee, Siryn, Sluggo, Sasquatch, Expediter Deadpool is as divisive a character in the comics as he is a beloved character in the Marvel movie franchise. It takes a really gifted writer with a particular turn of phrase to make Deadpool funny. Fabien Nicieza was never going to be that writer. And Mark Waid, one of my favorite superhero comic writers wasn't up to the task, either. While the comics in this issue aren't precisely terrible, they're just not very engaging. Whether it's Nicieza drowning anything interesting with the stupid Tolliver/Cable-adjacent storylines, or Waid's barely passable Juggernaut and the Cassiday family drama, I found myself waiting for this collection to be over, rather than hoping to see where it went. The jokes are mostly flat ginger ale. The pop culture references pick up a little at the end with Joe Kelly's issue but it still felt like an underwhelming beginning to Mr. Wade Ryan Bea Arthur Chimichanga Reynolds Wilson. I know the books get better because I've read them all before but I'm not sure I would have kept reading them if I'd started at the beginning. If you really love Deadpool and want to see his early appearances, I don't think this book is going to make you hate him, it's just not on-par with later volumes. Wolverine Epic Inner Fury by Larry Hama, Bill Sienkiewicz, Kent Williams, Mark Texeira, and Dwayne Turner 1st Appearances: Tribune Also Featuring: Jubilee, Rogue, Sauron, Sabretooth, Psi-Borg, Birdy, Mystique Apart from a very eventful issue that's also contained in Fatal Attractions, this is a collection of dull Wolverine stories that add nothing of interest to the character nor are they particularly fun or intriguing. I don't know why it's impossible to tell an interesting story in The Savage Land but it is. I feel like the writers who enjoy writing about The Savage Land eat a lot of Corn Flakes and think black pepper is a bold spice choice. Sauron should be an interesting character but his ties to the Savage Land make him a half-note dud. There's also some Jubilee background that I didn't need. I enjoy that we saw her in a mall scene, and then she followed a band of mutants to Australia, and was like "I'm going to hang out with Wolverine until they make me an X-Man." It makes her teenage aloofness/rebellion tenable when we only know the bare bones of her tragic backstory. I didn't need it explained upon. It isn't as disappointing as when they finally revealed Wolverine's origin but I do think it devalues her story rather than improving it. Sabretooth James Bond is a silly concept that doesn't work very well but it does include a ton of continuity points that are going to show up in various X-books including a pivotal Nightcrawler story in Excalibur. There are also some trite one-shots, including an environmental story that I believe was written and drawn by children. This is a hard pass for me. The only moderately interesting story is a collected in another trade. If you're not a completist, there's no reason for this to take up real estate on your bookshelf. 12. X-Men Fatal Attractions by Scott Lobdell, JM DeMatteis, Fabien Nicieza, Larry Hama, Joe Quesada, Brandon Peterson, John Romita Jr, Richard Bennett, Greg Capullo, Jan Duuresma, Andy Kubert, Adam Kubert, Ken Lashley, Roger Cruz, Cliff Van Meter, Jae Lee, Chris Sprouse, Paul Smith, Darick Robertson, & Matt Ryan X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, Iceman, Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Pylocke, Revanche, Jubilee, Gambit, Bishop X-Factor: Val Cooper, Havoc, Quicksilver, Polaris, Madrox, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy, Random X-Force: Cable, Cannonball, Sunspot, Boom-Boom, Rictor, Shatterstar, Feral, Warpath, Siryn Excalibur:Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Summers 1st Appearances: Exodus, Kleinstock, Neophyte, Spoor, Milan, Seamus Melloncamp, Empyrean Also Featuring: Magneto, Colossus, Forge, Moira Mactaggert, Banshee, Magick, Reed Richards, Thing, Captain Britain, Sunfire, Fabien Cortez, Frenzy, Unuscione, Amelia Voght, Sanyaka, Trevor Fitzroy, Shinobi Shaw, Gamesmaster, Tribune, Toad, Blob, Pyro, Phantazia, Gabrielle Haller, Charlotte Jones, Trish Tilby, Robert Kelly, Sharon Friedlander, Tom Corsi, Lilandra As you might guess by the volume of names above, this is a messy mega-crossover. While it has one excellent issue, and a couple of very important plot points for many future storylines, I have a difficult time recommending this. Mostly because it pivots around Magneto being a villain again. Yes, Magneto started as a villain, but he evolved into an anti-hero, an actual hero, and then into the murky era of being an opponent to the X-Men for a very valid reason that didn't cast him precisely as a villain. And then he died, fairly heroically. So to bring him back as a villain again felt really tacky, lazy, and not very believable. I've grown to like Scott Lobdell's books more than I thought I did, and I do think he tells some compelling stories in this volume, but the conceit of Magneto being a villain just doesn't work for me. There is a death, from The Legacy Virus, in this volume that was devastating when the issue was written, and it's devastating now. The story of grief from the perspective of Jubilee, Jean Grey, and Kitty Pryde is possibly Lobdell's best comic. It's certainly the best Jubilee story I can think of. But then we have a character I most remember from The Age Of Apocalypse (which hasn't happened yet), Magneto and his Acolytes, a couple of minor but recurring character deaths, and a huge Wolverine moment. So, I think I'm going to begrudgingly put this volume as a recommendation with the caveat that there's a lot of material, and not all of it is great, but all of it does feed into the major storylines, and it does make sense. We're about to enter an era of X-Men where most logic goes out the window, so I guess you should check out this, as one of the last bastions of decent, if complex and sometimes annoying, X-books before that era begins. Avengers/X-Men Bloodties by Bob Harras, Scot Lobdell, Fabien Nicieza, Roy Thomas, Jan Duursema, Steve Epting, Andy Kubert, John Romita Jr, and Dave Ross Avengers/West Coast Avengers: Captain America, Black Widow, Black Knight, Crystal, Darkhawk, Hawkeye, Mockingbird, US Agent, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Hercules, Sersi X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Storm, Rogue, Revanche, Gambit, Bishop 1st Appearances: Renee Majcomb Also Featuring: Magneto, Quicksilver, Colossus, Nick Fury, Peter Gyrich, Exodus, Fabien Cortez, Luna, Jenny Ransome, Trish Tilby Another messy crossover. This one is mercilessly shorter but has a ton of plotholes and doesn't really enrich the X-Men's storyline. I can't say for sure about the Avengers storyline, as I'm not super familiar with the 90s Avengers & West Coast titles. The weirdest plothole is that there is a very tight team of specific X-Men throughout this story. They go to Genosha to stop Magneto's Acolytes, as well as some rogue mutates, and then in the middle of a battle Angel and Revanche are just there, even though they did not accompany the X-Men to Genosha, nor were they already there. I think there was just a miscommunication between writers. I also couldn't keep track of all the Avengers characters. This is mainly the story of Acolytes wreaking havoc in Genosha and kidnapping Quicksilver and Crystal's daughter, Luna. This continues some of the fracturing of The Acolytes that we saw in the previous volume. It doesn't really have much of a bearing on future X-stories other than further connecting Genosha with Magneto, who is still suffering the effects of Fatal Attractions for the entirety of this volume. I do not recommend it unless you're an Avengers/X-Men/Acolytes/or Genosha completist. The end of X-Cutioner's Song is the beginning of a several year long era where the X-Men learn of, are effected by and must figure out how to overcome The Legacy Virus, a fatal disease with the impact of AIDS but nobody quite knows how it's spread. Stories involving the Legacy virus have varying degrees of impact. At this early stage in their understanding of the disease, it's more of a concern than a tragedy. Apart from the quirky but intriguing Skinner Of Souls storyline, this is a pretty tepid, wheel-spinning section of the X-Men Universe. It is almost entirely skippable, although the X-Force Assault On Graymalkin is fun if you're invested in the Cable/Cannonball/Sunspot storyline. As usual, anything boldfaced represents a highly recommended book that I include in my actual headcanon. Excalibur Epic Days Of Futures Yet To Come by Scott Lobdell, Alan Davis, Skott Collins, Mark Farmer Excalibur: Captain Britain, Meggan, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, Cerise, Kylun, Micromax, Feron Also Featuring: Black Panther, Captain America, War Machine, Widget, Knight Errant, Galactus, Alysdar Stuart, Death, Roma, Saturnyne, Ahab, Sentinels This book is split pretty evenly between an Alan Davis storyline, and some Scott Lobdell stories. Weirdly, it begins with Lobdell for two issues that take place in Wakanda and attempt to make the title feel more like an X-Men book, then we return to Alan Davis playing Chris Claremont's whackity-schmackity-doo, ain't-I-zany stories, and finally Lobdell returns and we're back to trying to tie stories into X-continuity. While I'm not usually a Lobdell fan, I do enjoy his work on this title more than Davis's. So far, no writer has been talented enough to make me care about Widget and the magic/dimension-hopping shenanigans of Captain Britain and friends. I think Tini Howard is very talented but I still found her run on Excalibur a snooze. The Wakanda storyline was, for an early 90s superhero book, a progressive story that toyed with tropes in a way that felt like it was from the early 2000s. If you're a fan of Alan Davis's work, you might love this. While I do enjoy his art, I'm not a fan of his writing so this wasn't for me. Lobdell fans will be disappointed that after the second issue the story goes in a wildly different direction, even though it seemed like Lobdell was setting up some interesting threads before Davis's return, and then introducing even newer ideas when he returned to the title. 10. X-Men Skinning Of Souls by Scott Lobdell, Fabien Nicieza, Dan Slott, Andy Kubert, Brandon Petersin, Richard Bennett, Eliot R Brown, Kris Renkewitz, Henry Flint, Steve Alexandrov, and Darick Robertson X-Men Blue: Professor X, Cyclops, Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue, Psylocke, Gambit, Jubilee 1st Appearances: Revanche Also Featuring: Jean Grey, Iceman, Storm, Darkstar, Magik, Omega Red, Shinobi Shaw, Matsuo, Silver Samurai, Psynapse, Foxbat, Gauntlet, Tusk, Barrage, Mesmero, Banshee, Moira MacTaggert After the team goes to Russia to deliver bad news to Colossus's family, bad news is delivered to them in the form of a mutant who has time-locked a town and enslaved Omega Red. This is followed by some nifty continuity tweaks explaining some characters' backgrounds and setting the stage for the complicated future that awaits everyone courtesy of The Legacy Virus. X-Force Assault On Graymalkin by Fabien Nicieza, Greg Capullo and Darick Robertson X-Force: Cannonball, Sunspot, Boom-Boom, Rictor, Shatterstar, Feral, Warpath, Siryn 1st Appearances: Sluggo, Double Trouble Also Featuring: Nick Fury, War Machine, Deadpool, Lila Cheney, Domino, Bridge, Grizzly, Hammer, Gideon, Saul, Val Cooper, Henry Gyrich, Crule, Yeti, Tigerstryke, Killjoy, Rusty, Skids, Copycat, Friends Of Humanity, Professor X, Trish Tilby Like many of the other X-books around this time, this reads better if you've read everything before it. I haven't changed my opinion that you need to have a PhD in X-history to follow everything that's going. I'm just saying that since I got my degree, I had no problem following the plot. Nicieza even seems to be maturing as a writer here. He's still more of an 80's action movie scripter than a superhero comic writer but he included more interesting character development in this volume that I would previously have given him credit for. If you love 90s X-Force books, this is perfectly fine. Otherwise, yea, it's messy and complicated, and not necessarily worth reading all the backstory to understand what's happening. Gambit Classic Vol 1 by Howard Mackie, Lee Weeks, and Klaus Janson Also Featuring: Rogue, Storm, Wolverine, Professor X, Gideon, Bella Donna In the limited series, Gambit's family drama takes him away from the X-Men and back to New Orleans, and a small diversionary trip to Paris. There are some External plotlines, some Thieves vs Assassins drama, some characters back from the dead. It's all pretty standard 90s X-fare. If you love Gambit, check this out. If you don't care about his life outside of the X-Men, there's nothing here you're going to enjoy. Cable Classic Vol 1 by Fabien Nicieza, Art Thibert, Ron Lim, Paul Smith, Klaus Janson, Brandon Peterson, Kerry Gammil, Ian Churchill, Paul Ryan, Bill Wylie, Jim Reddington, Rob Liefeld, and Scott Koblish Debut: Sinsear, Weasel Featuring: Kane, Hammer, Bridge, Grizzly, Vanessa, Domino The first four issues of Cable, are really the story of his sometimes sidekick/sometimes antagonist Kane who Cable rescued to the future. We follow his adventures in the future with Cable's dull team of cliche warriors, who somehow manage to be less interesting than his team of cliche warriors from Cable: Blood and Metal, until Cable shows up and we get returned to the "present" portion of the timeline. It's all fine. The plot is predictable, none of the characters besides Cable, Domino, and Vanessa, are particularly interesting. I also find the "mystery" of Tolliver's identity that runs through Cable, X-Force, and Deadpool fairly tedious. If you love Cable or Kane, and really want to see one of the many futures they exist in, this is worth picking up. It's never terrible. It's just never very interesting either. Before I started working in comic book stores, I had read a handful of DC graphic novels and a few of the more famous Vertigo books but I'd mostly dipped in and out of the X-Men titles between 1986 and 2005ish. 1991 was probably the year I felt most invested in. I read X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, and X-Factor in issues. When trade paperbacks became a regular things, I bought what I could find of the 90s X-runs. I was fully invested in what is, by and large, not a very good period of comic book history. These four books have some fun stories that are going to lead into yet another big X-crossover. While three of them don't make my headcanon, and I am highly critical of them, they're all still very representative of this time in comics. X-Force being representative of the absolute worst of 90s comics, and while it has been trendy to mock Rob Liefeld's art for over thirty years, an equal amount of blame must go to Fabien Nicieza who has brazenly moved from terrible idea to terrible idea for over thirty years now, and he still somehow gets work. X-Factor Epic All New All Different by Peter David, Larry Stroman, Dale Keown, Tom Raney, Kevin West, and Brandon Peterson X-Factor: Val Cooper, Havoc, Polaris, Madrox, Wolfsbane, Quicksilver, Strong Guy 1st Appearances: Slab, Gorgeous George, Ramrod, Ruckus, Hairbag Also Featuring: Mr Sinister, Stryfe, Hulk, Rick Jones, Betty Ross, Forearm, Reaper, Wildside, Thumbelina, Strobe, Tempo, Zero, Cannonball, Professor X, Cyclops, Cyber While not as iconic and near-perfect as his second run as X-Factor scribe in the 2000s, Peter David's 90s run did a wonderful job of fleshing out Madrox, Strong Guy, and Quicksilver who had always seemed fairly flat before this run. He also is the first writer to make a compelling Polaris storyline that isn't "she's crazy" or "she is too powerful and is therefore tied to some sort of portal so as not to make her an important part of the story." Her obsession with Havoc at the beginning makes it so that she Wolfsbane fail to pass the Bechdel test but as the series goes on, each of them is defined less by who they're in love with (Havoc, in both cases), and more with how their actions in battle affect them. The villain and hero names in this book are purposefully dreadful: Strong Guy, Hairbag, Ramrod? It's part of Peter David's career-long dad-joke plotting and narration. It is sometimes distracting in this early part of his X-Factor run but it's still a thousand times better than the non-plotting ADHD nonsense happening to The Extreme in some of the other X-books. For me, the art is the weak spot of this book. I don't think anyone, including Larry Stroman's mother, thinks his blocky anatomy is in competition with the Image Founders who are working on the other X-books, apart from Liefeld. Stroman and Liefeld are on equal terms as neither of them are exceptionally talented but they both have committed to stylistic choices that have defined their careers. That said, this book is easy to follow and not at all ugly, which can not be said about Stroman's return to X-Factor in the 2000s, which looks like it was drawn by a four year old with a bad cocaine habit and no concept of anatomy. This almost made my Headcanon. It's not the art that keeps it off the list, though, nor the dad jokes. It's just nowhere near as good as David's return to X-Factor fifteen years later, and I'm going to be including a bunch of those books. But I do recommend this, if you're jonesing for a 90s X-book, this is on-par with the two flagship books and miles better than the rest of the X-spinoffs. X-Force Epic Under The Gun by Rob Liefeld, Fabien Nicieza, Todd Macfarlane, Greg Capullo X-Force: Cable, Cannonball, Boom-Boom, Warpath, Shatterstar, Feral, Domino 1st Appearance: Kane, Bridge, Tyler Tolliver, Phantazia, Thornn Also Featuring: Stryfe, Forearm, Zero, Kamikaze, Wildside, Reaper, Thumbelina, Deadpool, Gideon, Sunspot, Black Tom, Siryn, Spider-Man, Juggernaut, Toad, Blob, Sauron, Pyro, Masque, Hydra, Baron Von Strucker, Sumo, Rictor, Wendigo Much critique of this title in particular, and this era of the X-Men in general, focuses on how bad Rob Liefeld's art is. While I'm not a fan of his, this fails to take into account that Rob Liefeld is a considerably better artist than Fabien Nicieza is a writer. There are no decent ideas anywhere in this book. Sure, there are plot points in issue #9 that are sort of relevant to other X-books, but is it necessary to read them here? Nah. I recognize that "Hey, there's a bad guy, let's have a two issue fight scene about it," isn't a surprise when you're reading a mediocre comic but the X-books were usually much more focused on characters and tended to keep fight scenes just a few pages long while building up things like suspense. Nicieza doesn't know how to do that now, and certainly had no idea how to do that thirty years ago. So we get sprawling battles with occasional weird reveals that are quickly retconned by better writers (which is most writers). If you like dumb, extreme violence from the 90s with the puzzlingly frequent use of the word zit, then this is the kind of book to pick up and laugh at. But if you're looking for a story? This is not the book for you. Wolverine Weapon X Unbound by Larry Hama, Marc Silvestri, Fabien Nicieza, Gerald DeCaire, Andy Kubert, and Darick Robertson Also Featuring: Jubilee, Sabretooth, Silver Fox, Professor X, Jean Grey, Nick Fury, Jubilee, Cyclops, Forge, Mystique, Albert, Elsie-Dee, Spiral, Mojo, Shatterstar, Gambit, Matsuo, Mariko, Sunfire, Skullbuster Cylla I haven't laughed so hard at unintentionally bad writing in a long time. The first issue deals with a bad boy who murders his dad, roughs up his mom, and kills indiscriminately to get his sweet, sweet drugs. It's written with the nuance and subtlety of a fourth grader who has never left their house, where they've been subjected to 1950s and 60s filmstrips about "greasers" and "pill poppers." I don't know that I can ever take Larry Hama's writing seriously again. I hope he also gets a good laugh when he remembers he got paid to publish this steaming pile of cow patties. Once the Don't Do Drugs Afternoon Special is over, Hama gets back on familiar turf, and while I don't love the story, it's miles better than that first issue. There are some decent character moments with Mystique, and an assortment of X-Men but the overall plot didn't grab me. The fact that the Elsie-Dee/Albert story keeps going even though it seemed like it was mercifully ended in the last volume is also disappointing. Unless you read this as a kid and have some nostalgic fondness, I don't see this being the kind of book a casual or moderate comic fan would enjoy. Marc Silverstri and Andy Kubert's art is Incredibly 90s but in a Top Of The Class at 90s Comic Art School sort of way. I wish the stories were coherent enough to be worthy of their art. If you liked the previous Larry Hama stories then I think you'll enjoy this one (apart from the first issue), and it does play off well against the early 1990s X-Men series fairly well, consistently using members of both the blue and gold teams. 9. X-Men Epic Bishop's Crossing by Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, John Byrne, Scott Lobdell, Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr, Andy Kubert, Tom Raney, Ron Wagner, and Rurik Tyler X-Men Gold: Professor X, Storm, Jean Grey, Angel, Iceman, Colossus, Forge 1st Appearances: Mikhail Rasputin, Bishop, Trevor Fitzroy, Bella Donna Also Featuring: Ghost Rider, Donald Pierce, Emma Frost, Shinobi Shaw, Roulette, Empath, Bevatron, Catseye, Tarot, Lady Deathstrike, Sentinels, Gateway, Sunfire, Gambit, Wolverine, Jubilee, Cyclops, Psylocke, Beast, Rogue, Opal, Mystique, Hiro, Callisto, Healer, The Brood This is an especially pivotal story if you're a fan of X-Men The Animated Series and/or X-Men '97. As you can probably guess by the title, this is the debut and origin of Bishop. We also see some stories involving Colossus's lost brother, The Upstarts' ascendence, the beginning of the storyline where we learn the X-Men were betrayed and ultimately killed by one of their own, and this is where we first see that Cyclops has a wandering eye when there are other hot telepaths around. You can't put all the blame on Emma when it was her turn to get caught in his cheating eye beams. This mainly makes headcanon because it packs a bunch of important 90s X-stories in just a few issues. Lee had great pacing here, and ideas that still resonate in modern comics. It's really a stark contrast between his books and the other X-books of the era. He just kept throwing out good ideas, and then moving on to other new ideas. He didn't abandon anything either, he just found ways to weave the ideas into each other. Brian K Vaughan gets a lot of credit for writing comics so that each page is like an episode of a show, and each issue is like a season with a cliffhanger that makes you want to tune in the next week. I'd argue that Lee, Whilce Portacio, and company were doing that twenty years earlier. If you like 90s X-books, this is your jam, your bread, your peanut butter, and the knife you need to spread them. It's well worth the read, even if it isn't An Absolute Classic story.
