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X-Men: The Hidden Years (Collected Editions) #1-2
X-Men: The Hidden Years Omnibus
Comics legend John Byrne bridges the gap between the X-Men's classic and all-new, all-different eras! In this series, skillfully woven between the X-Men's 1970 cancellation and 1975 revival, thrill to previously unknown exploits of the strangest teens of all as they search the Savage Land for Magneto! Iceman goes it alone; tragedy strikes Angel; and Beast, Cyclops and Marvel Girl encounter a young mutant named Ororo! The X-Men head into space with the Fantastic Four, Sauron soars again, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants returns, and the team faces the mysterious group the Promise! Sentinels, Kraven the Hunter, the Mole Man and the Yeti! And it all concludes with a seamless "crossover" with a classic FANTASTIC FOUR tale! Collecting THE HIDDEN YEARS #1-22, FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #102-104, and material from X-MEN (1991) #94 and AMAZING ADULT FANTASY #14.
640 pages, Hardcover
Published January 2, 2024
1 person is currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
John Byrne
2,962 books361 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.
Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.
Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 5, 2024
Agora sim começando a fazer os reviews de 2024, e com um dos maiores quadrinhos que já li, um Omnibus de 640 páginas, compilando a fase Hidden Years, feita por John Byrne para conter as histórias perdidas dos X-Men quando seu título foi cancelado nos anos 1970. São histórias rápidas de ler, divertidas e que levam em conta o formato novelesco que consagrou tanto Byrne como seu parceiro de X-Men, Chris Claremont. Todas as histórias do Omnibus estão encadeadas, nenhuma delas deixa de fazer sentido juntas. Nunca tive um Omnibus e o papel utilizado nele é melhor do que o tradicional de encadernados da Panini. Não tive problemas de laceamento e não precisei ser "ensinado" a como ler um Omnibus. Este volume, completo, também traz histórias do QUarteto Fantástico relacionadas com essa trama, bem como a origem do Garra Amarela e de Tad Williams, considerado o primeiro mutante apresentado cronologicamente na Marvel Comics moderna. Isso, claro, se você excetuar o Namor. Para concluir, minha experiência lendo meu primeiro Omnibus foi boa e não foi cansativa.
May 27, 2024
So well done! I've been wanting to read this for a while and this omnibus format is fantastic. Great artwork, great stories, seamlessly woven into the continuity. Highly recommended for fans of the original X-Men!
February 16, 2024
I picked this up on a whim because 1) it’s the X-Men and 2.) I thought it would look nice on my shelf. I’m glad I did! John Byrne’s The Hidden Years is exactly what it says on the tin. These are stories focused on adventures previously untold involving the original team of X-Men, in the years before Giant Sized would give us badasses like Storm and Nightcrawler and that other guy with the claws. The most interesting thing about this collection is how well it weaves in previous canon. Numerous editor notes fill us in on where the stories take place, and it creates a level of congruency not usually seen with retcons of this nature. It’s so good. The inclusion of a classic Fantastic Four issue at the end which depicts events which occur concurrently with the final issues of THY is an excellent addition and shows the level of care which went into this collected edition.
The adventures themselves are fun and mostly lighthearted, with dialogue reminiscent of the older style of comic they’re emulating. The original team feel in character and get sufficient spotlight. The art is nice most of the time, though the occasional 90-ism might catch you off guard. I’m pleased to say Bobby spends over half his page time running round in his booties and underwear making me feel Things™ and Hank also gets in on it for a while and, yeah. It’s nice. I’m a simple man. But you know what’s better than sex appeal? It’s Jean losing the Marvel Girl dress about halfway through the run to switch to a modified version of her original costume. Bye green mini-dress, hello surprisingly chic onesie!
The surprise highlight is Warren’s girlfriend, Candy Southern. Going into the story I knew the name but didn’t know much about her outside of her… being Warren’s girlfriend at some point. She gets a good bit of focus in a few different plots (ironically, she interacts with almost everyone else on the team more than she does Warren!) and shows herself to be intelligent and driven. Her ambition and privilege suit her and lets her take the reins on the plot and have some agency in how its steered, and her snarky rich girl persona makes her the funniest character to read. I was always completely at attention when she was on screen, and I can now say I’m a big fan.
