On the 13th of June I turned 30, I’m not dealing with this so instead I decided to both ignore and celebrate me lasting so long by writing a whole bunch of top 30 countdown lists, thus all lists are made up of things released before June 13th 2016.
So the X-Men were created
by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for X-Men #1 (which is really Uncanny X-Men #1 but
let’s not get into that) back in the 1960s, they were originally going to be
called the Mutants. Now this ‘created by’ thing is a bit of a misdirection as
Kirby only stayed on until issue 11 before switching to layouts and both were
gone by issue 20, so while
they did create the likes of Professor X, Cyclops,
Jean Grey, The Beast, Iceman, The Angel, Magneto, The Blob, The Sentinels,
Mastermind and the concept of the X-Men and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants – which
is no small feat – most of the X-Men was defined by later writers Roy Thomas,
Len Wein and Chris Claremont. Wein rebooted the concept with Giant Size X-Men
#1 but moving up to the Editor-in-Chief position meant he had to give the book
over to someone else, that was Chris Claremont, who later teamed up with John
Byrne for a while to produce what is generally considered the best the
franchise ever produced. Claremont stayed on Uncanny X-Men for over a decade,
turning a book that was such a poor seller it was just reprints to a whole
franchise supporting six books, seven if you count Alpha Flight, by the time he
was forced off the book for two artist who almost instantly left to form Image
Comics. The X-Men managed to survive this and actually become even bigger
thanks to the aforementioned cartoon and toyline and a number of successful
comic book events and the continuing popularity of Wolverine. These days a
successful (if shit) movie franchise, about 60 books and Deadpool’s irritatingly
large fanbase keep the franchise going.
As I’m excluding other
media beyond comics I’ve also decided to include only comic book stories
starring the 616 X-Men, so no 2099, Ultimate, Exiles, X-Men Adventures, X-Men:
The End or What If issues, stories set in other realities but starring 616
characters (like Mutant X or Chris Claremont’s Exiles) or the 616 universe
temporarily reformatted (like House of M or Age of Apocalypse) were fine. Other
than that the story could come from anything X-related including non-X-men
books (like Marvel Fanfare or Marvel Comics Presents), books with the word
‘X-Men’ in the title, any of the spin-off X-Teams and any solo books of any
X-Team member… within reason, Blade has technically been an X-Man but I didn’t
consider any Tomb of Dracula or Blade stories because I think that’s just
pushing it but the likes of Captain Britain and Quicksilver (even though they
were only members of spin-off teams) I was fine with, but I’d also be fine with
including Quicksilver stories in an Avengers list as well.
30. Rogue Redux
Uncanny X-Men issue 269
Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Art Thibert
Wha’appen? When
Rouge held onto Ms. Marvel too long and permanently copied her powers, she also
made a permanent copy of her psyche. Reborn via the Siege Perilous after dying
fighting Master Mould, Rouge wakes up to find that her copy of Carol Danvers’
psyche has also been given a physical body but there isn’t enough life force to
support both, escaping to the Savage Land it seems Rogue is going to pay for
what she did to Ms. Marvel, until Magneto intervenes
Why? Because I
am a pathetic Rogue fan and I always like Rogue centric issues, but of all the
Rogue-centric plots I especially have a thing for interaction between her and
Ms. Marvel (even if Ms. Marvel in this case is old Xerox given flesh by
accident) – Rogue holding on too long to Carol had a huge effect on both
characters and any time it’s brought up I lap it up like cream. Thi sis my
personal favourite confrontation between the two – even though Rogue loses, in
fact that might be a reason why I like it: when she realises she’s losing the
fight she feels she deserves it and that makes me want to hug her and I think
the major appeal of Rogue (especially to heterosexual men) is that’s she’s so
fucked up and you just want to comfort her. So, by putting this appeal at the
front during a Ms Marvel/Rogue clash drawn by Jim Lee… y’know I was surprised
while ranking the stories about how high this issue stayed, now I’m not.
29. LifeDeath
Uncanny X-Men issue 186
Chris Claremont, Barry Windsor-Smith
Wha’appen?
Storm has lost her powers and she’s staying with Forge, who actually built the
weapon that was used to take away her powers but she doesn’t know that1,
at the start of the story. As Forge works to bring her out of her suicidal
depression and the two begin to fall for one another until she learns who built
the gun that ruined her life.
Why? This is a
VERY popular story (as is its sequel LifeDeath II but I’ve always been lukewarm
on that one) so I’m sure I suck for putting it this low but *sigh* I dunno.
It’s a very good character piece but I don’t find it as powerful as many seem
to; it’s drawn by the amazing Barry Windsor-Smith but he really doesn’t drawn
Storm at her usual level of stunning – she looks kind of emaciated - despite
Claremont having Forge repeatedly tell us how gorgeous she looks; It’s a good
character piece for Storm but it’s told from Forge’s perspective; see where I’m
going with this? There’s always a ‘on the other hand’ to each bit of praise usually
thrown its way. One thing that doesn’t normally get praise is how good the
non-Storm/Forge stuff is, Windsor-Smith’s talent for shading and laying out a
page makes Val Cooper’s encounter with the Dire Wraiths and Rogue damn scary
and damn thrilling respectively. There are parts that are great, the swimming
pool scene and the finale in the rain (which is also very well drawn by
Windsor-Smith, I feel the need to point that out because I feel guilty for
moaning about how he draws Storm) but *sigh* I dunno…
28. Earthfall
Uncanny X-Men issues 232-234
Chris Claremont, Marc Silvestri, Dan Green, Joe
Rubenstein
Wha’appen? The
Brood have returned, and have infected Mutants, the X-Men meet them head-on in
the streets of Denver, meanwhile Madeline Pryor is seduced by the dark forces
of Limbo.
Why? The Brood
are terrifying when they’re in space, putting them on earth, in a setting you
can relate to, just makes ‘em even worse! Imagine it, there is a person who
will infect you and turn you into a monster and he is a person you trust, say a
paramedic, and he doesn’t know he’s doing it – that’s terrifying, it’s not too
original but it is terrifying and if it’s paced and (in this case) drawn in a
way that really do the concept justice it’s even worse – now imagine you have
to deal with this situation, you don’t know who’s monster and how isn’t and
they don’t know either – still terrifying isn’t it? And that’s just the first issue! The rest of
the story being a big battle with the Brood is helped by having a new spin on
the concept – Mutant Brood – which raises the stakes even more, the Brood were
a physical challenge to the X-Men when they didn’t have superpowers, now they
do and they’re in a heavily populated area and they have to killed to be
stopped which brings up the ‘what measure is a non-human’ trope which is
especially fitting for something like the X-Men and Claremont actually shows
the X-Men being affected by killing, even if it’s just monstrous aliens. So I
personally like it for the frightening opening and the X-Men-on-alien violence
but there’s a lot more to its appeal than just that and I like these things
even if it’s something I pick up on less because I’m not a literary analysist
I’m a crap blogger; we have an uplifting ending with the vicar’s wife being
cured with fits nicely with the story’s concept of how the Nrood would work
with life on earth (both affecting it positively and negatively) and y’know
it’s nice to have a bit of a happy ending, especially in the angstfest that is
the X-Men and in a story as dark as this one. And you have the sometimes
surreal but very effective breaking down of Madeline, a character who really
doesn’t get enough love and one of the best arguments against anti-mutant
hatred the series has ever given (which you can use as an argument against
whatever the current anti-whatever hatred is or the anti-whatever hatred that
is closest to you) so in review there’s a lot to like so it’s no wonder I like
it.
27. Haunted
New X-Men Academy X issues 7-9
Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, Michael Ryan, Carlo
Pagulayan, Rick Ketcham & Norm Rapmund
Wha’appen?
Prodigy’s kid sister comes to stay with him at Xavier’s School for Gifted
Youngsters and has fun hanging out with her big brother’s fellow students in
the New Mutants Squad, but soon she starts to claim that she’s a mutant too –
because she can see a ghost. Only it turns out that she isn’t the Mutant, the
ghost is, and as a victim of one of the bi-monthly attacks on the X-Mansion he
is pissed off and wants to see no more young mutants placed in harm’s way by
the X-Men.
Why? I think a
lot of people prefer the post-House of M era of Academy X by Kyle & Yost
and I will admit that issue 20 is shockingly powerful stuff as is issue 24 but
it’s very down beat and I just don’t like the team as much, well I say ‘team’ I
mean ‘X-23 and some other characters’. Anyway I like a good ghost story and
this is a good ghost story and better than that, it’s a good ghost story set in
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters – perhaps the place in fiction I’d want
to see a ghost story more than any other and it’s a ghost story that plays off
a real problem that the team is known to have, sure the kid’s made up for this
story (the fact that he’s not a name character is actually part of the plot)
but the X-Mansion getting attacked and blown up is a punch line it happens to
much, so it feels like a natural fit. Oh and it has a good twist ending, which
is actually a bit of what I believe TV Tropes calls ‘fridge horror’, see we
never see the ghost boy again – this is mostly because a new writing team took
over and would rather shill one of their creations and do their own thing than
bother with what most of the previous team established (don’t believe me? Only
one of the New Mutants Squad is still active after they take over) – but I
wonder – did Decimation kill a ghost? Did he get depowered and cease to be, did
he get bundled up with the Collective? Or darker still, did Decimation end up
finishing his unfinished business by making it so far less kids would be put in
harm’s way because of Xavier’s – only for dozens of students to be killed in a
bus bombing not long after?
26. X-Tinction
Agenda
Uncanny X-Men 270-272, New Mutants 95-97, X-Factor
60-62
Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Jim Lee, Jon
Bogdanove, Rob Liefeld2, Guang Yap (plus inkers and assists)
Wha’appen? The
X-Men have been wanted by Genosha for some time3, and that time is
finally up and the Press Gang are sent to round up them and anyone who
associates with them, they get Storm and a chunk of New Mutants – Rictor, Boom
Boom, Wolfsbane and Warlock. Soon Warlock is dead and Wolfsbane and Storm are
mindless ‘Mutate’ slaves and worse, there’s no X-Men to go and save them (the
only active members at the time were Banshee and Forge) so it’s a team of
X-Factor, Gambit and the last few New Mutants (plus Banshee and Forge) that hit
Genosha, along with Wolverine and Jubilee who have just found Psylocke, now in
the body of a Japanese Ninja4 and who’ve come independently. Their
attack is, surprisingly, a complete shambles – made worse by one of Genosha’s
Magistrates being an amnesic Havok - and very soon Sunspot, Gambit, Wolverine,
Marvel Girl, Psylocke, Forge and Cable are in Genoshan custody, Jubilee is
stuck babysitting RIctor and Boom Boom (who’ve escaped) oh and Genosha’s
leadership is being manipulated by the vengeful head of Cameron Hodge, a mutant
hater who did a deal for immortality and has attached his head to a giant robot
scorpion. Oh and if Wolverine’s powers are turned off and he has no healing
factor, he will die, his powers are turned off.
Why? I’m a little
bit biased as X-Factor 61 was the first American X-Men comic I read but that
issue alone could have made this list, by that point things really do feel
utterly hopeless, Wolverine is dying with Jean Grey at his side, Storm has
become a Mutate, turning off Forge’s powers have knocked him out, Havok’s a
villain, the last dregs of the X-Men are in a desperate infiltration mission
(that fails) and Cable has, what I think, is his fines torment – with no powers
and only one working arm, he still throws himself at Hodge to distract him and
gets a couple of licks in before he goes down, though he does go down. The rest
of the issues are pretty good too – things like impressive battles, crushing
defeats, high tension, Cyclops trying to reach his brother while his brother is
knocking fuck out of him, things like that.
Note: Sometimes
Uncanny X-Men 273 is included as part of this arc, I personally feel that it’s
more of a prologue to the next arc ‘Crossroads’,
especially as X-Factor 62 has an epilogue of its own with Boom Boom spreading
Warlock’s ashes.
25. Children of
the Atom
Uncanny X-Men 360, X-Men 80
Steve Seagle, Joe Kelly, Chris Bachalo, Brandon
Peterson (plus inkers)
Wha’appen?
Very little of the X-Men remain5, and on the anniversary of
Magneto’s debut, attacking Cape Citadel – which is again in the news thanks to
a mysterious Mutant-control released missile with plutonium elements – those
few that remain – Wolverine, Storm, Marrow and Rogue – are trying to find their
old friend Peter Corbeau while Cecelia Ryes looks after a nearly completely
empty X-Mansion, who’s gone missing. The same day, while taking a cruise back
to the United States from Scotland following the dissolution of Excalibur,
Colossus, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler are attacked by a new group of X-Men who
take Shadowcat to help ‘The Founder’ a very strange Professor X who has escaped
Bastion’s custody and wants to catalogue and store Mutants, a very confused
bunch of X-Men are set to reunite and solve this conundrum, whether they’re
happy about it or not.
Why? Yep, this
is the one that no-one else will agree with, I’d say I never see anything nice
written about this era of X-Men but that’d be a lie because I never see
anything written at all about the post-Operation: Zero Tolerance era of the
books except the odd bit of Maggot (and sometimes Marrow) bashing, in fact I’m
tempted to do a big article covering everything from immediately after
Onslaught to Black Sun just to prove it exists. Back on track this was produced
as a celebration of the X-Men’s 35th Anniversary, reuniting the
All-New All-Different X-Men who hadn’t been on a team together since Excalibur
begun. As it lacks the Original X-Men and Magneto I’d say it’s not a perfect
celebration but it is a very good one and both writers do very well to fit such
a celebration into the then-status quo of the team which really wasn’t conducive at all for such a thing – there’s loads of
nice little call backs but without the book feeling too sugary, Wolverine is
still pissed off at Colossus for joining Magneto’s Acolytes for instance. It’s
also a good little mystery, by that I mean you can easily miss the solution but
when said solution is revealed you can go back and see the solution was pretty
obvious, the first issue is confusing as hell but it’s supposed to be (it’s not
confusing because it’s badly or confusingly written, you’re just confused as to
what and why), not only to aid the mystery element but also to put us in the
position of the X-Men, who have no idea until right up until the finale. Am I
saying this is an underrated gem? Yes, yes I am, am I saying it’s better than
LifeDeath? No probably not, I just like it more.
24. Wolverine
& the X-Men: ReGenesis
Wolverine & the X-Men issues 1-3
Jason Aaron, Chris Bachalo (plus inkers)
Wha’appen?
Following a schism between the X-Men, Wolverine – well The Beast but on Wolverine’s
say-so – has built a new Jean Grey School for Higher Learning on the grounds of
the old X-Mansion, staffing it almost exclusively with X-Men who came from
Utopia with him, many of whom have only brief experiences as teachers. Today is
the first day of term and the inspectors have arrived; of course everything is
going to go to hell and of course the Mansion is going to be attacked, enter a
new pre-teen Hellfire Club.
Why? If you’re
a massive X-Fan, or just an X-Reader under 21, you may notice that there’s very
little on this list from after Utopia was formed, that’s because I hate both
the Utopia concept in practice (though I do agree it was a sensible temporary solution to Dark Reign) and I
especially hate Schism and yet this is pretty much the first story AFTER
Schism, so why is it here? Well that’s what this paragraph is for! Simply
because it does away with all the misery and justifying being bastards and
death and just focuses on Wolverine, Shadowcat and a few others trying to start
up a school, trying to impress some fussy bureaucrat so they can stay starting
up a school and struggling with moving on to the next phase of their lives and the
new responsibilities it brings. It’s also pretty damn funny. Do I like the new
Hellfire Club as much as the old ones? ‘Course not, but they serve their
purpose well as additional (destructive) annoyances at a time when additional
(destructive) annoyances are most certainly not wanted. Is there anything I
don’t like? I never accepted the Iceman/Shadowcat pairing, Kitty and Colossus
for life! ;)
23. Twilight of the Mutants
Uncanny X-Men issues 49-52, 54-63
Arnold Drake, Roy Thomas, Don Heck, Werner Ross, Jim
Steranko, Neal Adams
Notes: all
attempts to split this run of issues up, either by fans or on the odd occasion
parts of it are reprinted separately (which isn’t very often), have failed to
satisfy me, each arc really tumbles into the other so I’ve included the whole
thing, even though that means it actually ranks lower than if it had been
split.
Wha’appen? Mesmero, acting as Magneto’s second, kidnaps
Lorna Dane and brings out her latent mutant powers so she can replace the
missing Master of Magnetism, her being his daughter. This draws the ‘real’
magneto out and Lorna, now Polaris, must decide which way to go – X-Men or
Magento. After she obviously chooses the X-Men things get out of hand and stay
that way – Cyclops finds his brother Alex being used by the Living Monolith and
unable to control his mutant powers at the same time Larry Trask re-releases
his father’s Sentinels who find that Mesmero’s Magneto is a robot. The injuries
Alex, now Havok, sustains fighting the Sentinels leads the X-Men to Karl Lykos,
jumpstarting his transformation into Sauron and the end result of Angel’s
battle with Sauron ends with the winged X-Man being saved by a man who turns
out to be the real Magneto
Why? This is
the Neal Adams/Roy Thomas run (with the rest of the story that came before they
took over) and hopefully that should be why enough, but what that means is some
of the most exciting and expressive art work in comics ever married to a great
but often very creative but often slightly odd plots with utterly bombastic but
utterly charming dialogue… well most of the time, I give you racist Cyclops:
Yeah that’s just not
acceptable, no matter how angry you are Cyclops, maybe the whole point was to
show that Cyclops wasn’t perfect, or maybe it was just the different values of
the time that thankfully we’ve grown beyond. Speaking of racism this is the
Sentinels at their threatening best, some of it is Thomas’ story and script but
a lot of it is Adam’s layouts and artwork, generally this era of Marvel feels
like the best Saturday Morning Cartoons you can read but once Adams comes on it
becomes even more than that and in with the Sentinels these things really look
and feel like towering engines of oppression. On the downsides this era has
dated a little, it’s worse in the Arnold Drake stories – in fact most things
are (though Jim Steranko’s art is pretty great, especially in issue 50, though
not on par with his Nick Fury work) and it’s those issues that bring this down
to this number really (well that and racist Cyclops obviously), they’re great
but they’re even more bombastic and far more dated.
22. The Demon Bear Saga
The New Mutants issues 18-21
Chris Claremont, Bill Sienkiewicz
Wha’appen? Mirage
can feel the bear that killed her parents is out there and it’s coming for her,
so she goes to it – and ends up in hospital, and the Bear is still coming, and
when it can’t beat the new Mutants on their turf, it takes them to its – a
spirit world, meanwhile Warlock is coming and will crash during… a slumber
party, what else?
Why? Here’s
another story that I don’t like as much as everyone else seems to, I do like
it, but I can’t help but think that this would be a LOT higher for just about
everyone else. I like it and I greatly enjoy Sienkiewicz’s art (he draws the
best Magik) and Claremont certainly rose to the challenge of writing for his
style and thus the story is a perfect fit, the New Mutants spend three issues
dealing with a giant monster bear to who the laws of physics do not apply but
that’s kind of what puts me off it a little, I’m not fond of these
metaphysical/reality warping/beyond the space of time/leaning on the seventh
wall stuff, I have trouble getting my head around it. Other than that and
there’s some clunky dialogue too, I think the real big thing was just how
different it was, today when Stray Toasters and Ashely Wood are considered old
hat that just doesn’t have any weight, and what we’re left with is a great but
flawed New Mutants arc and one of the good ‘X-Men stories that aren’t about
Mutant Hatred’ stories though that does come up.
Notes: Issue
21 isn’t always linked to the Demon Bear story (it’s not about the Demon bear)
but it wraps up the Warlock subplot and takes place while Mirage is recovering
so I thought I’d throw it in, the story’s just as good with or without it, but
it is a good issue.
21. The Final
Chapter
X-Force issues 124-129
Peter Milligan, Mike Allred, Darwyn Cooke, Duncan
Fegredo
Notes: The
trade paperback includes issues 121-123 but that’s really for convenience as
far as I can see, though 121-122 do introduce The Spike they’re the clearly
named two-part story-arc ‘Lacuna’ and 122 is the ‘Nuff Said issue that has a
time-travel element too thus I’d consider it more linked Lacuna.
Wha’appen? A
group of multinational pharmaceutical companies are threatening to ruin The
Orphan due to a snap decision he made earlier in the series, to stop this
X-Force are going to do a favour for the C.I.A. (to whom the multinationals owe
favours) that will make the C.I.A look good; basically they have some C.I.A.
made super-soldiers in a satellite and X-Force are to go up and save the
hostages but loose so they can be rescued by the C.I.A. but everything goes
wrong, in fact everything is going wrong from before they even get to the
satellite: while trying to recruit their new member Dead Girl they come against
what The Anarchist believes is an omen that one of he, Orphan or U-Go-Girl will
die and it’s really freaking Anarchist and U-Go-Girl out, plus Anarchist is not
getting on at all with their other new member The Spike.
Why? I really
liked the Milligan/Allred X-Force run, it was during X-Statix that I got pissed
off with ‘em because of the school shooting issue and STOP DWITEFRY, DO NOT DO
THIS RANT HERE *siiigh* okaaayyy *ehem*: I read the whole run in preparation
for this and having done that this is easily my favourite – the art and writing
are great but then it was great for nearly all of the series (except THAT
issue) what makes me pick this one is, well, it’s mostly the team line-up and
the good outing they all get, I don’t particularly like Spike but I do like
Milligan’s use of him and he makes a great foil to the Anarchist who himself
gets some of his most heroic moments in this; this is U-Go-Girl and Orphan’s
time as a couple and their interaction is great (and not your typical superhero
romance) and it’s U-Go-Girl’s death story and a lovely U-Go-Girl story as a
prelude (as she and Orphan get together) and she goes out on a high, I feel
utterly shit every time I read her death, not because I’m pissed off they
killed her, but because someone is dying – that’s the sign a good death;
Vivisector and Phat come out to their teammates and deal with the issues that
comes with that (and Phat’s refusal to come out to the public) and one of my
favourite X-Men, Deadgirl (X-Statix
Presents Deadgirl nearly made this top 30), gets her dramatic introduction,
is a major part of the plot and gets a focus issue that makes you fall utterly
in love with her – if you’re a macabre fucker who has a slight obsession with
death and a slight obsession with tragic female characters.
20. Rouge
Rouge issues 1-4
Howard Mackie, Mike Wieringo, Terry Austin
Wha’appen?
Rogue’s yearly trip to visit Cody, the boy she put into a coma with her first
kiss, doesn’t go so smoothly this time – Cody has been kidnapped by Belladonna
and the Assassin’s Guild, Gambit’s ex-wife and the rival clan to his Thieves
Guild and a woman Rogue accidentally put into a coma while trying to protect
her. The Vengeful Bella is being egged-on/manipulated by immortal mutant Candra
who has also empowered several Assassins. With Gambit also captured, Rogue
makes her way to Belladonna’s mansion to confront both women.
Why? So we’ve
established that I’m kind of in love with Rogue yes? She’s my favourite X-Man
and much of the appeal comes from the need to comfort her that comes from her
long list of problems – past, present and emotional. This book is all about
Rogue and Rogue dealing with her guilt over her powers and as she spends
the whole series determined but guilt ridden she’s at her most huggable, and
she does, at least for a moment, break out of her internal angst at the end. It was character development that was mostly undone by giving her additional
problems to internally angst over post-Age of Apocalypse but it is nice to see
her come to terms with some of her past – to let Cody go and to openly reject
the guilt she feels for Belladonna (and with her Cody and Ms. Marvel too). the
book isn’t perfect, even Ringo’s art is quite perfect (he got there, I miss
your work Wieringo) but it’s filled with good things and good story choices
(except maybe the ‘Candra’s defeated by Raw Determination’ thing but it’s
Candra, fuck her the Externals were pointless) – for instance although Gambit
is in the whole book and is hardly ‘nerfed’ to be a weak love interest it’s
Rogue who does everything herself, for another instance Rogue gets her powers
taken away for the first time in ages and gets to feel pain, things she wants
often, but Mackie gives us and her a twist on this and this is during a fight
for her life with Belladonna (who’s also depowered at the time, but a trained
assassin). If you like Rogue, this is a
great story, if you don’t like Rogue, this is a decent story you should read as
part of understanding this era of X-Men (especially if you’ve read the more
popular Gambit mini-series and the Ghost Rider/X-Men Brood arc that was part of
Jim Lee’s last days on X-Men), I like
Rogue so this is going on the list and I don’t think that’s a problem
(obviously, cos I’ve done it).
19. The Shiva Saga
Wolverine Volume 2 issues 48--57, 60-68
Larry Hama, Marc Silvestri, Dan Hoover, Mark Texeira Mark
Pacella (plus inkers)
Wha’appen? Wolverine’s
investigation into his past – what’s real and what isn’t – leads to the release
of Shiva, a weapon designed to kill him and the whole of Weapon X. But Shiva’s
just the start, after Mojo shows his ugly spineless head Jubilee winds up in
Japan with means Wolverine and Gambit wind up in Japan in a battle with Cylia
(the last of the Reavers at this point) and The Hand which ultimately leads to
Logan having to put his lost love Mariko Yashida out of her misery – and another
lost love, Silver Fox, is tracking him the whole way. Then Shiva returns,
attacking Sabretooth (at a Wrestling match) and reuniting him with John Wraith
and thus a whole of Team Weapon X, with Mastodon dead, Wolverine, Silver Fox,
Maverick, John Wraith and Sabretooth are going to confront the Psi-Borg, and
even when that’s over things aren’t finished as Wolverine is forced to revisit
the Terry Hama mission and meet Epsilon Red.
Notes: all of
these arcs tumble into one another, issues 51-57 aren’t connected to the ‘Old
Team’ but their endings lead directly into each other and into the second ‘Old
Team’ arc in 60-65 and the final three issues are a direct result of that
story, a sort of ‘parting gift’ left by it.
