Essential X-Men, Vol. 1

Essential X-Men, Vol. 1 by Chris Claremont
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Essential X-Men, Vol. 1 contains Giant Size X-Men #1 and X-Men #94-119.

The X-Men battle Krakoa, Count Nefaria, Kierrok the Damned, Eric the Red, The Sentinels, Black Tom Cassidy, The Juggernaut, Magneto, Firelord, The Shi'ar Royal Guard, Alpha Flight, Sauron, Warhawk, Mesmero, and Moses Magnum. Thunderbird dies. The Phoenix Force is awakened.

Uncanny X-Men was all reprints of earlier X-Men comics when Giant Size X-Men came out featuring a new team of X-Men, led by Cyclops, to rescue the old X-Men. The next thing you know, The X-Men suddenly become Marvel's A-List players. The multi-national roster of X-Men, penned by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Byrne, was THE comic of its day.

While I wouldn't say it stands the test of time as well as some books, it's easy to see why this book was the dog's bollocks back in the day. So much crazy shit happens! After Len Wein and Dave Cockrum got the ball rolling, Claremont and Byrne took the ball and kicked it into the stratosphere.

Essential X-Men lays the groundwork for the X-Men being Marvel's top franchise for a couple decades afterwords. Jean Grey becomes the Phoenix. Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, and Nightcrawler join the team. We'll just gloss over Banshee at the moment. Magneto re-establishes himself as the top villain. The Juggernaut and Sauron are brought back into the fold. Muir Island is established. Professor X and Lilandra of the Shi'Ar begin their relationship.

For an iconic X-Men read, this is it. This is where the X-Men join the A-list, where they break out of the pack and become Marvel's meal ticket for decades to come. Four out of five stars.




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New X-Men by Grant Morrison Ultimate Collection - Book 3

New X-Men by Grant Morrison Ultimate Collection - Book 3 by Grant Morrison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Assault on Weapon Plus: Wolverine, Cyclops, and Fantomex go looking for the Weapon Plus HQ so Wolverine can access their files and find out who he was before he became Weapon X.

Assault on Weapon Plus was an action-fest. The who shot Emma Frost subplot didn't really move forward at all, though. I liked that Marvel finally had the guts to reveal something about Wolverine's past after more than 30 years.

Planet X: Xorn leads a revolt inside Xavier's school and his true identity is revealed. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Jean Grey are on an asteroid that's headed into the sun, Beast and Emma Frost go down in a plane crash, and Cyclops and Fantomex have crashed a space shuttle into the ocean.

All the seeds Morrison planted earlier in his run have bore fruit. The Phoenix is unleashed, Cyclops steps up, and lots of mutants die. That's about all I can say without spoiling too much.

Here Comes Tomorrow: 150 years into the future, Tom Skylark and his Sentinel Rover have the Phoenix egg and the minions of The Beast will do anything to get it.

Here Comes Tomorrow is to Morrison's X-Men run what Batman #666 is to his Batman run. Instead of a glimpse of Damian as Batman, we get a dark future where The Beast is a maniacal super villain. It was okay but ultimately pointless. It was no Days of the Future Past.

Thus concludes Grant Morrison's run on the X-Men. It wasn't perfect but it was damn good. Too bad a pretty big plot twist was revealed on the cover.



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New X-Men by Grant Morrison Ultimate Collection - Book 2

New X-Men by Grant Morrison Ultimate Collection - Book 2 by Grant Morrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Living and Dying: Cerebra guides Xorn to a mutant living with his mother. Unfortunately, the mutant looks like a monster and has been accused of eating a dog.

If I hadn't already had the truth behind Xorn spoiled for me, this would have been a touching story for a superhero comic.

New Worlds: Professor X and Jean Grey try to learn the extent of her power boost, Fantomex demands sanctuary from the X-Corporation, and Cyclops asks Emma Frost for help.

I like what Morrison is doing with the X-Men during his run on the book but I can't help feeling a little sad that they're going to start undoing everything the instant his run is over.

Fantomex: Weapon 12 is unleashed and Fantomex enlists the aid of Professor X and Jean to help him.

This one was a bit slow paced but jumpy at the same time, kind of like Final Crisis would be years later.

Weapon 12: Weapon 12 is running amok and Fantomex and the X-Men try to bring him down.

Fantomex's identity is somewhat revealed and a team member dies. Again, slow paced but good.

Some Angels Falling: The X-Men attended Darkstar's funeral and Emma Frost begins "helping" Cyclops with his marriage.

This was mostly setup for future tales. The most memorable part was actually Angel kissing Beak.

Ambient Magnetic Fields: The X-Men go to Genosha and find a deranged Polaris and several mutants building a monument to Magneto.

It was cool to see Quicksilver acknowledged as Magneto's son and Sabra as a mutant. Other than that, not a whole lot happened.

#133: Wolverine meets Phantomex and someone tries to kill Professor X.

Good stuff. It was cool to see old members of X-Force and Sunfire again. I like how Morrison always brings back lesser known characters, like Sunfire, Warpath, and Feral in this issue.

Kid Omega: Mutant fashion designer Jumbo Carnation is murdered. Quentin Quire starts having big ideas. Beast and Cyclops chat.

This was a setup issue. I think Quentin Quire is going to do big things in the future. Also, I haven't said it before but I love the Stepford Cuckoos, Morrison's homage to John Wyndham's Midwich Cuckoos.

Teaching Children about Fractals: Quentin Quire starts organizing the other young mutants and the drug Kick starts appearing in the school for gifted youngsters.

I like what's happening with Quire and his comrades. I think things will come to a head in another issue or two.

When X is not X: Quentin Quire and his gang wander farther from Xavier's dream. The U-Men disrupt Xorn's camping trip with the remedial class. Cyclops and Emma Frost share a telepathic moment.

Yep, things are coming to a head. Emma Frost is one of my favorite mutants these days.

Riot at Xavier's: Quentin Quire and his gang start a riot on open house day.

The Quentin Quire storyline comes to a head in this one. Emma Frost and the Stepford Cuckoos take center stage.

The Prime of Miss Emma Frost: The Xavier school mourns the death of Sophie in the aftermath of Quentin Quire's riot, Angel is allegedly pregnant with Beak's child, and Jean Grey catches Cyclops and Emma Frost in the act.

The aftermath of the Quentin Quire story was well done, as was the telepathic affair between Emma Frost and Cyclops.

Murder at the Mansion: Jean confronts Emma Frost about what she and Cyclops have been doing.

The alleged affair between Cyclops and Emma Frost is brought to the forefront. The last panel is a shocker and leads nicely into the next issue.

Whodunnit?: Emma Frost has been killed by an assailant with a diamond bullet and Bishop is on the case.

So who killed Emma Frost? I'm still not completely sure. Morrison did a good job using Bishop as the lead in a murder mystery. Beak and Angel's kids were an odd brood. Esme leaving the school was a nice touch, as was hinting that Cyclops was the murderer on the last page. Looks like I'll be tracking down the next volume after all.

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New X-Men, Volume 1

New X-Men, Volume 1 by Grant Morrison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

E is for Extinction: Convinced that humanity is doomed to be wiped out in three or four generations and replaced by mutants, telepath Cassandra Nova unleashes the Master Mold sentinels on Genosha. Can the X-Men stop her?

I have a confession to make. The last issue of the X-Men I bought before this had Jim Lee doing the art so I was slightly out of the loop. Never the less, I enjoyed the first arc in this collection. The scope and the dialogue are vintage Grant Morrison, as is the shaking up of the status quo a bit by wiping out most of Genosha. Cassandra Nova was a pretty vile villain and I doubt I've seen the last of her. Professor X showed he has testicles like grapefruits in the conclusion of the story.

The Man From Room X: The X-Men got to China to stop a mutant organ trafficking ring, only to run afoul of the U-Men, humans getting grafts from mutants to take their powers.

The second story in the collection had two things going against it for me. It was sideways and Frank Quitley didn't do the art. Other than that, I enjoyed the interplay between Cyclops and Emma Frost. Xorn seemed more like a Doom Patrol character than an X-Man. On a related note, I always thought it was weird when Marvel wooed Vertigo writers away from DC and stuck them on superhero titles.

The third story in the book is untitled as far as I can tell. A bird-faced mutant called Adrien Brody, I mean The Beak, is introduced, Logan and Jean Grey share a moment, and Xavier leaves to spend some time with Llandra and the Shi'ar. It's an okay issue but has some chilling implications at the end. Damn that Cassandra Nova is sinister!

Germ Free Generation: The conflict with John Sublime and the U-Men comes to a conclusion. Emma and Cyclops are captured, Wolverine recruits a bug-winged girl named Angel, and Sublime's forces storm a certain school for gifted youngsters...

This story was well worth the read. The background plot with Cassandra Nova advanced quite a bit, and the John Sublime plot came to conclusion of sorts.

Silence: Psychic Rescue in Progress: Jean Grey and Emma Frost enter Cassandra Nova's mind. What will they find?

This story was fairly brief. There was very little text but what little there was was powerful. The origin of Cassandra Nova was revealed!

Imperial: In the aftermath of learning what transpired between Cassandra Nova, the X-Men prepare for the Shi'ar's arrival on Earth...

Imperial was mostly setup but I have a feeling the payoff is going to be huge. I'm a little surprised that The Gladiator hasn't made an appearance yet.

Testament: Just as the Beast figures out the origin of the flu that's plaguing the school, the Shi'ar Imperial Guard arrive...

Yep. Gladiator showed up. Meanwhile, Cyclops and Xorn are held captive aboard the Shi'ar flagship. Carnage ensues.

Losers: Cyclops and Xorn escape Shi'ar captivity and Jean Grey prepares for the inevitable...

The thing about Grant Morrison that always sparks my interest is how he uses the powers of characters in new ways. In Batman RIP, he infected a bunch of ninjas with the Man-Bat serum. In this book...

I'm excited for the final issue of this collection. With the combined might of the X-Men and the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, I can't see how Cassandra Nova can survive...

All Hell: The story of Cassandra Nova comes to its conclusion...
Yeah, the ending was worthwhile and the trip getting there was completely worth it.

Conclusion: I was eager to see what Grant Morrison would do with the X-Men and I wasn't disappointed. Despite my last exposure to the X-Men being sometime in the mid-90's, I had no trouble following the story. Morrison brought his sense of scope to the title and elevated a bit in my estimation. How many other writers have had a run that included the destruction of Genosha, Xavier's unborn twin, and attempted mutant genocide by the Shi'ar? I give this an easy four and urge fans of both the X-Men and Grant Morrison to seek it out. It's damn good.


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The Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past

The Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past by Chris Claremont
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In a dystopian future, Kate Pryde is sent back in time, switching consciousness with the Kitty Pryde of 1980, to prevent the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly. Will she be able to prevent her timeline from happening or will the Senator be killed, setting off a shock wave of anti-mutant hysteria?

First off, there are a ton of X-Men trades called Days of Future Past. This one is the 48 pager.

I stumbled upon it in a used bookstore that I hate and figured I was winning one back for the good guys considering it's low price. I've been wanting to read this story for a couple decades and never got around to it. Was it worth the wait? I'll let you know in a bit.

The story itself is pretty cool. The future version of Kate Pride goes back in time to rally the X-Men against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and save a Senator's life. Cyclops is gone after the events of the Dark Phoenix Saga and Storm is leading the X-Men for the first time. Angel is back and the rest of the lineup is pretty much the standard Byrne-Claremont lineup.

The dystopian future was my favorite part of the story. I liked seeing Franklin Richards, Rachel Summers, and a wheelchair-bound Magneto, as well as both Wolverine and Colossus with white at the temples. Do comic characters never go gray in a pattern other than the Reed Richards look? Speaking of Reed Richards, the graveyard with all the superhero headstones in it really sold how bad the future had become after Robert Kelly's death. As for the present day part of the story, it's pretty much standard superhero fare for the time. I did like that they hinted about a connection between Mystique and Nightcrawler way back then.

One observation I had was that Wolverine's healing factor wasn't so ridiculous in either branch of the story. In the present, he's brought to his knees by Pyro's attack and, in the future, he's roasted and killed by a Sentinel. Wolverine goes through more crap than that in two or three issues of his current comic without missing a beat.

Claremont and Byrne raised the bar for other comics with their X-Men run. Byrne's art was at the head of the pack in its day and people still use what Claremont did as a model.

So, Was it worth the wait? Let's just say my 14 year old self would have enjoyed it a lot more than my 34 year old self. It's still definitely worth a read and was revolutionary for its time but it's a little on the dated side.



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