In more middling results we have some of the story resolutions. Xavier’s (purportedly “unusual”) dickishness is brought up as a mystery to be solved as late at the last few issues but never gets a resolution. Lorna gets some nice screentime, but Alex feels a bit like an afterthought. The love triangle between those two and Bobby was the weakest character dynamic and doesn’t do our favorite closet case any favors. A foreshadowy retread of Jean-as-Phoenix may not be everyone’s cup of tea. As the resident Jean obsessive, I felt it was a little hamfisted and more fanservice than plotservice, if you catch my meaning. Bryne’s Jean is well written and fully realized, but I think an entire series not addressing her Phoenix connection— except outside maybe some subtle foreshadowing— would have served her better. The fact everyone forgets about it makes it come off like a cheap gimmick plot.
The worst element to the stories is the pacing. The team is almost never cohesive. It’s usually three or four of the main X-Men in the A plot, the remaining of the original X-Men in the B plot, and Alex and Lorna in the C plot. Xavier shifts between the first two, except toward the third half of the collection where he opens his own D plot. The way information is presented is often choppy, such as the end of one issue moving from one plot to another which is in mid-action, and the following issue backtracking on the previous plot to show how we got to that point and recap what we’ve already seen. This was likely to keep readers interested in picking up the next issue, but reads haphazardly when in a collected form.
While not pivotal reading for X-Men fans, it is a fun ride and I’d say I recommend it to those interested in some pre-Giant Sized era stories. Oh, and I was right. It looks pretty sweet on my shelf.
The adventures themselves are fun and mostly lighthearted, with dialogue reminiscent of the older style of comic they’re emulating. The original team feel in character and get sufficient spotlight. The art is nice most of the time, though the occasional 90-ism might catch you off guard. I’m pleased to say Bobby spends over half his page time running round in his booties and underwear making me feel Things™ and Hank also gets in on it for a while and, yeah. It’s nice. I’m a simple man. But you know what’s better than sex appeal? It’s Jean losing the Marvel Girl dress about halfway through the run to switch to a modified version of her original costume. Bye green mini-dress, hello surprisingly chic onesie!
The surprise highlight is Warren’s girlfriend, Candy Southern. Going into the story I knew the name but didn’t know much about her outside of her… being Warren’s girlfriend at some point. She gets a good bit of focus in a few different plots (ironically, she interacts with almost everyone else on the team more than she does Warren!) and shows herself to be intelligent and driven. Her ambition and privilege suit her and lets her take the reins on the plot and have some agency in how its steered, and her snarky rich girl persona makes her the funniest character to read. I was always completely at attention when she was on screen, and I can now say I’m a big fan.
In more middling results we have some of the story resolutions. Xavier’s (purportedly “unusual”) dickishness is brought up as a mystery to be solved as late at the last few issues but never gets a resolution. Lorna gets some nice screentime, but Alex feels a bit like an afterthought. The love triangle between those two and Bobby was the weakest character dynamic and doesn’t do our favorite closet case any favors. A foreshadowy retread of Jean-as-Phoenix may not be everyone’s cup of tea. As the resident Jean obsessive, I felt it was a little hamfisted and more fanservice than plotservice, if you catch my meaning. Bryne’s Jean is well written and fully realized, but I think an entire series not addressing her Phoenix connection— except outside maybe some subtle foreshadowing— would have served her better. The fact everyone forgets about it makes it come off like a cheap gimmick plot.
The worst element to the stories is the pacing. The team is almost never cohesive. It’s usually three or four of the main X-Men in the A plot, the remaining of the original X-Men in the B plot, and Alex and Lorna in the C plot. Xavier shifts between the first two, except toward the third half of the collection where he opens his own D plot. The way information is presented is often choppy, such as the end of one issue moving from one plot to another which is in mid-action, and the following issue backtracking on the previous plot to show how we got to that point and recap what we’ve already seen. This was likely to keep readers interested in picking up the next issue, but reads haphazardly when in a collected form.
While not pivotal reading for X-Men fans, it is a fun ride and I’d say I recommend it to those interested in some pre-Giant Sized era stories. Oh, and I was right. It looks pretty sweet on my shelf.
