X-Men Headcanon 9: Madripoor

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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​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.​

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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.

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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.

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