I decided to end the first "season" of the Headcanon with the first volume of Generation X, as it told an interesting story and had a definitive end that didn't involve a major cliffhanger.

​I advised skipping all of the Onslaught event, and I stand by that recommendation. As we cool down from that event, there isn't a ton of stuff to get excited about. While I enjoyed Howard Mackie's X-Factor run, which is from this era, it hasn't been collected yet. Really, the only title firing on all cylinders is still Generation X. 

I regret not yet having a review up for the first volume in this era. I found a used copy of it a few years ago, and worry I may have lost it in the move, and am not really willing to repurchase it. But I'll update it when I either find it or surrender to my previous copy being gone for good.

14. Generation X Epic Emplate's Revenge by Scott Lobdell, Chris Bachalo, Todd Dezago, Michael Golden, Jeph Loeb, Stan Lee, Michael Wright, Bill Roseman, Ashley Wood, Tom Grummett, Val Semeiks, Pasqual Ferry, Mitch Byrd, Jeff Johnson, Shawn McManus, Jeff Matsuds, Rurik Tyler, and Kevin Lau
Generation X: Banshee, Emma Frost, Jubilee, Sync, Chamber, Skin, Husk, Monet, Penance, Mondo, Leech, Artie, Franklin Richards
Also Featuring: Emplate, Howard The Duck, Gayle, DOA, Bishop, X-Cutioner, Stan Lee, Toad, Nathaniel Richards, Bastion, Graydon Creed, Beast, Fenris, Hulk

The first three issues are a repeat from the end of Generation X Classic Vol 2, which seems like it was ages ago. I didn't reread them here, nor include characters who only appeared in that section.

Beginning with the return of Emplate, this collection is banger after banger featuring the youngest class at Xavier's school for gifted mutants. There are a ton of good character moments including a road trip where Skin and Chamber eventually cross paths with Howard The Duck, the arrival of Franklin Richards to the team, a surprising twist where a mutant problem ends up being a real life disability instead of a made up mutant disease, and, most importantly, Emma Frost kidnaps most of the team to keep them out of the Onslaught nonsene. I wish she'd taken me, too, so I wouldn't have had to read that crap.

While all the artists on this book are solid, the highlight is definitely Chris Bachalo's return for the latter portion of the book. His layouts and storytelling techniques made the stories brighter and more fun, and he never kept a gimmick going for more than one issue.

This is a no-questions-at-all addition to the Headcanon.​

Wolverine Epic Tooth & Claw by Larry Hama, Howard Mackie, Jeph Loeb, Scott Lobdell, Ralph Macchio, Mark Jason, Dan Slott, Joe Kelly, Joe Mad, Val Semeiks, Adam Kubert, Ed McGuinness, Anthony Winn, Jow St Pierre, John Paul Leon, Tomm Coker, Mark Buckingham, Mike Wieringo, and Tommy Lee Edwards
X-Men: Prof X, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Iceman, Wolverine, Cannonball
Also Featuring: Elektra, Venom, Expediter, Ozymandias, Mojo, Silver Samurai, Bastion, Sunfire, Red Ronin, Yukio, Amiko, Carol Danvers, Shinobi Shaw, Sabretooth

Just nonsense. There's some pre-Onslaught stuff involving Cannonball and Apocalypse that spills out of the last Wolverine volume. This is followed by a ton of Wolverine & Elektra in Japan with ninjas and the usual Wolverine continuity.  There's then a break where Wolverine and Venom cross paths in one of the loudest, ugliest books in this chronology. There are some cool panel ideas in the Wolverine/Venom crossover but the anatomy is atrocious and it's hard to follow the action, which is fine, as the writing is pretty abysmal. We then travel back to Japan before the volume closes with an odd Wolverine/Carol Danvers pseudo-noir story that involves Shinobi Shaw and Sabretooth in such a way that it seems entirely out of continuity.

There is no reason to read to read this book. I did a Venom readthrough a couple of years ago, and read the Venom/Wolverine crossover and I dreaded having to read it again. I was impressed that it somehow seems worse and more confusing on the second read.