This was an overwhelming mess when I read it without the full context of the thirty years of comics that preceded it. It's a mistaken identity clone story, it's a family drama, it's a medical mystery, there's a few pages dealing with refugees, it's an intergenerational conflict, it's an action movie, it's A Lot to have to process without all the proper history before it.
With the proper history, it's ok. It's real strength is the combination of writers on this. Peter David had been writing dad-joke centric noir satire in X-Factor, Jim Lee and company had been writing classic superhero drama in the adjectiveless X-Men, and Fabien Nicieza had been writing family drama and time travel adventures in Uncanny X-Men while writing bland and unfocused action movie dialogue in X-Force. Together, the writing team tempered each other really well. David had to get focused on the intricacies of plot and inter-personal drama to balance Nicieza's action movie style so he dropped the dad jokes while finding a way to include the parts of his ongoing story that didn't seem like they meshed with the crossover. Lee and Lobdell seemed to be guiding the overall arcs to get the various books to move in new directions. Nicieza mostly got the fight scenes, which is clearly what he wanted to be doing. It made for a pretty fluid read. Again, if you've read everything before it. There was also an odd but smart visual connection that all of the artists did for this book. While many of them had differing styles, they all took the second and third pages of their stories and paneled them landscape style instead of portrait style, so you had to turn the book sideways after you read the intro page, and then turn it back for the rest of the book. It didn't add anything other than a visual connective tissue but it was a neat device. I had never realized before that Jae Lee, whose work I didn't start recognizing until he and David teamed up on The Gunslinger Born well over a decade later. Much of his work here is also focused and engagingly staged characters with minimal to no background images, which is a stark contrast to the noisy paneling of most 90s X-books. I'm going to have to do a read through of as much of his art as I can at some point. I also forgot that Greg Capullo was involved with this era of X-books. I've always loved his DC work, particularly on Batman, and I even appreciate his work on Spawn, even if that isn't my favorite series to read. So there's a lot to love, art-wise and editorially in this book. And if you're an X-pert (sorry) on Marvel's mutant section, I think this is a fun read but it was really frustrating as a reader who'd only read many X-books before, as opposed to pretty much all of them. So if you're a completist or deep into X-lore, this is a great pick. But if you're new to the X-books or a casual reader, this isn't where you should start. It's also annoying that these volumes heavily overlap but they also each include stories pivotal to the readthrough that aren't published anywhere else. Hoof. I'm almost at a major turning point in X-history, the Muir Island Saga/X-Men #1 relaunch. An era of complex storylines, new characters, bold reimaginings, and a lot of storylines that were just dropped because 90's X-scribes Fabien Nicieza and Scott Lobdell generally never have any idea what they're doing from page to page, nevermind issue to issue. But before we can get there, Alan Davis tries to make Chris Claremont's Excalibur run make sense, Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri change the focus on how Wolverine books are written, and Chris Claremont concludes his sixteen year run on Uncanny X-Men. Excalibur Epic The Cross-Time Caper by Chris Claremont, Alan Davis, Michael Higgins, Dennis Jansen, Rick Leonardi, Ron Lim Excalibur: Captain Britain, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, Phoenix, Meggan Also Featuring: Widget, Alistaire Stuart, Nigel Frobrisher, Bodybag, Joyboy, Waxworks, Gatecrasher, Scatterbrain, Thug, Brian Braddock, more people...I don't even want to transcribe things for these volumes anymore, I found them exhausting and painful to read. The late 80s phenomenon of Chris Claremont goes to the movies, or turns on the TV, and decides to satirize it in an X-book is one of my least favorite tropes of the era. Unfortunately, that's all this book is. He just tosses every nonsensical idea in his head at these pages, and they are insufferable to me. Oh look, there's a Dalek, oh, hey, let's throw all the Avengers into a page, Nightcrawler plays pirate again, now we're in the magical land of Bloogleflax where a fairy demon dragon princess falls in love with one of the characters at first sight and swordfights everyone with lasers. I hate it. I have some very good friends who I share some opinions with who absolutely love this run because it's so bonkers, and so invested in just feeding bubby nostalgia to the people who read it. I understand why that appeals to some people but I think it's just the dumbest writing, and it meant that, for several years, some of my favorite X-Men were just out of continuity in this stupid Cross-Time Caper, instead of being involved in any stories I might have found interesting. This might absolutely be a five star book for you but I am making a vow not to read this again unless someone pays me at least four digits before the decimal point. I want to just write "ibid". I'll at least credit the creative teams who tried out new ideas that were just too similar to Claremont's previous ideas. None of them made me care about any of these characters nor did I express surprise when every time a friend shows up it turns out to be a Nazi dimension duplicate or a war wolf. I find the whole 20th century Excalibur title an absolute chore to read. Excalibur Epic Girls School From Heck by Chris Claremont, Scott Lobdell, Mike Higgins, Simon Furman, Sue Flaxman, Dana Moreshead, Dave Ross, Ron Wagner, Tom Morgan, Bryan Hitch, Mark Badger, Dave Hoover, Gavin Curtis, Ron Lim, Brian Stelfreeze, Dwayne Turner, Butch Guice, Mark Leonardi, Erik Larsen, and James Fry Wolverine by Larry Hama & Marc Silvestri Vol 1 by Larry Hama, Marc Silvestri, Mike Mignola, Walt Simonson, and Alan Davis Also Featuring: Apocalypse, Archie Corrigan, Tyger Tyger, Puck. Lady Deathstrike, Donald Pierce, Bonebreaker This is a collection of stories from a series that you can tell is trying to get better but hasn't reached there yet. The opening story with art by Mike Mignola suffers from Walter Simonson's thirty years out-of-date storytelling. I don't mean that I am looking at it in 2024, and thinking it's thirty years out-of-date, that would be fine, it was written over thirty years ago. The thing is, I was alive and reading comics in 1991, and this seems like it came out thirty years before that. Well-intentioned maybe but definitely racist tropes, twists you can see coming from outer space, none of the characters behaving like they do in other books. It's just terrible, and while it's a cool look at what Mignola could do with Wolverine thirty years ago, it's not nearly as cool as what this book would have looked like if he'd made it ten years later. The Alan Davis material could have come right out of his or Claremont's Excalibur Classic, Vol. 1: The Sword is Drawn run. That's not a compliment. As for the thrust of the collection, Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri slowly move the Wolverine story out of Madripoor and into the wider Marvel Universe. That's a great thing. And while I enjoyed how they brought Puck into the series, I just don't have an affinity for Nazi storylines, particularly not after having read so many of the terrible Claremont Nazi-Universe Excalibur stories. Still, the story is good enough that I have hope for the next volume by this creative team. Wolverine by Larry Hama & Marc Silvestri Vol 2 by Larry Hama, Marc Silvestri, Peter David, Andy Kubert, and Larry Stroman 1st Appearances: Albert, Elsie Dee Also Featuring: Storm, Forge, Jubilee, Cable, Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Donald Pierce, Bonecrusher, Nick Fury, Masque, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Cannonball, Boom-Boom, Rictor, Warlock The saga of a widduh chiwud andwoid and a duplicate of Wolverine is better than I remember. I don't like it but I managed to get through it this time. I think I put it down after the second or third cutesy-wootsy turn of phrase the last time I tried to read this run. While hardly The Best Wolverine Story, it does feel fresher now that the series isn't stuck in Madripoor. Getting to see Storm, Forge, Cable, and Jubilee drop in and out of the plot was certainly more interesting than Jessica Drew and Lindsay MacCabe. Still, the story kept going well past the point of interesting. I felt like once they blow up a character, they'd be done with, but two characters have big finale explosions, only to pop again a couple of issues later. The collection ends with another fantasy-based Wolfsbane story. This is the first one in the Wolverine series but there were a few when she was a member of The New Mutants. I didn't care about those. I don't care about this one. I enjoy Wolfsbane the mutant with conflicted feelings about her religion and her place in a superhero team. I don't care about how she dreams of being a fairy princess and just might actually be one. While this is an improvement over the previous books, and I would definitely say Wolverine fans should peruse this and see if it speaks to them, it's not enough for me to add it to the Headcanon. Nor do I imagine I'll be reading it again. Excalibur Epic Curiouser and Curioser by Alan Davis, Scott Lobdell, Jae Lee, Doug Braithwaite, Will Simpson, James Fry, Steve Lightle, Ron Lim, Dwayne Turner, Joe Madureira, Malcolm Jones, and Rick Leonardi 1st Appearances: Numbers, Kylun (as an adult), Necrom, Micromax, Cerise, Feron Also Featuring: Alistaire Stuart, Saturnyne, Gatecrasher, Bodybag, Waxworks, Thug, Scatterbrain, Joyboy, Ferro, Chinadoll, Ringtoss, Widget, Hauptmann Englande, Roma, Merlyn, Professor X, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Wolverine, Gambit, Jubilee, Beast, Rogue, Psylocke, Jamie Braddock, Spider-Man Many writers, when inheriting a series that have gone well off the rails, will just clear the deck of characters and plotlines and start fresh. Alan Davis was the artist on many of the issues where Claremont heaped bad idea upon bad idea until the series was just an unreadable mess, this has been pretty much his m.o. since the late 80s. He's a terrible writer who can't even commit to his own terrible ideas. Davis takes the time to actually try and explain all the nonsense before he gets to his own stories. He reaches back into the origins of the characters and teams, or he offers new origins that enhance rather than contradict Claremont's ideas. It's a really sweet thing to do in order to make it seem like the previous issues weren't actually garbage, they just needed to be explained. The truth is, they were garbage. I still can't get into this team. I find their adventures silly, and I'm never going to care about Otherworld or Marvel's UK magic continuity. I can, however, respect that, using that continuity Davis writes about as interesting a story as you can. I finished the volume with a better understanding of Meggan and Captain Britain. I was also surprised that he spent the time to flesh out some of the Technet characters, giving them distinct personalities rather than just giving them names and powers and tossing them off-panel like Claremont did. Unfortunately, it seems to get caught up in trying to up sales numbers so there's an issue featuring the X-Men, one with a Spider-Man crossover, more X-Men stuff. None of it really works. Again, it's not terrible, it just feels flat. Technically, some of these issues definitely take place after a book or two in the next post I'll make about my readthrough, but this book is so inconsequential that it doesn't spoil anything or alter your reading experience if you read this first. 8. X-Men Epic Mutant Genesis by Chris Claremont, Fabien Nicieza, Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Peter David, Ken Laminski, Kirk Jarvinen, Tom Raney, Terry Shoemaker, Paul Smith, Andy Kubert, Jerry DeCaire, Ernie Stiner, and Steven Butler X-Men: Professor X, Forge, Storm, Banshee, Wolverine, Psylocke, Gambit, Jubilee X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel 1st Appearances: Foxbat, Gauntlet, Psynapse, Barrage, Hard-Drive, Askani, Shinobi Shaw, Fabien Cortez, Delgado, Birdy Also Featuring: Magneto, Apocalypse, Cable (as a baby), Captain America, Thing, Human Torch, She-Hulk, Cameron Hodge, Tusk, Opal, Trish Tilby, Charlotte Jones, Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Crystal, Karnak, Lockjaw, Sebastian Shaw, Shadow King, Lian, Rogue, Strong Guy, Moira MacTaggert, Legion, Siryn, Madrox, Colossus, Stevie Hunter, Val Cooper, Mystique, Polaris, Chief Magistrate Anderson, Matsuo, Nick Fury There's a ton of story packed into this penultimate Claremont storyline. Unfortunately, this trade starts with Fabien Nicieza's "Kings Of Pain" storyline already collected in the New Mutants Epic End Of The Beginning. Good news is, you can definitely skip it this time, if you didn't previously. From there we dive into the conclusion to the X-Factor/Apocalypse storyline, which adds the Inhumans into the mix, and has big consequences for everyone, especially baby Cable. From there, it's time to finally piece the X-Men back together as The Shadow King's rule over Muir Isle leads to the return of Professor X and a whole slew of changes for every X-Team besides Excalibur. This collection also features X-Men #1-3. Personally, I would have put this in the next collection, as it truly feels like the beginning of a new era, even if it also wraps up Claremont's FIFTEEN YEARS-long run on the title. I'll be calling the next post something akin to The Transitional Era, but that could have served to describe these books to. Cable shows up and helps The New Mutants evolve into X-Factor, Wolverine continues to do Wolveriney things, there's time travel shenanigans involving the Summers and Richards families, and even though Cable's been around for like ten minutes, we are already introduced to two villains who look like alternate versions of him. Oh, and we have another death, and some more roster changes on teams. Sadly, none of these books make the Headcanon. The New Mutants Epic Cable by Louise Simonson, Chris Claremont, Dwight Zimmerman, Ann Nocenti, Judith Kurzer Bogdanove, Peter Sanderson, Fabien Nicieza, Peter David, Rob Liefeld, Jon Bagdanove, BobHall, Terry Shoemaker, Art Adams, Bret Blevins, Mark Bagley, Chris Wozniak, and Gavin Curtis New Mutants: Cable, Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Warlock, Rictor, Boom-Boom 1st Appearances: Cable, Wildside, Tempo, Zero, Strobe, Forearm, Thumbelina, Reaper, Stryfe Also Featuring*: Vulture, Tinkerer, Rusty, Skids, Dani Moonstar, Nitro, Blob, Pyro, Crimson Commando, Super Sabre, Angel, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Mystique, Moira MacTaggert, Sabretooth, Caliban, Masque, Wolverine, Sunfire, Nguyen Ngoc Coy, Asgardians, Morlocks, Atlanteans Rob Liefeld has a justified reputation for being The X-Men Artist of the early 90s, and also for being ignorant of human anatomy and lazy about background images. There are scores of webpages devoted to people who love and hate his art. Peter David even wrote many a screed about what it was like to work with him in the 90s. And this is Very 90s. There are pages of his character sketches in this volume that could be easily mistaken for the DeviantArt sketches of freshmen year art students who went on to have successful careers in telemarketing, insurance sales, or designing Angelfire websites. There are some wonderful trainwreck pages where, because Rob Liefeld never bothered to learn things like perspective or, again, human anatomy, Cable has a teensy tiny head, shoulders four feet wide, and hips that could have birthed a Frost Giant. But, for the most, part you can really ignore the much over-discussed poor depiction of feet, and enjoy the bulk of this story for what it is. Louise Simonson introduces Cable, and has him quickly become the new professor of The New Mutants. It turns out he's heaps better than either Professor X or Magneto were. Sure, he looks like a military meathead, as drawn by Liefeld, but he is depicted here as caring about the students and wanting them to become their best selves at their own pace. There's no discussions of punishments or demerits, no yelling when they disobey orders, and when Cable does test them psychologically, he then discusses what he was doing with them, and breaks down how he thinks it could help them. I love that Simonson chose this direction for the characters. Unfortunately, probably because she has mainly written comics that were geared toward younger readers, her dialogue often explains things that one can see or infer by the art. It often feels awkward and unnecessary, but I also have to acknowledge that the writers coming after her are going to be far worse. The Simonson story, minus the Days of Future Past storyline, and the Summer Special by Ann Nocenti is solid comic booking. Not my favorite, and not enough to make my Headcanon, but an interesting evolution of the New Mutant team, and every character she wrote in this book became better because of how she wrote them. I'm going to review X-Men: Days of Future Present separately, but I should note that the Ann Nocenti special issue is Terrible. It's a middle school level critique of pollution and media and a whole lot of other things that deserve a more mature and measured critique than what's offered here. Yes, even in a comic about teenager superheroes, the bar for social discourse should be higher than it is in here. Still, for a late 80s/early 90s X-book, this is pretty decent, and if you're a fan of Cable, this should be a fun read for you. * - I have not included the issues that repeat in the Days Of Future Present X-Men Days Of Future Present by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, Jackson Guice, Terry Shoemaker, Chris Wozniak, Jon Bogdanove, and Art Adams Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Ben Grimm, She-Thing, Franklin Richards New Mutants: Cable, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, Warlock, Rictor, Boom-Boom