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X-Men (1991-2001) #65-70
X-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance
A rogue faction of the U.S. government, backed by powerful international forces and led by the man known only as Bastion, is about to launch a massive strike against the X-Men. The strike has one goal: the extermination of the entire mutant race. This is the X-Men's darkest hour.
COLLECTING: GENERATION X 26-31, X-FORCE 67-70, X-MEN 65-70, UNCANNY X-MEN 346, WOLVERINE 115-118, CABLE 45-47, X-MAN 30
COLLECTING: GENERATION X 26-31, X-FORCE 67-70, X-MEN 65-70, UNCANNY X-MEN 346, WOLVERINE 115-118, CABLE 45-47, X-MAN 30
640 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2012
14 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
About the author
Larry Hama
1,971 books152 followersLarry Hama is an American writer, artist, actor and musician who has worked in the fields of entertainment and publishing since the 1960s.
During the 1970s, he was seen in minor roles on the TV shows M*A*S*H and Saturday Night Live, and appeared on Broadway in two roles in the original 1976 production of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures.
He is best known to American comic book readers as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, where he wrote the licensed comic book series G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero, based on the Hasbro action figures. He has also written for the series Wolverine, Nth Man: the Ultimate Ninja, and Elektra. He created the character Bucky O'Hare, which was developed into a comic book, a toy line and television cartoon.
During the 1970s, he was seen in minor roles on the TV shows M*A*S*H and Saturday Night Live, and appeared on Broadway in two roles in the original 1976 production of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures.
He is best known to American comic book readers as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, where he wrote the licensed comic book series G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero, based on the Hasbro action figures. He has also written for the series Wolverine, Nth Man: the Ultimate Ninja, and Elektra. He created the character Bucky O'Hare, which was developed into a comic book, a toy line and television cartoon.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 19, 2021
This started off so well, with most of the X-Men taken out, Iceman standing alone, Bastion being a superbly crafted antagonist... but it somehow all manage to peter itself out as the multiple threads came together very unsatisfactorily in the end! 6 out of 12.
April 16, 2023
I like this, it is really the quintessential X-Men story. The same plot they’ve been exploring since their inception, but it does go further.
The X-Men comics have never gone to this sort of spot before. They have explored past it in some of the dystopian future storylines like Days of Future Past but they’ve never really dared to tackle the moments when the United States turns on itself.
There are still some issues with it of course. In fact there are many surrounding issues which you won’t know about if you only read the collection as presented here. I in fact did not read this particular collection but rather all the comics it includes individually.
But lets start with what you get. Its still a little messy as these big crossover events tend to be but much less so than the previous mid’90s garbage.
Not all the writers fully commit though. I mean this is a huge event which deserves full attention and yet you still have some meaningless subplots happening here and there.
Also none of the writers seem to know what to do with the main cast. Everyone is so well established by now that i guess they’re finding it hard to make them interesting? Or perhaps it was a conscious decision to give a different view on things. For whatever reason the story is mostly told by side characters but it works pretty well.
This is the best Jubilee we’ve ever gotten, there's some good Iceman stuff, a random issue of Spiderman although they call it Uncanny its clearly just a spiderman issue but a pretty good one. Domino aswell gets something to do for once kinda.
And also Marrow.. which works less well as she is a terrible character. But maybe i’m just biased as i can’t forget Marrows last appearance in which Storm punched her fist through Marrows chest and ripped out her still beating heart with her bare hands... that happened people! Someone wrote that down, someone drew it and some editor approved it, i shall never let that go! :P .
Oh and all the Cable issues feel like filler.
So end of main review its good solid X-men fair. Even if just rating it by itself, of course if your grading on a curve against the previous events (Phalanx, Onslaught, Age of Apocalypse) then it looks even better.
-------------------------------------
Now onto all the surrounding mess. As i mentioned i haven’t read this particular collection but i’m assuming there’s a summary at the start telling you the current state of things but just in case.
At this particular time in Marvel history, The Avengers, Fantastic Four and the Hulk are all dead. In a desperate bid for sales they were killed off and rebooted into a brand new more ‘realistic’ continuity not unlike the later Ultimates comics and even less successful.
So Zero Tolerance is supposed to be the natural culmination of the growing Mutant hatred fanned by the Legacy virus, assassination of anti-mutant presidential candidate Greydon Creed and the attack of Onslaught in which earth’s mightiest heroes fell.
The problem is that these 3 events are a complete mess. The Legacy virus no one ever really got a handle on and its effects vary from issue to issue. The assassination came and went from nowhere.. also given the abilities of the badguys they could easily have made it look like a mutant was responsible but didn’t. There’s no evidence a mutant was involved and people just have to assume.
Finally Onslaught, if there had been any witnesses or photos, you would have seen the X-men literally shoot the Avengers in the back (it was Captain Americas plan but still) that would have been hard to explain away.
But ok no one saw that fine.. however the badguys and many other people in the US government DO know that Onslaught was created by mutants, however accidentally and yet no one reveals that to the american public, that would have been quite the boost to the anti-mutant camp. They don’t even reveal that Xavier is a mutant which would also have bolstered their cause.
So my point is all the legs this event stands on are made of sand (or garbage).
Gen-X’s appearance in this event also required quite the Deux-Ex Macina, i was also going to say the same about the Uncanny X-men however despite a ridiculous and sudden return to earth, they don’t even get involved in Zero Tolerance, instead going off on some Gambit related tangent. Which is why only that one issue of Uncanny (which is really just a spiderman comic) is included here.
Another odd thing is the lack of inclusion of X-Factor. Now x-factor worked for the government including people directly involved with Zero Tolerance so you’d think if any x-group would be at the heart of an event like this it would be them. In fact their issues do tie in, however most of the team is sidelined and the rest are dealing with the Hound Program an offshoot of the main threat and so none of their storyline has made it in here.
Interestingly as with most other plots a lot of theirs is told by sidecharacters again with Valerie Cooper and Sabretooth getting the most limelight.
What else? Oh that's right during the original publication there was an entire month off in which the story was put on hold and filled by unrelated Flashback issues detailing various backstory bits that were never revealed before.
There’s also the similarity to the not too distant Phalanx plot line. The Phalanx where made up of a group of mutant haters who gave up their humanity and had themselves transformed into living techno-organic machines so they would have the power to exterminate mutant kind. So not exactly the furtherest thing from this event ;) .
The X-Men comics have never gone to this sort of spot before. They have explored past it in some of the dystopian future storylines like Days of Future Past but they’ve never really dared to tackle the moments when the United States turns on itself.
There are still some issues with it of course. In fact there are many surrounding issues which you won’t know about if you only read the collection as presented here. I in fact did not read this particular collection but rather all the comics it includes individually.
But lets start with what you get. Its still a little messy as these big crossover events tend to be but much less so than the previous mid’90s garbage.
Not all the writers fully commit though. I mean this is a huge event which deserves full attention and yet you still have some meaningless subplots happening here and there.
Also none of the writers seem to know what to do with the main cast. Everyone is so well established by now that i guess they’re finding it hard to make them interesting? Or perhaps it was a conscious decision to give a different view on things. For whatever reason the story is mostly told by side characters but it works pretty well.
This is the best Jubilee we’ve ever gotten, there's some good Iceman stuff, a random issue of Spiderman although they call it Uncanny its clearly just a spiderman issue but a pretty good one. Domino aswell gets something to do for once kinda.
And also Marrow.. which works less well as she is a terrible character. But maybe i’m just biased as i can’t forget Marrows last appearance in which Storm punched her fist through Marrows chest and ripped out her still beating heart with her bare hands... that happened people! Someone wrote that down, someone drew it and some editor approved it, i shall never let that go! :P .
Oh and all the Cable issues feel like filler.
So end of main review its good solid X-men fair. Even if just rating it by itself, of course if your grading on a curve against the previous events (Phalanx, Onslaught, Age of Apocalypse) then it looks even better.
-------------------------------------
Now onto all the surrounding mess. As i mentioned i haven’t read this particular collection but i’m assuming there’s a summary at the start telling you the current state of things but just in case.
At this particular time in Marvel history, The Avengers, Fantastic Four and the Hulk are all dead. In a desperate bid for sales they were killed off and rebooted into a brand new more ‘realistic’ continuity not unlike the later Ultimates comics and even less successful.
So Zero Tolerance is supposed to be the natural culmination of the growing Mutant hatred fanned by the Legacy virus, assassination of anti-mutant presidential candidate Greydon Creed and the attack of Onslaught in which earth’s mightiest heroes fell.
The problem is that these 3 events are a complete mess. The Legacy virus no one ever really got a handle on and its effects vary from issue to issue. The assassination came and went from nowhere.. also given the abilities of the badguys they could easily have made it look like a mutant was responsible but didn’t. There’s no evidence a mutant was involved and people just have to assume.
Finally Onslaught, if there had been any witnesses or photos, you would have seen the X-men literally shoot the Avengers in the back (it was Captain Americas plan but still) that would have been hard to explain away.
But ok no one saw that fine.. however the badguys and many other people in the US government DO know that Onslaught was created by mutants, however accidentally and yet no one reveals that to the american public, that would have been quite the boost to the anti-mutant camp. They don’t even reveal that Xavier is a mutant which would also have bolstered their cause.
So my point is all the legs this event stands on are made of sand (or garbage).
Gen-X’s appearance in this event also required quite the Deux-Ex Macina, i was also going to say the same about the Uncanny X-men however despite a ridiculous and sudden return to earth, they don’t even get involved in Zero Tolerance, instead going off on some Gambit related tangent. Which is why only that one issue of Uncanny (which is really just a spiderman comic) is included here.
Another odd thing is the lack of inclusion of X-Factor. Now x-factor worked for the government including people directly involved with Zero Tolerance so you’d think if any x-group would be at the heart of an event like this it would be them. In fact their issues do tie in, however most of the team is sidelined and the rest are dealing with the Hound Program an offshoot of the main threat and so none of their storyline has made it in here.
Interestingly as with most other plots a lot of theirs is told by sidecharacters again with Valerie Cooper and Sabretooth getting the most limelight.
What else? Oh that's right during the original publication there was an entire month off in which the story was put on hold and filled by unrelated Flashback issues detailing various backstory bits that were never revealed before.
There’s also the similarity to the not too distant Phalanx plot line. The Phalanx where made up of a group of mutant haters who gave up their humanity and had themselves transformed into living techno-organic machines so they would have the power to exterminate mutant kind. So not exactly the furtherest thing from this event ;) .
September 14, 2015
Started out with a great deal of potential, but somewhere in the middle meandered off-course. The writers built in way too many pointless subplots that took the reader away from the central theme and action.
Of the issues included in the collection, X-men and Wolverine were by far the most consistently written and stuck to the theme. X-Force meandered off-course, as did Generation X, and Cable. The collection hit its high point with Dr. Cecila Reyes, a mutant with a minor ability who just wanted to be a doctor, but because of genetic anomaly was being hunted. Her anomaly merely provided a small force field five inches from her skin, she still felt the impact of bullets but no lasting damage. She hides in plain sight, pretends to despise mutants, while trying to be a doctor, until she is outed by a bunch of government authorized machines hunting people like herself. Reyes is saved by a mutant superhero, part of the mutant underground movement or terrorist group, the X-men. And ends up being sucked into their cause against her will. They are social activists who save people and live their lives to further mutant rights in a peaceful manner, except their lives are extremely violent and they are constantly battling mutant revolutionaries, terrorists, and humans who want to exterminate them.
The other worthy subplot, is Mustang, a man who has been crippled in an accident, who seeks a miracle cure, but a doctor called Prospero turns him into a mutant killing machine against his will. Stating it's us against them. Wolverine, one of the mutant superheros/underground activists, manages to help Mustang rediscover his humanity, even while his friend, the leader of the group, Scott Summers, is critically wounded.
Then there's Jubilee's arc -- during which the writers examine how we justify torture and cruelty to keep ourselves safe from the other. The X-men writers explore how people who are genetically different are demonized for being different.
GW Bridge of Shield, best buds with Cable (who Bridge doesn't know is the leader of the X-men's son), states that as a human he fears the X-men because they present a danger to humans everywhere, and while that doesn't necessarily justify the extremes that Zero Tolerance went to... still.
How often do we generalize the other, put them in the same category as people who have terrorized us that happen to share characteristics? Bridge and his ilk see all mutants as the same. Not as individuals, but a group, to be feared.
And there, right there is his mistake. As the characters state - we are individuals, just like you. Just as all humans are not like the villain Bastian and Prospero who wish to exterminate all mutants, regardless of who they are or if they have any ability, not all mutants are insane serial killers. Some are like Dr. Reyes who just wants to be a doctor, or Scott Summers who is attempting to save people.
And some, like Marrow, deserve a second chance, have been disenfranchised and hurt and just need help.
This storyline is worthy of a good read. Unfortunately we are distracted by absurd subplots such as Thunderbolt's weird trip to another dimension, Jean Grey's jump to another universe to talk to Iron Man, and the whole Karkoa Island story bit in Generation X.
The problem with long-running serials is that they often jump around a lot. Going off on an absurd tangents that make little sense to new readers and bore readers who are not invested in that storyline.
So, three and a half stars for the core story - which discusses in depth the politics of hate and how it destroys everyone and everything it touches. There's a rather good monologue at the end of the collection, where Bobby Drake informs Bastion - that after his father was beaten by human right supremicists - he wanted nothing more than to go after the creeps and everyone associated with them. But watching his father fight to regain the ability to walk, to eat, etc - just because he'd chosen to stand up for his family, made him realize that's what they all have to do, fight against the hate, not give in to it, fight to be kinder, more compassionate, and show the world that they can live in peace.
He tells Dr. Reyes and Marrow, that as tempting as it to kill Bastion, to do so would make them no better than he is. Not to give in to the hate.
Of the issues included in the collection, X-men and Wolverine were by far the most consistently written and stuck to the theme. X-Force meandered off-course, as did Generation X, and Cable. The collection hit its high point with Dr. Cecila Reyes, a mutant with a minor ability who just wanted to be a doctor, but because of genetic anomaly was being hunted. Her anomaly merely provided a small force field five inches from her skin, she still felt the impact of bullets but no lasting damage. She hides in plain sight, pretends to despise mutants, while trying to be a doctor, until she is outed by a bunch of government authorized machines hunting people like herself. Reyes is saved by a mutant superhero, part of the mutant underground movement or terrorist group, the X-men. And ends up being sucked into their cause against her will. They are social activists who save people and live their lives to further mutant rights in a peaceful manner, except their lives are extremely violent and they are constantly battling mutant revolutionaries, terrorists, and humans who want to exterminate them.
The other worthy subplot, is Mustang, a man who has been crippled in an accident, who seeks a miracle cure, but a doctor called Prospero turns him into a mutant killing machine against his will. Stating it's us against them. Wolverine, one of the mutant superheros/underground activists, manages to help Mustang rediscover his humanity, even while his friend, the leader of the group, Scott Summers, is critically wounded.
Then there's Jubilee's arc -- during which the writers examine how we justify torture and cruelty to keep ourselves safe from the other. The X-men writers explore how people who are genetically different are demonized for being different.
GW Bridge of Shield, best buds with Cable (who Bridge doesn't know is the leader of the X-men's son), states that as a human he fears the X-men because they present a danger to humans everywhere, and while that doesn't necessarily justify the extremes that Zero Tolerance went to... still.
How often do we generalize the other, put them in the same category as people who have terrorized us that happen to share characteristics? Bridge and his ilk see all mutants as the same. Not as individuals, but a group, to be feared.
And there, right there is his mistake. As the characters state - we are individuals, just like you. Just as all humans are not like the villain Bastian and Prospero who wish to exterminate all mutants, regardless of who they are or if they have any ability, not all mutants are insane serial killers. Some are like Dr. Reyes who just wants to be a doctor, or Scott Summers who is attempting to save people.
And some, like Marrow, deserve a second chance, have been disenfranchised and hurt and just need help.
This storyline is worthy of a good read. Unfortunately we are distracted by absurd subplots such as Thunderbolt's weird trip to another dimension, Jean Grey's jump to another universe to talk to Iron Man, and the whole Karkoa Island story bit in Generation X.
The problem with long-running serials is that they often jump around a lot. Going off on an absurd tangents that make little sense to new readers and bore readers who are not invested in that storyline.
So, three and a half stars for the core story - which discusses in depth the politics of hate and how it destroys everyone and everything it touches. There's a rather good monologue at the end of the collection, where Bobby Drake informs Bastion - that after his father was beaten by human right supremicists - he wanted nothing more than to go after the creeps and everyone associated with them. But watching his father fight to regain the ability to walk, to eat, etc - just because he'd chosen to stand up for his family, made him realize that's what they all have to do, fight against the hate, not give in to it, fight to be kinder, more compassionate, and show the world that they can live in peace.
He tells Dr. Reyes and Marrow, that as tempting as it to kill Bastion, to do so would make them no better than he is. Not to give in to the hate.
June 10, 2017
Read this one out of order in my great x-read as the price on the physical version was more than I was willing to pay. Throw it in as part of a ridiculous kindle sale for 2 bucks, though, and I am in.
Honestly, I was expecting worse. It is a decent, if meandering, crossover. Not a whole lot happens, really. But there's some decent action and some good character moments. Surprisingly, my favorite issues were the ones with the least to do with the actual crossover - The Generation X issues and the first couple of X-force issues.
Not a terrible read at all even though I will say that it felt quite uneven. Definitely not worth the high prices I've seen it going for, though - particularly as it doesn't hugely impact continuity.
Honestly, I was expecting worse. It is a decent, if meandering, crossover. Not a whole lot happens, really. But there's some decent action and some good character moments. Surprisingly, my favorite issues were the ones with the least to do with the actual crossover - The Generation X issues and the first couple of X-force issues.
Not a terrible read at all even though I will say that it felt quite uneven. Definitely not worth the high prices I've seen it going for, though - particularly as it doesn't hugely impact continuity.
January 6, 2021
Not as great as i remembered. The main story is fine and Iceman is the big standout, but the side issues are a strugle to get through and Bastion is not the most spectaculair villain ever to be honest.
September 22, 2019
Hmmm. Hmmmm. 3 star. 4 star.
October 25, 2023
I remember "Operation Zero Tolerance" fondly. It was my first X-Men line-wide crossover event I jumped into when I first started buying comic books regularly, which meant on a monthly basis.
"Operation Zero Tolerance" touched all of the X-Men books at the time; which included Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, Wolverine, Generation X, Cable, X-Man, and X-Force. When this was being published, I could only afford the branch in the story that ran in adjective-less X-Men, and I thought it was good.
The Iceman-centric story with new mutant characters who were probably going to join the X-Men soon. I thought it was interesting. I started strong, but the plot was able to stick to a satisfying landing.
The main draw for me was the art. It had both Carlos Pacheco and Pascual Ferry double teaming on the art, and I thought it was as good as the art on X-Men ever got. High praise, especially considering this was the comic book series that launched its premier issue with 7 million sales with Jim Lee orchestrating it. At the time I thought I was getting my money's worth on my comic books and I have no regrets.
Reading the entire storyline collected in this omnibus, I thought I could rediscover that sense of shock of seeing the X-Men captured by one of their deadliest enemies, and the stragglers living with their wits to survive.
Unfortunately, I could only read those stories once, and visually, I would have preferred reading this on newsprint where the colors worked better. The omnibus presented the pages in their original colors, but that only made the late 90's era coloring pop up garishly.
The storyline in general was mid. Although it started strong, the narrative meandered due to the multiple subplots running alongside the event. However, the last chapter, published originally as X-Men #70, was the best of the bunch. It's a reminder why the X-Men worked so well, it's the teamwork on full display. Easily the best chapter in this collection.
"Operation Zero Tolerance" touched all of the X-Men books at the time; which included Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, Wolverine, Generation X, Cable, X-Man, and X-Force. When this was being published, I could only afford the branch in the story that ran in adjective-less X-Men, and I thought it was good.
The Iceman-centric story with new mutant characters who were probably going to join the X-Men soon. I thought it was interesting. I started strong, but the plot was able to stick to a satisfying landing.
The main draw for me was the art. It had both Carlos Pacheco and Pascual Ferry double teaming on the art, and I thought it was as good as the art on X-Men ever got. High praise, especially considering this was the comic book series that launched its premier issue with 7 million sales with Jim Lee orchestrating it. At the time I thought I was getting my money's worth on my comic books and I have no regrets.
Reading the entire storyline collected in this omnibus, I thought I could rediscover that sense of shock of seeing the X-Men captured by one of their deadliest enemies, and the stragglers living with their wits to survive.
Unfortunately, I could only read those stories once, and visually, I would have preferred reading this on newsprint where the colors worked better. The omnibus presented the pages in their original colors, but that only made the late 90's era coloring pop up garishly.
The storyline in general was mid. Although it started strong, the narrative meandered due to the multiple subplots running alongside the event. However, the last chapter, published originally as X-Men #70, was the best of the bunch. It's a reminder why the X-Men worked so well, it's the teamwork on full display. Easily the best chapter in this collection.
April 19, 2021
The government sanctions the most extreme response against Mutants in a program called "Zero Tolerance". Led by the mysterious Bastion, the Zero Tolerance team is able to capitalize on a fractured and exhausted X-Men team to nearly wipe them out.
This was a riveting and arduous read throughout the story. At times, I found myself really engrossed by what was happening to the X-Men and how they were able to be brought so low by a man who has such a cold disposition to the plight of a minority such as the X-Men. His callow rationale as to why he is doing what he is doing only further reinforces his logically based villainy. But I think the reason the story works so well is because he is so obviously a villain, but a villain who's intentions, as horrible as they are, are "good" and for the benefit of mankind - in his mind at least. I mean, its completely wrong and certainly the wrong way to go about it, but he expresses the need to ensure that humanity doesn't get replaced by the new dominant species, as it has over and over again throughout human history.
However, as interesting as the core of this storyline is, there is a lot of frivolous issues that tend to drag out the story to a degree that it dilutes to the original impact. Instead of a fast and furious "blitzkrieg" on the X-Men, the assault becomes a drawn out process that becomes tedious to read. I think this storyline would have benefited from being something that was more streamlined, to really feel the full effect of Bastion and his army steamrolling over the X teams. Also, because there are so many different titles and issues, Bastion seems to be everywhere at once, being the main source of the problems in each book, and that just didn't make much sense.
I think this had a good premise, but ultimately the execution of the story was a tough read because of all the extra issues that expanded on the event. Recommended for diehard fans of the X-Men only.
This was a riveting and arduous read throughout the story. At times, I found myself really engrossed by what was happening to the X-Men and how they were able to be brought so low by a man who has such a cold disposition to the plight of a minority such as the X-Men. His callow rationale as to why he is doing what he is doing only further reinforces his logically based villainy. But I think the reason the story works so well is because he is so obviously a villain, but a villain who's intentions, as horrible as they are, are "good" and for the benefit of mankind - in his mind at least. I mean, its completely wrong and certainly the wrong way to go about it, but he expresses the need to ensure that humanity doesn't get replaced by the new dominant species, as it has over and over again throughout human history.
However, as interesting as the core of this storyline is, there is a lot of frivolous issues that tend to drag out the story to a degree that it dilutes to the original impact. Instead of a fast and furious "blitzkrieg" on the X-Men, the assault becomes a drawn out process that becomes tedious to read. I think this storyline would have benefited from being something that was more streamlined, to really feel the full effect of Bastion and his army steamrolling over the X teams. Also, because there are so many different titles and issues, Bastion seems to be everywhere at once, being the main source of the problems in each book, and that just didn't make much sense.
I think this had a good premise, but ultimately the execution of the story was a tough read because of all the extra issues that expanded on the event. Recommended for diehard fans of the X-Men only.
May 27, 2019
An incoherent ramble of a book.
There's this guy called Bastion and he has an army of cyborgs and wants to kill all mutants so everyone that looks like one has to run for the hills. Yeah, that's about it about the plot. I'm not joking, we're not even given much explanation as to why exactly. Exactly three times over the course of this we're given hints that he's *gasp* Maybe Not Human and that's all for character development in this one.
Almost six hundred pages and most of them are useless filler. In fact they're detrimental to the overall quality due to wildly varying art and abundance of protagonist teams. This book contains issues from seven (!) different series all having an event sticker slapped onto them. The problem is most of these are separate stories not tied to the main event in any way except that the protagonists are also on the run from the same army of cyborgs and that's literally it. To make it worse, someone meticulously made sure that all the issues from the same series are spread all over the book. I guess they were trying to make it feel like the order is chronological but it just adds more confusion. To make matters worse the book starts in the middle of things, I guess, from the Onslaught event before that.
The core story that actually has something of a plot apart from "guys, we're running away, quick!" comes from the X-Men. It takes maybe something like two hundred pages and is okayish. I'd give it two stars if not for the rest of this mess.
There's this guy called Bastion and he has an army of cyborgs and wants to kill all mutants so everyone that looks like one has to run for the hills. Yeah, that's about it about the plot. I'm not joking, we're not even given much explanation as to why exactly. Exactly three times over the course of this we're given hints that he's *gasp* Maybe Not Human and that's all for character development in this one.
Almost six hundred pages and most of them are useless filler. In fact they're detrimental to the overall quality due to wildly varying art and abundance of protagonist teams. This book contains issues from seven (!) different series all having an event sticker slapped onto them. The problem is most of these are separate stories not tied to the main event in any way except that the protagonists are also on the run from the same army of cyborgs and that's literally it. To make it worse, someone meticulously made sure that all the issues from the same series are spread all over the book. I guess they were trying to make it feel like the order is chronological but it just adds more confusion. To make matters worse the book starts in the middle of things, I guess, from the Onslaught event before that.
The core story that actually has something of a plot apart from "guys, we're running away, quick!" comes from the X-Men. It takes maybe something like two hundred pages and is okayish. I'd give it two stars if not for the rest of this mess.
July 30, 2024
An x-men crossover that wasn’t…but it’s managed to have an impact almost 30 years later
X-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance was a bizarre 90s X-men storyline that essentially threw a theme at every active x-title but didn’t have them actually interact…
In the year or so leading up, various x-titles hinted at Zero Tolerance, a new shadowy organization led by the mysterious Bastion. It was hinted to be in response to the Onslaught event (though it would later be revealed to be due to something else).
Anyway, it also had the issue of impacting the ongoing stories of all the mutant stories…so what you are reading is disjointed and may not make sense if you aren’t familiar with the characters.
In fact, it essential impacts the middle stories of most of the tertiary titles with each book being largely unaware of impacts on eachother.
Still, some good things came out of it. Bastion, prime sentinels, and Dr Ceclia Reyes are probably the biggest elements that were established here (even though Bastion had already appeared but wasn’t established as the threat he would be here).
Well recommended even though new readers may be confused at times…
X-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance was a bizarre 90s X-men storyline that essentially threw a theme at every active x-title but didn’t have them actually interact…
In the year or so leading up, various x-titles hinted at Zero Tolerance, a new shadowy organization led by the mysterious Bastion. It was hinted to be in response to the Onslaught event (though it would later be revealed to be due to something else).
Anyway, it also had the issue of impacting the ongoing stories of all the mutant stories…so what you are reading is disjointed and may not make sense if you aren’t familiar with the characters.
In fact, it essential impacts the middle stories of most of the tertiary titles with each book being largely unaware of impacts on eachother.
Still, some good things came out of it. Bastion, prime sentinels, and Dr Ceclia Reyes are probably the biggest elements that were established here (even though Bastion had already appeared but wasn’t established as the threat he would be here).
Well recommended even though new readers may be confused at times…
September 21, 2023
What started as a decent buildup just never paid off as a good arc. The stakes never felt as high as they should have considering the premise. How it ended was the result of poor writing and lack of proper planning. It ends abruptly and from a direction that felt like latched it on because they couldn’t think or didn’t have time to come up with a good resolution.
September 19, 2024
X-MEN '97 INSPIRED READING #11
2.5.
Whew, finally did it. Finally escaped the 90's. This was a long, bloated crossover that didn't end in a satisfying or climatic way. Very deus ex machina. The beginning was good, and there were some interesting ideas, but the plot lines never really came together. I think the show handled this a lot better.
2.5.
Whew, finally did it. Finally escaped the 90's. This was a long, bloated crossover that didn't end in a satisfying or climatic way. Very deus ex machina. The beginning was good, and there were some interesting ideas, but the plot lines never really came together. I think the show handled this a lot better.
November 18, 2025
Not bad. Not great. Middle of the road with some high points and low points in terms of writing and artwork, the latter being a range of good and totally 90s slop. The plot feels both dated and topical to these days and I’d say it’s worth the read though it won’t really wow you.
January 25, 2021
The biggest issue is the repeated change of art styles. Some are pretty nice, some are not good at all.
April 19, 2022
Perfectly adequate if uninspiring
May 2, 2024
Yep.
Sigue siendo uno de los peores arcos de los X-Men
Sigue siendo uno de los peores arcos de los X-Men
Read
April 22, 2016640 pages!?! I threw this on the scale and it checks in at 4 and a half pounds! Probably not something you want to carry around with you to read...
Not going to rate this one, as I didn't attempt to read it, just skimmed it. (Luckily I had borrowed it from the library). I was mainly looking at the Generation X story arc, because I was missing the 6th issue in that arc (#26 - 31) and wanted to see how it turned out. (Good, by the way).
There is a lot of different art and story arcs mixed into this one. Clearly a lot to cover in 640 pages, so I imagine there is a lot in here for someone willing to spend the time. The few bits of scenes and dialogue I looked at skimming the book looked pretty topical and thought-provoking, and a lot of bright color full-page spreads of action and dramatic moments to keep you entertained.
Not going to rate this one, as I didn't attempt to read it, just skimmed it. (Luckily I had borrowed it from the library). I was mainly looking at the Generation X story arc, because I was missing the 6th issue in that arc (#26 - 31) and wanted to see how it turned out. (Good, by the way).
There is a lot of different art and story arcs mixed into this one. Clearly a lot to cover in 640 pages, so I imagine there is a lot in here for someone willing to spend the time. The few bits of scenes and dialogue I looked at skimming the book looked pretty topical and thought-provoking, and a lot of bright color full-page spreads of action and dramatic moments to keep you entertained.
April 25, 2018
Given the era, I was genuinely surprised that this was an enjoyable crossover. It had lots of different comics interacting with it in unique ways, not just a big crossovered slugfest. The Generation X issues were probably the high point, as Lobdell does a great job presenting these characters and doing it in a quirky way. The Wolverine issues were probably the low-point as Hama wastes his whole first issue on a big fight, then has the X-Men working on what feels like a really small scale while the rest of the comics deal with bigger issues. (I also did have some issues with the wild power differences of the Prime Sentinels between Wolverine and the other comics.)
August 5, 2012
There were two main art styles in this book. One was so poor I could barely stand to read on (artist Chris Bachelo). Muppet baby x-men odd.
The story revolves around a villain out to kill mutants before they could choose to do the same to regular non-powered humans. Of the several x-men omnibus I have read this is probably on the bottom of the list.
The story revolves around a villain out to kill mutants before they could choose to do the same to regular non-powered humans. Of the several x-men omnibus I have read this is probably on the bottom of the list.
September 5, 2015
Better than I remembered, but still pretty pointless.
In virtually every issue the sentinels claim to be unbeatable to be able to react to all mutant powers. But mutant powers usually defeat them. And then in most issues, Bastion shows up (even though the action takes place all over the country and Bastion has no fast travel) to alternately give grandiose speeches and act conflicted.
In virtually every issue the sentinels claim to be unbeatable to be able to react to all mutant powers. But mutant powers usually defeat them. And then in most issues, Bastion shows up (even though the action takes place all over the country and Bastion has no fast travel) to alternately give grandiose speeches and act conflicted.
January 31, 2024
Even tho I didn't think the whole story was that great, but I loved the art (Bachalo) did for Generation X. Surprised myself by reading more than I thought I would.
January 12, 2016
It was pretty good the x-men, and wolverine issues were great the rest was meh
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