Cable & X-Force Onslaught! by Jeph Loeb, Peter David, Terry Kavanaugh, John Francis Moore, Ben Raab, Ian Churchill, Angela Medina, Steve Skroce, Anthony Castillo, Bernard Chang, Luke Ross, Kevin Lau, and Ed Benes
X-Force: Cable, Domino, Siryn, Sunspot, Boom-Boom, Shatterstar, Warpath, Rictor, Caliban
Also Featuring: Mojo, Cyclops, Longshot, Dazzler, Gog, Magog, Spiral, Kane, Copycat, GW Bridge, Deathbird, Charlotte Jones, Doctor Strange, Risque, Blob, Mimic, Psycho Man, The Micronauts

​Half of this book is also collected in the Complete Onslaught series, and while the story isn't good in any format, it reads better in those volumes than it does here.

The additional material in this book suffers from a tonal disonance between art and writing. While Jeph Loeb is hardly writing the team as testosterony and grunty as Fabien Nicieza or Rob Liefeld, it's still supposed to have an edge to it as the story revolves around time travel, stolen identities, alternate universes and a mental institution where two of the characters were briefly tortured. Why, then, would anyone pair that script withartists using a manga-infused soft art style? Were they trying to appeal to a new audience? Did anyone actually think it would work?

The opening salvo of a lifeform trying to escape the Sh'iar and ending up in the Danger Room, similar to the first issue featuring Warlock is silly and fun, and was a welcome follow-up to the overly complex Onslaught story. Then there's an entire issue of Cable and Cyclops talking about their relationship that doesn't evolve any storyline nor does it have any emotional resonance. The Mojoverse story about Shatterstar's identity is completely flat, despite including some well-loved characters who hadn't been seen in a while. The volume closes with a story that crosses Cable's old friend Kane with Deadpool's old friend Copycat and...The Micronauts? I don't know who demanded this storyline but I'm pretty sure I've never met them.

Despite some long-term continuity threads coming into play in this volume, there isn't much, aside from the Sh'iar/Danger Room arc that has an appealing hook to it. The volume just mainly treads water in the shallow end of a puddle.

X-Factor Underground Vol 1 by Howard Mackie, Jeff Matsuda, Eric Battle, 
X-Factor: Forge, Valerie Cooper, Polaris, Mystique, Sabertooth, Wildchild, Shard
Also  Featuring: Havoc, Graydon Creed, Bastion, Madrox, Strong Guy, Dark Beast, Fatale, Pyro

After so many crossover events and cameo appearances in other X-books, this was a really satisfying, contained story about X-Factor divorcing itself from the government that's been funding it ever since the group was known as Freedom Force.

Sabretooth and Mystique's storyarc in this collection makes them much more grounded, sane, and empathetic than either of them have been in a long time, without de-fanging either of them. Their involvement with the assassination at the center of this storyarc is smartly and engagingly written. I'm disappointed that Marvel hasn't collected this arc into trade paperback yet. It wouldnm't quite have made the Headcanon but it is easily my favorite work by Mackie so far. If you can track down these issues (#127-133), they're likely to be cheap and definitely enjoyable.

It also feeds directly into the next collection.

X-Man Dance With The Devil by Terry Kavanagh, Tom DeFalco, Ralph Macchio, Steve Skroce, Roger Cruz, Alan Davis, Pasqual Ferry, Manny Clark, Terry Dodson, and Casey Jones
Featuring: X-Man, Threnody, Madelyne Pryor, Spider-Man, Abomination, Selene, Trevor Fitzroy, Sebastian Shaw, Tessa, Bastion, Scribe, Bishop, Sugar Man, AoA Forge, AoA Magneto, AoA Mastermind, Morph, Ben Urich, MaryJane Watson, Aunt may, Morbius, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Amanda Sefton, Wolfsbane, Kitty Pryde, Pete Wisdom, Moira MacTaggert, Dark Beast, Havok, Fatale

After a tortorously shakey first volume, this second collection of stories surrounding Nate Grey was fun and held my interest the entire time. Terry Kavanagh doesn't dig into Nate Grey, so much as he digs in to all the characters and continuity around him and lets us like Nate for his reactions more than his heroism.

