X-Men

[Andy Turnbull]

Ah the X-Men where sub-plots go to limp on and on and on...

Andy

[blueshift]

So uh, I've got to Inferno.

I noticed a lot of people talking it up, but man, it feels like a crossover based on the premise of "hey, we made Cyclops a horrible chump for abandoning his wife and kids, why don't we have his wife TURN EVIL and dress in BONDAGE GEAR and try to sacrifice their son to SATAN, and then Angel can give a speech about how Cyclops was OBVIOUSLY MANIPULATED BY MR SINISTER to abandon his wife and child as he is SO NOBLE. And to hammer this home we can turn the X-Men evil but X-Factor as the PURE ORIGINAL 60s CHARACTERS who are so PURE AND NOBLE can resist this evil influence!"

Siiiiiigh.

And then Dazzler blacks up. (yes I see it's supposed to be tan but why are they using the same shade as they use for Storm).

Longshot apparently quit but it's not clear and I didn't even realise he did until the next issue.

And then they all leg it through the Seige Perilous to escape some Z-list villains.

I... I think I'm nearing the end of the good stuff???

[Andy Turnbull]

You are about to enter the dark times. It does recover but this is the wilderness period - Claremont was breaking the team to put it back together. Drastically depowering Wolverine as he goes.

Andy

[The Doctor]

Meanwhile I am reading DARK SOMETHING OR OTHER in Panini and reeling from the shock revelation that Prof X secretly did something in the past during the original comics run that makes him a bit of a dick. That never happens.

-Ralph

[Andy Turnbull]

Professor X do something in his past that is wrong?

Never!

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

Matt,

(I'm assuming you read the X-Factor issues Inferno crossed over into?)

Inferno was A VERY BIG THING

It was the culmination of the Magik storyline (running since X-Men 160) Scott's reunion with Madelyne having believed her dead, his finding his son, the return of Sinister and the Marauders and most importantly the first meeting between the X-Men and X-Factor!

So it does tie a lot of stuff up.

There is something of a slump afterwards .... but it gets better. It all suddenly comes together for the title pretty spectacularly

When you get to Uncanny 269 it is VERY VERY IMPORTANT to STOP

It will have helped to Read New Mutants 86-94 at this point.

You should then read Fantastic Four Annual #23, New Mutants Annual #6, X-Factor Annual #5 and X-Men Annual #14. At the very least read X-Men Annual #14.

You have been warned!

after that you need to read the following in this order:

Uncanny X-Men #270 (November 1990)
New Mutants #95 (November 1990)
X-Factor #60 (November 1990)
Uncanny X-Men #271 (December 1990)
New Mutants #96 (December 1990)
X-Factor #61 (December 1990)
Uncanny X-Men #272 (January 1991)
New Mutants #97 (January 1991)
X-Factor #62 (January 1991)

(which make up X-Tinction Agenda) before resuming with Uncanny X-Men #273.

By the time you get to Uncanny X-Men #278 make sure you've read X-Factor 63-68.

[Philip Ayres]

Jan 6, 2016 19:17:41 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

Professor X do something in his past that is wrong?

Never!

Andy

I await someone doing a story that totally redeems Professor X of all the **** thrown at him.

[Andy Turnbull]

Not happening any time soon.

Andy

[Andy Turnbull]

Unless it's revealed it's never been Professor X. The real Charles Xavier has been lost in the astral plane since his encounter with the Shadow King and something else replaced him.

Andy

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Jan 6, 2016 19:19:58 GMT Philip Ayres said:

I await someone doing a story that totally redeems Professor X of all the **** thrown at him.

I thought that was 'Age of Apocalypse', which shows what the world is like without him in it.

The third and final TPB of AoA proper ('Omega') is out next week, and I'm looking forward to it. There are two further AoA TPBs scheduled for the first half of this year ('Dawn' and 'Twilight') but I don't know whether the material in them is up to the standard of the main saga.

Looking forward to the two 'Inferno' TPBs also in the coming months, though I've already read the New Mutants issues. Having those TPBs will mean I have every issue of X-Men from 'Fall of the Mutants' to 'The Phalanx Covenant' (besides having every issue from the Brood saga to Secret Wars II in Panini pocketbooks).

Martin

[blueshift]

Jan 6, 2016 19:18:23 GMT Philip Ayres said:

You should then read

SNIP INSANE LIST

OH GOD WHAT

[blueshift]

Jan 6, 2016 19:23:11 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

Unless it's revealed it's never been Professor X. The real Charles Xavier has been lost in the astral plane since his encounter with the Shadow King and something else replaced him.

Andy

I read 'replaced him' as 'raped him' and thought "oh marvel!"

But then I realised Marvel isn't DC.

It's awful that I'm not even joking.

[blueshift]

Hmm whilst the Marvel app has all of Uncanny, it doesn't have a great X-Factor selection (it has some early/late ones and the Inferno crossovers but not what you said there Phil, and not the Apocalypse stuff.) I'm expecting that to change before the new film comes out! (Though Marvel did just upload all of Night Nurse, which clearly I read straight away (no really)

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Jan 6, 2016 19:37:31 GMT blueshift said:

Jan 6, 2016 19:18:23 GMT Philip Ayres said:

You should then read

SNIP INSANE LIST

OH GOD WHAT

Are you reading X-Men in some silly one-title-at-a-time way rather than the book collections that work out what comics you should read in what order for you in order for it to make what in Marvel passes for sense?

Basically Phil is just saying you need to read one of the collections of the 'X-Tinction Agenda' crossover, followed by this www.amazon.co.uk/X-Men-Chris-Claremont-Vol-2-Omnibus/dp/0785159053/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452109620 (scroll down to read the customer reviews if you're considering skipping this stuff).

Martin

[blueshift]

The one annoying thing I'm finding with the Marvel app is how it deals with crossovers, in that you can select the crossover event and view all the issues in it, but the only 'read next' at the end of each issue is for the next issue of that book, you need to go back to the crossover menu to make sure you get the next one in the crossover.

But, you know, there's like, 17000 issues on there, I'm not really complaining that much.

[Philip Ayres]

I'd expect all I listed to be on the Marvel app. Almost all have been traded in colour (except the Portacio X-Factor issues grrrr)

But yeah look for

Days of Future Present
X-Tinction Agenda
Muir Island Saga

as storylines/trades

[blueshift]

Genuine question, do I really want to keep reading after Clairemont leaves, which I see is pretty soon, and if not, when's a good 'dropping off' point.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

I wouldn't say quit just yet. I think the year or so following his departure was much better than his off-years.

My personal dropping off point for the main X-titles is the end of 'Phalanx Covenant'. It's an easy one for me because that's just before when the artwork goes in a more manga-ish direction that doesn't work for me at all. 'Age of Apocalypse' also occurs then, and makes for a nice clean break where you can climb down off the merry-go-round and go look for something else to amuse yourself with.

Martin

[The Doctor]

I have not read Inferno. I don't want to.

-Ralph

[legios]

Inferno was where I actually came back into reading the X-books when I was in High School. I kind of worked backwards and forwards from their simultaneously.

I have to say, my two favourite parts of it are very much not core titles - the Avengers issue that has Edwin Jarvis as the lead character, saving folk and generally being terribly Avengery (in both senses) in a blacked out Manhattan, and the Excaliber stuff which is a collision between contemporary horror films and the slightly off-the-wall town Excaliber had when it was at its very best. The X-Men and X-Factor stuff must have done something right, because they brought me back to US comics after quite a while away.

Karl

[Andy Turnbull]

A slight diversion but people who post here might be interested.

A fan animated series based on 90's X-Men (with added Nightcrawler goodness_

robot6.comicbookresources.com/2016/01/animated-x-men-danger-room-protocols-will-take-you-back-to-the-90s/



Retro pixelly goodness ensues.

[Philip Ayres]

Top Five Wolverine Young Female Friends

goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2016/01/06/top-five-wolverine-young-female-friends/#comment-5787112

[Philip Ayres]

Jan 6, 2016 20:12:11 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

My personal dropping off point for the main X-titles is the end of 'Phalanx Covenant'. It's an easy one for me because that's just before when the artwork goes in a more manga-ish direction that doesn't work for me at all.

Andu, Martin's just bad mouthed Joe Mad!

[Andy Turnbull]

No he didn't. He stated the art style doesn't work for him. A valid viewpoint. Not one I share. Although I do prefer early Joe Mad. I think his Phalanx work is his best x work.

[The Doctor]

Joe Mad's stuff is pish, when he can be arsed to turn up.

-Ralph

[Andy Turnbull]

Now Ralph has slagged off Joe Mad.

He is wrong, about the first part. The second I cannot disagree with.

Andy

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Jan 7, 2016 10:14:18 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

No he didn't. He stated the art style doesn't work for him. A valid viewpoint. Not one I share. Although I do prefer early Joe Mad. I think his Phalanx work is his best x work.

As someone who often doesn't pay attention to the credits, I took it that the guy I didn't like came in after 'Age of Apocalypse', but it's the same guy as before drawing in a different style. Flicking through my Phalanx hardback, I like JM's work, but it may just be because he's been told to draw in the style of Andy Kubert, whose work I like (more). It's as if a few issues later they tell him he can draw in any style he chooses, and he picks one that happens not to please me.

A bit like when you choose to go all Yaniger or Manny Galan, Andy.

Martin

[Andy Turnbull]

Heh!

He does the very first part of the Phalanx Covenant -when Banshee springs Emma Frost from the X-Mansion. At that point he retained a bit more of the influence of Art Adams about his work.

His Age of Apocalypse work is probably the last which keeps most of that influence, as we get nearer Onslaught he's more into his classic manga influenced style.

Nah, he wasn't told to draw like Andy K, just simply evolved his style.

Andy

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Yes, that makes sense, I really liked Art Adams in Asgardian Wars. Him, Jim Lee and Kubert are probably my top three X-artists. I guess they have a lot of similarities in their style.

Martin

[Andy Turnbull]

Art Adams is a huge influence on the likes of Jim Lee, Joe Mad and Rob Liefeld, something they have all acknowledged.

Andy