What do you think?
Rate this book
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #298-300, 303-304, 315
X-Men: Fatal Attractions - Book Two: Fall of the Mutants - Volume 2
Collects Uncanny X-Men #304-305, 315, X-Factor (1986) #92; X-Men Unlimited (1993) #2; X-Force (1991) #25; X-Men (1991) #25; Wolverine (1988) #75; Excalibur #71. Matters come to a head in the most shocking way possible as Magneto makes his biggest move yet, culminating in a shocking attack on Wolverine - and a showdown between Professor X and Magneto that must be seen to be believed!
438 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 18, 2012
30 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Scott Lobdell
1,626 books230 followersScott Lobdell (born 1960) is an American comic book writer.
He is mostly known for his work throughout the 1990s on Marvel Comics' X-Men-related titles specifically Uncanny X-Men, the main title itself, and the spin-off series that he conceived with artist Chris Bachalo, Generation X. Generation X focused on a number of young mutant students who attempted to become superheroes in their own right at a separate school with the guidance of veteran X-related characters Banshee and Emma Frost. He also had writing stints on Marvel's Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini-series with artist Gene Ha. He wrote the script to Stan Lee's Mosaic and an upcoming film from POW Entertainment featuring Ringo Starr. He also participated in the Marvel Comics and Image Comics (from Jim Lee's WildStorm) crossover mini-series WildC.A.T.s/X-Men.
He is mostly known for his work throughout the 1990s on Marvel Comics' X-Men-related titles specifically Uncanny X-Men, the main title itself, and the spin-off series that he conceived with artist Chris Bachalo, Generation X. Generation X focused on a number of young mutant students who attempted to become superheroes in their own right at a separate school with the guidance of veteran X-related characters Banshee and Emma Frost. He also had writing stints on Marvel's Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini-series with artist Gene Ha. He wrote the script to Stan Lee's Mosaic and an upcoming film from POW Entertainment featuring Ringo Starr. He also participated in the Marvel Comics and Image Comics (from Jim Lee's WildStorm) crossover mini-series WildC.A.T.s/X-Men.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 23, 2019
Good lord, Marvel has put out a lot of different editions of this book.
The Good: The story even though it was written by Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza isn't half bad and affected the X-books for the next few years. A lot of the top Marvel artist of the 90's contribute art to the book, John Romita Jr., Brandon Peterson, both of the Kubert bros, Joe Quesada, and Greg Capullo to name a few. The X-Men are still wearing the Jim Lee designed costumes and they still look great. And this was back when Bishop was still a really cool character.
The Bad: The Acolytes worship of Magneto. They actually pray to him and treat him like he is God, when he's clearly just a ridiculously strong mutant. It really sticks out as just being plain stupid.
The Ugly: Lots of mullets. Really garish costumes for X-Factor and X-Force. They look like they were designed by color blind children.
The Good: The story even though it was written by Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza isn't half bad and affected the X-books for the next few years. A lot of the top Marvel artist of the 90's contribute art to the book, John Romita Jr., Brandon Peterson, both of the Kubert bros, Joe Quesada, and Greg Capullo to name a few. The X-Men are still wearing the Jim Lee designed costumes and they still look great. And this was back when Bishop was still a really cool character.
The Bad: The Acolytes worship of Magneto. They actually pray to him and treat him like he is God, when he's clearly just a ridiculously strong mutant. It really sticks out as just being plain stupid.
The Ugly: Lots of mullets. Really garish costumes for X-Factor and X-Force. They look like they were designed by color blind children.
June 18, 2017
really just a re-read. Nice to revisit this old story. Totally 90's bad hair and all.
January 8, 2021
Professor X's morals are pushed to the brink, as he has to decide how to deal with the problem of Magneto, once and for all.... until later that is.
This is one of the stories that defined the X-Men in the 90's. I think this and Age of Apocalypse were the two biggest and most memorable stories from that era. But while AOA happens in an alternate universe, this is actual X-Men continuity, with changes that will affect the storylines for quite some time after.
To be honest, I think outside of those few issues where the battle on Avalon happen, the story is a bit of a chore to read. There are a lot of convenient plot occurrences, contrived dialogue, strange characterization and more that happen along the way and after to make the battle happen. It all leads to that one battle, where Wolverine and Magneto bear the brunt of the battle. I think those issues are the strongest and definitely have that X-Men nostalgic feel to them, and they were a blast to read.
I think if you are an X-Men fan, go into this knowing that there will be plot holes and over exposition a plenty. But if you can get passed that, it is a charged storyline with one hell of a battle. Recommended for fans of the X-Men.
This is one of the stories that defined the X-Men in the 90's. I think this and Age of Apocalypse were the two biggest and most memorable stories from that era. But while AOA happens in an alternate universe, this is actual X-Men continuity, with changes that will affect the storylines for quite some time after.
To be honest, I think outside of those few issues where the battle on Avalon happen, the story is a bit of a chore to read. There are a lot of convenient plot occurrences, contrived dialogue, strange characterization and more that happen along the way and after to make the battle happen. It all leads to that one battle, where Wolverine and Magneto bear the brunt of the battle. I think those issues are the strongest and definitely have that X-Men nostalgic feel to them, and they were a blast to read.
I think if you are an X-Men fan, go into this knowing that there will be plot holes and over exposition a plenty. But if you can get passed that, it is a charged storyline with one hell of a battle. Recommended for fans of the X-Men.
August 28, 2024
Updated after 2024 X-Men Reread.
This is a messy mega-crossover. While it has one excellent issue, and a couple of very important plot points for many future storylines, I have a difficult time recommending this. Mostly because it pivots around Magneto being a villain again. Yes, Magneto started as a villain, but he evolved into an anti-hero, an actual hero, and then into the murky era of being an opponent to the X-Men for a very valid reason that didn't cast him precisely as a villain. And then he died, fairly heroically. So to bring him back as a villain again felt really tacky, lazy, and not very believable.
I've grown to like Scott Lobdell's books more than I thought I did, and I do think he tells some compelling stories in this volume, but the conceit of Magneto being a villain just doesn't work for me.
There is a death, from The Legacy Virus, in this volume that was devastating when the issue was written, and it's devastating now. The story of grief from the perspective of Jubilee, Jean Grey, and Kitty Pryde is possibly Lobdell's best comic. It's certainly the best Jubilee story I can think of.
But then we have a character I most remember from The Age Of Apocalypse (which hasn't happened yet), Magneto and his Acolytes, a couple of minor but recurring character deaths, and a huge Wolverine moment.
So, I think I'm going to begrudgingly put this volume as a recommendation with the caveat that there's a lot of material, and not all of it is great, but all of it does feed into the major storylines, and it does make sense. We're about to enter an era of X-Men where most logic goes out the window, so I guess you should check out this, as one of the last bastions of decent, if complex and sometimes annoying, X-books before that era begins.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Original 2018 review:
If you need a fix of 1990s Marvel mutant nostalgia, this might be the fix you need. It will either delight you with its over-abundance of characters, overly muscled characters, overly mulleted characters, convoluted storylines, and character crossovers, or it will frustrate you with its over-abundance of characters, overly muscled characters, overly mulleted characters, convoluted storylines, and character crossovers.
Neither Fabien Nicieza nor Scott Lobdell will ever be my favorite comic writer. Mostly because they have many good ideas but rarely make them pay off. There are a lot of swirling plots in this volume, as post-Claremont X-Men books loved to set up background stories and character reveals that would either never come to fruition, or else future writers would have to guess which direction the writer intended to go in.
The core of this story is the return of Magneto. If you were reading this in issue form, Magneto was absent for a couple of years. In trade form, it seems like he recently just "died"? "left"? was removed from the storyline. His return is meant to be epic, as he creates an EMP, which knocks out power to the whole world. This is mentioned briefly to move the plot forward, and then they never again address that the world was without power for an indeterminate amount of time.
There are some important milestone events in the lives of certain X-Men in this book but they're buried under the constant onslaught of things intended to be milestones that end up having no importance to the main plot.
I recommend it for diehard X-enthusiasts, and people prepping to read X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Prelude &/or X-Men: Onslaught - The Complete Epic, Book 1.
This is a messy mega-crossover. While it has one excellent issue, and a couple of very important plot points for many future storylines, I have a difficult time recommending this. Mostly because it pivots around Magneto being a villain again. Yes, Magneto started as a villain, but he evolved into an anti-hero, an actual hero, and then into the murky era of being an opponent to the X-Men for a very valid reason that didn't cast him precisely as a villain. And then he died, fairly heroically. So to bring him back as a villain again felt really tacky, lazy, and not very believable.
I've grown to like Scott Lobdell's books more than I thought I did, and I do think he tells some compelling stories in this volume, but the conceit of Magneto being a villain just doesn't work for me.
There is a death, from The Legacy Virus, in this volume that was devastating when the issue was written, and it's devastating now. The story of grief from the perspective of Jubilee, Jean Grey, and Kitty Pryde is possibly Lobdell's best comic. It's certainly the best Jubilee story I can think of.
But then we have a character I most remember from The Age Of Apocalypse (which hasn't happened yet), Magneto and his Acolytes, a couple of minor but recurring character deaths, and a huge Wolverine moment.
So, I think I'm going to begrudgingly put this volume as a recommendation with the caveat that there's a lot of material, and not all of it is great, but all of it does feed into the major storylines, and it does make sense. We're about to enter an era of X-Men where most logic goes out the window, so I guess you should check out this, as one of the last bastions of decent, if complex and sometimes annoying, X-books before that era begins.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Original 2018 review:
If you need a fix of 1990s Marvel mutant nostalgia, this might be the fix you need. It will either delight you with its over-abundance of characters, overly muscled characters, overly mulleted characters, convoluted storylines, and character crossovers, or it will frustrate you with its over-abundance of characters, overly muscled characters, overly mulleted characters, convoluted storylines, and character crossovers.
Neither Fabien Nicieza nor Scott Lobdell will ever be my favorite comic writer. Mostly because they have many good ideas but rarely make them pay off. There are a lot of swirling plots in this volume, as post-Claremont X-Men books loved to set up background stories and character reveals that would either never come to fruition, or else future writers would have to guess which direction the writer intended to go in.
The core of this story is the return of Magneto. If you were reading this in issue form, Magneto was absent for a couple of years. In trade form, it seems like he recently just "died"? "left"? was removed from the storyline. His return is meant to be epic, as he creates an EMP, which knocks out power to the whole world. This is mentioned briefly to move the plot forward, and then they never again address that the world was without power for an indeterminate amount of time.
There are some important milestone events in the lives of certain X-Men in this book but they're buried under the constant onslaught of things intended to be milestones that end up having no importance to the main plot.
I recommend it for diehard X-enthusiasts, and people prepping to read X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Prelude &/or X-Men: Onslaught - The Complete Epic, Book 1.
May 25, 2021
This is the closest I’ll ever get to a time machine.
The story…isn’t great. At all. It wasn’t really that great then, and has frankly aged like milk.
But that really isn’t what’s important when it comes to early 90’s X-Men comics. All it needs to do is remind me of ‘then’. A Then filled wonderful memories of swapping trading cards, begging to read comics during scheduled reading time at school, and arguing with friends and classmates about which character certainly could, or certainly could not, defeat another character in a fight.
And rereading this “classic” 90’s X-Men event did exactly that. It took me back in time. And I loved every panel because of it.
The story…isn’t great. At all. It wasn’t really that great then, and has frankly aged like milk.
But that really isn’t what’s important when it comes to early 90’s X-Men comics. All it needs to do is remind me of ‘then’. A Then filled wonderful memories of swapping trading cards, begging to read comics during scheduled reading time at school, and arguing with friends and classmates about which character certainly could, or certainly could not, defeat another character in a fight.
And rereading this “classic” 90’s X-Men event did exactly that. It took me back in time. And I loved every panel because of it.
October 20, 2024
Magneto is one of the greatest inventions of all comic book lore and Fatal Attractions is probably his strongest crossover series. Of all the compiled X-Men comics, I read most of them as an adolescent, but I connect the dots and historical references a lot more fluidly now as an adult. I re-read it mostly for a nostalgic experience, though it felt like reading something new entirely and it is a truly amazing story.
I doubt I'm the only one that remembered the Fatal Attractions arc mostly for Wolverine , but it also contains one of the deepest Magneto biographies. It crosses every bridge from his internment at Austchwitz to becoming a full blown international terrorist that strikes fear in the hearts of governments. It's important to walk through those events slowly because Fatal Attractions is about crossing lines in desperate times in the interest of peace, a necessity for defeating an unyielding force as powerful and evil as Magneto. The line between good and evil in such times gets very blurry.
As with anything featuring Magneto, it harnesses very serious real-world history and current issues, allusions that will ring several bells for anyone who watches the news. These comics were published in the 90's, but even now, in 2024, there are still international situations the same points apply to. It's honestly pretty scary how timeless this story arc is.
I think when you lay out the 3 major publishers of the time, they all have their strengths. DC was great at mapping human psychology, but it was hardly ever directly connected to anything real, and if there ever was a real world issue featured somewhere, it was in the background mostly for framing purposes. McFarlane and Image just murdered everyone with penciling, nobody else touched them at it. But Marvel's stories just cut a little deeper, especially when Magneto was involved. His transition from a child Holocaust survivor to an intolerant extremist catches the light of a whole lot of human history. All of those publishers feature hundreds of interesting characters, but Magneto is in his own tier, there is simply no one else like him. Joker is probably the closest, but he's never been anywhere near as complicated.
Every X-Men fan should read this series.
I doubt I'm the only one that remembered the Fatal Attractions arc mostly for Wolverine , but it also contains one of the deepest Magneto biographies. It crosses every bridge from his internment at Austchwitz to becoming a full blown international terrorist that strikes fear in the hearts of governments. It's important to walk through those events slowly because Fatal Attractions is about crossing lines in desperate times in the interest of peace, a necessity for defeating an unyielding force as powerful and evil as Magneto. The line between good and evil in such times gets very blurry.
As with anything featuring Magneto, it harnesses very serious real-world history and current issues, allusions that will ring several bells for anyone who watches the news. These comics were published in the 90's, but even now, in 2024, there are still international situations the same points apply to. It's honestly pretty scary how timeless this story arc is.
I think when you lay out the 3 major publishers of the time, they all have their strengths. DC was great at mapping human psychology, but it was hardly ever directly connected to anything real, and if there ever was a real world issue featured somewhere, it was in the background mostly for framing purposes. McFarlane and Image just murdered everyone with penciling, nobody else touched them at it. But Marvel's stories just cut a little deeper, especially when Magneto was involved. His transition from a child Holocaust survivor to an intolerant extremist catches the light of a whole lot of human history. All of those publishers feature hundreds of interesting characters, but Magneto is in his own tier, there is simply no one else like him. Joker is probably the closest, but he's never been anywhere near as complicated.
Every X-Men fan should read this series.
September 1, 2024
X-Men Milestones: Fatal Attraction, calificación 3/5 estrellas
Colecciona The Uncanny X-Men #298-300, 303-304, 315; X-Factor #92; X-Force #25; X-Men Unlimited #2; X-Men #25; Wolverine #75; Excalibur #71.
Escritores: J. M. DeMatteis, Joe Quesada, Fabian Nicieza, Scott Lobdell, Larry Hama.
Lapices: Richard Bennett, Joe Quesada, Adam Kubert, Jan Duursema, Brandon Peterson, Roger Cruz, Ken Lashley, Greg Capullo, John Romita Jr., Andy Kubert. Contó con buen arte.
No fue el mejor X-Men Milestones que he leído, cambiaron a Claremont y después se fue Jim Lee, pero Lobdel, Quesada, Harras o Nicieza no pudieron traer un nuevo brillo perdido desde que Byrne dejó de hacer las tramas desde la saga de Fénix Oscura y Días del Futuro Pasado.
Básicamente el protagonista era Colossus aunque se vio algo tonto, lo importante fue la muerte de Illyana Rasputin por el virus Legacy, a Wolverine le quitaron el adamantium y le surgen garras de hueso (Chris Claremont dice que fue su idea). Magneto es derrotado fácilmente por Professor X. Repetitivo el encuentro contra Magneto en el espacio fue como la tercera derrota para Magneto.
Fue Magnus Magneto la versión de Chris Claremont que lo convirtió en propaganda judía, es algo hipócrita que no se mencione la usurpación judía en Palestina y la matanza de niños palestinos por Israel en el universo Marvel.
De los personajes me agradaron Jubilee (siempre deben tener un personaje adolescente como Kitty Pryde en el equipo), Amelia Vogh tal vez también Neofita.
Lo que no me gustó fue la comparación de Magneto con Jesucristo o Dios y demás referencias como burla a la religión cristiana y eso que no soy creyente, o la exaltación al término "Homo Sapiens Superior". No sé de dónde sacaron a Exodus y los Acólitos la mayoría no eran eran grandes personajes o villanos. Eran más interesantes los primeros acolytes (Chrome o Delgado) o los Upstarts (Fitzroy o Game Master). Lo peor fue el final de X-Men Unlimited #2.
Nunca debieron haber existido New Mutants, X-Factor, X-Force, Xcalibur, el grupo Azul y Dorado sólo fue explotar la franquicia. Los X-Men siempre debieron seguir siendo Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Cyclops, Professor X, Colossus, Nightcrawler y Storm.
Colecciona The Uncanny X-Men #298-300, 303-304, 315; X-Factor #92; X-Force #25; X-Men Unlimited #2; X-Men #25; Wolverine #75; Excalibur #71.
Escritores: J. M. DeMatteis, Joe Quesada, Fabian Nicieza, Scott Lobdell, Larry Hama.
Lapices: Richard Bennett, Joe Quesada, Adam Kubert, Jan Duursema, Brandon Peterson, Roger Cruz, Ken Lashley, Greg Capullo, John Romita Jr., Andy Kubert. Contó con buen arte.
No fue el mejor X-Men Milestones que he leído, cambiaron a Claremont y después se fue Jim Lee, pero Lobdel, Quesada, Harras o Nicieza no pudieron traer un nuevo brillo perdido desde que Byrne dejó de hacer las tramas desde la saga de Fénix Oscura y Días del Futuro Pasado.
Básicamente el protagonista era Colossus aunque se vio algo tonto, lo importante fue la muerte de Illyana Rasputin por el virus Legacy, a Wolverine le quitaron el adamantium y le surgen garras de hueso (Chris Claremont dice que fue su idea). Magneto es derrotado fácilmente por Professor X. Repetitivo el encuentro contra Magneto en el espacio fue como la tercera derrota para Magneto.
Fue Magnus Magneto la versión de Chris Claremont que lo convirtió en propaganda judía, es algo hipócrita que no se mencione la usurpación judía en Palestina y la matanza de niños palestinos por Israel en el universo Marvel.
De los personajes me agradaron Jubilee (siempre deben tener un personaje adolescente como Kitty Pryde en el equipo), Amelia Vogh tal vez también Neofita.