X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel X-Men: Forge, Banshee, Storm, Gambit 1st Appearances: Ahab, Nocturne (unnamed) Also featuring: Rachel Grey, Franklin as an adult, Douglock Growing up, this was my least favorite comic series of all-time. I was new to comics, and loved the X-Men, thanks to the X-Men vs Fantastic Four, and liked the Fantastic Four, thanks to the weird version of the Fantastic Four with Wolverine and Ghost Rider. This book made no sense to me. While this is definitely nigh-impenetrable if you haven't read the X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, and Fantastic Four that feed into this event, the whole thing wasn't helped by the fact that the comics came out out-of-order and were therefore improperly labeled, so that you were intended to read this as Part One, Part Three, Part Two, and Part Four. While I feel that all the writers on these titles were past their prime (on these titles, specifically, they should have all moved on to other titles so they could freshen up their writing, and other writers could freshen up the title), the main problem was, as often is the case: Marvel Editorial. Reading it over thirty years later, it's ok. Not great. It's annoying at times but it's never incoherent, and it does make sense with the series that surround it. The main villain sucks, and the overall conceit is pretty unimaginative given that it's about time traveling reality benders. But I went into this thinking I was going to hate it and ended up thinking it was just mediocre. I still can't recommend this to anyone who hasn't read pretty much all the 80s comics that led up to it. But if you're down for some convoluted X-madness, this isn't even close to the worst crossover of the 90s. Marvel Comics Presents Wolverine Vol 4 by Dwight Zimmerman, Howard Mackie, Mark Texeira. and Paul Ryan Also Featuring: Archie Corrigan, Tyger Tyger, Ghost Rider After yet another Madripoor story where Archie and Tyger Tyger are in danger, we get the requisite team-up where Wolverine and another hero initially fight, and then team up to help someone. This time it's Ghost Rider. These early Wolverine stories are a tough sell for me. There just isn't enough character development or consistency as creative teams sometimes have less than twenty pages to leave their mark on this character. That leaves me with little to talk about except art and plot points, and neither of those things are very memorable in this collection. So, at least they aren't actively bad. X-Men Visionaries Jim Lee by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Klaus Janson, John Byrne, Rick Leonardi, Marc Silvestri, Michael Golden, Larry Stroman X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Banshee, Forge, Psylocke, Jubilee, Gambit X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel New Mutants: Cable, Cannonball, Sunspot, Boom-Boom, Ricctor Also Featuring: Professor X, Shadow King, Rogue, Magneto, Lillandra, Captain Marvel, Moira MacTaggert, Polaris, Amanda Sefton, Legion, Nick Fury, Trish Tilby, Gladiator, Deathbird, Corsair, Ch'od, Hepzibah, Smasher, Raza, Titan, Tempest. Bolt, Oracle, Lila Cheney, Ka-Zar, Brainchild, Skrulls The last couple volumes featuring the X-Men had the team split up into solo adventures. Here, they are brought together, along with X-Factor to set up Claremont's grand finale on the title, which is also the beginning of Jim Lee's tenure on the book. It is fun to see Claremont's hand gently nudged by Jim Lee's ideas, as we still get the intense continuity Claremont built over a decade but the stories feel more focused than they have since The Mutant Massacre Ignoring the issues repeated from Dissolution & Rebirth,, this volume sees Rogue battle her inner-demons (who happens to be Carol Danvers) before being shunted off to The Savage Land to help Magneto and Nick Fury battle the same ol' Savage Land shenanigans that always seem to be taking place. The rest of the X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants are trying to work out how to share the mansion, and maybe set themselves up as a functional military unit (Cable's idea) when Lila Cheney shows up and tosses the somewhat reunited, somewhat new X-Men team off into space where they are either saving Professor X from Deathbird or vice-versa. It's fun to see the new characters: Jubilee, Gambit, and Forge, have zero loyalty to Professor X, whom they've never met before, and thus help the rest of the team figure out the twists and turns of this plot. I would totally make this headcanon but I've had this trade paperback forever, and the few editions available online start used at over $50. But if you're an X-Men fan, and you can find this trade or the issues it contains, it's a treat that you deserve to read. Hopefully, it will pop up in an Epic Collection soon. New Mutants Epic The End Of The Beginning by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Jon Bagdanove, John Caponigro, Jim Lee, Rick Leonardi, Rob Liefeld, Fabien Nicieza, Marc Silvestri, Guang Yap, Mark Bagley, Terry Shoemaker, Tom Raney, Kirk Jarvinen, Jerry DeCaire, and Steven Butler X-Men: Forge, Banshee, Storm, Gambit New Mutants: Cable Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, Warloc, Rictor, Boom-Boom, Thunderbird X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel New Warriors: Nova, Speedball, Firestar, Marvel Boy, Silhouette, Night Thrasher, Choro, Namorita X-Terminators: Archie, Leech, Wiz-Kid 1sr Appearances: Deadpool, Domino, Gideon, Feral, Shatterstar Also Featuring: Trish Tilby, Stevie Hunter, Strong Guy, Lila Cheney, Cameron Hodge, Genegineer, Havoc, Wolverine, Jubilee, Psylocke, Moira MacTaggert, She-Hulk, Reed Richards, Dr Moreau, Robert DeCosta, Rusty, Skids, Blob, Avalanche, Crimson Commando, Super Sabre, Pyro, Polaris, Siryn, Madrox, Legion, Tower, Frenzy, Stryfe, Wildside, Forearm, Reaper, Zero, Masque The bridge between New Mutants and X-Force takes us back to Genosha for the decent but not wonderful X-Tinction Agenda, and then we get a series of issues where the old New Mutants leave the team, and Cable beings to recruit/offer refuge to an almost entirely new team rebranded as X-Force. It's a steady, if not spectacular series of stories. While the debut of Cable, in the previous volume of New Mutants provided us with an interesting new character, Deadpool debuts here and is nothing special. Liefeld had envisioned him as just another assassin with 1980s style action quips, and it would be a few years before he became an irreverent, fourth wall breaking character. Still, Liefeld's brief run as the head writer for New Mutants is decent, if not exceptional. Unfortunately, it's followed up by a series of annual stories called "Kings Of Pain" by Fabien Nicieza, one of the hackiest hacks to dribble his quarter-baked ideas over the X-Franchise. He doesn't get off to a good start here, as he throws New Mutants, New Warriors, X-Factor, and the X-Men into a nonsensical crossover where the government and two shadowy masterminds set out to...checks notes...create a new Proteus, a character the government has previously had nothing to do with? Sure. And on the last page, the two shadowy figures are revealed to be...Gideon, the advisor to Sunspot in the New Mutants, and Toad, the long ignored and mostly forgotten member of the Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants. It's a crusty goosehonk of a reveal that, like many of the ideas introduced during Nicieza's time with the books, goes absolutely nowhere. X-Factor Forever by Louise Simonson, Whilce Portacio, Dan Panosian, Eric Nguyen, and Aluir Almancino X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast, Angel Also Featuring: Opal, Mariko, Cable (as a baby), Apocalypse, Mr Sinister, Caliban, Cameron Hodge, Charlotte Jones, Trish Tilby, Sabretooth, Celestials, While I'm glad Simonson got to return to finish the storyline she was working on when the book transitioned from her to Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio, I feel like she crammed about twelve issues into the five she was given for this series, and it just doesn't work. She ties up the Apocalypse/Sinister/Celestials storyline in a brisk but unsatisfying way that even tosses in the destruction of Genosha, which Grant Morrison did with greater effect in New X-Men by Grant Morrison: Ultimate Collection, Book 1. Yes, this would have been a more epic end to her run than the actual ending, which is also included in this volume. But I'm not sure More Epic = Better. Her original ending story, where Iceman's girlfriend, Opal, is kidnapped by her birthfamily and becomes embroiled in a Yakuza War, was definitely Of Its Time, but it was pretty good for its time, particularly as it followed a series of over-saturated crossovers. There's no real reason to pick this up unless you're a massive Louise Simonson fan (and there's no shame in that, she was definitely one one of the more underrated writers of the late 80s and 90s), who wants to see how her story would have ended if it was on her own terms. While I didn't love this period of X-books, it was a nice change of pace from the preceding era of Magical Silliness and movie homages. This is the decline of the Claremont/Simonson era of X-books, as the titles are transitioned to Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, and Fabien Nicieza. While none of those writers are destined to be my favorites, they all, at the very least, bring something different after Claremont's decade-long stranglehold over the X-Men portion of the Marvel Universe. It takes to the end of this section for their voices to start to creep in, but their impending creative injections begin to crack the foundations here. You may note that, again, there aren't any books here that make Headcanon. That doesn't mean these are all bad. I'm just not going to suggest anyone but me buy/read 100 X-Men graphic novels, even that's not even 1/5th of what I'm going to read for the project. Wolverine Epic Madripoor Nights by Chris Claremont, John Buscema, and Peter David 1st Apprearances: Roughhouse, Bloodscream, Nguen Ngoc Coy, Archie Corrigan Also Featuring: Jessica Drew, Lindsay McCabe, Silver Samurai, Karma, Hulk, Sabretooth Wolverine's first ongoing series is the basis for a million future Wolverine cliches. The adventures take place in Madripoor, they have an element of noir, Wolverine battles organized crime and political power, he gets amnesia for a time, he runs into women from his past, and he's the best there is at what he does, and what he does ain't wearing Bret Hart onesies. After the initial issues by Chris Claremont, there's a tonal shift when Peter David comes in, drops in some humor and even has a few issues where Wolverine torments the Gray, Mr. Fixit-era Incredible Hulk. Since this is the template of most Wolverine stories for the next thirty years, you could do worse than pick this up and see if the title is going to be for you. But it's not necessary to understanding the X-books around it, and it's not so much fun that you should make an effort to read it. Marvel Comics Presents Wolverine 2 by Chris Claremont, Marv Wolfman, Erik Larsen, and John Buscema Also Featuring: Spidier-Man, Mary Jane Watson Even though this is a new, and very talented creative team, this is the same lather, rinse, repeat that we've seen in the previous Wolverine books. Madripoor, a woman in danger, corrupt police, a teamup with a big hero (this time it's Spider-Man instead of Hulk). If you love Wolverine comics, this is probably great. While there are some Wolverine comics that I love, and am excited to read soon, the early stuff just isn't for me. X-Factor Epic: Judgment War by Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, John Byrne, Art Adams, Paul Smith, Terry Shoemaker, Rob Liefeld X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel Post Inferno Storyline Also Featuring: Artie, Leech, Rusty, Skids, Rictor, Boom-Boom, Ship, Cable (as a baby), Wiz-Kid, Nanny, Orphan Maker, Blob, Mystique, Pyro, Dani Moonstar, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, Warlock, The Celestials, Professor X, Lilandra, Sikorsky, Apocalypse, Loki, Caliban The end of the Claremont Era, which was also the end of Louise Simonson's era in the X-titles, was sad to experience. The X-books went from a longform tale about overcoming prejudice with a subcurrent of soap opera relationships to a weird take on magic and alternate dimensions that just wasn't fun to read. After the dull but not terrible X-Men: Inferno, Vol. 1 crossover the X-Factor team has a brief battle with gold-greedy demons in the UK, and then is shunted off into space by their Ship for reasons neither it, nor the writers can explain. They just wanted a space story and couldn't figure out how to move from New York Is Overrun By Demons to Let's Go To Space And Have Conan The Barbarian Story logically, so they just tossed in a random plot device. In theory, I was happy we were moving on from the Jean/Madelyne/Phoenix storyline, as well as getting out of Magic New York. But this wasn't the direction I was hoping it would go. I was incredibly bored by the entire space saga. When I finished reading the last issue, I tried to think back to what I liked and didn't like, and my mind was blank. It was as though I'd sleepread this. This runs parallel to Excalibur hopping around the multiverse with Widget, and the X-Men each doing their own things while presumed dead in Australia. None of it was fun to read, and none of it has really been revisited in any other popular or fun storylines. I can't really recommend this to anyone but completists. Essential X-Factor Vol 4 by Louise Simonson, Peter David, Terry Shoemaker, Colleen Doran, John Byrne, Ralph Macchio, Mark Gruenwald, and Peter Sanderson X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel 1st Appearances: Charlotte Jones, Opal Also Featuring: Apocalypse, Caliban, Ship, Sabretooth, Trish Tilby, Cable (as a baby), The Locust, Colossus, Mesmero, Vera, Infectia, Forge, Banshee, Cameron Hodge ***I read these in issue form, rather than the black and white trade paperback*** I hope they release an epic collection version of this run soon. It is a warm breath of fresh air after the stale and unfortunately paced magic and space saga in X-Factor Epic Collection: Judgement War. The literal grounding of the story back in Manhattan, the addition of new human characters: Charlotte Jones and Opal, and more of a focus on the team's internal relationships are a vast improvement. That I don't really care about the villains in this volume isn't necessarily a drawback. The antagonists Simonson has chosen for this book seem to specifically compliment X-Factor's backstories. While not an all-time classic, this is right up there with some of the more underrated versions of Chris Claremont's early 80s run on X-Men. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys the more Downtime issues of the X-books where we get to explore their relationships and character growth. Wolverine Epic Back To Basics by Archie Goodwin, John Byrne, Peter David, Walter Simonson, Mike Mignola, Jo Duffy, Gene Colon, John Buscema, Klaus Janson, Barry Kitson, and Bill Jaaska 1st Appearances: Tiger Shark, La Bandera Also Featuring: Storm, Gateway, Roughhouse, Bloodscream, Tyger Tyger, Archie Corrigan, Daredevil, Nuke, Havoc, Psylocke, Colossus, Dazzler, Magneto, Karma, Jessica Drew, Lindsay McCabe, Nguyen Ngoc Coy More of the same from the first volume. Wolverine is in Madripoor, sometimes in his Patch disguise. He's battling criminals and assassins. His stories border on noir. The only slight difference between these volumes is that we are given two quick glances of his life outside Madripoor that firmly set this as the time when the X-Men are believed dead and operating out of the Australian Outback. Otherwise, these stories could have taken place at any time. If you love Wolverine books, this is part of the early template but it's neither the very first nor anywhere near the very best of Wolverine's solo books, so it can easily be skipped over. Marvel Comics Presents Wolverine Vol 3 by Rob Liefeld, Fabien Nicieza, Michael Higgins, and Dave Ross Also Featuring: Wildchild, Heather Hudson, Hulk, Mimic Wolverine's solo adventures finally move away from Madripoor for a bit, as he ends up back in Canada and embroiled in more Alpha Flight drama, as Wildchild goes on a killing spree, and Heather Hudson joins in the investigation to take him down. Because it's a Fabien Nicieza story, it doesn't really go anywhere in the end, and proves inessential to Wolverine continuity. The second storyarc brings The Hulk and Mimic back into the fold for an interesting, if inessential Wolverine story. This is actually the kind I prefer. Even though it's by no means great, you can tell the author, [author:Michael Higgins|243378] is having fun, and the low stakes story seems to serve as a bit of a model for how The Animated Series treated Wolverine and Mimic's relationship. Worth it for Wolverine fans, and pretty decent if you skip over the Nicieza story. X-Men Epic: Dissolution & Rebirth by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Rick Leonardi, Kieron Dwyer, Bill Jaaska, Mike Collins, Whilce Portacio, and Rob Liefeld X-Men Dissolution: Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Havoc, Rogue, Psylocke, Longshot, Dazzler, Jubilee X-Men Rebirth: Forge, Moira MacTaggert, Banshee, Polaris, Amanda Sefton, Callisto, Legion, Alysande Stuart, Sunder 1st Appearances: Jubilee, Matsuo Tsurayaba, Kwannon (shhhh...we're not supposed to know this), Gambit Also Featuring: Tessa, Robert Kelly, Sebastian Shaw, Master Mold, Nanny, Orphan Maker, Donald Pierce, Lady Deathstrike, Bonebreaker, Skullbuster, Pretty Boy, Reese, Cole, Macon, Ricochet Rita, Spiral, Gateway, Barbarus, Amphibius, Ka-Zar, Shanna, Magneto, Sharon Friedlander, Masque, Destiny, Mystique, The Hand, Avalanche, Val Cooper, Pyro, Stonewall, The Mandarin, Captain Britain, Jamie Braddock, Mojo, Doug Ramsey, Strong Guy, Genegineer, Dr Moreau, Fenris, Jean Grey, Beast, Shadow King Chris Claremont had completely lost his own plot by this point, and was just scooping his hands up his butt and throwing the contents at the walls. His occasional good ideas in this volume are buried under the embarrassingly stupid Siege Perilous storyline, an attempt to introduce a new team, which he immediately abandons, being unable to decide who he wants to be a hero and who he wants to be a villain, the incredibly dumb Nanny and Orphan Maker characters turning Storm into a child for no discernable reason, trying to stuff every villain he's ever thought of somewhere in these twenty three issues (I'm including issues #244-#247 since they're not collected anywhere else, and SHOULD be a part of this collection), and just generally forgetting about storylines for issues and then abruptly bringing characters back with the lazy "amnesia" concept because of the Again Incredibly Stupid Siege Perilous. It's really sad that someone so vital to X-Men history, and someone once so talented as Chris Claremont, thought this run of slop was acceptable to tack on to his previously interesting run. Don't bother reading it. It was years before they collected this into trade, and there's a reason. It's really bad. You don't need to see the first appearance of Gambit because it's been retconned so many times that it doesn't even mean anything here. He's not even cool at this point, he's just one of a billion characters who shows up in five or six pages of story in a 470 page clusterfluff. Your nostalgic glasses have to be shaded really really rosy to enjoy this book. When I started this project, I mentioned that I had never made it through The Silver Age X-Men books before. I'd tried several times but only ever made it four or five books in. Inferno is only two volumes, but I sturggled to get through them, too. As I will mention below, Chris Claremont saw Ghostbusters and Nightmare On Elm Street and decided to insert blatant, literal, homages to them as a magic New York Is Taken Over By Demons (instead of ghosts, see, it's different from Ghostbusters) storyline. It's an absolute mess of a story. It has several writers, and it's pretty clear that Claremont is the only excited to be working on the project. There are a couple of fun moments in many of these books but overall, none of them are even close to being in my Headcanon. Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown by Walt Simonson, Louise Simonson, John J Muth, and Kent Williams Featuring: Havok, Wolverine, nobody else you need to rememeber A fascinating looking painted series about Wolverine & Havok taking a vacation missing during the days when the X-Men were believed dead and were somehow invisible to technology. All of the Not Havok or Wolverine characters are pretty standard issue background characters without any interesting powers or backgrounds. The trite and true trope of a villain obsessed with chess is used over and over and over and over. There's a questionable redhead who is somehow not Jean Grey, Madelyne Pryor, or Natasha Romanov. But by the end of the book you get the impression that these adventures and the villains will never be mentioned in any actual X-book. So, if you want to check out the art, go for it. But if you're looking for a cool story, this is totally skippable. Excalibur Epic: The Sword Is Drawn by Chris Claremont, Alan Davis, Michael Higgins, Herb Trimpe, Ron Lim, Marshall Rogers, Arthur Adams, and Erik Larsen Excalibur: Captain Britain, Meggan, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, Rachel Grey, Lockheed 1st Appearances: Widget, Kylun Also Featuring: Saturnyne, War Wolves, Juggernaut, Gatecrasher, Bodybag, Joyboy, Thug, Waxworks, Scatterbrain, Courtney Ross, Arcade, Miss Locke, Madelyne Pryor, Nastirh, Crotus, Dani Moonstar, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, Warlock, Magik, Jean Grey, Moira Mactaggert, Callisto, the X-Babies, Major Domo, N'Astirh, This is a book to be read almost in halves. Something I don't want to recommend too often in this readalong. But.... The Sword Is Drawn special and issues #1-5 introduce the Excalibur Team, Widget, Gatecrasher, the War Wolves and more. It's a decent primer for the absolute weirdness that is going to be this title. Then we get a couple of issues that take place during Inferno, and then...well...then we get the beginning of Dimension Hopping Excalibur, and it begins with the team being all Nazis! So...*whew*...yea. Regarding the first portion: I don't know whether Chris Claremont intended Excalibur for a younger audience than X-Men but I've always felt Excalibur was the bottom of the barrel X-title. It's villains are silver age throwbacks, the dialog is more wooden than usual, Claremont relies on the absolute laziest of tropes in their stories (no comic writer should include Alice In Wonderland characters/references/storylines, it's been a stale cliche since the 1970s), and I just can't care about the magical world of Saturnyne or Merlyn or any of his other ideas of sorcery. My eyes glaze over almost immediately. I understand that the childlike wackiness of the title appeals to some people, and I don't begrudge them. There are plenty of people who don't like/understand the appeal of the superhero comics I love. If I'm allowed to like often satirical sci-fi and fantasy, people are certainly allowed to love this tedious doggerel. X-Men Inferno Book 1 by Chris Claremont, Louise Simons, Jon Bogdanove, Sal Velluto, Walter Simonson, Terry Shoemaker, Marc Silvestri, and Bret Blevins X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue, Havok, Psylocke, Longshot, Dazzler, Madelyne Pryor X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel X-Terminators: Rusty, Skids, Artie, Leech, Rictor, Boom-Boom, Wiz-Kid New Mutants: Magneto, Dani Moonstar, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, Magik, Warlock Power Pack: Destroyer, Molecula, Counterweight, Starstreak 1st Appearances Also featuring: Mr Sinister, N'astirh, Malice/Polaris, Gateway, Sabretooth, Scrambler, Vertigo, Arclight, Scalphunter, Riptide, Prism, Blockbuster, Harpoon, Trish Tilby, Candy Southern, Cameron Hodge, Nanny, Orphan Maker, Blob, Mystique, Pyro, Spiral, Avalanche, Crimson Commando, Ship, Frenzy, Tower, Stinger, Timeshadow, Cable (as a baby), Jim Power, Maggie Power, Bogeyman, J Jonah Jameson, Slug, Kofi, Yrik, Byrel, Friday, Shatterbox #1, Shatterbox #2, Speed Freak, Big Top, Monitor, Crotus, S'ym, Gosamyr, Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, Selene There's a lot of mediocre but not terrible story crammed into this volume. Compared to some of the 90s crossovers, it's positively coherent and streamlined, but compared to the crossovers that preceded it, it's a bit messy. The crux of the story is that New York has been turned into more of a hellscape than usual where inanimate objects come to life and eat people. Most of the scenes are silly, and you can tell that Chris Claremont had just seen Ghostbusters when he wrote this. He even tosses in a parody team of them. Most of the violence is corny and hard to get behind but there is a lovely two page spread at the very beginning of Uncanny X-Men #239 where a family is visiting the Empire State Building and, after some typical family bickering, they are eaten by the elevator, their blood seeps out, and is mopped up by a custodian wearing headphones who appears not to notice the horror that just occurred. Honestly, it's one of the smartest Claremont pages I can remember reading. It's legitimate horror. Most of this volume focuses on X-Factor, which has been broken up into two teams: X-Factor (the original X-Men) and the X-Terminators (their trainees). X-Factor tries to track down Cyclops's missing son, and runs into Nanny and Orphan Maker, two of the least interesting villains in the X-Men universe. They have the potential to be interesting: a mutant locked in a cybernetic suit of her own making who kidnaps children, and her partner, an armored mutant she kidnapped who now assists her in capturing other children. They were used extensively during the Krakoan era in the 2020s, and they were somehow boring in that series as well. While X-Factor tries to save babies from Nanny and Orphan Maker, the X-Terminators battle baby-kidnapping demons, and end up teaming up with The New Mutants, who have their own problems with the demons. Also, the Marauders and Mister Sinister are involved somehow with the babynapping, and helping and hindering Madelyne Pryor from ascending into The Goblin Queen who is kind of sort of maybe responsible for the demon infestation. While all of the pages and issues seem straight-forward while reading them, I felt like a lot of logic was missing in the connective tissue between the various very similar stories. I was delighted when X-Men '97 boiled this whole crossover to about three minutes in a larger episode. If you love big event crossovers, there are definitely worse X-crossovers than this one, but it's also probably the weakest crossover Claremont and Simonson were involved in. X-Men Inferno Book 2 by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Terry Austin, Julianna Jones, Mark Gruenwald, Marc Silvestri, Alan Davis, Walter Simonson, Bret Blevins, Mike Vosburg, June Brigman, Rob Liefeld, and Jim Fern X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue, Havok, Psylocke, Longshot, Dazzler, Madelyne Pryor X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel Excalibur: Captain Britain, Meggan, Nightcrawler, Rachel Grey, Kitty Pryde X-Terminators: Rusty, Skids, Artie, Leech, Rictor, Boom-Boom, Wiz-Kid New Mutants: Magneto, Dani Moonstar, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, Magik, Warlock Power Pack: Destroyer, Molecula, Counterweight, Starstreak Also featuring: Mr Sinister, N'astirh, Malice/Polaris, Sabretooth, Blockbuster, Nanny, Orphan Maker, Ship, Cable (as a baby), Jim Power, Maggie Power, Bogeyman, J Jonah Jameson, Crotus, Cloak, Dagger Even less intriguing to me than volume one, this volume focuses mainly on Excalibur's trip to NYC for the Inferno event, as well as giving us a sort of After Dinner Mint X-Men/X-Factor story, as they have their final final battles with Sinister and what's left of The Marauders, even though Inferno technically ended for them in the last volume. The Power Pack/Bogeyman storyline is also resolved with the help of The New Mutants and The X-Terminators. We also see Cloak & Dagger's involvement in the event, which is confusing if you haven't read the Cloak & Dagger series leading up to this, as I haven't. Unlike many Giant Crossover Events in the Marvel 80s and 90s, there are major repercussions from this. Teams are rearranged, characters are altered. As far as resonance, this is an important event but it was so widespread and silly that I lost interest in most of the characters. There's a ton of expository dialogue that seems hacky, even for the late 80s. I don't blame the creators, apart from Chris "I Just Saw Ghostbusters And Nightmare On Elm Street" Claremont, I don't think any of the other writers wanted to be involved in this, and it shows. Excalibur Epic: The Sword Is Drawn by Chris Claremont, Alan Davis, Michael Higgins, Herb Trimpe, Ron Lim, Marshall Rogers, Arthur Adams, and Erik Larsen Excalibur: Captain Britain, Meggan, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, Rachel Grey, Lockheed 1st Appearances: Widget, Kylun Also Featuring: Saturnyne, War Wolves, Juggernaut, Gatecrasher, Bodybag, Joyboy, Thug, Waxworks, Scatterbrain, Courtney Ross, Arcade, Miss Locke, Madelyne Pryor, Nastirh, Crotus, Dani Moonstar, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, Warlock, Magik, Jean Grey, Moira Mactaggert, Callisto, the X-Babies, Major Domo, N'Astirh Now that Inferno is over, we can pick up the second half of this book. If you really want to. This is the beginning of Excalibur's Weird World Tour, where we learn about similar dimensions. In this one, a dimension where lizards are the primary human-like lifeform, shows up (I'm on board), and the dimension of evil Nazi versions of the main characters show up to create havoc because Claremont ran out of ideas long before this series started, and is basically just spewing TV tropes and movie cliches during this era. I wish I'd skipped it. This era of X-books is so full of Huge Events that there's barely time to breathe between The Mutant Massacre, The Fall of The Mutants, and The Inferno. And while there are some huge shakeups during these events, it's tough to recommend them. There are so many characters involved with intricate backstories who just keep repeating the same expository dialogue in every issue while chaos occurs around them. If you keep counting how many times Jean Grey or Scott Summers explains their history and Cyclops's abandoned family, you'll get lightheaded and pass out two issues in. This is also the beginning of The X-Men are "dead" and living in the Australian Outback era, which has not yet been collected in trade paperback form, which says a lot about its importance to canon. No books in this section end up making my Headcanon, even though a couple of them have plot points that have major impacts on the X-Universe. X-Men Fall Of The Mutants Vol 2 by Louise Simonson, Walt Simonson, Ann Nocenti, Peter David, and Marc Gruenwald X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Rusty, Skids, Artie, Leech, Caliban, Rictor, Boom-Boom 1st Appearances: Also Featuring: Angel, Apocalypse, Cameron Hodge, Trish Tilby, War, Pestilence, Famine, Starstreak, Molecula, Counterweight, Destroyer, Hulk, Rick Jones, Clay Quartermain, Hulkbusters, Betty, Doc Samson, Daredevil, Black Widow, Karen Page, Captain America, Falcon, Redwing, Nomad, Vagabond, Battlestar, Black Panther, Thing, Human Torch, Crystal, Carol Danvers, Dr Doom This will probably not come as a shock to people who've spent years reading Marvel and DC graphic novels: This should actually be volume one of Fall Of The Mutants as all the stories take place before the events in X-Men: Fall of the Mutants, Vol. 1. I often wonder if the collection editors at The Big Two comic companies even read comics. This volume mainly focuses on X-Factor's first major battle with Apocalypse (they faced him once before in X-Factor Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Genesis & Apocalypse but he's a much bigger threat in this collection). We also see Warren as Archangel/Death for the first time. This is a battle scene comic where much of New York is destroyed in a battle between mutants. We even get to see the events from the perspectives of Captain America, Daredevil, and the Power Pack. It's...fine. Like most of the early X-Factor run, Scott and Jean Grey spend a great deal of time talking about the various Jean Grey clones that Cyclops dated and/or married while she was "dead". And there's a b-story where X-Factor is hired to hunt down a mutant who turns out to be the new grey Incredible Hulk. Those stories are also okay. Despite the big stakes, and the Worthington storyarc, not much of this volume grabbed me. I mentioned this in my review of the other Fall Of The Mutants story: I just don't know if I can get excited about any of these X-books until we're past X-Men: Inferno, which I remember hating when I've tried to read it before. If you like X-Factor or Apocalypse, this is a nice little romp, even if it's not quite as good as its much more concise Animated Series counterpart. X-Men: Fall Of The Mutants Vol 1 by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Peter David, Marc Silvestri, Todd McFarlane, Kerry Gamill, Bret Blevins, and June Brigman X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Havoc, Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot, Colossus, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, Madelyne Pryor New Mutants: Magneto, Dani Moonstar, Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Magma, Magik, Warlock, Cypher, Bird Brain Also Featuring: Forge, The Adversary, Mr Sinister, Sabretooth, Malice/Polaris, Vertigo, Scrambler, Arclight, Scalphunter, Harpoon, Hulk, Mystique, Destiny, Blob, Pyro, Spiral, Avalanche, Crimson Commando, Stonewall, Super Sabre, Roma, Moira MacTaggert, Lila Cheney, Cameron Hodge, Empath We have officially entered the era where I think Chris Claremont overstayed his welcome as X-Men writer. While I enjoy his continued fleshing out of the X-Men characters, I think his villains get stale and silver-agey, and his transition from science fiction comic to magic comic annoys me. I just don't care about magic tropes in a superhero comic, it reminds me of reading the very science-forward A Wrinkle in Time, getting to the end and seeing science fall to the Christian Power Of Love, and losing all interest in continuing to read that series. The X-Men portion of this story just didn't gibe with me. Claremont had done an effective job of taking a number of characters off the board, and it felt odd how he threw Colossus back into the mix just in time for his weird Outback Reboot stage. The use of The Adversary as a villain made me less engaged with Storm's storyline, and adding in Roma from Captain Britain didn't help. This is supposed to be an epic story where characters are forever altered because of the enormous stakes but it was so boring that I had to struggle to not just skip several pages at a time to get to the end. It's certainly nowhere near the worst X-Men story ever written but it becomes clearer that this book is becoming less Marvel's Awesome Mutant Superhero Team and more What Is Chris Claremont Thinking About This Month. It has taken me much longer to slog through this because I also know that it's not going to get better for a while, X-Men: Inferno, one of my least favorite Comic Events of all time is on the horizon. The New Mutants portion of the story is a really focused tale that hits a lot of YA tropes of the time: don't do drugs, don't disobey your adult supervisors, don't rescue an artificially created humanoid bird creature and feed him junkfood, and other things you see on Saved By The Bell. In many ways, it's better than the X-Men story, even if I did find the Birdbrain character, and the The Island of Dr. Moreaustyle villain extremely annoying. While there are Important Plot Points for both the X-Men and New Mutants in this collection, I don't think it's a necessary read if you're just reading X-books for fun. X-Factor Epic Angel Of Death by Louise Simonson, Walt Simonson, Marc Gruenwald, Tom DeFalco, Sal Buscema, Jon Bogdanove, Terry Shoemaker, Steve Lightle, Tom Artis, and Paris Cullins X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Rusty, Skids, Artie, Leech, Rictor, Boom-Boom 1st Appearances: Ship, Infectia, N'Astirh Also Featuring: Caliban, Angel, Cameron Hodge, Trish Tilby, Apocalypse, Pestilence, War, Famine, Energizer, Lightspeed, Zero-G, Mass Master, High Evolutionary, Blob, Mystique, Destiny, Spiral, Avalanche, Pyro, Crimson Commander, Super Sabre, Stonewall, Thor, She-Hulk, Black Knight, Dr Druid, Lord Zano, Tower, Time-Shadow, Frenzy, Orphan Maker, Nanny, Candy Southern This volume leans heavily on the X-Factor trainees: Rusty, Skids, Victor, and Boom-Boom, as they try and navigate their relationships with their mentors while also being curious teens. We see them help the rest of X-Factor bond with their new base of operations: Ship, a piece of Apocalypse's technology that almost literally fell into their hands. The focus on this book is X-Factor deciding to try and win people over by publicly working to repair a city broken by a fight with a supervillain, as opposed to their previous plan: pretend to be humans hunting dangerous mutants, and then training them. The new technique works much better. While the Archangel version of Angel is on the cover, and the book is named after him, he's really more of a background character in this book, trying to decide how reintegrate into society with his new appearance and wings. While this didn't quite make it into my headcanon, it's a solid read that I recommend to fans of B-level mutants having some main character moments. X-Men issues #228-234 (Not collected in trade yet) by Chris Claremont, Tom DeFalco, Rick Leonardi, and Marc Silvestri X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Havok, Rogue, Psyclocke, Dazzler, Longshot, Madelyne Pryor 1st Appearances: Gateway, Bonebreaker, Pretty Boy, Skullbuster, Wipeout Also Featuring: The Brood, Henry Peter Gyrich, Roma, Dani Moonstar, Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Magik, Warlock, Magneto, S'ym, Jean Grey, Cable (as Baby Nathan), Trish Tilby, N'astirh There's a lot of story packed into these ten issues as Claremont bridges X-Men: The Fall of the Mutants and the first part of the X-Tinction Agenda. The heroes end up in Australia, then Genosha. The world believes them dead, so a bit of magic makes them invisible to technology, enabling them to operate with more impunity. It's an interesting concept that I don't really remember, even though I'm pretty sure I've read much of this era before. There is also the best pre-Broo Brood storyline I remember reading. It's not a classic but it's not as formulaic as most of the X-Men vs Brook encounters, as the Brood in this instance are all made from mutants so they have different powers and personalities. It was fun to read. I have a newfound respect for Claremont's run because of this read-through. I've always been impressed by his decade plus run on the flagship book but I don't think I've read it as closely. Very little of it is bad. I understand why both X-Men The Animated Series and X-Men '97 draw so heavily from this era of stories. If you can find these issues in a library or a comic book store, by all means grab them, or check them out online. But it's not The Best of Claremont's run. X-Men X-Tinction Agends by Chris Claremont, Rick Leonardi, and Marc Silvestri X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue, Havoc, Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot, Madelyne Pryor 1st Appearances: Jenny Ransome, Genegineer, David Moreau, Chief Magistrate Anderson Also Featuring: Carol Danvers (sort of) This is just a review of the first quarter of this book, as it takes place well before the rest of the book, which is also collected in New Mutants Epic Collection, Vol. 8: The End of the Beginning. The crux of this part of the book is that the X-Men, currently believed dead but actually operating out of a ghost town in Australia, witness a Genoshan expatriate mutate be kidnapped by the government, and follow them all to Genosha, a nation where mutants are a slave caste to a military junta who try and pretend their nation is a paradise. While the rescue mission is going on, Madelyne Pryor, who's been working as a tech advisor to the X-Men slowly evolves into The Goblin Queen, as this story dovetails into X-Men: Inferno. The X-Men is about to get very silly to me as Claremont goes further and further afield from his original stories. I do like the Genosha element in this book, though, and wish he'd handed the title over to Jim Lee after the end of this storyarc. This is also the basis for a storyline in X-Men The Animated Series, and while most of The Animated Series episodes take Claremont stories and vastly improve them, I think this arc is on par with the Animated Series version. If you enjoy your X-Men comics politically progressive, and action packed, this is for you, if you're the kind of person who thinks comics are too woke right now....why are you even bothering to try and read the X-Men? Introducing the original X-Men as a team called X-Factor eventually ended up letting the proverbial "breath of fresh air" in, but it takes a while for the circulation to get going. Especially since the background for much of the first few years of the series is: Cyclops abandoned his wife and child for his high school sweetheart who happens to look precisely like the wife he abandons. It's weird. And it plays out much better in the X-Men '97 cartoon. The Mutant Massacre, itself, is the first epic tragedy in X-history where a huge swath of mutants are killed off. And it's by a set of villains who weren't used before this crossover, and most of them don't get used too long after this event. The highlight for me, though is how the X-Men interact with other teams in the post-Massacre status quo. All numbered titles in BOLD are those I'd consider part of the Headcanon of X-Books I recommend. Anything not boldfaced or numbered is a book I read but will probably skip, should I ever do another readthrough. Understand MOST books will not be numbered or boldfaced. There are going to be at least 500 books on this readthrough. At most, 50-100 will make Headcanon. At most. I hope. X-Factor Epic Genesis & Apocalypse by Roger Stern, John Byrne, Bob Layton, Bob Harras, Louise Simonson, Tom Defalco, Chris Claremont, John Buscema, Butch Guice, Keith Pollard, Paul Neary, Rick Leonardi, Marc Silvestri, Terry Shoemaker, John Bolton, and Mike Collins X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Beast, Iceman, Cameron Hodge, Rusty, Arthur 1st Appearances: Cameron Hodge, Rusty, Arthur, Skids, Tower, Frenzy, Apocalypse, Crimson Dynamo, Trish Tilby, Apocalypse Also Featuring: Captain America, Photon, Hercules, Namor, Black Knight, Wasp, Mr Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, She-Hulk, Madelyne Pryor, Cable (as a baby), Vera Cantor, Carl Mddicks, Nick Fury, Iron Man, Spider-Man, J Jonah Jameson, Jon Robertson, Mary Jane Watson, Betty Brant, Mystique, Blob, Avalanche, Pyro, Spider-Woman I struggled with whether or not to include this in Headcanon. I don't believe in needing to include Important Moments in my chronology, so I didn't really care that an early version of Apocalypse is seen here for the first time. He's not interesting in these issues. The real story is that they bring Jean Grey back from the dead, and Scott has a crisis of "My first ever girlfriend died, and then I dated an alien entity that I thought was here but was actually an evil cosmic monster using her appearance, and while I was mourning the dead monster I stumbled into someone who I don't yet realize was just a clone of my first girlfriend who I married and had a kid with, then my original girlfriend was discovered alive somehow and I abandoned my wife and son to be a superhero with her and now I'm too much of a coward to tell her about the family I made while she was dead and too much of a coward to tell my family that my dead girlfriend is back and booooohooohooo life is hard. Cyclops has been The Worst X-Men since X-Men Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Children of the Atom but he's particularly loathsome here. The other major storyline is that the original X-Men team are posing as mutant hunters in order to hunt mutants. It could be an interesting story but they keep bringing up how conflicted they are but they don't ever do anything about it in this volume. Their time is split between pretending to be the mutant hunting group, X-Factor, and being a mutant terrorist group called X-Terminators. Eh. In addition to Apocalypse, this volume introduces Rusty, Skids, Cameron Hodge, and Trish Tilby, who are all a bit important to the late 80s/early 90s X-cast. It also feeds directly into the events of the next big crossover, X-Men: Mutant Massacre X-Men Mutant Massacre by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, John Romita Jr, Sal Buscema, Alan Davis, John Bogdanove, Jackson Guice, Rick Leonardi, and Bret Blevins X-Men: Magneto, Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Rachel Grey, Psylocke New Mutants: Dani Moonstar, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Cannonball, Magik, Magma, Warlock, Cypher X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Iceman, Beast, Cameron Hodge, Rusty, Arthur, Skids 1st Appearance: Malice, Scalphunter, Riptide, Scrambler, Arclite, Harpoon, Sabretooth, Boom Boom Also Featuring: Dazzler, Sebastian Shaw, Selene, Callisto, Vertigo, Analee, Sunder, Moira MacTaggart, Magus, Beautiful Dreamer, Caliban, Leech, Blob, Mystique, Trish Tilby, Candy Southern, Apocalypse, Plague, Prism, Blockbuster, Thor, Hela, The Power Pack, Franklin Richards, Masque, Vanisher, Sharon Friedlander, Tom Corsi The first megacrossover of the X-books delivers a ton of death, radical shifts in storylines, and action. If you haven't been reading the X-Men, New Mutants, X-Factor, and Power Pack, this is Not the place to start. If you're only reading one or two of the titles, then at least a third of this book is going to be very confusing as ever issue is pretty much in media res from a previous storyline. The action is dizzying and feels, sometimes, like it's being told slightly out of order across issues. There are also way too many characters to keep track of if you weren't already keeping track of them in their various titles, plus the Thor book. It is rewarding if you have been keeping track of everything, though. There are character debuts, and newish characters finally getting fleshed out. The tone switches weirdly from time to time, as one of the titles in this collection is Power Pack, a group of elementary school aged powered kids who've dealt with The Morlocks before. Having them show up and battling a group of villains who've brutally murdered thousands of Morlocks before they arrive, and who've also taken down some of the X-Men, seems a bit odd. There's no way The Power Pack is strong enough to take on this level of villains, and yet...it happens right before an X-Men issue where the characters who get outbattled by first graders then nearly kill Wolverine. It's very odd. I recommend this highly to X-fans who've read much of the material that leads into this, but I do Not recommend this to those who aren't already invested in 80s X-Men. This is an absolutely terrible jumping on point. 6. X-Men Vs Fantastic Four by Chris Claremont, John Bogdanove, Barry Windsor-Smith, Jackson Guice, Marc Silvestri, and Dan Green X-Men: Magneto, Storm, Havok, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Psylocke, Longshot, Dazzler Fantastic Four: Mr Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing, She-Hulk, Franklin Richards Also Featuring: Dr Doom, Malice, Juggernaut, Madelyne Pryor, Polaris, Lila Cheney, Moira MacTaggert, Banshee, Alicia Masters, Sharon Friedlander, Tom Corsi I'm including X-Men issues #314-#319, which have not yet been collected into trade paperback but serve to bridge the gap between Mutant Massacre and X-Men Vs Fantastic Four. This uncollected storyline is not an epic but it's a fun series of two-issue stories where the X-Men battle Malice, then Wolverine goes berserk while Storm lives out The Most Dangerous Game against some WWII era heroes who've aged into unethical vigilantes, and then Dazzler and a bunch of the X-Men on Muir Island battle Juggernaut. They're all fun, if not Important To Continuity, and help setup the interpersonal relationships we see in Fantastic Four Vs X-Men. This was the first comic series I ever read. So there's definitely some nostalgia inspiring my review. The story involves the X-Men needing a device from Reed Richards of The Fantastic Four in order to save their youngest member, Shadowcat during the aftermath of The Mutant Massacre. Through a series of dream sequences and a jubilantly nitpicky Doctor Doom interventions, Reed doesn't trust that his machine will help. Thus the Vs. part of the title, as the teams do squabble a couple of times. But, mostly, this is a team up book that doesn't have Universe Changing Consequences. It's superhero friends calling superhero friends to help solve a very specific team-focused problem. I enjoy that level of stakes. The dialogue is Chris Claremont hokey. But I think it's some of his better hokey work. The art is standard 80s Marvel. I recommend this more for X-Men fans than FF fans, as that's Claremont's wheelhouse, and if you do love continuity, there's a ton of fun events in this self-contained mini-series. If you're the type that gets really frustrated that Jennifer Walters behaves in a different manner than you would imagine based on She-Hulk Issue 31, maybe steer clear of this one. Not Yet Collected X-Factor: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel, Rusty, Arthur, Cameron Hodge 1st Appearances: War, Famine, Ariel, Rictor Also Featuring: Skids, Boom Boom, The Vanisher, Callisto, Caliban, Leech, Masque, Ape, Master Mold, Apocalypse, Plague, Trish Tilby ***As of this writing, X-Factor (Vol 1) #12-17 haven't been collected in trade paperback form. So this is a review for those six issues.*** These six issues follow X-Men: Mutant Massacre all the way until X-Men: Fall of the Mutants, Vol. 2. It involves the pivotal story of Apocalypse recruiting the first Four Horseman we encounter as readers, it sees the amputation of Angel's wings, and the rise of X-Factor's second wave of characters: Rusty, Arthur, Skids, and Boom-Boom, in more pivotal roles. We also see how The Morlocks recover from The Mutant Massacre. So why hasn't it been collected? It's two issues' worth of story spread across six very repetitive stories. I don't, in any way, blame Louise Simonson for this. This was the Jim Shooter (commonly regarded as the worst editor in the history of Marvel Comics) Era of crossovers and there were clearly plans for the main characters of this book to be heavily involved in the crossovers. The most interesting part of this story takes place in the final two issues where the B-team of X-Factor make a deal with Masque, the most ethically bankrupt Morlock since Analee the childsnatcher was killed, to heal a woman that Rusty accidentally burned when he received his powers. Instead of the usual Victim Of Mutant Crime Hates Mutants And Refuses Help, the burn victim blames her aggressive sexuality for why she was burned, and is devoting her life to the healing power of Christianity, which she then decides to spread to The Morlocks. It's creepily sweet? Sweetly creepy? I disagree with what the character's intentions but she clearly thinks she'll be doing good. Even if this were a tight, two issue story, this wouldn't be a terribly exciting storyarc. It progresses the story in an interesting direction there is neither a ton of action, nor much character growth (apart from, perhaps, the burn victim). Apocalypse is in the background of several of these issues recruiting his Horsemen but since we don't know why, and since he hasn't yet been A Major Villain, it's hardly riveting. I understand now why they've released all of the issues around this storyline but haven't bothered to collect these particular issues yet. X-Men Vs Avengers by Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco, Jim Shooter, Marc Silvestri, and Keith Pollard. X-Men: Magneto, Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Havok, Dazzler, Longshot, Psylocke Avengers: Captain America, Thor, Photon (as Captain Marvel), Black Knight, She-Hulk, Dr Druid 1st Appearances: Ursa Major, Titanium Man 2, Vanguard, Darkstar Also Featuring: Crimson Dynamo A solid follow-up to the Trial Of Magneto. Like most Heroes vs Heroes book, there are minor kerfuffles between the teams but they mainly end up working together because they're heroes. There's also a fun additional dynamic to this series in that it's X-Men vs Avengers vs a Russian mutant superhero team. Their involvement is hugely important to the action and the plot. The centerpiece of the battles is that Magneto has been led to a remnant of Asteroid M and has decided to destroy most of it, lest it fall into "the wrong hands", while keeping some mind control circuitry for himself. Apparently, the author of the first 3/4 of this story intended to turn Magneto back into a villain at the end of the series and refused to rewrite his ending so notoriously evil editor Jim Shooter put a new creative team on the final issue. While I do hate editorial interference, the use of Magneto as an anti-hero, as opposed to a villain, was a great transition in Marvel history, and Claremont definitely needed him not to be evil for at least a few more years of his run. I don't dislike the ending of this series, even if it conflicts with Stern's original vision. 7. New Mutants Epic Fallen Angels by Chris Claremont, Jo Duffy, Jackson Guice, Bret Blevins, Kevin Nowlan, Alan Davis, Rick Leonardi, Sal Buscema, Kerry Gammill, Marie Severin, and Joe Staton New Mutants: Prof X, Magneto, Wolfsbane, Dani Moonstar, Sunspot, Cannonball, Karma, Magik, Magma, Warlock, Cypher 1st Appearances: Siryn, Renegade, Gomi Also Featuring: Stevie Hunter, Magus, Kate Power, Sym, Carol Danvers, Corsair, Lilandra, Ch'od, Hepzibah, Waldo, Sikorsky, Storm, Sebastian Shaw, Selene, Tessa, Impossible Man, Sabretooth, Scalphunter, Vertigo, Harpoon, Empath, Roulette, Catseye, Shaman, Jetstream, Boom Boom, Ariel, The Vanisher, Beast, Iceman, Moon Boy, Devil Dinosaur After the Mutant Massacre, the New Mutants were separated and shunted through time with Magneto and the remaining X-Men thinking they're dead. Each team has ended up in an alternate future while Magik, who was separated from both teams ends up encountering Professor X and the Starjammers. The alternate future timelines where each team sees the aged-up versions of their missing teammates living in a different type of dystopia is a ton of fun, as is Professor X becoming part of the story again. We also see the showdown between Magus and Warlock before we return to the X-mansion in the proper timeline for a mediocre retread of the New Mutants vs The Hellions, and a very odd adventure with the Fantastic Four villain, Impossible Man. This is the volume where the series veers away from the horror, and into the usual Claremont wheelhouse of superhero time travel/ space epic, and I think it's an improvement. We do have the typical team infighting, resulting in a brief spin-off series featuring Sunspot, Warlock, Siryn, Madrox, Boom Boom, Ariel, Renegade, and Gomi isn't a great story but it does let some lesser used Marvel mutants and lobsters shine. This is a pleasantly weird but mostly unnecessary chunk of the Claremont era. Lots of subplots, and the beginnings of stories that will become more important later, this was the first section of my read-through that I started to struggle through. All numbered titles in BOLD are those I'd consider part of the Headcanon of X-Books I recommend. Anything not boldfaced or numbered is a book I read but will probably skip, should I ever do another readthrough. Understand MOST books will not be numbered or boldfaced. There are going to be at least 500 books on this readthrough. At most, 50-100 will make Headcanon. At most. I hope. 6. New Mutants Epic The Demon Bear Saga by Chris Claremont, Bill Sienkiewicz, Bob McLeod, and John Buscema New Mutants: Professor X: Dani Moonstar, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, Magik, Magma, Cypher, Warlock 1st Appearances: Magus, Lilah Cheney, Legion, Guido, Reverend Craig, Sharon Friedlander, Tom Corsi Also Featuring: Karma, Shadow King, Lockheed, Binary, Lilandra, Corsair, Ch'od, Waldo, Stevie Hunter, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Selene, Sebastian Shaw, Magneto, Lee Forrester, Moira MacTaggert, Cloak, Dagger, Rogue, Banshee, Madrox, Gabrielle Haller, Emma Frost, Dazzler, Rachel Grey I'm putting this in headcanon purely for the first part of this collection. The Demon Bear Saga, is one of the best New Mutants stories. Much of this is the arrival of Bill Sienkiewicz as artist. Through a 2024 lens, his artwork is odd, anatomically jarring, a little sharp angled, and with a bit of a DC Vertigo or mid-90s MTV cartoon edge. But when it debuted in the 80s it was revelatory. I imagine traditionalists hated it but as a kid, I wanted more. It does help that his first story is when the series pivoted from The Next Young Group Of Mutants Tries To Find Their Way In The World to a collection of stories that explore the effect of trauma on minority youth. There is a noticeable dip in quality of story (but not art) as we transition to the arrival of Warlock, and then the fallout of a Cloak and Dagger story. The stories are fine, and do an admirable job of pushing the characters in new directions but they feel scattered after the focused and brilliant Demon Bear Saga. Next up is the introduction of Legion, a character who can be used super creatively, and was the focus of one of the best Marvel related TV shows they've come up with. Certainly the best pre-streaming TV show. Unfortunately, much of the first Legion arc uses a dated, problematic trope that makes it cringey to read. While this trope is only introduced so that Claremont can invert it is admirable. The end of the story does make it so that the characters using the problematic language and ideals turn out to be wrong and learn a lesson. That doesn't make the journey there any easier to read. It's not quite as bad as Claremont dropping the N-bomb in X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills to prove a point about racism but it's pretty close and it's drawn out for Much Longer. X-Men Epic The Gift by Chris Clarement John Romita Jr, Dave Cockum, Paul Smith, Steve Leialoha, and Barry Windsor-Smith X-Men: Professor X, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Rogue, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Gray 1st Appearances: Nimrod, Talisman, Kulan Gath, BAMFs Also Featuring: Storm, Colossus, Madelyne Pryor, Alpha Flight (Northstar, Sasquatch, Aurora, Puck, Vindicator, Shaman, Snowbird), Selene, The Hellions (Empath, Roulette, Warpath), Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, Loki, The New Mutants (Magik, Cannonball, Magma, Dani Moonstar, Sunspot, Magneto, Arcade, Miss Locke An absolute mess of tonal whiplash in this collection as we see the X-Men books, under Claremont's pen twist in odd directions, and we get an annual, a crossover, and a couple of miniseries that each have very different feels despite Claremont writing most of them. We begin with a magic storyline where an old Conan The Barbarian villain arrives and turns New York into a fantasy hellscape (this is not the only time Claremont uses this plot device). We see The Morlocks return to rescue Professor X after he's beaten up by anti-mutant college students, while one of their subsects kidnaps The Power Pack, and an assortment of X-Men try and rescue them. There is some turnstile turnover in these volumes as Storm, who was depowered just before this collection returns to Africa to reconnect with her roots, Rachel Grey becomes a more permanent member of the team, and Wolverine and Kitty Pryde return from Japan part way through this collection. Plus, Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor pop up twice. The first time we see Cyclops in this collection, he and Madelyne Pryor end up being sort of captured and reprogrammed by Loki, who tries to balance the power between mutants and humans. This pulls in both The X-Men and Alpha Flight as his plan involves using magic to to transform New Y...sorry...Canada into a fantasy utopia. The second time is a rehash of every Arcade and Miss Locke storyline. In Africa, Storm is shot and had a hallucinogenic journey before she rescues a pregnant woman and learns things from a dying shaman in an inoffensive but fairly appropriative story by a couple of white guys who probably hadn't spent time on the continent of Africa but had seen some Disney movies that took place there. The volume closes with a goofy Nightcrawler story where a Danger Room accident results in him traveling through dimensions, playing pirate, and running into a dimension filled with tiny teleporting creatures that look and smell like tiny versions of him. It's very silly but not quite fun. Longshot by Ann Nocenti and Arthur Adams X-Men: none 1st Appearances: Longshot, Spiral, Gog, Magog, Mojo, Arize, Major Domo, Quark Also Featuring: J Jonah Jameson, Robbi Robertson, She-Hulk, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange Usually, an X-Men miniseries gives you the origin story of a beloved or fairly new member of the team or someone associated with them. For, I think the only time, Longshot presents the origin of a character we haven't met yet but who is destined to meet the X-Men. Longshot, like Wolverine, is a character whose mind has been wiped and who doesn't know who he is or where he's from, so we learn with him as the series progresses. It's a pretty fun ride by Ann Nocenti, with ruminations on fantasy vs reality, gun control, violence in the media, and the Spineless Ones who run the media in the world Longshot is from. It's not really good enough for Headcanon status but it is one of the strongest X-Men origin stories Marvel has ever put out. X-Men Ghosts by Chris Claremont, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Romita Jr, Rick Leonardi, June Brigman, and Arthur Adams X-Men: Professor X, Magneto, Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Rachel Grey 1st Appearances: Fenris Also Featuring: Madelyne Pryor, Gabrielle Haller, Corsair, Lilandra, Carol Danvers, Ch'od, Hepziba, Mystique, Destiny, Blob, Pyro, Avalanche, Spiral, Val Cooper, Jessica Drew, Amanda Sefton, Cable (as a baby), Cannonball, Cypher, Warlock, Wolfsbane, Dani Moonstar, Magik, The Watcher, The Beyonder, Arcade, Miss Locke, Sentinels, Lady Deathstrike, Energizer, Jessica Drew, Lyndsey McCabe, Selene, Sebastian Shaw, Black Bishop, Tessa, Nimrod, Mojo, Major Domo This collection would have benefitted from including some New Mutants issues as there are quite a few wholes in the narrative. There are also a ton of twists and turns as we go from Beyonder to Lady Deathstrike to the Hellfire Club to Mojo at a breakneck pace with the X-Men being moved to San Francisco, then the Morlock tunnels, and then we're suddenly back at the X-Mansion like none of the other events ever happened. It's a bit dizzying. I would have loved to have included this as Headcanon, as having Magneto in charge of The New Mutants, and on equal footing with the X-Men is a major change to the StatuX Quo but it's just not on par Claremont's best work. If you're desperate for the first appearance of the X-Babies, have the urge to see how easily The Beyonder, supposedly the most cosmically dangerous villain ever, is easily defeated by nonsense, maybe you want to see every Arcade appearance for some reason, or you need to read why there's a member of Power Pack present for Lady Deathstrike's first battle with Wolverine, this is the book for you. Otherwise, you can skip this one. New Mutants by Chris Claremont, Arthur Adams, Mary Wilshire, Rick Leonardi, Keith Pollard, Jackson Guice, Steve Purcell, Alan Davis, and Arthur Adams New Mutants: Magneto, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Dani Moonstar, Cannonball, Karma, Magma, Magik, Cypher, Warlock 1st Appearances: Psylocke, Brightwind Also featuring: Loki, Kitty Pryde, The Beyonder, She-Hulk, Emma Frost, Stevie Hunter, Thunderbird, Jetstream, Empath, Tarot, Roulette, Catseye, Capt America, Hercules, Wasp, Namor, Knight, Photon, Lila Cheney, Icarus, Moira Mactaggert, Legion, Reverend Craig, Mojo, Spiral, Captain Britain, Meggan, The Bratpack, Sharon Friedlander, Tom Corsi This is a very messy collection of stories. After adventures with the X-Men in Asgard, Charles Xavier leaves the planet, putting Magneto in charge of the team. As soon as he gains their trust, The Beyonder shows up and erases them from history. And, yet, in the next issue, it seems like a normal adventure that ends with the New Mutants transferring to Massachusetts Academy to join up with The Hellions. Yes, there are shenanigans that are explained as the story moves on, but I don't recall there being an explanation for how The Beyonder erased them from history in all of the books except their own. There's a "Is This All A Dream" intro in the issue following their erasure but it's unclear if any of this is a dream or whether it's an alternate timeline, or whether The Beyonder's...spell?..power..?attack? has been undone. It's very sloppy writing. Then The Avengers show up for a typical Everybody Fights Rather Than Communicate Hero Vs Hero Battle, and then everything is maybe? maybe? maybe returned to status quo? I really don't recommend this to anyone but New Mutants completists. While hardly the worst X-book in their history, I don't think there are any fun moments, and the other superhero cameos aren't worth the read. Skip it. Another healthy chunk of the sixteen year Claremont-era, this section is less beloved than the previous one. Magneto gets some evolution as a character, Kitty Pryde continues to change costumes every issue or so, The New Mutants debut, and we spend a lot of time in either space or Japan. I think the previous Claremont books were more fun while this one is more focused on telling an epic scope story with a revolving cast of supporting characters. It works really well, I just don't enjoy it as much. Also, you don't see as many of these stories translated into The Animated Series, and the villains aren't as beloved to a wide swath of X-fans. Oh, and I firmly believe Kitty's exclamation below should be on a t-shirt that says "Kitty Was Right." All numbered titles in BOLD are those I'd consider part of the Headcanon of X-Books I recommend. Anything not boldfaced or numbered is a book I read but will probably skip, should I ever do another readthrough. Understand MOST books will not be numbered or boldfaced. There are going to be at least 500 books on this readthrough. At most, 50-100 will make Headcanon. At most. I hope. X-Men Epic: I Magneto by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, Michael Golden, Jo Duffy, Bob Layton, Brent Anderson, Paul Smith, Jim Sherman, Bob McLeod, John Buscema, and George Perez X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Angel, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde 1st Appearances: Wolfsbane, Spider-Woman, Carol Danvers, Rogue, Jacosta, The Badoon Also Featuring: Magneto, Man-Thing, D'yspare, Stevie Hunter, Miss Locke, Arcade, Dr Doom, Beast, Havok, Banshee, Iceman, Candy Southern, Amanda Sefton, Magik, Dazzler, Capt America, Spider-Woman, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Beast, Wonder Man, Hawkeye, Peter Corbeau, Akron, Invisible Woman, Mr Fantastic, Thing, Human Torch, Sauron, Ka-Zar, Spider-Man, J Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Brainchild, Amphibius, Vertigo, Zabu, Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, The Sentinels, Harry Leland There are a few misfires in this collection that keep this from being as iconic as X-Men Epic Proteus and X-Men Epic Fate Of The Phoenix but this is still a blast to read. Claremont keeps heaping storyline on top of storyline, pulling parts of the entire X-Men run from issue #1 all the way through his last collection. These epic versions are also preferable to earlier collections as they pull from other titles in a sensible and narratively satisfying way. I don't know of other X-Men collections that thought to include the Avengers annual that introduces us to Rogue and pulls some of the X-Men into a battle with The New Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants (Destiny, Mystique, Pyro, Avalanche, and Blob). There's also a great run of Marvel Fanfare where Spider-Man, Angel, and eventually the X-Men voyage down to the Savage Land. The plot isn't any better than any of the other Savage Land stories but Claremont is constantly improving his character work (often with a billion thought balloons) so the story seems more intriguing. I also enjoyed the explanations for Kitty Pride's increasingly awful costumes, and how much better her age discrepancy is handled here than Jubilee's will be in another few years. The Storm/Shadowcat dynamic is much more logical than the Wolverine/Jubilee. There are tons of other great moments in this book that excuse the silliness of the Kitty Pryde fairy tale issue or the rebuilding of The Danger Room after Kitty's adventures in X-Men: Days of Future Past. I also appreciated that they acknowledged the expense of the repairs and that it took months of issues where the repairs happened in the background. There are also conversations between Nightcrawler and Wolverine, Professor X and Angel, and Storm and Magneto that seem deeper than previous X-Men conversations. Claremont was really hitting his stride. Plus, artist Brent Anderson seems to have a blast on the Fantastic Four/Arkon storyline, posing Wolverine like The Marlboro Man and other cheesecake poses that sexualized him in a manner most artists of the time reserved exclusively for women. Whether intended or not, it felt queer coded. I didn't imagine putting this in my Headcanon, as this makes three volumes in a row but I think it's solid enough that if you enjoy X-Men this is a great non-classic run of comics to experience. X-Men Epic The Brood Saga by Chris Claremont, Terry Kavanagh, Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, and Paul Smith. X-Men: Professor X, Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde 1st Appearances: Araki, Deathbird, The Sidri, The New Mutants (Cannonball, Dani Moonstar, Sunspot, Karma, Wolfsbane), The Brood, Sikorsky, Warstar, Belasko, Hydra, Belasco, Lee Forrester Featuring: Carol Danvers, Corsair, Gladiator, Tigra, Jarvis, Chod, Hepzibah, Lilandra, Raza, Oracle, Moira Mactaggert, Robert Kelly, Polaris, Havok, Rogue, Mystique, Magik, Gabrielle Haller, Magneto Most of this collection is the cosmic war against The Brood, who are essentially xenomorphs from Alien but more bug-like in appearance. Much like the xenomorphs, they lay eggs inside of hosts but instead of bursting out their chests and killing their human hosts, they possess them so that the host morphs into a new xenomorph queen. Carol Danvers is still with the X-Men from the last story, and she ends up joining the Starjammers and becoming a new superhero, Binary. Like Kitty Pryde, she ends up with a bunch of hero names over the course of her career. I'm going to always list her as Carol Danvers because her main hero names (Captain Marvel or Ms. Marvel) are each shared with other characters who are going to end up in this continuity. This volume also brings about one of the complications of reading the whole X-verse as a reading project: overlaps. There's a crossover with The New Mutants in this story, who we haven't met yet. This same issue is in our next collection which will introduce us to The New Mutants. I chose to put this volume first because most of that collection is dependent on knowing who The Brood are, and that the X-Men are gone, which all happen here. This is a thoroughly skippable book for X-Men chronology. I would probably put it in a Carol Danvers Headcanon, but the only major thing covered in this book that is Important To Chronology and not covered somewhere else is that Colossus's sister Magik is aged-up, living many years in Limbo while only days pass in the real world. Unfortunately, the story is just cluttered with misogyny, sexual assault, and other things that Chris Claremont didn't have the skill to make non-traumatizing. New Mutants Epic Renewal by Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, Bob McLeod, Sal Buscema, Paul Smith, John Buscema, Bill Mantlo New Mutants: Prof X, Wolfsbane, Karma, Dani Moonstar, Sunspot, Cannonball 1st Appearances: Sage, Demon Bear, Silver Surfer, Viper, Dark Rider, Team America, Magma, Selene Featuring: The Brood, Donald Pierce, Stevie Hunter, Moira MacTaggert, Magik, Gabrielle Haller, Peter Gyrich, Sentinels, Cyclops. Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Carol Danvers, Storm, Corsair, Sikorsky, Lilandra, Gladiator, Axe, Sebastian Shaw The third generation X-Men team (I'm counting Gen 1 as the 1963 lineup, and Gen 2 as The Uncanny lineup introduced in the mid 1970s) has a bizarre but interesting first set of adventures. While the X-Men are presumed dead during the previous story, the Brood-influenced Charles Xavier recruits a new team of mutants, not to act as superheroes but to learn to defend themselves and help rescue other mutants. While they are about the same age as both original teams (except for Wolverine, of course) were when they were recruited, Claremont does a better job of writing them as teens, so they feel younger than any of the X-Men we've experienced besides Shadowcat (who was going by Ariel during this period). Apart from the crossover with the X-Men from the previous collection, and the first story, which was originally one of Marvel's first set of graphic novels, none of these stories are going to blow you away. The circumstances are often as silly as some of the silver age X-Men stories, especially the existence of Nova Roma, a Roman Empire offshoot that exists in the 1980s Amazon Rain Forest. It's sort of a Less Savage Land. The character work in this book is really solid, though. While we saw how willing Claremont was to immediately remove when he killed off Thunderbird in the X-Men, he removes a New Mutant member from the team after a few issues here but while their disappearance is suggested as a death, anyone who's ever read a story before, particularly a comic, can tell that they're keeping the character alive for future use. We not only didnt see a body, we didn't see the incident where they might have died. I think this is a fun book, even for the casual X-Men fan, and if you're going to read one or two hundred X-books in your life, you should definitely make this one of them but it's not quite Headcanon. 5. X-Men Epic God Loves Man Kills by Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, Paul Smith, Bob Wiacek, Walt Simonson, John Romita Jr X-Men: Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Rogue 1st Appearances: Madelyne Pryor, The Morlocks, Callisto, Yukio Also Featuring: Magneto, Lilandra, Stevie Hunter, Binary, Magik, Silver Samurai, Viper, Carol Danvers, The Starjammers, Mystique, Destiny, Candy Southern, Amanda Sefton, Angel, Lee Forester, Mariko, Mastermind, Sebastian Shaw, Tessa This book mainly makes the Headcanon for the title story. Despite it having its own issues with institutional racism, the story presents Claremont's anti-bigotry themes in clearer and more nuanced ways than his usual hammer-to-the-head delivery. It has many strengths, one of them being the evolution of Magneto from villain to anti-hero. We also see Wolverine's first solo outing which will lay the template for decades of dull rehashes of the formula: Wolverine goes to Japan to check in on the love of his life only to find himself embroiled in yakuza clan warfare. What follows is one of the weaker parts of Claremont's run on X-Men. It has some important plot points but to get to them, it asks the reader to immediately care about new characters as quickly as it introduces them. The biggest ask is that the reader cares about Madelyne Pryor, a woman who Cyclops meets and immediately falls in love with because she looks like Jean Grey. But is she Jean Grey? Is she The Phoenix? Not enough time or story is included to make her a fully fleshed out character. Also, Scott just slowly fell in love with another character we didn't know much about, and she is quickly discarded for this new Jean Grey fill-in. We're also introduced to Callisto and The Morlocks in a decent story that will continue to bubble under the surface of X-Men comics for decades. The Rogue story is interesting but not given enough time, and the Wolverine material would probably have been better without editorial interference. Reportedly, Jim Shooter, the worst person to ever stain the Marvel masthead with his name, wouldn't allow Claremont or any other writer to portray any queer relationships. Claremont had intended on having Storm fall in love with Yukio, a Wolverine side-character. Instead, Claremont writes Storm so that she meets Yukio is enamored of her, then cuts her hair into a mohawk and starts wearing leather, which is about as obviously coded as you can get. Cheers to Claremont on that. May Jim Shooter trip today, chipping a tooth and having one of his eyes fall out. The entire comic industry would rejoice in the news. The Claremont Era of X-Men comics is filled with the most famous, influential, and referenced stories in the history of the franchise. There have been several amazing shorter tenures on the X-books, But Claremont started writing the X-books in the mid-1970s and didn't wrap up his original run until 1992. He had other runs since then but none of them were as successful or as relevant as his original tenure. If you watched The Animated Series that's currently been rebooted as X-Men '97, most of the stories you've seen were from Clarmont's Era. The Dark Phoenix, The Hellfire Club, Proteus, Wolverine becoming The Most Important X-Man Ever, The Shadow King, Magneto's transformation from villain to anti-hero, these are all Chris Claremont adventures. All numbered titles in BOLD are those I'd consider part of the Headcanon of X-Books I recommend. Anything not boldfaced or numbered is a book I read but will probably skip, should I ever do another readthrough. Understand MOST books will not be numbered or boldfaced. There are going to be at least 500 books on this readthrough. At most, 50-100 will make Headcanon. At most. I hope. Wolverine Weapon X by Barry Windsor-Smith 1st Appearances: Dr Cornelius, Professor Thornton I do not argue that this is a classic Wolverine story. It's his adult origin (his childhood will be revealed much later), and it contains some foundational parts of Wolverine's character. The only reason it doesn't make Headcanon is that, on its own, it's not terribly exciting. It's almost torture porn as two sadists, a team of doctors, and one of the sadist's assistants turn Logan the mutant with claws and a healing factor into Wolverine the killing machine with adamantium claws. It's appropriately graphic, and Windsor-Smith is a fantastic artist and solid writer. The story just feels like it goes on too long. Maybe because some of the scenes are used in flashbacks dozens of times after this. Honestly, seeing the story in brief flashbacks as opposed to the entire narrative is more satisfying, as you need a break from the constant torture, as the violence seems less horrifying as the story goes on. You get used to it, which shouldn't be the story's effect. If you're a huge Wolverine fan, this is almost definitely a 5 star book for you. If you love X-Men lore, this is probably a five star book for you. On its own merit without the context of readers wanting to know Wolverine's origin, this is pretty boring. Wolverine is unconscious for most of it, so this is mainly the story of two terrible people who don't communicate well but who are forced to work together to torture a man into becoming a monster. That could also be an interesting premise even devoid of the Wolverine context but it just doesn't ever really go anywhere, and I don't care about either character. X-Men Epic: It's Always Darkest Before Dawn by Steve Englehart, Len Wein, Sal Buscema, Tom Sutton, Gerry Conway, Gil Kane, Herb Trimpe, and Don Heck X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey 1st Appearances: J Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Betty Ross, Harry Osborn, Morbius, Lockjaw, Falcon, Moonstone, Dum Dum Duggan, Nighthawk, Valkyrie, Griffin Also Featuring: Angel, Beast, Iceman, Spider-Man, Gwen Stacy, Hulk, Polaris, Havok, Iron Man, Mastermind, Blob, Unus, Juggernaut, Capt America, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Medusa, Black Panther, Vision, Daredevil, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Magneto, Banshee, Nick Fury, Human Torch, Dr Strange, Lorelei, Wolverine, Mr Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing, Madrox During the era when the X-Men book was just reprints of the original run, the X-Men were "in hiding" (or trapped on Krakoa in space, depending on who was editing what). Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Angel were used very sparingly as guests in other titles. Beast, meanwhile, was tearing it up in "Amazing Adventures", and Iceman was teaming up with Spider-Man and the Human Torch. This collection has Spider-Man and Iceman's teamup, which is a fun latter-day Stan Lee issue with hints of the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends cartoon. The Beast story explains how Hank McCoy went from a bouncing, gymnastic human cannonball to a blue furry scientist, with brief stops as a silver fuzzy scientist, and then a black-furred scientist. His powers and his personality are all over the place, as he is initially given a Wolverine healing factor pre-Wolverine! This then disappears without explanation. In some ways, this is maddening to read as Englehart never seems to have a handle on what he's trying to do. But the appearances of Iron Man, various other Avengers, Spider-Man, and then Hulk add enough silliness and Marvel continuity porn to keep X-Men fans interested. The X-Men are definitely in the background of this collection, as opposed to being the stars but it is fun to see what they're up to during the "in hiding" years. It's also great to see Juggernaut be considered an important enough X-character to check in with during this era. Even if his frenemy team-up with Hulk isn't that inspiring. Once again, if you're an X-Men fan, this is a fun look at a weird part of their history but it's not A Great collection, and it's certainly not required to understand X-history. X-Men Epic Second Genesis by Chris Claremont, Len Wein, Dave Cockrum, Bill Mantlo, John Byrne, Sal Buscema, Bob Brown, and Tony DeZuniga X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee, Sunfire, Thunderbird 1st Appearances: Krakoa, Peter Corbeau, Misty Knight, Firelord, Gladiator, Oracle, Vindicator, Warhawk, Angus MacWhirter, Araki Also Featuring: Iceman, Jean Grey, Polaris, Havok, Count Nefaria, Ani-men, Moira, Eric The Red, Sentinels, Stephen Lang, Black Tom, Juggernaut, Magneto, Lilandra, Corsair, Mr Fantastic, Captain America, Beast, Ant Man, Wasp A classic but not a classic that's necessary to read. While Claremont slowly figures out different voices for each of the newly introduced or reintroduced characters, the first chunk of this story, by Len Wein is the same Every Character Is A Hothead Who Doesn't Know How To Play Well With Others garbage that Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and the other 60s X-writers penned. Seriously, every time someone suggests an idea, another character angrily shoots it down. While the inclusion of non-American White Dudes was stunningly progressive in 1975, it doesn't help if they're all prejudiced against one another. Apart from Nightcrawler who notes that mutants don't seem to be any nicer to mutants than humans are, every character is kind of a jerk here. It's so bad that when one of the characters tragically dies, I was happy that I wouldn't have to ready any more of his bullying bullshit. The book also suffers from illogical tropes. Particularly in the first story when the characters are paired off and dropped on different parts of an island so that they can immediately meet in the middle. Why not just land the plane in the middle? I get that they were surprised to find a particular landmark, and made their way there, but there didn't seem to be any reason why they split up other than for us to see how none of the pairings got along. Much like all of Stan Lee's characters talk the way Beast was presented in The Animated Series, this collection suffers from every character behaving and talking like Wolverine in The Animated Series. It does get better as Claremont fleshes it out, but it's a rough journey for quite a while. Many of the plots in this volume would get four stars but Claremont has an odd pacing issue whish may have something to do with art. He'll send the X-Men through a Star Gate to rescue an alien princess, and then the next issue supposedly takes place after that one but has the X-Men at the mansion fighting what appears to be the original X-Men team. It's a tedious story which adds nothing to any narrative Claremont is telling. Then, in the next issue, they've gone through the Star Gate. If this story was supposed to take place at some period before the previous issue, why does the issue open with the Professor dealing with the effects of Starlord from the previous issue? It's very confusing. I imagine it has to do with art deadlines. Also, Erik The Red is one of the worst, most confusing villains in the X-Canon. His origin has since been explained through writing about comics but during the story there is one or two (out of a billion) narration boxes saying that he's a Sh'iar agent. How this has tied into any of his previous appearances in the comics doesn't make any sense. Worse, the X-Men overcome a magic crystal threatening the universe ... somehow ... and then we just don't ever hear about Erik The Red again for decades when more modern writers try and explain his origin and purpose. Claremont just abruptly seemed to forget he was supposed to be a major part of the story. There are several other threads Claremont plants and forgets about in this volume, which drag down an otherwise fun story. Yes, Claremont's Exposition/Narration boxes are a bit much if you're used to reading modern comics. I'm more forgiving of them in his 1970s/early 80s run than I am when he used the same style to write in the 21st century. I thought I was going to include this volume in my Headcanon since it does have important milestones for the series. But there's too much scattershot in this collection. Also, the versions of these stories in The Animated Series are tighter and more intriguing, so I'm leaving them out of the comics headcanon and choosing to remember them as fun cartoons instead. Champions Classic The Complete Collection by Tony Isabella, Bill Mantlo, Chris Claremont, Don Heck, George Tusha, Bob Hall, John Byrne, and Jim Shooter X-Men: none 1st Appearances: Ghost Rider, Harpies, Venus, Pluto, Ares, Huntsman, Zeus, Rampage, Titanium Man, Darkstar, Black Goliath, Stiltman, Swarm, MODOK, Dr Doom, Yellowjacket Also Featuring: Angel, Iceman, Black Widow, Hercules, Griffin, Crimson Dynamo, The Stranger, Iron Man, Beast, Magneto, Thor, Capt America, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Wasp, Vision, Hulk, Sentinels, Blob, Unus, Lorelei, Vanisher, Spider-Man A very, and I mean very, silly and forgettable comic from the X-Men In Hiding era of comics. Angel and Iceman end up in a team with Hercules, Black Widow, and Ghost Rider to do some, sigh, shenanigans from Mount Olympus. None of the villains in this volume are interesting, the heroes really don't mesh together well, and it's filled with "Holy Hannah!"s and other 60s-era relics, even though this book came out comfortably in the 70s. I had never read this series until now, and I didn't miss much. From an X-Men historical perspective, the second half of the Champions Classic is much more interesting than volume one, as we see Iceman and Angel of the Champions team up with their former X-buddy, Beast of The Avengers. They also do battle with Magneto, The Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants, The Sentinels, The Vanisher, and...The Stranger (is anyone ever excited to see The Stranger appear in a comic), all the prime X-villains of the 1960s. But we have the excess baggage of Black Widow, Hercules, and Ghost Rider, plus Doctor Doom, plus The Avengers, and more. While the stories aren't particularly interesting, they do explain how Magneto has become an adult again, after being reduced to infancy in an issue of The Defenders. And, it's nice to see three of the original five X-Men in action together. But it's not so nice that this is a Must Read comic, if you're into X-Men. 3. X-Men Epic Collection Proteus by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and George Perez X-Men:Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Banshee 1st Appearances: Nanny, Petrified Man, Mariko, Moses Magnum, Proteus, Snowbird, Northstar, Shaman, Sasquatch, Aurora, Luke Cage, Arcade, Colleen Wing, Arkon Also Featuring: Beast, Mesmero, Magneto, Sauron, Ka-Zar, Zabu, Lilandra, Moira, Shadow King, Misty Knight, Sunfire, Angus MacWhirter, Vindicator, Mastermind, Polaris, Spider-Man, Madrox For me, this is where Claremont's run on X-Men really clicks. We go from the Stan Lee Every X-Men Is A Hothead Who Argues Over Everything to the characters working together as a team, and Wolverine being the one character who continues to question authority. We see the Claremont team of Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Banshee really gel and become The X-Men while Jean Grey and Charles Xavier are written out to have their own adventures that we check in on periodically but which are not the crux of the story. Claremont really begins to weave his storylines well here. Introducing elements that won't resolve for several issues, and introducing characters and tropes that X-Men writers will continue to chip away at for decades. This is an absolute must for any X-fan. It's the beginning of Claremont at his best, and includes several stories that were revisited in The Animated Series. While still building to The Dark Phoenix Saga in the background, the separated X-Men are slowly reunited just in time for a showdown with Moira Mactaggert's insanely powerful mutant son. The Animated Series fleshed out this story really well but the source material here is also pretty great for late 70s/early 80s superhero comics. There's even an adventure featuring Spider-Man where there is a ridiculously spelled out sound effect on the page, and Spider-Man says "(ridiculous sound effect)! I remember what that is!" It's precisely the right level of cheesy comic writing for me. 4. X-Men Epic The Fate Of The Phoenix by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Shadowcat 1st Appearances: Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, Dazzler, Smasher, Stevie Hunter, Rachel Grey, Franklin Richards, Mystique, Destiny, Pyro, Avalanche Also featuring: Banshee, Moira, Madrox, Mastermind, Angel, Donald Pierce, Candy Southern, Dr Strange, Lilandra, Araki, Jarvis, The Watcher, Gladiator, Skrulls, Vindicator, Shaman, Snowbird, Wendigo, Blob, Magneto, Sentinels, Robert Kelly xWolverine and Alpha Flight clash again a few times. And Mystique and Destiny debut during "Days Of Future Past" where we get to see the post-apocalyptic future of (checks notes) 2013! These stories go on to influence events for the next forty years of X-Men comics, and the writing holds up surprisingly well. This is also where Wolverine started to become The Most Important X-Men Ever (to marketing people and editors, mostly). If you're only ever going to read one twentieth century X-Men story, this is probably the one. But really, you should read at least two, and hit up X-Men Epic Proteus before this one. The pacing and unfolding storylines are prime twentieth century comics. Getting through the Silver Age Era of the X-Men is the most difficult time I've had reading X-Men comics. It's not any worse than the convoluted late 90s where storylines just disappeared as their hacky writers got too overwhelmed to figure out endings. But as I grew up in the 90s and was familiar with that style, I found it easier to eyeroll over those speedbumpy pages than the "Holy, Hannah, it's time for another dull alien or mutant to monologue through a few pages before we never have to think of them again!" era of the X-Men. I made it through this time, though. And while I didn't exactly enjoy it, I finally feel comfortable saying that it doesn't suck, it just isn't for me or very many modern readers. Ed Piskor's Grand Design, which is also not exactly the pinnacle of great writing, is a much more compact way to read the silver-age material, and you really don't miss much. Apart from Neal Adams's evolution in panel design and X-Men costumes from the last dozen or so 1960s comics, there's not a lot of historically relevant art or writing after the first couple of hacky storyarcs in the original series. You'll find that nothing from this post ends up in my headcanon. It doesn't mean this is all bad or that you shouldn't pick it up without gloves, tongs, and a ton of bleach. If you can stomach Silver Age writing, this post is filled with books that provide is a mostly mediocre X-perience. There's certainly no dearth of story here. It's just a repetitive story without a ton of development or interesting villains. Avengers Epic Masters Of Evil by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, John Buscema, Don Heck, Werner Roth, George Tuska, and Gene Colan X-Men: Prof X, Angel, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Jean Grey 1st Appearances: Hawkeye, Hercules, Wonder Man, Black Widow, Dragon Man, Red Guardian, Nick Fury, Power Man, Goliath, The Executioner, Enchantress, Mandarin, AIM, Whirlwind, The Collector, Black Panther, Bucky, Super Adaptoid Also featuring: Scarlet Witch, Magneto, Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Wasp, Magneto, Mimic, Hulk, Sue Storm, Mr Fantastic, Thing, Human Torch, Spider-Man, Namor, Dr. Strange, Daredevil While it's not intriguing enough to make my X-Men headcanon, this is a fun, cheesecake factory level comic romp. While most of the volume is just random Avengers adventures with major character inconsistencies and over-the-top writing, the latter third starts to involve X-Men characters. It starts with Magneto returning from the space prison he was kidnapped to in the pages of the X-Men. And eventually we get to see an actual crossover where the X-Men and the Avengers battle before realizing they should be working together. Is it the best crossover you've ever read? Certainly not. Is it a thousand times better than the 2010s Avengers vs X-Men fiasco. Hell. Yes. If you enjoy silver age comics and are an X-Men fan, this Avengers collection is worth picking up. If you're an Avengers fan, you can pretty much skip this one. The non X-Men storylines are a mess. X-Men First Class Mutant Mayhem by Jeff Parker, Roger Cruz, Kevin Nowlan, Paul Smith, Mike Allred, Nick Dragotta, and Colleen Coover X-Men: Prof X, Angel, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Jean Grey 1st Appearances: Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Human Torch, Mad Thinker, Hulk Also featuring: Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Blob, Juggernaut, Dragon Man While not So Good You Don't Have To Read The Original Stuff, Just Read This Instead, this is a solid addition to the early X-Men canon. Sure, it provides a little headache, as the technology and cultural references place this in the early twenty-first century instead of the mid-twentieth, but Parker's ability to get the general feel of the early X-books but infuse more personality and character into the, well, characters. I still recommend this as a buffer between the silver age Epic Collections. In particular, the story where Sue Storm and The Fantastic Four allow Jean Grey some time to spend time with a role model who isn't an angry old man, and Beast and Iceman's road trip to The Florida Keys. X-Men First Class Brand Of Brothers by Jeff Parker, Roger Cruz, Craig Rousseau, and Colleen Coover X-Men: Prof X, Angel, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Jean Grey 1st Appearances: none Also featuring: Sentinels, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Mastermind, Magneto, Blob Unfortunately, Marvel's collections editors are rarely ever good at their jobs, so there's a bunch of repeat material in this collection. The new material is okay but not as strong as the previous volumes. This is an entirely skippable chapter of the original team's adventures. It's not part of continuity, it's not very fun or original, and it doesn't add anything to mythos that surrounds it. X-Men Epic: Lonely Are The Hunted by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, Warner Roth, Don Heck, George Tuska, Ross Andru, Jack Sparling, Dan Adkins, and Jon Buscema X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Jean Grey 1st Appearances: Puppet Master, Banshee, Moleman, Mekano, Mutant Master, Changeling Also featuring: Mimic, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Spider-Man, Super Adaptiod, The Warlock, Bernard, Zelda, Juggernaut, Dr. Strange, Vanisher, Unus, Blob, Mastermind, Agent Duncan Roy Thomas officially takes over writing duty in this collection. I wish that meant a welcome change from Stan Lee's tortured prose but Thomas was a student of Lee, and continued the stilted dialogue and familiar storytelling techniques that Lee used in his tenure. He does give each X-Man a little bit more of their own voice than Lee, as not every character speaks like Beast from the 90s Animated Series anymore but it's still a slog to get through. The biggest disappointment is that while Thomas has the equivalent craft of Lee, his choice of villains is less inspired. There are several villains in the first half of this collection from "Suspense" and "Strange Tales" but none that you'll remember if you aren't a staunch silver age Marvel comics fan. Apart from Banshee, you really don't see any of these villains popping up again in post-Roy Thomas X-continuity. They just aren't memorable. About halfway through, we move from forgettable villain-of-the-week to let's-get-super-into-continuity-and-examine-the-X-Men's-history-and-sprinkle-in-some-special-guests. After a Juggernaut story, we focus on Factor Three, who were mentioned at the end of the previous volume. I both respect and am confused by the fact that there are more than three of them, and that none of them turn out to be Magneto. But the highlight of the Factor Three story is a one-issue appearance of Spider-Man who is mistakenly believed to be the villain. It totally fits in with his sad sack luck and with the X-Men's punch-first-figure-out-you-messed-up-later approach to pretty much everything. The rest of the volume features more C+ X-Men tales but includes origin stories at the end of each issue. They're stories that were already explored in earlier issues but are told in more detail. They're fine but unnecessary if you're reading these in modern collections. They were mainly for people jumping into the story twenty or thirty issues in who also wouldn't have had any sort of access to the first few issues. Dark days. The collection builds up to a major death. I'm not sure if it's impactful because the intervening fifty-someodd years of history have taught me that the character isn't going to be dead for long. The major con to this story is still Roy Thomas's Stan Leeism-filled writing. Holy Hannah, it's repetitive and annoying. There are also an unfair amount of puns that would be outlawed in a better society. I don't think this would be a highlight, even if you're a silver age fan. X-Men First Class The Wonder Years by Jeff Parker, Roger Langridge, Nick Dragotta, Roger Cruz, Karl Kesel, Patrick Scherberger, David Williams, Colleen Coover, Dean Haspiel X-Men: Prof X, Angel, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Jean Grey, Machine Man 1st Appearances: Galactus, Mysterio, Venom, Doop, Medusa, The Wizard, Spider-Man, Scorpion, Beetle, Gwen Stacy, Agent Baker Also featuring: Sue Storm, Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Human Torch, Zelda, Skrulls Jeff Parker ran out of ideas for his First Class series really quickly. This volume begins with an agonizingly bad "meta" fourth wall breaking story where a group of comic store employees called...prolonged sigh...The Continuiteens have read the previous collections of First Class and find themselves intertwined with the plot. It doesn't even sound like a good idea but it's much worse than it sounds. From there, it gets a bit better, as Angel heads off to spend time with family, and Machine Man briefly joins the team. It's not terrible but it's also not an interesting addition to the X-Men canon. For a series that began with a lot of promise and some creative ways to slip modern stories into the 60s and 70s continuity, this was disappointingly bland. I don't recommend it. X-Men Epic: The Sentinels Live! by Roy Thomas, Arnold Drake, Linda Fite, Dennis O'Neill, Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, Barry Windsor-Smith, Don Heck, Werner Roth, and Sal Buscema X-Men: Prof X, Angel, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Jean Grey, Mimic 1st Appearances: Red Raven, The Warlock, Polaris, Erik The Red, Mesmero, Blastaar, The Dazzler (not to be confused with Dazzler), Candy Southern, Havok, Living Monolith, Sauron, Lorelei, Sunfire Also featuring: Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Magneto, Toad, Juggernaut, Bernard, Zelda, Blob, Vanisher, Ka-Zar, Hulk Given the quality of the first 48 issues or so of the X-Men, I expected it must have gone downhill a bit when it got cancelled. I actually found the last dozen issues or so to be the most intriguing the series has been so far. While Havoc and Polaris are hardly the most interesting characters ever created, they do add an element of flavor that the book had previously been lacking. The villains continue to be forgettable, and Roy Thomas "Oh Hannah"s hard upon his return, but Neal Adams's panel layouts make the book more visually striking than it has ever been. While I am grateful to be finished with this era of the X-Men comics, I'm glad I finally stuck it out and read the original material so I don't feel like I missed anything. I didn't miss anything. As with my reviews of the previous volumes, I think your enjoyment of this collection will depend on whether you're into the mid-twentieth century comic hackery style of lots of alliteration, puns, and characters leaning heavily into melodrama rather than logic or character development. I think, if you're a fan of comic art and panel layouts, this is several steps above the previous collections. X-Men Grand Design by Ed Piskor X-Men: Prof X, Angel, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman 1st Appreances: The Watcher, Storm, Shadow King, Gabrielle Haller, Lilandra, Corsair, Ch'od, Larry Trask, Stephen Lang, Bolicar Trask, Robert Kelly, Donald Pierce, Cameron Hodge, Legion, Madrox Also featuring: Human Torch, Namor, Captain America, Wolverine, Magneto, Moira, Skrulls, Jack of Diamonds, Mastermind, Toad, Vanisher, Sue Storm, Mr Fantastic, Thing, Human Torch, Unus, Ka-Zar, The Stranger, Sentinels, Iron Man, Captain America, Giant Man, Wasp, Tinkerer, Mimic, Banshee, Super Adaptiod, Juggernaut, Changeling, Machine Man, Nick Fury, Living Monolith, Lorelei, Polaris, Havok, Mutant Master I've occasionally tried to read as much of the full run of X-Men and related comics (X-Factor, X-Force, Generation X, New Mutants, etc.) as possible but until this year, I never managed to read all of the Silver Age material. This book is like the best possible illustrated Wikipedia page for Silver Age X-Men. It's chronologically straight-forward, contains the bare bones of most of the stories, but it looks awesome. It contains all of the stories from the first three Epic Collections ("Children Of The Atom", "Lonely Are The Hunted", "The Sentinels Live" in deliciously bite-sized portions. I would recommend this for people who love the X-Men but don't have the time or patience for the Silver Age era, fans of the Silver Age era X-Men looking for a quick nostalgic overview of the first 65 issues, people who've never read the X-Men but are looking for a quick primer, fans of Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree, Vol. 1: 1970s-1981, and mutant plot enthusiasts. X-Men The Hidden Years Vols 1 & 2 by John Byrne X-Men: Prof X, Angel, Cyclops, Beast Man, Iceman, Polaris, Havok 1st Appearances: Deluge, Agatha Harkness, Ashley Martin, Sentinels, Master Mold, Kraven Also featuring: Magneto, Blob, Toad, Juggernaut, Zelda, Ka-zar, Storm, Sauron, Lorelei, Sue Storm, Mr Fantastic, Thing, Human Torch, Candy Southern, Medusa, Larry Trask, Sentinels, Namor, The Dazzler, Agent Duncan, Moleman The first time I read this, I was in the midst of reading modern X-Men comics, and the writing and forgettable aliens and villains felt really clunky. I struggled to finish the book. Reading it now, having just finished the silver aged Stan Lee/Roy Thomas era this legitimately feels like it belongs in the pre-Claremont X-verse. It's not great. Tossing in a preview of the Dark Phoenix storyline seems less like fun backforeshadowing and more like an undercutting of a much better story. But the rest of the action is pretty on par with the Roy Thomas/Neal Adams run but with slightly (and I mean slightly) more modern writing. Byrne doesn't quite have the same flare for alliteration, purple prose, and Stan Lee-style editorial remarks that tunelessly hummed through the original run but that's ok. I don't think we need any more of that without tongue granited into cheek. I will confess that I read this earlier this morning and I already couldn't tell you much about it other than: Savage Land, Iceman vs Havoc, the "ghost" of Magneto, the Fantastic Four are involved, and Storm appears ahead of Claremont's run, but that feels like enough. Again, it's not super fun, the writing is an improvement over the silver age dreck but it isn't good, and the art is best defined as John-Byrne-apes-Neal-Adams-to-a-reasonably-successful-degree but it's not worse than the comics it successfully emulates. If you were curious as to what happens between the final all-new material issue of the classic X-Men run, and when the characters started popping up in Hulk, Spider-Man, and Amazing Adventures, this is a perfectly adequate bridge between them. In 2017/2018, I read through most of the X-Men related trade paperbacks and hardcover collections that I owned. This is somewhere around 4-500 books. I rated many, but not enough, of them on a website to keep track of what I loved and what I never wanted to read again. Well, I'm going to read them all one more time. This time, cataloging my reading experience here. Consider this a companion to The X-Men In Five Seasons Worth Reading. A much longer, in-depth look at what books do and don't make it into my X-Men Headcanon. My Headcanon isn't focused on the Big Event Must Read Collections that many people my age and older cobweb poetic about, it's just books that I enjoyed, and I explain why I enjoyed them. This first entry is made up of a few books that are set before the original X-Men run in 1963 but which were written much later, mainly in the 21st century. I just don't think modern readers should have to start out by reading Silver Age books. It's just not a fun way to get into comics unless you're an early reader who hasn't experienced serialized storytelling before. I'm not starting with Wolverine Origins or including much of Wolverine's pre-Hulk #181 appearances in the early chronology because the entire first forty years of his character depended on him not knowing his history, so we will get to see his pre-X-Men adventures but not for a long while. All numbered titles in BOLD are those I'd consider part of the Headcanon of X-Books I recommend. Anything not boldfaced or numbered is a book I read but will probably skip, should I ever do another readthrough. Understand MOST books will not be numbered or boldfaced. There are going to be at least 500 books on this readthrough. At most, 50-100 will make Headcanon. At most. I hope. 1. Magneto Testament by Greg Pak & Carmine Di Giandomenico X-Men: none 1st Appearance: Magneto If you've seen an X-Men movie, you've almost definitely seen a scene of a youngish Magneto in an office of a concentration camp using his powers of magnetism to kill someone. You've seen iron gates ripped from the ground, projectiles launched at Nazis. That's not what this book is. Interspersed with historical data about The Holocaust, we get the story of a young teenage Max (he has not yet taken the name Erich...his father's name) who's targeted at school because of his Jewishness, as the nation of Germany descends into anti-semitism and genocide. We get brief glimpses of important moments in his young life. He falls in love based on almost nothing. He rebels when it seems convenient. He protects his family when he can. But his powers are a hint, not a weapon. When his family is murdered, he survives presumably because of his power of magnetism but we don't know. They could have just missed him or not delivered a fatal wound. He ends up in a concentration camp where he eventually is in charge of leading other Jew to their deaths. It is, of course, a grim book. There is no moment of catharsis where he rips open an iron gate. He does not kill any officers by hurling cutlery at them. He survives. He does what he has to do to survive and to try and save a girl he loves, even though he doesn't seem to know very much about her. I think this is a great starting point for a read-through of the Marvel Mutant Universe. It clearly sets the tone that, despite what your drooling, all-caps, anti-woke, right wing nutjob uncle thinks, this is a story about overcoming the harms of prejudice, bigotry, and racism/anti-semitism. Marvel's mutant sector, in particular has ALWAYS been about civil rights. Anyone who tells you otherwise lacks reading comprehension skills, and you should never give credence to anything they tell you about literature or writing because they're clearly too stupid to understand the basic premise of a comic series that's mostly directed at children and teenagers. Carmine Di Giandomenico's art is superb, and I think the muted grey color palette helps the book feel like something from our past without that visual metaphor overwhelming the story. The story is affecting but not devastating to read. If you're familiar with the basic horrors of The Holocaust, you're likely to learn some new details, and maybe get a better feel for the timeline but it doesn't delve so deep into the story that you're likely to be weeping. The First X-Men by Christos Gage & Neal Adams X-Men:Wolverine, Sabretooth, Holo, Goldendawn, Bomb, Meteor 1st Appearance: Prof X, Moira, Virus, Sentinels Also featuring: Magneto If someone presented me with an outline for this story from concept to final page, I'd cautiously suggest that with precisely the right creative team, this could be interesting but on the surface the story feels very forced and not very original or fun. The dialogue on the first few pages scraped against my eyes. I was trying to figure out if Gage was trying to suggest this took place at a particular time or whether he was trying to make a modern sounding patter between characters. Whatever he was trying to do, it didn't work. The syntax was off, and while it wasn't difficult to follow, it was jarring. But by the time the second issue rolled around, characters started talking somewhat stiltedly but believably. Another big stumbling point for me is the art. You might love Neal Adams , and if that's the case, you might love the look of this book. For me, Adams's art has always felt inconsistent. It's not terrible. It's not ugly. It's just that Wolverine's face and haircut looks different from page to page, as do other characters. Every character was always recognizable and distinguishable from others but it's like watching a movie and an actor got a nose job and switched wigs several times during shooting, and since it wasn't filmed chronologically the nose seems to change from scene to scene. The end result of this story is never truly in question, as it is supposed to take place "long before" Professor X builds the Westchester School (though, actually, we see him build it at the end of the story). We don't really learn anything new about any of the characters except it gives us a possible reason why Sabretooth has always been such a dick to Wolverine. It's sort of like a shoddier version of Star Wars' Rogue One, you know the new characters you're introduced to aren't going to survive to the parts of the story you've already seen so it seems like the creators don't even bother trying to give you any reason to care about them before they're inevitably killed off. Angel: Revelations by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa & Adam Pollina X-Men: none 1st Appearance: Angel A gothic horror take on the origins of Warren Worthington III (aka Angel/Archangel of the X-Men) was a solid read. A rich kid coming of age at a boarding school mixed with the story of a religious psychopath who kidnaps a psychic little girl and uses her to track down and kill mutants. There are a ton of tropes in this collection including a priest who's a sexual predator, teens throwing homophobia at everything they don't understand, rich bullies with powerful parents, the protagonist having toxic parents who make know effort to know their own children, and secrets breaking apart a young romance. Aguirre-Sacasa handles them all well. This is almost a B+ coming of age movie that happens to work as the origin story of an X-Man. Adam Pollina's art isn't my favorite for a long form story. He has a very particular style for how he draws anatomy that I think works beautifully for covers and full page spreads but which end up being distracting over the course of a full comic. Every feature is absurdly long and thin. Necks are almost giraffish, ears are twice the size of heads, and Warren, in particular, is 75% torso in this comic, and he's often walking around shirtless. I do love his backgrounds and shadow work, though. I think if this were a spot illustrated novel with mostly text, I'd love his work. I don't think this is quite good enough for me to put in my headcanon for the best X-Men stories but it's a solid read with very stylized art that might appeal to someone looking for a slightly offbeat X-story. X-Men Children Of The Atom by Joe Casey & Steve Rude X-Men: Prof X, Angel, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Jean Grey 1st Appearances: Jack Of Diamonds, Agent Duncan Also featuring: Sentinels, Magneto This is tough to review because it's specifically designed to set up the first issues of X-Men written by Stan Lee in 1963. It does an admirable job of making the characters as melodramatic and overwritten as they are in the original series. I just don't like that style, and didn't like the characters as they were presented in that era. Like many Stan Lee-era comic characters, there is very little long term character growth or decision making. Every character is concerned precisely with what is happening in that panel. They'll be screaming in one panel and then calmly praising the same character in the next, usually mentioning that they were "testing" the character they were screaming at. You know, typical abusive parenting/mentoring techniques of mid-twentieth century America. Anyone who glamorizes that era of our history is a toxic fucken idiot. The problem with this style of characterization, aside from panel to panel whiplash, is that it can render entire storylines within the larger text moot. For example, in this collection, Professor X goes undercover as a guidance counselor in a high school where three of the five future X-Men are students. He interacts with each of them briefly, and in each case they rebuke him and ask to be left alone. He later approaches all of them individually after they are no longer at the school with entirely different and more logical approaches. So you could just eliminate his entire time as a guidance counselor, and the story would be exactly the same. Professor X is extremely frustrating in this book. As is Magneto, who is used very sparingly. But to give credit to Casey, their frustrating characterizations are completely in line with Stan Lee's over-the-top, inane characters during his tenure on X-Men. If you love the silver-age X-Men comics, this is a really interesting setup for it. And it doesn't even contradict either of the two books I consider canon-y (but not Headcanon) that take place before this: X-Men: Magneto Testament and Angel: Revelations. It even sort of lines up with X-Men: First X-Men, which I'm pretty sure No One imagines as part of any canon. 2. The X-Men Epic Collection Vol 1: Children Of The Atom by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, and Warner Roth X-Men: Prof X, Angel, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Jean Grey 1st Appearances: Vanisher, Blob, Mastermind, Toad, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Namor, Bernard, Zelda, Unus, Lucifer, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Ant-Man, Wasp, Ka-Zar, Zabu, The Stranger, Juggernaut, Mimic Also featuring: Magneto, Sentinels Stan Lee is one of the most important people in comics history. He was incredibly creative, prolific, and he co-created almost all of your favorite Marvel characters. But Stan Lee is not, and never has been a writer. He was a carnival barker with a typewriter and some very talented artistic coworkers. (I struggle to call them friends, having read many of his coworkers' opinions on the man.) I find his thesaurized prose agonizing to read. He was just so proud of writing that I find cringey. The characters he created are only beloved by people under eighty because other writers fleshed them out and gave them personalities. Every Stan Lee character is an angry buffoon who acts rashly. If they're a hero they have to constantly apologize for their idiocy. If they're a villain, they must twirl their imaginary mustaches and revel in how evil they are. That's it. That's all Stan Lee ever knew how to write. Every issue of his comics is exactly the same. If there is ever any actual progress in a story (a character moving on or having an epiphany) it will be undone during the issue, or in the following issue. Thanks to editorial asides and Stan's own tortured prose, continuity is always acknowledged but rarely do characters seem to have learned from said continuity. For some people, this is The Best Era of X-Men. I don't begrudge them. I like some terribly written and constructed pop music. I like it unapologetically because it makes me happy, and likely nostalgic for when it came out. You, too should feel that way about comics. But I was born and started reading comics during the Claremont era (which I'm not nostalgic for), and didn't start trying to read the silver age adventures until I was well exposed to more complex and interesting stories. They're important in the history of comics. They were an evolution in writing serialized stories, and shouldn't be forgotten. But even though Homo Erectus was a necessary and important stage of human evolution, I don't dream of hanging out in a cave somewhere listening to one tell me stories about a future that is now well within my past. The second half of the collection matures into more long-form storytelling with an evolving and revolving cast of villains. Mainly, a nebulous space character with a variety of powers gets entangled with Magneto, removes him from Earth, allowing the X-Men to deal with Juggernaut and then The Sentinels before Magneto returns with a much smaller scale scheme than usual. It's the usual hokey Stan Lee yarns, though this volume sees Alex Toth and Warner Roth (as Jay Gavin) step in to pencil a few issues, and we also see the first couple of issues written by Roy Thomas, under Stan Lee's editorship. I don't care about any of the villains in this book. The original concept of The Sentinels: Robots designed by man to protect them from mutants end up rebelling is such an early to mid-twentieth century trope that it requires defter hands than Stan Lee's to make it interesting to anyone over the age of nine. (Which, I understand, is around the target age of comics at the time.) Magneto continues to be a mustache twirling buffoon instead of the complex and conflicted villain/anti-hero he became later. Juggernaut is a great introduction here but The Stranger and the return of the incredibly dull pseudo-Magneto, Lucifer, had me barely resisting the urge to start flipping pages and skimming the stories rather than digesting them. If you love silver-age stuff, this is still probably going to be a blast for you, but if you're not someone who adores 1960s comics, this isn't going to be the collection that changes your mind. As much as this volume isn't for me, I am going to include at least this first one in my X-Men Headcanon, since the more interesting prequel stories do lead directly to the first issue in this collection. But I do it begrudgingly, and also to include the header image for this post, which is from page 8 of X-Men #1 (1963) which accidentally foreshadows something that was made canon in 2016. or 2. X-Men First Class Mutants 101 by Jeff Parker, Roger Cruz, Kevin Nowlan, Nick Dragotta, Paul Smith, Colleen Coover, Victor Olazaba, Michael Allred, Laura Allred, Val Staples, and Pete Pantazis X-Men: Prof X, Angel, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Jean Grey 1st Appearances,: Lizard, Jarvis, Dr. Strange, The Vanir, Ymir, Skrulls, Gorilla Man Also Featuring: Blob, Sentinels, Juggernaut, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Bernard, Zelda If you just can't stomach the Silver Age comics, this is an alternative introduction to the first proper team of X-Men. Written in 2007, it takes place during Children of The Atom. While it never contradicts the stories there, it does muddle history a bit by including more modern technology. Also, the characters are more in-tune with their modern selves rather than everyone being a reactionary fool like they are in The Silver Age. There's a ton of fun tie-ins to the original X-run, but none of them are necessary to follow the stories. Also, each issue is a one-off story, usually featuring a member of the wider Marvel Universe. If you're a completist, or just wanting to read the adventures of the original team, I would place this between the two epic collections of the original run, Children Of The Atom and Lonely Are The Hunted. Batman as a TV show with defined modern seasons is a cool conceit that somehow hasn't translated well to TV. Batman The Animated Series, a series that freely bounced around the timeline was way more fun than Gotham, or really any of the live action DC shows so far. What I've tried to do here is present whole season arcs that can either be watched from season one to ten, or you can just read a single season and get a satisfying story without needing to move on to the next one. Also, I'm not doing these chronologically by when they were published. I find more modern comics tend to be either much better or much worse reads. Sometimes an old story doesn't age well, so it's nice to see it in updated language and themes. Sometimes, the updates don't work, as they tack on weird continuity retcons that just seem forced. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the way I've set this season out. Season Two: |
September 2024
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