November 19, 2024
I finished reading X-Men: The Hidden Years with art and story by John Byrne and Tom Palmer. This was a series I read before, and while it didn't come out until 1999, it is intended to fill in the gap of the 1963-70 series after issue #66 when it was cancelled and turned into reprints until issue #94 when it was relaunched with the All-New, All-Different X-Men.
Due to this, Hidden Years does not break the mold and is of arguable continuity. It references several stories that were occurred in the real-life years it covered (1970-1975) and offered a slightly more modern take on characters that were woefully dated (ie the women).
While this series attempted to capture the spirit of the silver age, it did not try to mimic it entirely. It focused around the original five X-Men (Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Beast, and Marvel Girl), Professor X, and the "new" recruits that did not get much time to shine in the original series (Polaris and Havok). Though, Angel's girlfriend, Candy Southern, comes away as by far the best character in this series.
While some new characters were made for this series, none had any real staying power, especially since the continuity of this book is debatable. In some odd choices, Byrne used the book to squeeze in characters before their time (such as Storm) and slightly retcon older stories without shoving a whole new continuity entirely down the readers' throats.
Was it amazing? No. Did it accomplish it's goal of bridging the "hidden years" and telling Silver Age-esque stories of the original team? Absolutely. I'd give it a 2/5. Perhaps a 3/5 on a generous day.
Due to this, Hidden Years does not break the mold and is of arguable continuity. It references several stories that were occurred in the real-life years it covered (1970-1975) and offered a slightly more modern take on characters that were woefully dated (ie the women).
While this series attempted to capture the spirit of the silver age, it did not try to mimic it entirely. It focused around the original five X-Men (Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Beast, and Marvel Girl), Professor X, and the "new" recruits that did not get much time to shine in the original series (Polaris and Havok). Though, Angel's girlfriend, Candy Southern, comes away as by far the best character in this series.
While some new characters were made for this series, none had any real staying power, especially since the continuity of this book is debatable. In some odd choices, Byrne used the book to squeeze in characters before their time (such as Storm) and slightly retcon older stories without shoving a whole new continuity entirely down the readers' throats.
Was it amazing? No. Did it accomplish it's goal of bridging the "hidden years" and telling Silver Age-esque stories of the original team? Absolutely. I'd give it a 2/5. Perhaps a 3/5 on a generous day.
May 11, 2024
John Byrne's continuation of the X-Men as a follow up to Neal Adam's run is a good thing for John Byrne fans but I can see why the original lineup was not as popular as the later Uncanny run. The stories all seem insular. This is not to say the stories are not enjoyable they always seemed to battle Magneto or Sauron. Byrne is a master at weaving new with the old continuity and re-introduces us to Tad Carter, from Amazing Adult Fantasy #14 and the Fantastic Four appear throughout with Byrne's run coming to a close with an intersection of the X-Men with Fantastic Four #102-104 in it's original continuity. Byrne is also being inked by Tom Palmer who was the inker with Adams on his run of the original X-Men title. Highly recommended for fans of John Byrne artwork and the original run of the X-Men comic. As a bonus, we also get artwork by the legendary Jack Kirby, John Romita and Steve Ditko. Next up, The Phoenix.
January 11, 2024
I like a lot of John Byrne's stuff, particularly his She Hulk runs, but this, aside from some occasionally great art, is just okay. The pacing of the series is so breakneck that the "Hidden Years" as a series seems to only cover about a week and a half of adventures. There isn't a moment of levity or relaxation in any of the 22 issues collected here even if it is fun having the band of original X-Men back together again. Highlights of the series are the Savage Land extended story, Candy Southern's abbreviated hero turn about halfway through the series and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern/Ender's Shadow style story of the X-men behind the scenes of Fantastic Four issues 102-104.
July 2, 2024
This was mostly enjoyable. I can't help but wonder if the pages were occasionally put together in the wrong order, or in the wrong comic. Overall this was decent, filling in a gap of time, while also basically effecting nothing. I think the most fulfilling part was experiencing the characters from the 60s in a more modern nostalgic tone. Oh well, back to the late 60s I go...
August 15, 2025
this could have been soooo fun but these stories are so generic and forgetable...... and dont even get me started on the disrespect of my girls. lorna im so sorry marvel treats u like this
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews