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X-Man (collected edition) #1
X-Man: The Man Who Fell To Earth
Collects X-Man #5-14, Excalibur (1988) #95 and Cable (1993) #29-31.
Straight from the Age of Apocalypse comes the saga of Nate Grey, the X-Man! Flung from his home dimension into the Marvel Universe, Nate must come to terms with being a stranger in a strange land. The powerful young man soon finds himself at odds with a host of major players - including Blaquesmith, the X-Cutioner, Excalibur, Mr. Sinister, and fellow AoA refugees Sugar Man and Dark Beast. And psionic sparks fly when Nate meets Madelyne Pryor, clashes with Professor X - and comes face-to-face with his counterpart, Cable!
Straight from the Age of Apocalypse comes the saga of Nate Grey, the X-Man! Flung from his home dimension into the Marvel Universe, Nate must come to terms with being a stranger in a strange land. The powerful young man soon finds himself at odds with a host of major players - including Blaquesmith, the X-Cutioner, Excalibur, Mr. Sinister, and fellow AoA refugees Sugar Man and Dark Beast. And psionic sparks fly when Nate meets Madelyne Pryor, clashes with Professor X - and comes face-to-face with his counterpart, Cable!
287 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 4, 2012
About the author
Jeph Loeb
1,582 books1,399 followersJoseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a Co-Executive Producer on the NBC hit show Heroes, and formerly a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost.
A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner (see below), Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.
A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner (see below), Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 28, 2024
The man who fell to Earth from the Age of Apocalypse. Such a great idea, but maybe a bit too much going on and too many anomalies. Hard to understand Nate not searching for the Earth 616 versions of his AoA allies; and his whole anti-X-Men thing is also real weird. A resurgent Hellfire Club, Madelyne Pryor, and Selene make it worth a read though :) A 6 out of 12 Three Star read.
2018 read
2018 read
December 26, 2019
Every issue is some variation on "guest star finds Nate, Nate mistakes guest star for threat, they fight, Nate wanders off wiser(?) for the encounter.”
Which is...not good? But also entertaining? I mean, I didn't hate it.
Which is...not good? But also entertaining? I mean, I didn't hate it.
June 27, 2017
Okay. That was kind of bad. Mostly down to the wiggly art of Steve Skroce. Really disliked his stuff. Stories are a bit overwrote. He's creepily paired with his almost "mother"/sexual partner Maddy Pryor? WTF? Hangs with Thernody. Slap the man who thought up that name. And the character who uses it. Blaquesmith in sort of an interesting Yoda-like character, bleed-over from Cable. His face looks like a woman chest without a brassiere, a bit odd. He's got these very round puffy eyes.
September 17, 2012
Si no me equivoco, tengo el equivalente a todo este tomo en revistas de Forum (X-Man Vol. II #1-10, Excalibur Vol. II #9, Cable Vol. II #8-10, creo). Y en su momento me gustaba mucho esa serie, así que van las tres estrellitas hasta nuevo aviso.
April 27, 2019
Not bad.
Only makes sense if you’ve read every X book ever leading up to it. Must have read Inferno, Mutant Massacre, Age of Apocalypse, X-Tinction Agenda, Fall of the Mutants, The Muir Island Saga, X-Cutioner’s Song, and the fucking Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix.
In other words, this does not hold up on it’s own. Do you like the feeling of being totally lost? No? Then either skip this, or read the ass loads of shit you need to understand it.
My other gripe is X-Man. Sometimes I think he’s awesome. When he’s fighting badguys, he rules. When he’s fighting goodguys over a misunderstanding, he’s a little annoying. Take a goddam break and listen to what they have to say before unleashing all of your power, jackass. After the 9th time, it’s a little tiresome.
Now for the good stuff. Steve Skroce’s pencil work is among the best that 90s Marvel has to offer. It perfectly captures why that decade is still the best drawn decade in comics. Every page is stunning. The splash pages are so amazing, I found myself wishing I had them blown up and framed.
The battles were epically drawn and colored, and much of the writing was interesting. The dynamic between X-Man and Madelyne Prior was intriguing. The whole time I was thinking “is he actually going to fuck his genetic mother’s genetic clone?!” This is the shit people read comics for!!
All things considered, this gets a 3/5.
Only makes sense if you’ve read every X book ever leading up to it. Must have read Inferno, Mutant Massacre, Age of Apocalypse, X-Tinction Agenda, Fall of the Mutants, The Muir Island Saga, X-Cutioner’s Song, and the fucking Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix.
In other words, this does not hold up on it’s own. Do you like the feeling of being totally lost? No? Then either skip this, or read the ass loads of shit you need to understand it.
My other gripe is X-Man. Sometimes I think he’s awesome. When he’s fighting badguys, he rules. When he’s fighting goodguys over a misunderstanding, he’s a little annoying. Take a goddam break and listen to what they have to say before unleashing all of your power, jackass. After the 9th time, it’s a little tiresome.
Now for the good stuff. Steve Skroce’s pencil work is among the best that 90s Marvel has to offer. It perfectly captures why that decade is still the best drawn decade in comics. Every page is stunning. The splash pages are so amazing, I found myself wishing I had them blown up and framed.
The battles were epically drawn and colored, and much of the writing was interesting. The dynamic between X-Man and Madelyne Prior was intriguing. The whole time I was thinking “is he actually going to fuck his genetic mother’s genetic clone?!” This is the shit people read comics for!!
All things considered, this gets a 3/5.
January 1, 2026
These stories, now 30 years old, are not bad comic fodder. Crazy over the top art, wild powers, and silly writing. Nate Grey unfortunately isn’t that interesting as a lead. He is a super powerful mutant that doesn’t trust anyone except occasionally a lady companion that he saves along the way. So stereotypical white boy fan fiction with a bit of misogynistic overtones. With that said, there is something a bit compelling about his time displaced story, even if it is half baked and mid-nineties problematic.
September 6, 2021
Three stars purely for the Cable issues with Ian Churchill art, which were way better than the X-Man issues. Bland, formulaic storytelling, bordering on lazy to be honest. Loeb really phones in his scripts, and Skroce’s art makes him look like a mid 90’s Image wannabee.
The central problem is that Nate Grey is just unsympathetic, bland and boring. You just don’t like him and have no connection to him. When Cable appeared, him I could get behind.
Won’t be revisiting this anytime soon
The central problem is that Nate Grey is just unsympathetic, bland and boring. You just don’t like him and have no connection to him. When Cable appeared, him I could get behind.
Won’t be revisiting this anytime soon
February 23, 2025
I have a lot of space in my heart for 70s-90s comics. And this one is SUPER 90s. Everything from the art to the storytelling ... really enjoyed it!
Overall - 3/5
Overall - 3/5
November 5, 2024
Update for 2024 reread:
I dropped this down a star. Not only is it bad, it's considerably worse than all the other X-titles coming out at this time. There's next to no logic in the story, there's no depth to any of the characters, it's just Jeph Loeb dropping characters X-readers might have been nostalgic for, and then removing them before they could be interesting parts of what one might generously call a plot.
There is no reason to read this book unless you feel ayou absolutely have to read every issue about Nate Grey. Otherwise, skip it.
***************************
Original 2018 review:
In several ways, this book is on the outskirts of good.
There are a lot of panel breaking techniques that, with thicker lines and some recoloring, could have made some of this art much more palatable.
The use of Madeline Pryor, and the intersections with Cable's story, and the 616 X-Men are also intriguing as premises but uninspired and flat in execution.
I chose to completely skip the Age Of Apocalypse series during this X-Men reading project. And, I think, without that "ooh, X-Man was a cool character in the alternate universe" (this is a theory...I haven't read AoA since it came out...he may be bland in that universe, too), there isn't much to the character. An alternate reality half-clone of a time displaced character who has TWO clones running around our universe? Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
I dropped this down a star. Not only is it bad, it's considerably worse than all the other X-titles coming out at this time. There's next to no logic in the story, there's no depth to any of the characters, it's just Jeph Loeb dropping characters X-readers might have been nostalgic for, and then removing them before they could be interesting parts of what one might generously call a plot.
There is no reason to read this book unless you feel ayou absolutely have to read every issue about Nate Grey. Otherwise, skip it.
***************************
Original 2018 review:
In several ways, this book is on the outskirts of good.
There are a lot of panel breaking techniques that, with thicker lines and some recoloring, could have made some of this art much more palatable.
The use of Madeline Pryor, and the intersections with Cable's story, and the 616 X-Men are also intriguing as premises but uninspired and flat in execution.
I chose to completely skip the Age Of Apocalypse series during this X-Men reading project. And, I think, without that "ooh, X-Man was a cool character in the alternate universe" (this is a theory...I haven't read AoA since it came out...he may be bland in that universe, too), there isn't much to the character. An alternate reality half-clone of a time displaced character who has TWO clones running around our universe? Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
January 30, 2015
The Man Who Fell To Earth (5-9). Loeb's introduction of Nate is intriguing, and it's great to see him interacting with other survivors from the Age of Apocalypse. I also like the intriguing intro of Madelyne. Unfortunately these issues are also full of muddy '90s art and each one descends into a pointless fight [5+/10].
X-Overs (10-12, E95). The plot of Nate galumphing around, totally misunderstanding everyone's intentions, and getting into fights with them as a result gets old really quickly. The two best issues are the Rogue issue (11), which largely avoids the trope, and the Excalibur crossover (95), which shows off how superior Ellis' writing is by getting to Nate's character in a way that his own issues really haven't [5+/10].
Cable Meets X-Man (13-14, C29-31). This meeting has been anticipated, and it's got some nice elements in the first issues, like Cable's encounter with the X-Men and Nate's fight with the Marauders. Unfortunately, the last three issues turn into an elongated fight that's not particularly interesting, and worse Nate and Cable never have a particularly interesting conversation [5+/10].
Overall: meh. This has great potential, but it's never fulfilled by the authors here.
X-Overs (10-12, E95). The plot of Nate galumphing around, totally misunderstanding everyone's intentions, and getting into fights with them as a result gets old really quickly. The two best issues are the Rogue issue (11), which largely avoids the trope, and the Excalibur crossover (95), which shows off how superior Ellis' writing is by getting to Nate's character in a way that his own issues really haven't [5+/10].
Cable Meets X-Man (13-14, C29-31). This meeting has been anticipated, and it's got some nice elements in the first issues, like Cable's encounter with the X-Men and Nate's fight with the Marauders. Unfortunately, the last three issues turn into an elongated fight that's not particularly interesting, and worse Nate and Cable never have a particularly interesting conversation [5+/10].
Overall: meh. This has great potential, but it's never fulfilled by the authors here.
May 10, 2016
Jeph Loeb is now a pretty big deal. Most of his books have kind of a marquee status. This one is pretty rough. Especially in the middle, the art just seems to degrade in quality. It seems to be in rough shape and the backgrounds get replaced with flat shades or meaningless gradients.
And, I didn't remember this, Nate Grey is a real jerk. He's a guy who can read minds and he reads people's mind and he still gets it wrong.
And, I didn't remember this, Nate Grey is a real jerk. He's a guy who can read minds and he reads people's mind and he still gets it wrong.
Did Not Finish
July 15, 2015Dear heavens, I've tried to read this mess before, haven't I? Hopefully now I've added it here, I won't make the same mistake a third time.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews