X-Men: Fall of the Mutants, Vol. 2

X-Men: Fall of the Mutants

by Louise Simonson, Peter David, Ann Nocenti

The Fall of the Mutants continues as X-Factor - the original team of X-Men - face tragedies of their own! Angel is dead, apparently by suicide. The Beast is slowly losing his amazing intellect. Iceman's powers are out of control. Cyclops and Marvel Girl don't know how to feel towards one another. And amidst all this, a new generation of troubled mutant teens desperately needs help... especially when they're targeted by the villainous Right! And if that's not enough, X-Factor faces their deadliest challenge yet in Apocalypse and his Horsemen - including the all-new Archangel! COLLECTING: X-Factor (1986) 18-26, Incredible Hulk (1968) 336-337, Power Pack (1984)35, Daredevil (1964) 252, Captain America (1968) 339, Fantastic Four (1961) 312

Genres: Comics, X Men, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book

400 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2013

About the author

Louise Simonson (born Mary Louise Alexander and formerly credited as Louise Jones, when married to artist Jeff Jones) is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as Power Pack, X-Factor, New Mutants, Superman, and Steel. She is sometimes referred to by the nickname "Weezie".

Since 1980 she is married to comic book writer and artist Walter Simonson

Reviews

[Garth · Rating 3 out of 5]

2025 - Days of Future Past: 365 Days of The X-Men
Day 292-306 (10/19-11/02)
2.5⭐️

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally head-over-heels in love with this Volume. It comprises the Third and Final Act of Apocalypse's introductory conflict with the X-Universe. Much of the credit belongs with the wonderful art by crowdpleaser Walt Simonson. It's a pretty decent story too. It show it's age though with folks talking about "Evil Mutants" and what-not that would sound unlikely in todays comics. The heroes are put through the wringer but smiles are found frequently within these pages also. It is a good mix of drama and camaraderie with a few laughs. I not one to sum up a plot and I'll not do it here.

Just want to add this one will be a very strong and recommended favorite among my X-men books.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This will probably not come as a shock to people who've spent years reading Marvel and DC graphic novels: This should actually be volume one of Fall Of The Mutants as all the stories take place before the events in X-Men: Fall of the Mutants, Vol. 1. I often wonder if the collection editors at The Big Two comic companies even read comics.

This volume mainly focuses on X-Factor's first major battle with Apocalypse (they faced him once before in X-Factor Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Genesis & Apocalypse but he's a much bigger threat in this collection). We also see Warren as Archangel/Death for the first time.

This is a battle scene comic where much of New York is destroyed in a battle between mutants. We even get to see the events from the perspectives of Captain America, Daredevil, and the Power Pack. It's...fine. Like most of the early X-Factor run Scott and Jean Grey spend a great deal of time talking about the various Jean Grey clones that Cyclops dated and/or married while she was "dead". And there's a b-story where X-Factor is hired to hunt down a mutant who turns out to be the new grey Incredible Hulk. Those stories are also okay.

Despite the big stakes, and the Worthington storyarc, not much of this volume grabbed me. I mentioned this in my review of the other Fall Of The Mutants story: I just don't know if I can get excited about any of these X-books until we're past X-Men: Inferno, which I remember hating when I've tried to read it before.

If you like X-Factor or Apocalypse, this is a nice little romp, even if it's not quite as good as its much more concise Animated Series counterpart.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Revisiting an old classic as a bit of a bookend to my great x-read of 2017/2018... (cheating and reviewing both volume 1 and 2 together.)

Man, I love me some Claremont from back in the day. While you can see some of the problems which will come to plague his later writing, he is in so much better form than he is later. It's pure melodrama, but darned good melodrama 99% of the time.

Overall, this whole tale was good but it certainly had its ups (the X-Men issues) and downs (most of the non-x marvel tie-ins and that awful Power Pack issue in the second volume) and even a few what-the-hecks (what was up with the insanely dark, screwed up Daredevil tie-in? Fall of the Mutants becomes fall of humanity/sanity. I think there are more deaths in that one issue than the rest of the series and they're more impactful than even Doug's death in New Mutants...)

I think the only issue that I have with this is that is really doesn't feel like one big story (or even a particularly well-linked series of stories). Even when it is really working well, these events seem really disconnected from one another. While there are problems to be sure with later Marvel crossovers, this could have benefitted from a little of that enforced cohesion.

Still, there are some pivotal x-moments here. And some sweet, sweet nostalgia. I personally feel like a lot of this holds up. Your mileage may vary.

[Judah Radd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phewww! Glad that’s over with.

This is a little bit better than the last volume, but not by much. The first half is a waste of everyone’s time. This whole “The Right” conspiracy is 100% not interesting. I could have skipped it.

So many of the issues seemed uninspired. The only parts of X Factor that got me excitedly flipping pages were parts having to do with Archangel and the parts with Apocalypse. Everything else was so dry.

The Daredevil issue was the best issue of the entire collection. It made me want to read some more Daredevil. The Power Pack story made me smile a little, the way Power Pack usually does. Captain America? Snooze. Fantastic Four? Double snooze.

What’s going on? Was 1988 a boring year for comics? I dunno. The art was snoozey too. It looked like it was just slapped together (again, with the exception of Daredevil, which was gorgeous).

Significant things happen here... but they are buried in a very not-fun slog. I’m not 100% sure why I’m putting myself through this, to be honest.

[Lance Grabmiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects X-Factor #18-26 (July, 1987 - March, 1988), Incredible Hulk #336-337 (October - November, 1987), Power Pack #35 (February, 1988), Daredevil #252 (March, 1988), Captain America #339 (March, 1988) and Fantastic Four #312 (March, 1988). The Fall of the Mutants storyline wasn't a traditional crossover. Instead, all the mutant groups separately go through very difficult times. The first volume stuck with the X-Men and New Mutants stories and this volume is centered on X-Factor. I hated the whole idea of X-Factor when it came out, didn't like the first few issues and pretty much ignored it. Nice to see that, about a year and a half into its launch, that the original premise was being dropped and the story really started to come into its own. The whole arc (pun intended) of Angel becoming Archangel here is good and the material is mostly solid. The Daredevil included is really nice for its very dark color palette.

[Bonnie G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a confusing and weird conclusion but I just had to know what the hell was going on after randomly finding volume one of this series. Apocalypse is a weird and lame mutant- like what is he? An alien? He doesn’t seem like a mutant. I feel like they fucked up his origin story. But it’s a good clip into this era of the mutants where the new and old and the new new new are trying to live parallel lives.

[Gary Fortuin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collects the conclusion of the Fall of the Mutants storyline. It includes the tie in issues of The Hulk, Captain America,Powerpack and Daredevil. The tie in issues really didn’t help tell the story. As usual, it’s an attempt at cross selling that just doesn’t work. The art and layout of the issues are not the best either. The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse deserve better design. After something like...thirty years..it just doesn’t hold up great.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

X-Factor battles Apocaylse and his Four Horsemen, finally doing away with their ridiculous false identities as mutant hunters.

This is the strongest of the three titles in the Fall of the Mutants event (though its not truly a crossover event as the teams never interact). The tie-in issues included here are pretty weak and unnecessary however.

[Zachary Waxman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic X men story. The first iteration of X-Factor upon reconsideration after 20 years establishes it as a good team and story that was overshadowed by the other X-Teams at the time.

Art here is all over the place. Apocalypse doesn't seem as menacing. In fact he and the horsemen are pretty goofy looking. The inclusion of the other marvel books and heroes was actually better and more important than I remember. Required reading for any Xmen fan.

[Cameron H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hot take: Angel is better than Archangel

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fall of the Mutants Volume 2 continues my Marvel 1980s reading marathon. In this collection, we have X-Factor #18-26, Incredible Hulk #336-337, Power Pack #35, Daredevil #252, Captain America #339, and Fantastic Four #312.

Louise Simonson is the writer behind the X-Factor issues, and they were fantastic!
Anti-mutant hysteria has taken the USA by storm. The mutant team X-Factor has inadvertently fueled this by pretending to be humans who hunt mutants. They actually were capturing mutants to shelter them and train them to use their abilities.

The anti-mutant militant group called The Right is involved in the early issues. X-Factor battles them, but it seems to only make people hate mutants more. These battles roll right into the main event.

What is the main event?? The Return of Apocalypse! His first appearance was kind of lame and made him look like any other villain. With this story, Apocalypse begins to show his power and intelligence. The Fall of the Mutants changes everything for X-Factor, and Apocalypse is the reason!

We know that this is not the last time Apocalypse will plague the heroes. This is just a teaser for more things to come. However, fans of the X-Men and especially those who enjoyed the movie X-Men: Apocalypse, will enjoy seeing the first time Apocalypse really showed his greatness.

Epic crossover, excellent spring-board for future comics events. Lots of fun to read!

[Maddsurgeon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recently re-read the early, Claremont-penned Uncanny X-Men part of the crossover, figured I'd check out the X-Factor part of this. Rather wish I hadn't bothered; the only thing that redeems this is the two Peter David/Todd McFarlane Incredible Hulk issues that X-Factor guests in. For an arc that set the tone for Angel's development for what seemed like ages, it is rather lackluster; the plot is slow and mechanical, the dialogue is shallow and unbelievable, and only Bobby seems to be immune from the waves of whining and self-pity that pervades the entire book. I didn't like Simonson's writing when I was a kid, and this X-Factor run reminds me why: the characters are paper-thin and uninteresting; they spend most of the time telling each other how they feel rather than doing anything; the plot seems moves on its predictable train-tracks regardless of what choices they make. Simonson can succeed in making even Jean Grey dull and unlikable. It's a sad thing.

That said, the Power Pack story is cute; those kids are lots of fun, and Simonson's tone seems much more fitted for that. And Hilary Barta's inks add a lot of depth to the art there.

But all in all, I would skip this one unless you're a die-hard X-Fan who needs to know first-hand what the whole Apocalypse/Archangel deal was.

[Blake Strother · Rating 2 out of 5]

This compilation is a bit misleading, as it primarily chronicles the adventures of X-Factor, which at this point is essentially a reboot of the original X-Men (Beast, Iceman, Angel, Marvel Girl, and Cyclops). The center storyline of this particular volume features Apocalypse assembling the four horsemen. The crux of this storyline is the death of Angel and the reincarnation of Angel into his more edgy unnatural but distinctively blue form. I found the storyline boring at times and redundant. The volume certainly doesn't feature any of the X-Men in their prime. Every character in the crew is more flawed than usuall, making the storyline a bit dismal. My favorite part of the volume is the tie-in issues. The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, and Daredevil all have tie-in issues to this storyline. The best work is Daredevil's tie-in issue which features Matt Murdock dealing with the mess on the ground of new york city as tX-Factor is fighting apocalypse in his ship above. This issue is gritty and realistic and contrasts greatly with the cataclysmic action that most of this volume is about. In all, this volume is decent but nothing special. I prefer the more extended version of the X-Men's encounters with apocalypse to this story.

[Kyle Mclaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

X-Factor was never my favorite X-Men universe team, and while not as strong as Vol. 1 of the Fall of the Mutants storyline, Vol. 2 is entertaining if you like Archangel. Seeing Angel reappear as Archangel is fun, though the scene of Archangel shedding Apocalypse conditioning is rather lackluster. How other New York based superheroes deal with the attack by Apocalypse's 4 Horsemen is almost more entertaining than the stories based around X-Factor.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

In anticipation of the upcoming movie, I wanted to familiarize myself with more Apocalypse story arcs and this collects a lot of them! I had not read much X-factor because, well, Cyclops is a whiner; but Jean's back so yeah, although I prefer a blue Beast. It really saddens me that Fox didn't do a better job with their FF movie, because we need more Doom in the Comic Movie Universe.

[Dante · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been a fan of X-Factor. By far, of all the Fall of the Mutant storylines, this one is the best version. The only thing missing is me as a Mutant. Tod McFarlane drawing X-Factor and The Hulk, and John Romita Jr. drawing Daredevil... you can't go wrong.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Read X-Factor 18-26)

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic Four #312 3 stars
Hulk #337 3 stars

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty darn good collection of X-FACTOR comics, but the stand out here is the DAREDEVIL tie-in issue, which is a bleak bit of business.