Why? I like
the ‘things for the past come back to affect the present’ plot and the ‘old
team getting back together for one last mission’ plot and Wolverine is perfect
for both and Larry Hama is perfect to handle both, further playing to his
strengths by bringing in the military and government forces elements which
themselves are pretty good fits for these plots, and tying it into Wolverine’s memory implants (which are central to the whole thing, but then they were central
fairly often in the 90’s it seemed) is also pretty perfect, allowing us to have
a mix of the main character knowing what happened in the past, not knowing and
not knowing the full story. Especially nice is all this is linked to THE CABIN,
that bloody cabin; I clearly can’t be the only reader who latched onto this
because Hama takes the time to have a character moan about how resilient that
‘memory’ is and that can’t be anything but the author venting his spleen. But
wrapping it all around this ‘iconic’ memory of Silver Fox’s murder by
Sabretooth made the story mean more to me, other fans and most importantly to
Wolverine, allowing for more emotion (and Hama does that justice) and I’d like
to justify bringing back Silver Fox and then killing her off thus: he brought
her back as something unexpected and by killing her off it allowed to her to be
part of the story and help solve mysteries but not undo her status as ‘tragic
lost love’, if you wish to bring up Women in Refrigerators here you are
completely right to do so, but that is
Silver Fox’s purpose in the franchise regardless of how you or I feel about
women being used in such ways. Throw in lots of Jubilee, a direct sequel to the
Wolverine mini-series and Wolverine, Mystique and Spiral on the same motorbike
and hell yeah, just hell yeah. Downsides? The bloody artists switching around
all the time, it’s especially jarring because Silvestri6 and Tex are
such good artists with such strong styles and the two fill-ins have so very
generic 90’s comic artists styles.
18. Necrosha
X Necrosha: The Gathering Special, X-Necrosha Special,
New Mutants Volume 3 issues 6-8, X-Force Volume 3 21-25, X-Men Legacy 231-233,
Dazzler Special)
Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Clayton Crain, Zeb Wells,
Diogenes Neves, Mike Carey, Clay Mann plus
Wha’appen?
Selene is going to ascent and become a goddess like her namesake; she has
gathered a small set of living follows – Wither, Senyaka, Blink and Dazzler’s
sister Mortis and her hold follower Eli Bard. Though Bard she is now the queen
of an army of reanimated mutants, the X-Men’s fallen friends, family and foes
and she’s striking first to make sure Marvel’s Merry Mutants don’t stop her, so
they’ll stuffer and for good ol’ fashioned revenge against those who’ve wrong
her – The Hellions are sent for The White Queen and Cypher for Magma (Selene’s
granddaughter) with the back-up of just about any deceased related to the
X-Men; Pyro, Feral, Banshee even the like of Tower, Berzerker and Stonewall are
attacking Utopia. Meanwhile as befitting a queen of the dead, Selene has taken
up on Genosha and imprisoned Destiny, who – while trying to get a message to
Rogue has instead been intercepted by Blindfold – with terrible news, Proteus
is back from the dead too.
Why? I’m sad
to hear that this event isn’t as popular as some others – including Messiah
Complex which depresses and infuriates me in equal measure and features the
trappings of the worst kind of event and House of M which is just. I think I’ll
bullet point things 1) it hits all the beats I want it to and we get all the
moments I wanted, sadly Kitty was still riding her space dildo and Jubilee was
depowered so we don’t get to see them interact with Cypher and Synch & Skin
but otherwise we get just about all reunions I wanted (I would have liked one
for Wolverine, maybe Genesis?) 2) Selene finally does something equal to the
build-up she’s had since 1980-whatever and that something’s easily summarized
with easy to understand motives (‘I want to become a goddess, I want subjects’
pretty much) 3) it’s a horror story and is nearly all lit and paced like a
horror story (the New Mutants’ artist is a bit shite really but he tries) and
an X-Men horror story, this one has elements from both zombie and ghost
fiction, makes me delighted 4) the tie-ins are great and all thematically
linked very well – Hela turns up in X-Force, Proteus returns (though not
because of Bard) etc. And we’ll do the complaints the same way a) this was
during Cyclops’ ‘turning into a bag of dicks’ era and when X-Force was his
personal murder squad, both things I loathe b) they kill of Onyxx and Diamond
Lil and both deaths feel like an afterthought, though as this is an entire
story about death I guess someone was going to die but they death should have
been a big deal, what with death being the whole theme. c) It’s not as good as
Blackest Night and d) only Cypher came back from the dead permanently, this
could have been a great chance to undo deaths like Banshee, Skin, Caliban and Pyro
and e) no Jean Grey.
17. The Brood Saga
Uncanny X-Men issues 161-168
Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, Paul Smith, Bob Wiacek
Note: there’s
a question mark about what actually constitutes as ‘The Brood Saga’, sometimes
it’s thought of as just 162-167 but 154-159 really are the start of it,
sometimes 159 and 161 aren’t considered part of it and I’ll be honest 168
(Professor Xavier is a Jerk!) is rarely considered part of it, but I have
considered it a part since I was about 13 and as the exact issues for the saga
are so changeable I’m gonna put it in, I think the best way to look at it is
that issues 162-167 are The Brood Saga as a story arc and Uncanny 154-159 &
161-168 are the complete Brood saga.
Wha’appen? The
X-Men and Carol Danvers face off against the Brood in space (well that was easy
to summarize)
Why? Claremont
really liked his big sci-fi epics, I’m never quite sure if they fit with my
idea of what an X-Men story should be but they’re all pretty damn good and
thanks to them ‘going into space’ is just something that the X-Men do. The
Brood Saga’s the best of the X-Men go into Space bunch for me because I like
the horror/thriller elements, the Phoenix Saga is bigger and the Rise and Fall
of the Shi’ar Empire more epic but the Brood Saga is scarier. Being chased by
scary aliens who want to turn you into them, and can, and have already done
this to your most fearsome team member (Wolverine spends much of these issues
fighting off turning into a Brood) is very personal in its terror, much easier to
comprehend and relate too than the bigger threats. The thing that works against
the story is, sadly, Dave Cockrum, his ‘typical comic book artist’ style and
traditional layouts don’t help Claremont’s wordier pages and really aren’t that
suited to the style of story but stick with it, the much more dynamic and
suitable Paul Smith take over half way through, incidentally the two book end
‘sort of related’ stores – issues 161 and 168 are actually better than the main
saga, one is Xavier and Magneto’s past and the other is a great solo story for
Kitty Pryde with some of Paul Smith’s best art.
16. Jasper’s Warp
Marvel Superheroes 377-388, Daredevils 1-11, The Mighty
World of Marvel Volume 2 7-13
Alan Moore, Alan Davies
Wha’appen? I
will try so hard to make this summary make sense: Captain Britain ends up in an
alternate reality trying to save life there for Saturnyne but a local villain,
Mad Jim Jaspers warps reality and the government sets The Fury, a superhero
killing machine, on Captain Britain and the Captain and his ally Jackdaw are
killed. Merlin brings Captain Britain back to life and returns him to Earth 616
to work with the Captain UK to prevent the same thing from happening at home
and speak at Saturnyne’s trial.
Why? I have
made this story sound a lot less mental than it is, I left out the whole part
about Captain Britain being turned into a monkey and having to be re-evolved by
Saturnyne. Alan Moore was very early in his career here and thus I guess jut
decided to throw all this creativity he’d had stored up at Captain Britain
alongside his usual high quality of storytelling and getting Alan Davies to
produce atmospheric artwork, regardless of what atmosphere was needed, Davies
was there to give it. Add to this that Moore was writing during the early 80’s
and responding to Thatcher’s Britain and that he stuffed one issue with
references to old British Comics characters and you end up with something very
special if not completely bonkers, a bit like Alan Moore himself really.
1
the weapon was built to bring in Rogue, who was still wanted for various
criminal things including beating the shit out of the Avengers, and was
actually aimed at her (by Henry Peter Gyrich) but Forge knocking his aim off
and the shot hit Storm, so he’s technically doubly responsible for Storm’s
predicament.
2 Rob
Liefeld is credited as ‘Rob Liefeld & Co’ for New Mutants #95, it’s very
obvious he didn’t drawn several pages, including the first.
3
they’d helped three Genoshan citizens escape in the story-arc Green and
Pleasant Land., two were mutants and thus considered property of the country
and the other was the son of the ‘Genengineer’, a high ranking fellow in the
Genoshan government who was responsible for creating the Mutate process,
4
initially this was due to the Siege Perilous, which is a big doorway given to
the X-Men by a Captain Britain character but can cause changes to the person if
they go through it, and is responsible for Rogue’s resurrection in Rogue Redux
(sort of) as well as Havok being an amnesiac in Genosha and why Dazzler and
Colossus aren’t in this story. The reason for Psylocke being Asian has since
been changed, more than once, I think it’s still cannon that Mojo’s body shop
did it to her, swapping her mind with an assassin called Kwannon, I think.
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