Kavanagh makes smart use of his side characters in this book, too. While Sinister's shadow looms, it's Threnody and Madelyne Pryor that shine in this volume, and the surprising use of Spider-Man, The Abomination, Morbious, and The Hellfire Club keeps the story interesting.

While I don't think this is a revelatory comic book for anyone, it's certainly a fun 90s nostalgia read if you find it in a discount graphic novel bin.​

X-Men Stormwatch by Ian Hedgerton, Jim Kreuger,John Francis Moore, Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr, Liam Sharpe, Gene Ha, and Steve Yeowell
X-Men: Prof X, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, Storm, Jubilee, Gambit, Bishop
​1st Appearances: Karima
Also Featuring: Shinobi Shaw, Candra, Banshee, Forge, Lilandra, Deathbird

A collection of X-side stories featuring Storm. We begin with an annual from 1994 (so it's a little out of continuity but consider it a flashback that's relevant to another issue in the book) about Shinobi Shaw trying to use the Hellfire Club to seduce Storm. It's a thoroughly mediocre story of its time.

X-Men Unlimited #5 thrusts the X-Men into the Shi'ar Empire to deal with more fallout from Professor X's time in space, and also give us some moments between Storm and Forge, who should be busy heading up X-Factor at this time. It's completely forgettable but not awful.

Finally, X-Men Unlimited #7 has Storm going back to her roots as a pickpocket in Egypt, only to encounter Candra, who was in the background of the Shinobi storyline from the annual. It doesn't add anything exciting to the X-lore.

Nothing in this faux-collection (I'm not sure how they'd collect any of these stories) is necessary reading but if you're always on the lookout for Storm-centric X-books, this would be a great run to read.

X-Men Rifts by Jorge Gonzalez, Scott Lobdell, Ralph Macchio, Cedric Nocon, Chad Hunt, Andy Kubert, and Duncan Rouleau
X-Men: Prof X, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Beast, Angel, Iceman, Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Psylocke, Gambit, Bishop, Cannonball, Joseph
Also Featuring: Havoc, Dark Beast, Morlocks/Gene Nation, Graydon Creed, Trish Tilby, Hercules, Quicksilver, Candra, Karima, Sebastian Shaw 

​This is for the, thusfar, uncollected run of comics of X-Men Legacy #58-61 and the 1997 Annual: After protecting the former Morlocks (now Gene Nation) from anti-mutant terrorists, Storm returns to the Morlock tunnels only to find a seemingly grieving Gambit. Hmmm. Soon, Gambit finds himself caught in the familiar Magneto/Rogue/Gambit love triangle, only know Magneto is the younger Joseph.

There's a bit of fallout from the Stormwatch storyline as well.

None of this is essential, or, honestly, very interesting, but it's capably told and I wasn't so bored that I was skipping pages.

X-Force Revelations by John Dokes, John Francis Moore, Kevin Lau, Anthony Castrillo, Mark Pajarillo, and Mark Morales
X-Force: Cable, Siryn, Domino, Sunspot, BoomBoom, Rictor, Shatterstar, Warpath, Caliban
Also Featuring: Karma's siblings, Shinobi Shaw, Mindmeld, Clearcut, Spiral, Nathaniel Richards, GW Bridge, Risque, Blob. Mimic

This review is for issues #62-65 by John Dokes.

The manga-era of X-Force was tonal whiplash. The cutesy art and the dark storytelling could have worked if the title had launched with that discordance, or if there was a storyline reason why the entire look of the book changed. Alas, the reason was bad marketing, and poor editorial decisions. Over the course of the book the art evolves from manga to just smooth lined 90s comics to a Mark Morales-penciled issue where, for the first time in ages, the art and the writing merge into an interesting story.

Luckily, you're not missing anything if you just skip these books entirely. There are some intriguing ideas, including bringing Karma's family back into the mix but none of the stories end up going anywhere.

The entire run can be skipped. Issue #65 returns X-Force to a more famlliar art style, as well as returning to the setup of X-Force Epic Collection, Vol. 7: Zero Tolerance.

An exhausting follow-up to the Age Of Apocalypse and the lull before this era, I'm just putting the Prelude to Onslaught and Onslaught books together as an era. It's simple. Much more simple than the convoluted mess of the actual crossover.

This was the first point where I began to doubt I could finish this project. 

X-Men Prelude To Onslaught by Scott Lobdell, Jeph Loeb, Terry Kavanaugh, Josh Ostrander, Jim Lee, Fabien Nicieza, Larry Hama, Mark Waid, Todd Dezago, Warren Ellis, Andy Kubert, Ian Chuchill, Pasqual Ferry Steve Skroce, Val Semeiks, Rick Leonardi, John Romita Jr, Tom Grummett, Adam Kubert, Jeff Matsuda, Adam Pollina, Nick Gnazzo, Bryan Hitch, Mike S Miller, Steve Epting, and Casey Jones
X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, Iceman, Wolverine, Storm, Psylocke, Bishop, Cannonball
X-Force: Cable, Domino, Sunspot, BoomBoom, Siryn, Warpath, Caliban
Generation X: Banshee, Emma Frost, Jubilee, Chamber, Husk, Monet, Skin
1st Appearances: Bastion
Also Featuring: X-Man, Threnody, Madelyne Pryor, Seline, Trevor Fitzroy, Post, Gateway, Dark Beast, Juggernaut, Holocaust, Robert Kennedy, Blob, Genesis, Blaquesmith

This is a fairly well-edited primer for the upcoming Onslaught event. Containing some whole issues of X-Men, Cable, and X-Man, it also has highlight sections of the other X-books that influence this event, going as far back as the 1991 relaunch story involving Bishop and Fitzroy.

You could conceivably start reading here and only be sort of confused about all of the continuity that feeds into this event, as opposed to completely lost. Unfortunately, the entire event that follows is an unsatisfying read, so you're honestly better just skipping this era completely.

Onslaught The Complete Epic Vol 2 by Warren Ellis, Larry hama, Howard Mackie, Todd Dezago, Tom Defalco, Terry Kavanagh, Jeph Loeb, Josh Ostrander, Casey Jones, Randy Green. Val Semeiks, Jeff Matsuda, Herb Trimpe, Stefano Raffaele, Mike Wieringo, Mark Bagley, Joshua Hood, John Romita Jr, Steve Skroce, Anthony Castrillo, and Tom Lyle
X-Factor: Forge, Polaris, Random, Mystique, Wilc Child, Sabretooth
X-Force: Domino, Siryn, Sunspot, BoomBoom, Warpath, Shatterstar, Caliban, X-Man
Also Featuring: Moira MacTaggert, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Psylocke, Wolverine, Elektra, Gateway, Onslaught, Dark Beast, Havoc, Fatale, Spider-Man, Mary Jane, Sentinels, Ben Reilly, J Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Ben Ulrich, Philip Ulrich, Mr Sinister, Arclight, Harpoon, Vertigo, Scalphunter, Threnody, Punisher, GW Bridge, Dum Dum Duggan, Dr Strange, Juggernaut

Even worse than the previous volume, this collection is bogged down by stale writing, The Clone Saga era of Spider-Man, a focus on The Sentinels which leads to Onslaught barely even being in this collection, and a couple of issues focused on nobody's favorite X-Man, X-Man.

There is a fun Green Goblin issue betwixt the Spider-Clone nonsense but it's not enough to make this collection worth reading. This is a definite Skip in the X-Men chronology.

​Vol 4
Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Human Torch, Thing, Franklin Richards, Scott Lang, Nathaniel Richards, She-Hulk
X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Best, Angel, Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Psylocke, Gambit, Bishop, Cannonball, Joseph
Avengers: Captain America, Iron Man, Vision, Hank Pym, Hawkeye, Falcon, Quicksilver
Inhumans: Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Karnak, Gorgon
X-Force: Cable, Domino, Caliban
Also Featuring: Dr Doom, Sentinels, Onslaught, Puppet Master, Alicia Masters, Cassie Lang, Kang, Psycho Man, Lyja, Super Skrull, Paibok, Blastaar, Mad Thinker, Namor, Black Panther, Agatha Harkness, X-Man, Uatu, Hulk, Bastion, Graydon Creed, Spider-Man, J jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Val Cooper , Trish  Tilby

I guess if you've read this far, why not finish with this volume where they throw everything at a giant climax which they then show you will be completely meaningless and instantly undone in the next event. But if you haven't started, man, you can dodge a pretty big bullet by not reading any of this series.

As soon as The Age Of Apocalypse event ended, writers upped the ante on dropping Onslaught references in their books. There had been a few even before Prelude To TheAge Of Apocalypse but now we're planting major seeds for the storyline about this mysterious new villain.

The fact that we don't have A Major Event in this era means we get some down time with some mutant teams, some storylines with minor villains, and some weird side quest books like X-Men: Wolverine/Gambit: Victims which slightly reference continuity but could really take place almost anywhere on the X-Men timeline.

It's not a bad era. Only one out of thirteen titles makes the Headcanon but there are a couple of near-misses that make for fun reads if you're looking for some hits of 90s mutant nostalgia.

Generation X Classic Vol 2 by Scott Lobdell, Chris Bachalo, Todd Dezago, Roger Cruz, Tom Grumett, and Val Semekis
Generation X: Emma Frost, Banshee, Jubilee, Husk, Chamber, Monet, Synch, Skin, Penance, Mondo, Artie, Leech
Also Featuring: Gateway, Penance, DOA, Cordelia Frost, Mondo, Sebastian Shaw, Marrow, Dark Beast, Omega Red, Wolverine, Moira MacTaggert, Gayle Edgerton

This is a fun respite after The Age Of Apocalypse and a welcome change from the overly serious, crossover heavy, all-muscled, sexied-up, million characters per issue X-books.  We get a bit of spillover from that as Dark Beast and Marrow have crossed into the regular universe. I also enjoy Emma Frost being fleshed out (not like that) as a character as we see her empathy for Banshee and her complicated relationship with her sister.

There's a very Chris Claremont two-issue fantasy story shoved into the midst of this collection. While it does feel like a story more aimed at young readers, it's handled much better than the Claremont stories it pays homage to. It's a fluid read that doesn't take itself too seriously while still putting the focus on developing the main cast, even if they're in an absurd side quest from their usual adventures.

There aren't Universe Changing Stakes, there are just small adventures, sometimes against familiar X-villains. 

I can't emphasize enough the importance of Bachalo's art in this series. He was someone whose art I hated in the very early 2000s but the softer linework he used in the 90s still looks great twenty years later, and the way he toyed with panels, backgrounds, and showing mutants' powers is vastly different from any other 90s art.

X-Factor Wreaking Havok by John Francis Moore, Todd, Jeff Matsuda, and Jerry Bingham
X-Factor: Forge, Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Wolfsbane, Random, Mystique, Wild Child
Also Featuring: Fatale, Scarlet, Lila Cheney, Yukio

This is a review for X-Factor #111-114, a storyarc called "Wreaking Havoc" that hasn't been collected yet but will probably end up in an Epic Collection in the next few years.

It takes place directly after Legion dispatches the team from Israel during X-Men: Legionquest, and continues just after X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic, Book 4.

It mainly takes place in Japan and Madripoor, and focuses on Strong Guy and Lila Cheney facing off against some aliens she stole from, and recovering Havoc, whose lost control of his powers and is being hunted by a variety of mutant assassins.

It attempts the humor of Peter David's run but it often misses the mark. The continuity is fun, though, and I was always curious what would happen next. It does employ a bit of DC's One Year Later tactic, where some time has passed between the end of Age Of Apocalypse and the second half of this arc, so we miss the inciting incident that changes the team roster, imperils Havoc, and ships Wolfsbane off to Excalibur.

Excalibur Visionaries: Warren Ellis Vol 1 by Warren Ellis, Scott Lobdell, Fabien Nicieza, Terry Dodson, Bill Sinkiewicz, Daerick Gross, Ken Lashley, Larry Stroman, Jeff Moy, David Williams, Mike Miller, Mike Christian, and Carlos Pacheco
Excalibur: Moira MacTaggert, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Captain Britain, Meggan, Ahab, Amanda Sefton, Douglock
​First Appearances: Pete Wisdom
Also Featuring: Bishop, Professor X, Margali, Magik, Wolverine, Trish Tilby, Iceman, Jubilee, Synch, Husk, Robert Kelly, Sugar Man, Jenny Ransome, Spoor, 

Technically, Warren Ellis's run on Excalibur starts before the Age Of Apocalypse but the event doesn't really interrupt the story other than suddenly Sugar Man exists in the universe and is responsible for much of Genosha's complicated history. 

The most jarring part of Ellis's run is him tossing Pete Wisdom into the book and making him a main character. He's a sort of watered down John Constantine who works for an espionage organization focused on magic.  He immediately takes center stage with Kitty, Moira, Nightcrawler, and Amanda as b-level characters and occasional cameos of Captain Britain, Meggan, Ahab, and Douglock.

It never commits to being a fun X-book, a wannabe Hellblazer, or a dark anti-hero book, instead just sort of dabbing its toes in different comic genres. It doesn't really work. I don't see it as being something that a fan of either Claremont or Lobdell's Excalibur would like, it's definitely not cool enough for Hellblazer fans, and it's not a pivotal or important work from Warren Ellis's catalogue. It's just kind of an okay story that's easy to follow but hard to love.

X-Men: Wolverine/Gambit: Victims by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
Also Featuring: Rogue, Martinique Mastermind, and Arcade

​I'm usually a fan of Tim Sale's art. While he still delivers his noirish style here, which is appropriate for the story, I just don't enjoy the faces in this book, particularly Gambit's. There are also some very sparely paneled pages that look less like an artistic decision and more like an artist wasn't using the space properly. So it's three stars for the art for me.

I rarely, but not quite never, enjoy Jeph Loeb's storytelling. This was far from his worst superhero comic but the dialog was really clunky, and the story quite trite and uninspired. Barely two stars.

This is a big Skip It for me. By the standards of the time, it's a mediocre comic, but compared to Loeb and Sale's work on Batman, it's awful.

Cable & X-Force Classic by Jeph Loeb, Scott Lobdell, Fabien Nicieza, Arnie Jorgensen, Adam Pollina, Ian Chuchill, Salvador Larroca, Wilfred Santiago, Jeff Matsuda, Gary Frank, TIm Sale, Joel Thomas, Rob Haynes, Randy Green and Ben Herrera
X-Force: Cable, Domino, Siryn, Sunspot, Boom-Boom, Warpath, Shatterstar, Rictor, Caliban
Also Featuring: Cannonball, Blaquesmith, Professor X, Storm, Sabertooth, Jean Grey, Stryfe, Mr Sinister, Sugar Man, Cyclops, Storm, Renee Majcomb, Deadpool, Pipeline, Hawkshaw, Phillip Moreau, Jenny Ransome, Beast, Mimic, Wolverine, Grizzly, Rachel Grey, Jenskot, Holocaust, Shinobi Shaw, Threnody

The first half of this book is a pretty excellent set of character studies involving members  X-Force. The Boom-Boom/Sabretooth, Cable/Domino, and Rictor/Shatterstar being the best of them. We get a chance to see Siryn on an undercover mission that ends up involving Deadpool, and we learn a bit more about Genoshan history, which was rewritten by The Age Of Apocalypse era. I was expecting to add this volume to my headcanon but it gets weighed down in the latter half by typical Cable clone time traveling destiny shenanigans, and then the Genoshan story gets a bit twisted around itself.

There's also two "We took a wrong turn at Albuquerque" gags that have also popped up in other X-collections around this time. This seems incredibly excessive for a book that never even threatens to take place in Albuquerque. Unless you're really Bugs Bunnying up your mutant book, I don't understand the repeated use of this reference.

X-Man The Man Who Fell To Earth by Jeph Loeb, Josh Ostrander, Warren Ellis, John Rozum, Terry Kavanagh, Steve Skroce, Carlos Pacheco, Ian Churchill, Luke Ross, Phil Hester, Scott McDaniel, Rob Haynes, Lee Weeks, Jan Duursema, Casey Jones. and Eric Battle
Also Featuring: Sugar Man Rex, Madelyne Pryor, Blacquesmith, Bishop, Professor X, Selene, Dark Beast, X-Cutioner, Rogue, 

Not only is it bad, it's considerably worse than all the other X-titles coming out at this time. There's next to no logic in the story, there's no depth to any of the characters, it's just Jeph Loeb dropping characters X-readers might have been nostalgic for, and then removing them before they could be interesting parts of what one might generously call a plot. The use of Madeline Pryor, and the intersections with Cable's story, and the 616 X-Men are intriguing as premises but uninspired and flat in execution.

That the main character is an alternate reality half-clone of a time displaced character who already has at least TWO clones running around our universe? Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. 

There is no reason to read this book unless you feel ayou absolutely have to read every issue about Nate Grey. Otherwise, skip it.

Wolverine Epic The Dying Game by Larry Hama, Chris Golden, Ian Edginton, Josh Ostrander, Adam Kubert, Fabio Laguna, Duncan Rouleau, JH Williams III, Ben Herrera, Jan Duursema, Chris Alexander, Ramon Bernardo, Val Semeiks, Luciano Lima
X-Men: Wolverine, Gambit, Cannonball, Prof X, Storm, Beast, Psylocke, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Angel, Bishop
Generation X: Banshee, Emma Frost, Jubilee, Chamber, Skin, Synch, Husk, Monet
1st Appearances: Dirtnap
Also Featuring: Cyber, Sabretooth, Maverick, Rose, O'Donnel, Archie, Chief Tai, Tyger Tyger, Deadpool, Kane, Vanessa, Ghost Rider, Trish Tilby, Vindicator, Guardian, Nightcrawler, BoomBoom, Slayback, GW Bridge, Rahne, Moira MacTaggert, Spyne, Lifeforce, Genesis, Juggernaut, Caliban, Hurricane, Expediter, Deabolt

Taking place in the background of all the other books from this season, this should be a better book. A few pivotal moments involving Sabretooth, as well as The Legacy Virus take place in this volume but it's an absolute chore to read. Every issue we see at least one X-Men member tossed into a Wolverine trope with him. There never feels like there's any developement in the characters. Technically, this all leads up to a major event at the end of the book but it's an incredible anti-climax.

There must have been fans of Larry Hama's 70-something issue run on this title but it's definitely not me. I will be thrilled to see someone else do something with this title.

X-Men Road To Onslaught Book 2 by Scott Lobdell, Fabien Nicieza, Terry Kavanagh, Larry Hama, Alan Davis, Mark Waid, Bryan Hitch, Andy Kubert, Roger Cruz, Val Semeiks, Joe Mad, Gary Frank, Luke Ross and Jeff Matsuda
X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, Wolverine, Storm, Psylocke, Gambit, Bishop, Cannonball
Generation X: Banshee, Emma Frost, Jubilee, Synch, Skin, Chamber, Husk
1st Appearances: Joseph
Also Featuring: Sabretooth, Juggernaut, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Josh Guthrie, Bolivar Trask, Nimrod Sentinels, Robert Kelly, X-Babies, Dazzler, Gog, Magog, Lee Forester, Bloodscream, Belasco, N'gari, Val Cooper, BoomBoom, Caliban, Thing, Dark Beast, Sugarman, Fatale 

The conclusion to the Sabretooth In The Mansion storyline that began well before The Age of Apocalypse is a mostly solid adventure featuring a ton of X-characters. Unfortunately, it starts off with the narratively dull and chronologically unimportant X-Men/Clandestine story. There's no reason to read it unless you love the idea of Alan Davis writing a bunch of new, uninspiring characters and putting them into situations similar to his toothless Excalibur run.

The rest of the book is classic 90s X-ventures. Apart from the Sabretooth story, we see Cannonball return home and battle an anti-mutant cult with their own Nimrod Sentinels, the X-Babies return and cause chaos in NYC, Lee Forrester and her boat play host to a trio of X-Men trying to save the world from one of Belasco's schemes, Bishop goes slowly mad because of his time in The Age Of Apocalypse, and we see a little more of what the Age Of Apocalypse refugees are doing in the regular universe.

Cable & X-Force Onslaught Rising by Jeph Loeb, Todd Dezago, John Ostrander, Terry Kavanagh, Matt Ryan, Terry Dodson, Adam Pollina, Luciana Lima, Ian Churchill Steve Skroce, Rurik Tyler, Daerick Gross, Eric Battle
X-Force: Cable, Domino, Siryn, Sunspot, BoomBoom, Shatterstar, Warpath, Caliban
1st Appearances: Post, Risque
Also Featuring: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Blacquesmith, Cannonball, Impossible Man, Grizzly, Arcade, Sebastian Shaw, Tessa, Holocaust, Bishop, Storm, Beast, Gambit, X-Man, Moira MacTaggert, Threnody, Exodus, Blob, Gideon, Crule, Absalom, Saul, Selene, Dum Dum Duggan, Cyclops, GW Bridge, Deadpool, Gamesmaster

The build to Onslaught is very much in the background of this collection where the recently trimmed down team slowly comes into their own. After a very silly but enjoyable downtime issue involving Impossible Man and his ... children?, we see the recently returned Sebastian Shaw make a play at leading X-Force against Cable. It's typical mind-control shenanigans but it's brief and played more to show off the team's tactical maturing than for emotional melodrama. Then we dip into the Cable/X-Man storyline that we've already read in X-Man: The Man Who Fell To Earth before some rendez-vous with B or C-level villains, including the Externals who, it turns out, can die. The collection closes with Siryn returning to the asylum where Deadpool disappeared in Cable & X-Force Classic, where it looks like we'll start to understand Shatterstar's origin.

All-in-all, this is a fun book. It doesn't add too much to the upcoming Onslaught crossover, and, apart from the X-Man/Cable issues, it doesn't drag out the Age Of Apocalypse threads, either. It's part of the pleasant improvement in X-Force books that happened during Jeph Loeb's run on the book. It's not quite great enough to add to the headcanon but it's a solid read.

X-Factor Forging The Futute by John Francis Moore, Howard Mackie, Steve Epting, Stefano Raffaele, Bryan Hitch, and Mark D Bright
X-Factor: Forge, Val Cooper, Havoc, Polaris, Mystique, Wild Child
Alpha Flight: Aurora, Northstar, Puck
Also Featuring: Cyclops, Dark Beast, Random, Fatale, Haven, Roma, Naze, The Adversary

A tedious entry in the otherwise fun X-Factor of the 90s, Howard Mackie snoozingly pits the team against half of Alpha Flight in an attempt to make Wild Child interesting, and then reaches all the way back to Chris Claremont's "Life/Death" series to bring out the most boring part of Forge's history. They also try and plop Haven into the Forge backstory only to immediately remove her. There's nothing fun or interesting to grasp on to in this run of issues that, unsurprisingly, haven't been collected yet. 

Excalibur Visionaries Warren Ellis Vol 3 by Warren Ellis, Carlos Pacheco, Casey Jones, Randy Green, Rob Haynes, Terry Dodson, Karl Story, and Aaron Lopresti
Excalibur: Moira MacTaggert, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Capt Britain, Meggan, Douglock, Pete Wisdom, Wolfsbane
1st Appearance: Scratch, Scribe
Also Featuring: Alistar Stuart, Mountjoy, Onslaught, Margali

Black Air has captured Douglock, Captain Britain infiltrates the European wing of The Hellfire Club to flush out Mountjoy.

After the first three issues, put this serviceable but unremarkable book down, as we fully commit to Onslaught in the next post.