Lo que no me gustó fue la comparación de Magneto con Jesucristo o Dios y demás referencias como burla a la religión cristiana y eso que no soy creyente, o la exaltación al término "Homo Sapiens Superior". No sé de dónde sacaron a Exodus y los Acólitos la mayoría no eran eran grandes personajes o villanos. Eran más interesantes los primeros acolytes (Chrome o Delgado) o los Upstarts (Fitzroy o Game Master). Lo peor fue el final de X-Men Unlimited #2.
Nunca debieron haber existido New Mutants, X-Factor, X-Force, Xcalibur, el grupo Azul y Dorado sólo fue explotar la franquicia. Los X-Men siempre debieron seguir siendo Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Cyclops, Professor X, Colossus, Nightcrawler y Storm.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 16, 2019
There is a global enormity to this collection but it's real strength, over-sized issue by over-sized issue, keeps coming back to the personal. Underneath Magneto's return as a misunderstood messiah is his complicated relationship to his own children. Colossus is a heartbroken brother mourning the death of his sister and looking for new ways forward. These touches are so consistently good that they carry the crossover along when there isn't enough big picture meat on the bone. The Wolverine issue is particularly good and feels like a small story about transporting a gravely wounded hero home from another battlefield but at the same time is a character transformation that will alter Wolverine's story arch for years. Overall, the art varies wildly from issue to issue and sometimes panel to panel and Magneto's full heel turn as a xenocidal isolationist seems strained from the God Loves Man Kills character I love with my whole, whole heart, the high highs of this collection still far outweigh this collections mediocre center.
March 26, 2022
I remember reading this a few years after it originally came out. Its really interesting to see how many things were actually set up with this crossover. Editorially, I think the crossover had some weak connections at times but as a story, its really good. A Magneto story at heart, there is a ton to unpack here. The Charles/Erik relationship is always intriguing and its on full display here. What happens to Wolverine is what this story is most remembered for, and that's understandable, but what happens with Colossus is more heartbreaking. I wished there were the storyline was pushed forward more. More Acolyte defections, more impactful injuries for Wolverine, and more heroes reacting to Magneto's actions. The art was very 90s throughout (meaning I loved it). Overall, a very complicated X-Men tale that is both the reason people love or hate the team. I love them.
March 20, 2020
Collects Uncanny X-Men #298-300, 303-304 and 315, X-Factor #92, X-Men Unlimited #2, X-Force #25, X-Men #25, Wolverine #75 and Excalibur #71. Basically a mixed bag of things from March 1993 to August 1994.
An epic story attempting to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the X-Men. Magneto has gone a little far over the top and the speechifying is a bit much but it has highlights (the death of Illyana Rasputin leading Colossus to become an Acolyte and Magneto stripping the adamantium from Wolverin'e bones).
An epic story attempting to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the X-Men. Magneto has gone a little far over the top and the speechifying is a bit much but it has highlights (the death of Illyana Rasputin leading Colossus to become an Acolyte and Magneto stripping the adamantium from Wolverin'e bones).
June 11, 2024
More of a 3.5 rating, since even in the days of extensive narration and exposition through dialogue, this drained with so much pontificating and grandstanding. Some classic images, but those hologram covers were part of why I got out of regular comics collecting. Have to credit the writers for tying the storyline together well.
February 6, 2025
A mixed and messy bag with too many characters and too many fights, but nevertheless it contains one of the central stories in the central struggle between Magneto and Xavier.
A lot of the fat could have been trimmed, or they could have developed the acolytes more.
A lot of the fat could have been trimmed, or they could have developed the acolytes more.
July 31, 2023
Me gustó el número de la muerte de Magik (que en realidad no pertenece a la saga principal) y el número de Wolverine, pero en realidad la historia se me hizo meh
June 17, 2024
3,3⭐️ 90s Nostalgia to a T
February 11, 2017
Not the best X-Men story!! Very meh. Quite disjointed and there are so many characters that it's hard to appreciate them all from the limited panel space!!
Avidly awaiting X-Men to return to form...
Avidly awaiting X-Men to return to form...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews