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Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men #6
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 6
The X-Men return for another milestone Marvel Masterworks of beginnings, endings and maybe even the beginning of the end! Chris Claremont and John Byrne raised a rag-tag group of mutants from a burning ember to an all-out firestorm that topped the world of comics. And they'll ride out that flame with one of the most influential X-Men stories of all-"Days of Future Past!" Feared, hated and now on the road to extinction, Marvel's Children of the Atom face a bleak future of mutant concentration camps and a world where heroes are a thing of days gone past. Only by leaping back through time can Kitty Pryde's future self hope to stop the events that created this dystopian nightmare! Claremont and Byrne close out their classic run together with a fan-favorite Kitty Pryde holiday tale, but things only pick up from there with the return of the man who first delineated the all-new, all-different X-Men-Dave Cockrum! Cockrum and Claremont put their team in a slow-pressure cooker with Arcade, Dr. Doom, Garokk and then blows its top with the return of Magneto in a double-sized anniversary extravaganza! Featuring guest-appearances by Spider-Woman, Dazzler, not to mention the debut of Mystique's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, there's no question this one's for the ages!
256 pages, Hardcover
First published February 13, 2008
41 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
Chris Claremont
3,280 books889 followersChris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
September 26, 2024
This volume contains the last few issues of the seminal, and truly awesome, Claremont/Byrne run on the book, the remainder comprising the post-Byrne period when Dave Cockrum returned to the team he helped rejuvenate and bring back from cancellation.
I’ve only given the book 4 stars because, honestly, Claremont seemed to flounder a bit after Byrne’s departure and because the Cyclops/Man-Thing issue was blatant filler.
Despite this, the book is still a really good read and #150 is essential reading for any Magneto fan, as this is where Claremont starts to make him the three-dimensional character we know today and no longer the cackling vaudeville bad guy he was to start with.
I’ve only given the book 4 stars because, honestly, Claremont seemed to flounder a bit after Byrne’s departure and because the Cyclops/Man-Thing issue was blatant filler.
Despite this, the book is still a really good read and #150 is essential reading for any Magneto fan, as this is where Claremont starts to make him the three-dimensional character we know today and no longer the cackling vaudeville bad guy he was to start with.
October 20, 2022
The X-Men are most commonly thought of as a metaphor for prejudice, but that's not been truly apparent in the first 50 issues of Chris Claremont's run on them. Instead they've worked more as a metaphor for acceptance - the new X-Men are a found family, living and growing together, working with one another's faults and letting change happen organically. It's been a very 1970s idea - Xavier's mansion as a kind of commune or kibbutz.
But now the 1970s are firmly over, and Days Of Future Past - the high point of this volume, almost the last and surely the best of the Claremont/Byrne stories - flips that script. DOFP shows a nightmare future and the X-Men's desperate attempt to avert it, but ultimately the point is that they *don't* avert it - the ending implies we're still on course for that future. That's one of the two lines this extremely cool, dense, action-driven story crosses - the other is to fill the dystopian future with the symbolism of the real dystopian past: concentration camps, identifying marks, fascism and genocide in full bloom.
I don't know how obvious it was to readers in 1981 - the half-dozen issues following it park its ideas - but Days Of Future Past is the story that completely changes the X-Men. They now have an enemy, lurking in their future, and that enemy is, essentially, the Holocaust, the genocidal endgame of prejudice. Which from a storytelling perspective crosses a rubicon, because while you can beat individual bigots it's much harder to tell a story, or even conceive of telling a story, in which prejudice is defeated. The X-Men are already a team who often struggle and often lose; DOFP raises the stakes to the point that "winning" is always partial, contingent, gradual at best. It's a downpayment on a future maturity of theme and storytelling that the comic will often struggle to live up to.
Claremont doesn't loop back to the ideas in Days Of Future Past until the final issue of this book, where he seals its themes into the comic by having Magneto - until now an unrepentant cackler and world dominator - turn out to be a fictional survivor of the real Holocaust. He's at pains to present this as an act of genuine growth - Magneto at the beginning of issue 150 is still very much a cackler and world dominator, and the story is explicitly the repudiation of that version of the character. It's a story that's better in memory than on the page, where even a double-size issue isn't enough to stop Magneto's sudden change of heart feeling corny, more a 60s Marvel ending than the more sophisticated material Claremont's been producing. The miracle is that Claremont made it stick, and that Marvel let him.
The Magneto story sits at the end of the book's first rocky run since the early Byrne round-the-world issues. Byrne himself has gone, Claremont is back plotting, Dave Cockrum returns on art and there's a new editor too. Aside from the build to the Magneto story, the results are directionless, though plenty of fun to read. Part of the problem is that most of the characters really have grown, and it seems visibly hard to think of new directions to push them in. A lot of the character work in the volume comes out of the rather artificial trick of dropping an old-school team member (Angel) into the new group as a source of friction. But by now the readers like Wolverine, Colossus, Storm et al a lot more than they like Angel.
The book hides its loss of focus by cramming in old friends - Sean, Moira, Alex, Lorna, all of them popping back in. There's a three-parter in which Marvel's two biggest deathtrap fans, Arcade and Doctor Doom, build a bunch of deathtraps for the team, and as with the cornier parts of the Magneto plot it's impossible not to feel like this is old wine in new bottles, not just for the X-Men but for Marvel in general. The X-Men comic has found its grand theme, but at this point the creators playing it look close to burned out.
But now the 1970s are firmly over, and Days Of Future Past - the high point of this volume, almost the last and surely the best of the Claremont/Byrne stories - flips that script. DOFP shows a nightmare future and the X-Men's desperate attempt to avert it, but ultimately the point is that they *don't* avert it - the ending implies we're still on course for that future. That's one of the two lines this extremely cool, dense, action-driven story crosses - the other is to fill the dystopian future with the symbolism of the real dystopian past: concentration camps, identifying marks, fascism and genocide in full bloom.
I don't know how obvious it was to readers in 1981 - the half-dozen issues following it park its ideas - but Days Of Future Past is the story that completely changes the X-Men. They now have an enemy, lurking in their future, and that enemy is, essentially, the Holocaust, the genocidal endgame of prejudice. Which from a storytelling perspective crosses a rubicon, because while you can beat individual bigots it's much harder to tell a story, or even conceive of telling a story, in which prejudice is defeated. The X-Men are already a team who often struggle and often lose; DOFP raises the stakes to the point that "winning" is always partial, contingent, gradual at best. It's a downpayment on a future maturity of theme and storytelling that the comic will often struggle to live up to.
Claremont doesn't loop back to the ideas in Days Of Future Past until the final issue of this book, where he seals its themes into the comic by having Magneto - until now an unrepentant cackler and world dominator - turn out to be a fictional survivor of the real Holocaust. He's at pains to present this as an act of genuine growth - Magneto at the beginning of issue 150 is still very much a cackler and world dominator, and the story is explicitly the repudiation of that version of the character. It's a story that's better in memory than on the page, where even a double-size issue isn't enough to stop Magneto's sudden change of heart feeling corny, more a 60s Marvel ending than the more sophisticated material Claremont's been producing. The miracle is that Claremont made it stick, and that Marvel let him.
The Magneto story sits at the end of the book's first rocky run since the early Byrne round-the-world issues. Byrne himself has gone, Claremont is back plotting, Dave Cockrum returns on art and there's a new editor too. Aside from the build to the Magneto story, the results are directionless, though plenty of fun to read. Part of the problem is that most of the characters really have grown, and it seems visibly hard to think of new directions to push them in. A lot of the character work in the volume comes out of the rather artificial trick of dropping an old-school team member (Angel) into the new group as a source of friction. But by now the readers like Wolverine, Colossus, Storm et al a lot more than they like Angel.
The book hides its loss of focus by cramming in old friends - Sean, Moira, Alex, Lorna, all of them popping back in. There's a three-parter in which Marvel's two biggest deathtrap fans, Arcade and Doctor Doom, build a bunch of deathtraps for the team, and as with the cornier parts of the Magneto plot it's impossible not to feel like this is old wine in new bottles, not just for the X-Men but for Marvel in general. The X-Men comic has found its grand theme, but at this point the creators playing it look close to burned out.
April 24, 2016
The sixth Uncanny X-Men Masterworks volume collects # 141–150, which effectively includes the final three issues of the Chris Claremont / John Byrne run. But what final three issues those are. First off the two issues "Days of Future Past" and "Mind Out of Time" (mostly referred to collectively under the former) which tells the story of a future world where Sentinels have enslaved or killed mutants (and really any superpowered beings, really), a world from which one X-Man is sent back into time to stop its ever coming into being in the first place. This two parter might almost be as classic as the Dark Phoenix saga in itself, and rightly so, in my humble opinion.
The third issue in question, "Demon", deals with young Kitty Pryde and a solo encounter with a frightening and seemingly unstoppable entity. In many respects, a fine homage to Ridley Scott's Alien, it serves as an excellent closing point on Byrne's part of Claremont's very, very long run on X-Men.
# 144 is an almost Cyclops solo issue, pencilled by Brent Anderson (of Astro City fame) and pits the crimson eyed X-Man on leave against D'Spayre. There is also an appearance by Marvel's own mud monster, the Man-Thing.
# 145–147 pit the X-Men against the dual threat of Arcade (well, mostly his lovely assistant Miss Locke and Murderworld) and Dr. Doom. Also, for this particular fray, extra X-Men Ice-Man, Polaris and Havok are called into aid the team.
# 148 guest stars both Dazzler and Spider-Woman, and the character of Caliban is introduced in the Marvel universe.
# 149 builds up towards the big issue 150 by having the team visit Magneto's old base. A visit which leads to a very unexpected encounter.
And then #150... the big showdown with Magneto and simultaneously the total retcon of the character (almost entirely within the issue itself). A retcon that even contradicts itself in some sense, one might add, as murder is committed whilst the themes of honour, the good dream and Auschwitz are introduced. Nevertheless a crucial issue in terms of where Claremont went on to take Magneto in future issues of Uncanny X-Men (and later The New Mutants.
At any rate, a nice collection and worth the admission price alone on the basis of the conclusion to the Claremont / Byrne run.
The third issue in question, "Demon", deals with young Kitty Pryde and a solo encounter with a frightening and seemingly unstoppable entity. In many respects, a fine homage to Ridley Scott's Alien, it serves as an excellent closing point on Byrne's part of Claremont's very, very long run on X-Men.
# 144 is an almost Cyclops solo issue, pencilled by Brent Anderson (of Astro City fame) and pits the crimson eyed X-Man on leave against D'Spayre. There is also an appearance by Marvel's own mud monster, the Man-Thing.
# 145–147 pit the X-Men against the dual threat of Arcade (well, mostly his lovely assistant Miss Locke and Murderworld) and Dr. Doom. Also, for this particular fray, extra X-Men Ice-Man, Polaris and Havok are called into aid the team.
# 148 guest stars both Dazzler and Spider-Woman, and the character of Caliban is introduced in the Marvel universe.
# 149 builds up towards the big issue 150 by having the team visit Magneto's old base. A visit which leads to a very unexpected encounter.
And then #150... the big showdown with Magneto and simultaneously the total retcon of the character (almost entirely within the issue itself). A retcon that even contradicts itself in some sense, one might add, as murder is committed whilst the themes of honour, the good dream and Auschwitz are introduced. Nevertheless a crucial issue in terms of where Claremont went on to take Magneto in future issues of Uncanny X-Men (and later The New Mutants.
At any rate, a nice collection and worth the admission price alone on the basis of the conclusion to the Claremont / Byrne run.
March 7, 2012
Coming off what turned out to be one of the most famous storylines in comic book history, it's nothing short of remarkable that Claremont and Byrne followed it up with "Days of Future Past", another exceptional story that's basically the plotline for Terminator written several years before that movie was made. In some respects it's just another X-Men punch-up, but what made the tale special for me was the shift in perspective and viewpoints, and the time and space that - in just two issues - is given to the plight of the X-Men of the future, and in particular and older, weathered Kitty Pryde. Overall it may not have the depth of the Phoenix Saga, but it makes up for it with it's neat pacing and structure, something I hadn't really associated with this comic previously.
John Byrne ends his run on X-Men with possibly one of the greatest one-shot issues I've read. A homage to Alien (it even references it), Kitty battles a scary monster alone in Xavier's Mansion and wrecks it in the process. It's exciting, well drawn and a great coming of age tale. By this point it's clear that Kitty is here to stay and will go on to be an X-Man favourite.
Claremont struggles to find that kind of form without Byrne as a partner, but the book remains great fun after his departure. None of the rest of the volume is as classic, some of it is even a little plodding (Wendigo? Yawn), and did anyone really want the return of Arcade ????? I enjoyed the ongoing storyline of Cyclops rediscovering himself that runs parallel to the main storylines throughout these issues and it all comes to a nice head in issue 150 in which the X-Men yet again face off against a Magneto who might finally be growing up. Unfortunately, whilst the idea to bring back this arch-nemesis was a good one, the story could have used a little more time to breathe and what could have had maximum impact was merely a solidly entertaining story. One can't help feeling that the Claremont/Byrne team would have made more of it...
At points, then, this volume is 5 - star worthy, but overall there's too little material here that breaks boundaries. If you enjoy X-Men and Claremont's style generally this is still essential reading and it's nice to note that the quality was to continue and that there's life after the Dark Phoenix.
John Byrne ends his run on X-Men with possibly one of the greatest one-shot issues I've read. A homage to Alien (it even references it), Kitty battles a scary monster alone in Xavier's Mansion and wrecks it in the process. It's exciting, well drawn and a great coming of age tale. By this point it's clear that Kitty is here to stay and will go on to be an X-Man favourite.
Claremont struggles to find that kind of form without Byrne as a partner, but the book remains great fun after his departure. None of the rest of the volume is as classic, some of it is even a little plodding (Wendigo? Yawn), and did anyone really want the return of Arcade ????? I enjoyed the ongoing storyline of Cyclops rediscovering himself that runs parallel to the main storylines throughout these issues and it all comes to a nice head in issue 150 in which the X-Men yet again face off against a Magneto who might finally be growing up. Unfortunately, whilst the idea to bring back this arch-nemesis was a good one, the story could have used a little more time to breathe and what could have had maximum impact was merely a solidly entertaining story. One can't help feeling that the Claremont/Byrne team would have made more of it...
At points, then, this volume is 5 - star worthy, but overall there's too little material here that breaks boundaries. If you enjoy X-Men and Claremont's style generally this is still essential reading and it's nice to note that the quality was to continue and that there's life after the Dark Phoenix.
October 31, 2022
In which Days of future past has a very compelling narrative form; Kitty Pryde is a final girl fighting an Alien knock-off; Dr. Doom flirts with Storm and she contemplates the idea for a second; Storm goes Dark-Phoenix; Cyclops gets stranded in Cthulhu's island wearing the tiniest shorts; Magneto's complex character exploration begins in a marvelously dramatic and well executed manner.
Yet another great collection by Claremont & Cockrum.
Yet another great collection by Claremont & Cockrum.
December 11, 2018
The sixth Masterworks volume of The Uncanny X-Men houses issues #141-150. These issues pick up directly after the events of the legendary Dark Phoenix Saga with Kitty Pryde joining the team that Storm now heads because of Cyclop's leave of absence. These issues were published between January and October of 1981. All of the issues are written by Chris Claremont.
Issues #141-142 are yet another essential X-Men story: "Days of Future Past". It's a time traveling tale about a grim future where every member of the X-Men has been killed except for Storm, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, and Wolverine. They, along with a couple other surviving superheroes, send Kitty's consciousness back in time to prevent this terrible reality from happening. I won't mention much more because I don't want to spoil this excellent comic for anyone, but it's clearly the high point of this collection and a timeless must-read for any X-Men fan. I do want to point out though that for such a large scale story, set across decades resulting in a future that has such devastating impacts on the Marvel Universe, it's weird that only the core X-Men team (Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Angel, and Nightcrawler) is relied on to prevent this from happening. You'd think the Avengers or the Fantastic Four might be enlisted to help out. One thing we can rely on though is that Professor X is of no use, as usual, here. At no point does he use his powers to link up with Storm (the leader of his team) and figure out what's going on because they can't talk to him face to face. I wonder if Claremont just hated writing him or something. John Byrne's artwork here is incredible too, some of his best work.
#143 is almost entirely focused on just Kitty Pryde, as the rest of the team has gone out for Christmas festivities. She has the mansion to herself until a monster (that looks a lot like the Aliens from Alien) shows up and starts hunting her (like movie Alien). It's clearly a ripoff of a very popular movie that was released the previous year and that's fine, it's entertaining enough. My only problem is the Claremont assaults every single panel with so much interior dialogue (because remember, Kitty is alone here...she has no one to talk to) and I think the tension would have been a lot better if he'd just let the art tell the story. It's honestly one of the more wordy comics in this collection.
We get to catch up with Cyclops (who left the team at the end of Dark Phoenix) in issue #144 and we get an appearance by Man-Thing! Cyclops is now a deckhand on a ship that's captained by a lady named Lee. Her father, Jock, has cancer and commits suicide in a swamp in Florida at the behest of an unknown force. When that force is revealed to be a demon called D'Spayre it is attacked by Man-Thing. D'Spayre overcomes Man-Thing though and takes the form of Jock, returning to his house where Cyclops and Lee show up to visit him and Cyclops battles D'Spayre. I really like Man-Thing, so it's cool to see him here and there are some very dramatic moments for Scott as he hallucinates about Jean.
Next up is a three issue (#145-147) arc that features an awesome supervillain team-up: the return of Arcade and, facing the X-Men for the first time, Doctor Doom! The X-Men are told that their loved ones are being held hostage at Murderworld (Arcade's elaborate death complex) and that they must rescue Arcade from Doctor Doom's castle. They bring in a few old members (Havok, Polaris, Iceman, and Banshee) to bulk up the squad and then divide into two teams to check out each location. Before long it's revealed that it's all an elaborate trap by the two villains to test their individual abilities or watch them die. It's an awesome story, but suffers from how convoluted the plot gets. It's interesting to see Doom be actually impressed not just by Arcade's evilness, but also by the X-Men's abilities. There's also a bit of foreshadowing for the next issue where Professor X attempts to contact Scott, but can't because of some force blocking him from doing so.
Issue #148 features two special guest appearances by Spider-Woman and Dazzler. Storm, Spider-Woman and Kitty Pryde are at a club watching Dazzler perform when a mysterious villain named Caliban shows up to ruin the night. The four ladies team up to battle him and find out just who he really is. The b-story here Cyclops and Captain Lee exploring a mysterious city that appeared next to the island they are stranded on. There's a lot of sexual tension between them and a budding romance being set up, but that is interrupted by the appearance of a familiar old foe: Magneto!
This collection ends with a 2 issue arc (#149-150) that has them reuniting with Cyclops and battling Magneto. The first issue has Professor X sending the team to Magneto's old base and their they battle Garokk. It's really sort of a one-off with the exception of the final couples pages featuring Scott and Magento that set up for the next issue. #150 is a double sized comic that has the X-Men traveling to Magneto's new HQ and reuniting with Scott to stop Magneto from destroying the world. There's a lot of action in this issue and it's cool to see the team trying to solve problems without use of their powers. Another rare occurrence here is Professor X actually helping the team on some level and having more than just a few panels of him being an fussy old jerk to the X-Men (speaking of being a fussy old jerk, issue #149 opens with a really intense, terrible scene where he is screaming at Kitty Pryde because she wanted to show him the costume she had designed and interrupted him at work...I swear Claremont hates Professor X). There is a great scene with Magneto towards the end, but I actually really hated how it ends. I won't spoil it here, but I'll just say that it seemed really, really lazy to me.
Other than Days of Future Past, there isn't really any other classic issues in here and for the most part I felt like it was meandering quite a bit. Fans like to laud Claremont's writing, but I wonder where he was at the point of writing these issues because they all seem very wordy, but most of the stories don't have really any depth (even Days of Future Past could have been a lot longer to flesh out the story a bit). Recommended for X-Men fans, while Days of Future Past is recommended for every comic book fan out there.
Issues #141-142 are yet another essential X-Men story: "Days of Future Past". It's a time traveling tale about a grim future where every member of the X-Men has been killed except for Storm, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, and Wolverine. They, along with a couple other surviving superheroes, send Kitty's consciousness back in time to prevent this terrible reality from happening. I won't mention much more because I don't want to spoil this excellent comic for anyone, but it's clearly the high point of this collection and a timeless must-read for any X-Men fan. I do want to point out though that for such a large scale story, set across decades resulting in a future that has such devastating impacts on the Marvel Universe, it's weird that only the core X-Men team (Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Angel, and Nightcrawler) is relied on to prevent this from happening. You'd think the Avengers or the Fantastic Four might be enlisted to help out. One thing we can rely on though is that Professor X is of no use, as usual, here. At no point does he use his powers to link up with Storm (the leader of his team) and figure out what's going on because they can't talk to him face to face. I wonder if Claremont just hated writing him or something. John Byrne's artwork here is incredible too, some of his best work.
#143 is almost entirely focused on just Kitty Pryde, as the rest of the team has gone out for Christmas festivities. She has the mansion to herself until a monster (that looks a lot like the Aliens from Alien) shows up and starts hunting her (like movie Alien). It's clearly a ripoff of a very popular movie that was released the previous year and that's fine, it's entertaining enough. My only problem is the Claremont assaults every single panel with so much interior dialogue (because remember, Kitty is alone here...she has no one to talk to) and I think the tension would have been a lot better if he'd just let the art tell the story. It's honestly one of the more wordy comics in this collection.
We get to catch up with Cyclops (who left the team at the end of Dark Phoenix) in issue #144 and we get an appearance by Man-Thing! Cyclops is now a deckhand on a ship that's captained by a lady named Lee. Her father, Jock, has cancer and commits suicide in a swamp in Florida at the behest of an unknown force. When that force is revealed to be a demon called D'Spayre it is attacked by Man-Thing. D'Spayre overcomes Man-Thing though and takes the form of Jock, returning to his house where Cyclops and Lee show up to visit him and Cyclops battles D'Spayre. I really like Man-Thing, so it's cool to see him here and there are some very dramatic moments for Scott as he hallucinates about Jean.
Next up is a three issue (#145-147) arc that features an awesome supervillain team-up: the return of Arcade and, facing the X-Men for the first time, Doctor Doom! The X-Men are told that their loved ones are being held hostage at Murderworld (Arcade's elaborate death complex) and that they must rescue Arcade from Doctor Doom's castle. They bring in a few old members (Havok, Polaris, Iceman, and Banshee) to bulk up the squad and then divide into two teams to check out each location. Before long it's revealed that it's all an elaborate trap by the two villains to test their individual abilities or watch them die. It's an awesome story, but suffers from how convoluted the plot gets. It's interesting to see Doom be actually impressed not just by Arcade's evilness, but also by the X-Men's abilities. There's also a bit of foreshadowing for the next issue where Professor X attempts to contact Scott, but can't because of some force blocking him from doing so.
Issue #148 features two special guest appearances by Spider-Woman and Dazzler. Storm, Spider-Woman and Kitty Pryde are at a club watching Dazzler perform when a mysterious villain named Caliban shows up to ruin the night. The four ladies team up to battle him and find out just who he really is. The b-story here Cyclops and Captain Lee exploring a mysterious city that appeared next to the island they are stranded on. There's a lot of sexual tension between them and a budding romance being set up, but that is interrupted by the appearance of a familiar old foe: Magneto!
This collection ends with a 2 issue arc (#149-150) that has them reuniting with Cyclops and battling Magneto. The first issue has Professor X sending the team to Magneto's old base and their they battle Garokk. It's really sort of a one-off with the exception of the final couples pages featuring Scott and Magento that set up for the next issue. #150 is a double sized comic that has the X-Men traveling to Magneto's new HQ and reuniting with Scott to stop Magneto from destroying the world. There's a lot of action in this issue and it's cool to see the team trying to solve problems without use of their powers. Another rare occurrence here is Professor X actually helping the team on some level and having more than just a few panels of him being an fussy old jerk to the X-Men (speaking of being a fussy old jerk, issue #149 opens with a really intense, terrible scene where he is screaming at Kitty Pryde because she wanted to show him the costume she had designed and interrupted him at work...I swear Claremont hates Professor X). There is a great scene with Magneto towards the end, but I actually really hated how it ends. I won't spoil it here, but I'll just say that it seemed really, really lazy to me.
Other than Days of Future Past, there isn't really any other classic issues in here and for the most part I felt like it was meandering quite a bit. Fans like to laud Claremont's writing, but I wonder where he was at the point of writing these issues because they all seem very wordy, but most of the stories don't have really any depth (even Days of Future Past could have been a lot longer to flesh out the story a bit). Recommended for X-Men fans, while Days of Future Past is recommended for every comic book fan out there.
April 14, 2025
Arcade is back but this time with Doom, and enjoyed Murderworld much more! Cyclops has left the team to deal with his grief over Jean's (latest) death, and now Storm is the leader of the X-Men and she's doing a great job.
The end of this collection sees the return of Magneto... Dressing a shipwrecked Scott up in a sexy outfit for reasons that are unclear!
This collection also has the Christmas issue where a Kitty fights a demon alone, that's a great one!
Kitty is still an annoying "spunky" teenager but that's her character, hopefully she'll stop doing stupid stuff soon. The X-Men have a lot of patience for her (except Prof. X!) so I should too!
The end of this collection sees the return of Magneto... Dressing a shipwrecked Scott up in a sexy outfit for reasons that are unclear!
This collection also has the Christmas issue where a Kitty fights a demon alone, that's a great one!
Kitty is still an annoying "spunky" teenager but that's her character, hopefully she'll stop doing stupid stuff soon. The X-Men have a lot of patience for her (except Prof. X!) so I should too!
February 19, 2022
It's hard to follow up the Dark Phoenix Saga but this makes a pretty good attempt. This volume introduces two important X-Men features. First, we have Days of Future Past, a classic time travel story about a dark dystopian future in which mutants are placed in interment camps. Next, we have I, Magneto, a Magneto story that reveals his backstory as a Holocaust survivor and starts to work towards his redemption. These stories aren't perfect, but they're really influential on the rest of X-Men.
May 5, 2022
This book starts with the famous Days of Future Past storyline, which I have reviewed as a Dual/Duel review comparing it with the movie. The story is a classic time-travel thrill ride with an adult Kitty Pride traveling from a dystopian future to try and stop the dystopia from happening. It follows the usual line but in an enjoyable way.
The second story is a self-conscious imitation of the movie Alien. Kitty Pride is left alone in Xavier's mansion and has to fight an ancient and horrible monster while everyone else is off celebrating the Christmas holidays. It works as a story on its own but is not particularly outstanding.
The next story follows Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, who is on a leave of absence from the X-Men. He's in Florida and has been working anonymously on a fishing boat. He's still trying to deal with the loss of his beloved Jean Grey who died as Dark Phoenix. Scott gets drawn into a trap when the demon D'Spayre, who thrives on other intelligent beings' despair, has been tormenting some local people, including Man-Thing, the Marvel Comics version of Swamp Thing. The story is okay though it is very obvious about what it's trying to do. A little more creativity would have given it at least some subtly.
Next, Doctor Doom has kidnapped X-Men villain Arcade and threatens to kill him. Arcade's henchwoman, Miss Locke, kidnaps some of the X-Men's loved ones to blackmail them into saving Arcade. Professor X sends one team of X-Men to Doom's castle to free Arcade while another team goes to Arcade's Murderworld amusement park to free the hostages. Lots of action ensues. The Doctor Doom half of the story is more interesting and enjoyable.
The X-Men have an uninteresting encounter with a subterranean mutant named Caliban while Scott is shipwrecked with Aletys, the female captain of the fishing boat. He loses his glasses and can't open his eyes lest his optic blasts destroy things, so she has to lead him around. They struggle with romantic feelings and then a big, mysterious island rises out of the ocean. They go to investigate, hoping for food and water. They discover Magneto. Scott has been reduced to rags so Magneto does not recognize him (the girl is also scantily clad, in case you were wondering).
The other X-Men go to Antarctica to investigate Magneto's old lair, which has been excavated a bit. They have a run-in with some bad guys there. They fly back north when Magneto unleashes his big plan. He demands the entire world disarm and submit to his rule or he will destroy them. He wants to pacify all the homo sapiens so the mutants, which he refers to as "homo superior," will be safe from fear and oppression. A Soviet sub fires nuclear weapons at Magneto's island. He handily dispatches the nukes and punishes the sub. The X-Men's jet comes flying over and he downs it, forcing a confrontation. Meanwhile, Professor Xavier has come on a yacht and contributes to the battle from a distance. After a long conflict, Magneto's plan is defeated. In the course of the fight, Magneto thinks he's killed Kitty Pryde, which causes him to rethink his attitudes. He flees, leaving the X-Men victorious.
This book is bookended by the best stories, Days of Future Past and the confrontation with Magneto. The rest is okay, more like filler episodes between the big story arcs.
Recommended.
The second story is a self-conscious imitation of the movie Alien. Kitty Pride is left alone in Xavier's mansion and has to fight an ancient and horrible monster while everyone else is off celebrating the Christmas holidays. It works as a story on its own but is not particularly outstanding.
The next story follows Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, who is on a leave of absence from the X-Men. He's in Florida and has been working anonymously on a fishing boat. He's still trying to deal with the loss of his beloved Jean Grey who died as Dark Phoenix. Scott gets drawn into a trap when the demon D'Spayre, who thrives on other intelligent beings' despair, has been tormenting some local people, including Man-Thing, the Marvel Comics version of Swamp Thing. The story is okay though it is very obvious about what it's trying to do. A little more creativity would have given it at least some subtly.
Next, Doctor Doom has kidnapped X-Men villain Arcade and threatens to kill him. Arcade's henchwoman, Miss Locke, kidnaps some of the X-Men's loved ones to blackmail them into saving Arcade. Professor X sends one team of X-Men to Doom's castle to free Arcade while another team goes to Arcade's Murderworld amusement park to free the hostages. Lots of action ensues. The Doctor Doom half of the story is more interesting and enjoyable.
The X-Men have an uninteresting encounter with a subterranean mutant named Caliban while Scott is shipwrecked with Aletys, the female captain of the fishing boat. He loses his glasses and can't open his eyes lest his optic blasts destroy things, so she has to lead him around. They struggle with romantic feelings and then a big, mysterious island rises out of the ocean. They go to investigate, hoping for food and water. They discover Magneto. Scott has been reduced to rags so Magneto does not recognize him (the girl is also scantily clad, in case you were wondering).
The other X-Men go to Antarctica to investigate Magneto's old lair, which has been excavated a bit. They have a run-in with some bad guys there. They fly back north when Magneto unleashes his big plan. He demands the entire world disarm and submit to his rule or he will destroy them. He wants to pacify all the homo sapiens so the mutants, which he refers to as "homo superior," will be safe from fear and oppression. A Soviet sub fires nuclear weapons at Magneto's island. He handily dispatches the nukes and punishes the sub. The X-Men's jet comes flying over and he downs it, forcing a confrontation. Meanwhile, Professor Xavier has come on a yacht and contributes to the battle from a distance. After a long conflict, Magneto's plan is defeated. In the course of the fight, Magneto thinks he's killed Kitty Pryde, which causes him to rethink his attitudes. He flees, leaving the X-Men victorious.
This book is bookended by the best stories, Days of Future Past and the confrontation with Magneto. The rest is okay, more like filler episodes between the big story arcs.
Recommended.
December 28, 2020
Chris Claremont's legendary run on the Uncanny X-Men is largely collected in a 12-volume (and counting) set in the Marvel Masterworks series that takes us through some of the most pivotal stories in X-Men lore. (As of volume 12, it gets up to Uncanny X-Men #200.) Here we see the launch of a new X-Men team that includes, over time, Cyclops, Jean Grey/Phoenix, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Rogue and many others. The stories include some of the most iconic in X-Men history, including the Hellfire Club saga, the Dark Phoenix saga, Days of Future Past and the Trial of Magneto. All told, the Marvel Masterworks - Uncanny X-Men series is must-read material for anyone who wishes to dive deeply into the rich (and often difficult to navigate) history of the X-Men. It is must-read material for anyone who wants to get a taste for what it was like during a period of time when the X-Men grew from an also-ran Marvel title into one of the greatest superhero tentpole franchises of all time. And if all that isn't enough, within these volumes are some of the most enjoyable writer/artist pairings you'll find from this era of Marvel comics, including Claremont's epic collaborations with John Byrne, Dan Green and John Romita, Jr. Within these volumes are stories that continue to resonate today, tales that beyond beyond people in colorful tights punching each other out and into an ongoing commentary on what it means to be hated for one's nature, on what it means to protect those who see you as an enemy, and what it means to live with heroic dignity in a world committed to stripping that very thing from you. These are some of the finest comic book stories ever published. They are deeply fun to read, and most of all, they are an important chapter of a beloved medium.
November 9, 2023
Primer tomo de la etapa posterior a la Saga de Fénix Oscura, y después del pequeño interludio con Lobezno y Rondador en Canadá, nos vamos a encontrar con una de las historias más influyentes de la historia de los mutantes, y que funcionará como despedida del dibujante John Byrne, que saldría de la Patrulla-X para ocuparse como guionista y dibujante de Los Cuatro Fantásticos (como ya hemos visto por aquí). Y esta historia sería la celebérrima Días del Futuro Pasado, la primera (de muchas) incursiones de los mutantes en tiempos futuros, realidades alternativas y viajes en el tiempo. Para esta historia, Claremont y Byrne crearon un futuro apocalíptico en el que el asesinato del Senador Robert Kelly por la Hermandad de Mutantes Diabólicos, había permitido que el gobierno de Estados Unidos lanzara a los Centinelas que, como parte de su programación para eliminar a los mutantes, habían tomado el control sobre Estados Unidos, ejecutando a la mayoría de los mutantes y los superhumanos, y controlando al resto con collares inhibidores de poderes. Así, un pequeño grupo formado por Coloso, Tormenta, Lobezno, Kate Pryde, Magneto (que nos dejaba aquí ver los planes a futuro de Claremont para el personaje), Franklin Richards y su novia, la telépata pelirroja llamada simplemente "Rachel", van a idear un plan para enviar la mente de Kate al cuerpo de la joven Kitty en el pasado, y así evitar la muerte del Senador Kelly. Así que tendremos una historia en dos tiempos, una en el futuro en el que el pequeño grupo de supervivientes va a asaltar el Edificio Baxter, sede de los Centinelas, y en el presente (de aquel momento), la Patrulla-X se va a enfrentar a la nueva Hermandad de Mutantes Diabólicos, formada en su mayor parte por personajes de nuevo cuño (como la líder multiforme Mística, la ciega precognoscitiva Destino, o Pyros y Avalancha, que manejan respectivamente el fuego y la tierra), dejando como personaje clásico a Mole.
Esta historia supondría la salida de John Byrne, y tras un interludio protagonizado por Cíclope, en el que va a iniciar una nueva relación de carácter romántico con una capitana de barco, Lee Forrester, y en el que se va a enfrentar al demoniaco D'Spayre, enemigo clásico del Doctor Extraño, llegamos a una sucesión de grandes enemigos en pocos números, con lápices de Dave Cockrum, que vuelve a la serie con bastante más gracia que en su primera etapa. Y así, el equipo va a verse implicado en un enfrentamiento entre el Doctor Muerte y Arcade, que va a requerir del reclutamiento de antiguos compañeros, como Kaos, Polaris, el Hombre de Hielo y Banshee, que se van a infiltrar en Mundo Asesino para liberar a familiares y amigos de la Patrulla, mientras que Tormenta, Coloso, Rondador, Ángel y Lobezno van a dirigirse al castillo de Muerte en las Catskill (en estos momentos estaba exiliado de Latveria), donde se van a enfrentar a la versión de Muerte de las trampas personales de Arcade.
Y el siguiente en volver, será el mismísimo Magneto, que ha establecido una nueva base desde la que lanzar un órdago al mundo en una isla cthulhiana en las Bermudas, donde van a parar Cíclope y Lee Forrester al caerse de su barco tras una tormenta. Preocupado por las actividades de Magneto, Xavier va a enviar al equipo (incluida Kitty, que viajará de polizón) a la Antártida, donde mantuvo prisionera a la Patrulla-X en su último enfrentamiento, y donde tendrán que enfrentarse de nuevo a Garokk, el dios-hombre adorado por la tribu de Zaladane en la Tierra Salvaje. Y de vuelta, el Pájaro Negro se va a estrellar (por cosas del destino y del guion) en las cercanías de la isla de Magneto, lo que va a suponer un nuevo enfrentamiento entre la Patrulla-X (que además no tendrán poderes) y el Amo del Magnetismo.
Aventuras puras, muy X-Men, muy Claremont, y muy entretenidas.
Esta historia supondría la salida de John Byrne, y tras un interludio protagonizado por Cíclope, en el que va a iniciar una nueva relación de carácter romántico con una capitana de barco, Lee Forrester, y en el que se va a enfrentar al demoniaco D'Spayre, enemigo clásico del Doctor Extraño, llegamos a una sucesión de grandes enemigos en pocos números, con lápices de Dave Cockrum, que vuelve a la serie con bastante más gracia que en su primera etapa. Y así, el equipo va a verse implicado en un enfrentamiento entre el Doctor Muerte y Arcade, que va a requerir del reclutamiento de antiguos compañeros, como Kaos, Polaris, el Hombre de Hielo y Banshee, que se van a infiltrar en Mundo Asesino para liberar a familiares y amigos de la Patrulla, mientras que Tormenta, Coloso, Rondador, Ángel y Lobezno van a dirigirse al castillo de Muerte en las Catskill (en estos momentos estaba exiliado de Latveria), donde se van a enfrentar a la versión de Muerte de las trampas personales de Arcade.
Y el siguiente en volver, será el mismísimo Magneto, que ha establecido una nueva base desde la que lanzar un órdago al mundo en una isla cthulhiana en las Bermudas, donde van a parar Cíclope y Lee Forrester al caerse de su barco tras una tormenta. Preocupado por las actividades de Magneto, Xavier va a enviar al equipo (incluida Kitty, que viajará de polizón) a la Antártida, donde mantuvo prisionera a la Patrulla-X en su último enfrentamiento, y donde tendrán que enfrentarse de nuevo a Garokk, el dios-hombre adorado por la tribu de Zaladane en la Tierra Salvaje. Y de vuelta, el Pájaro Negro se va a estrellar (por cosas del destino y del guion) en las cercanías de la isla de Magneto, lo que va a suponer un nuevo enfrentamiento entre la Patrulla-X (que además no tendrán poderes) y el Amo del Magnetismo.
Aventuras puras, muy X-Men, muy Claremont, y muy entretenidas.
October 2, 2024
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 6. calificación 3.5/5 estrellas
John Byrne creo y le dio protagonismo a Kitty Pryde, tal vez John Byrne debió hacer una serie de diez números de Days of the Future Past.
The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #141, Trama/Arte John Byrne, Trama/Diálogos Chris Claremont, Tintas Terry Austin. Calificación 4/5 estrellas.
Aquí aparece la portada iconica de The Uncanny X-Men #141.
Mi historia favorita de los X-Men, aun tengo una edición física recopilada en "Las Grandes Batallas de Los X-Men".
James Cameron plagio a los Sentinels y el esqueleto metálico de Wolverine sirvió para que Cameron lo plagiara he hiciera el T-800 modelo T-101. Debajo de la piel de Arnold yace un Sentinel de tamaño humano.
Recuerdo la valerosa muerte de Coloso vengando a Storm, qué la consideraba su hermana, claro alguno me reta diciendo que fue fuera de panel o cámaras o la muerte de "old man" Wolverine fue lo contraria muy explícita y sin ese sentimiento.
Aquí empezó Claremont con esa tontería de Mystique y Destiny.
El final original de Byrne era que al evitar la muerte de Kelly nunca existió el futuro de Kate Pryde, pero Claremont con los diálogos lo cambio, con esa tontería de beso.
Según Byrne, Claremont solo aportó con el título y el Senador.
Toda la trama se basó Byrne en un capítulo de Doctor Who titulado "The Day of the Daleks" de 1972.
Esta historia de John Byrne le hizo ganar millones a través de las décadas a Marvel Comics.
X-Men Vol 1 #142, Trama/Arte John Byrne, Trama/Diálogos Chris Claremont, Tintas Terry Austin, Colorista Glynis Wein. Calificación 4/5 estrellas.
La cúspide de The Uncanny X-Men fue de los issues #108-143 donde el gran arte y tramas eran de John Byrne.
John Byrne cuando dejó el libro X-Men se sintió de inmediato la caída de la calidad.
Es recordado Chris Claremont por sus máximas glorias The Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past, pero ambas fueron tramas de John Byrne, tras su salida lo dejo claro.
Byrne haciendo a Phoenix en Dark Phoenix y volviendo a Wolverine popular.
Chris Claremont siempre satura el arte con muchos diálogos como un afán de querer llamar la atención
Chris Claremont que convirtió a Magneto en propaganda judía, es algo hipócrita que no mencione Chris Claremont la usurpación judía, así como la matanza de niños y mujeres en Palestina por Israel con armas proveniente de Estados Unidos.
X-Men Vol 1 #143, Trama/Arte John Byrne, Diálogos Chris Claremont, Tintas Terry Austin, calificación 3.5/5 estrellas.
La trama en X-Men #143 donde Kitty la persigue un N'Garai parecido a un Xenomorp, es como salido de una pesadilla donde eres perseguido.
En su salida de X-Men, John Byrne destruye al Blackbird.
Kitty Pryde creada por John Byrne, basada en Siguerney Weaver en versión adolescente. Fue un gran error de Claremont sacarla del grupo y ponerla en Xcalibur.
Chris Claremont siempre saturaba el arte con muchos diálogos como un afán de querer llamar la atención. Como lo hizo Claremont en the Uncanny X-Men #143.
La cúspide de The Uncanny X-Men fue de los issues #108-143 donde el arte y tramas eran de John Byrne.
John Byrne cuando dejó el libro X-Men se sintió de inmediato la caída de la calidad.
Es recordado Chris Claremont por sus máximas glorias The Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past, pero ambas fueron tramas de John Byrne, tras su salida lo dejo claro.
Byrne convirtió a Phoenix en Dark Phoenix y volviendo a Wolverine popular desde Uncanny X-Men #121 donde Logan se entregó a Alpha Flight y también Uncanny X-Men #133 "Wolverine: Alone!". Hizo ganar millones a Marvel Comics.
Después de la partida de Byrne, Claremont nunca hizo historias de la calidad de Proteus Saga, The Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past.
Si te gusto Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past es obligatorio leer a John Byrne's X-Men Elsewhen ya que es la secuela de la carrera de John Byrne en The Uncanny X-Men. Es la continuación escrita y dibujada por John Byrne.
Deberian publicar X-Men Elsewhen IDW Artist Editions. También Marvel Comics debería publicar en un Omnibus Deluxe Edition de John Byrne's The X-Men ELSEWHEN #1-32 ya que los issues son mejores que los 32 números posteriores a The Uncanny X-Men #143.
John Byrne creo y le dio protagonismo a Kitty Pryde, tal vez John Byrne debió hacer una serie de diez números de Days of the Future Past.
The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #141, Trama/Arte John Byrne, Trama/Diálogos Chris Claremont, Tintas Terry Austin. Calificación 4/5 estrellas.
Aquí aparece la portada iconica de The Uncanny X-Men #141.
Mi historia favorita de los X-Men, aun tengo una edición física recopilada en "Las Grandes Batallas de Los X-Men".
James Cameron plagio a los Sentinels y el esqueleto metálico de Wolverine sirvió para que Cameron lo plagiara he hiciera el T-800 modelo T-101. Debajo de la piel de Arnold yace un Sentinel de tamaño humano.
Recuerdo la valerosa muerte de Coloso vengando a Storm, qué la consideraba su hermana, claro alguno me reta diciendo que fue fuera de panel o cámaras o la muerte de "old man" Wolverine fue lo contraria muy explícita y sin ese sentimiento.
Aquí empezó Claremont con esa tontería de Mystique y Destiny.
El final original de Byrne era que al evitar la muerte de Kelly nunca existió el futuro de Kate Pryde, pero Claremont con los diálogos lo cambio, con esa tontería de beso.
Según Byrne, Claremont solo aportó con el título y el Senador.
Toda la trama se basó Byrne en un capítulo de Doctor Who titulado "The Day of the Daleks" de 1972.
Esta historia de John Byrne le hizo ganar millones a través de las décadas a Marvel Comics.
X-Men Vol 1 #142, Trama/Arte John Byrne, Trama/Diálogos Chris Claremont, Tintas Terry Austin, Colorista Glynis Wein. Calificación 4/5 estrellas.
La cúspide de The Uncanny X-Men fue de los issues #108-143 donde el gran arte y tramas eran de John Byrne.
John Byrne cuando dejó el libro X-Men se sintió de inmediato la caída de la calidad.
Es recordado Chris Claremont por sus máximas glorias The Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past, pero ambas fueron tramas de John Byrne, tras su salida lo dejo claro.
Byrne haciendo a Phoenix en Dark Phoenix y volviendo a Wolverine popular.
Chris Claremont siempre satura el arte con muchos diálogos como un afán de querer llamar la atención
Chris Claremont que convirtió a Magneto en propaganda judía, es algo hipócrita que no mencione Chris Claremont la usurpación judía, así como la matanza de niños y mujeres en Palestina por Israel con armas proveniente de Estados Unidos.
X-Men Vol 1 #143, Trama/Arte John Byrne, Diálogos Chris Claremont, Tintas Terry Austin, calificación 3.5/5 estrellas.
La trama en X-Men #143 donde Kitty la persigue un N'Garai parecido a un Xenomorp, es como salido de una pesadilla donde eres perseguido.
En su salida de X-Men, John Byrne destruye al Blackbird.
Kitty Pryde creada por John Byrne, basada en Siguerney Weaver en versión adolescente. Fue un gran error de Claremont sacarla del grupo y ponerla en Xcalibur.
Chris Claremont siempre saturaba el arte con muchos diálogos como un afán de querer llamar la atención. Como lo hizo Claremont en the Uncanny X-Men #143.
La cúspide de The Uncanny X-Men fue de los issues #108-143 donde el arte y tramas eran de John Byrne.
John Byrne cuando dejó el libro X-Men se sintió de inmediato la caída de la calidad.
Es recordado Chris Claremont por sus máximas glorias The Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past, pero ambas fueron tramas de John Byrne, tras su salida lo dejo claro.
Byrne convirtió a Phoenix en Dark Phoenix y volviendo a Wolverine popular desde Uncanny X-Men #121 donde Logan se entregó a Alpha Flight y también Uncanny X-Men #133 "Wolverine: Alone!". Hizo ganar millones a Marvel Comics.
Después de la partida de Byrne, Claremont nunca hizo historias de la calidad de Proteus Saga, The Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past.
Si te gusto Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past es obligatorio leer a John Byrne's X-Men Elsewhen ya que es la secuela de la carrera de John Byrne en The Uncanny X-Men. Es la continuación escrita y dibujada por John Byrne.
Deberian publicar X-Men Elsewhen IDW Artist Editions. También Marvel Comics debería publicar en un Omnibus Deluxe Edition de John Byrne's The X-Men ELSEWHEN #1-32 ya que los issues son mejores que los 32 números posteriores a The Uncanny X-Men #143.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2022
This volume of Uncanny X-Men contained a solid set of stories. From the iconic Days of Future Past to a great solo outing for Kitty in Demon, the moving first appearance of Caliban in Cry, Mutant, and the fantastic Magneto story I, Magneto I had a lot of fun with this collection.
This collection had so many fantastic stories. The first is obviously Days of Future Past. I will admit my first read of DoFP was a tad anti-climactic because I expected the story to be grander. But in retrospect Claremont created such a fascinating scenario in a relatively slim two issues. I was especially engaged by the 2013 alternate future. Seeing our heroes worn down and cynical was viscerally impactful. Although it didn't feature a tonne in the story this dark future was weighty. I could feel the seismic loss the characters faced their desperation and grief bled off the page. This world didn't feel grim for the sake of it. It was a meaningful showing of a dark future that cannot be allowed to exist. The star of this story was obviously Kitty Pride the resident time traveller. Contrasting Kitty's youthful nativity to the harsh older version of herself was wonderful. My favourite moment in the story was older Kate giving her younger self a kiss before departing to an uncertain future.
I also loved the Cry, Mutant storyline featuring Caliban. This story has such great pathos. We see Kitty Storm, Dazzler and Spider-Woman accidentally attack a fellow mutant who has spent his life feared in the shadows. In many ways, it reminded me of Proteus' arc if Proteus was a sympathetic character rather than pure evil. The exploration of mutants who can't live a public life because of hatred was compelling and that brief connection Caliban made with his fellow mutants before being chased back into the shadows was moving.
The final story in this volume I, Magento was absolutely brilliant. Claremont's X-Men run up to this was lacking in compelling Magneto stories, but in this outing he really shines. I, Magneto sees the beginning of his journey to redemption and does it well. In giving Magneto a more sympathetic goal and showing glimpses of his tragic backstory readers are given the space to see him as more than just a megalomaniac. What makes this story so great is its final moments wherein Magneto displays such humanity when he sees how far he has strayed. That grief and shock when he holds Kitty in his arms is such a powerful character beat.
Overall this volume was a fantastic collection of X-Men stories. While not all of them are stuck in my memory, there were definite jewels in the pack. Like every issue of Claremont X-Men I've read this volume contains excellent character writing an the consistent found family themes and introspective character moments make the series an absolute delight to read.
This collection had so many fantastic stories. The first is obviously Days of Future Past. I will admit my first read of DoFP was a tad anti-climactic because I expected the story to be grander. But in retrospect Claremont created such a fascinating scenario in a relatively slim two issues. I was especially engaged by the 2013 alternate future. Seeing our heroes worn down and cynical was viscerally impactful. Although it didn't feature a tonne in the story this dark future was weighty. I could feel the seismic loss the characters faced their desperation and grief bled off the page. This world didn't feel grim for the sake of it. It was a meaningful showing of a dark future that cannot be allowed to exist. The star of this story was obviously Kitty Pride the resident time traveller. Contrasting Kitty's youthful nativity to the harsh older version of herself was wonderful. My favourite moment in the story was older Kate giving her younger self a kiss before departing to an uncertain future.
I also loved the Cry, Mutant storyline featuring Caliban. This story has such great pathos. We see Kitty Storm, Dazzler and Spider-Woman accidentally attack a fellow mutant who has spent his life feared in the shadows. In many ways, it reminded me of Proteus' arc if Proteus was a sympathetic character rather than pure evil. The exploration of mutants who can't live a public life because of hatred was compelling and that brief connection Caliban made with his fellow mutants before being chased back into the shadows was moving.
The final story in this volume I, Magento was absolutely brilliant. Claremont's X-Men run up to this was lacking in compelling Magneto stories, but in this outing he really shines. I, Magneto sees the beginning of his journey to redemption and does it well. In giving Magneto a more sympathetic goal and showing glimpses of his tragic backstory readers are given the space to see him as more than just a megalomaniac. What makes this story so great is its final moments wherein Magneto displays such humanity when he sees how far he has strayed. That grief and shock when he holds Kitty in his arms is such a powerful character beat.
Overall this volume was a fantastic collection of X-Men stories. While not all of them are stuck in my memory, there were definite jewels in the pack. Like every issue of Claremont X-Men I've read this volume contains excellent character writing an the consistent found family themes and introspective character moments make the series an absolute delight to read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 11, 2022
You have a volume with “Days of Future Past”, Doctor Doom, and (arguably) the first truly good Magneto story arc. All of that will definitely get you a 5 star review. The first good Magneto arc? A controversial statement, I’m sure but it’s true. If you’ve read my previous reviews before, you’ll know that I’ve said the original Stan Lee X-Men comics were not that good. One problem is that Magneto was such a one note generic bad guy during all that time. He was nowhere near as interesting as iconic Marvel villains like Doctor Doom & Doctor Octopus. He didn’t have the pathos & layers most casual fans are use to from the character until this exact arc. So all around, this volume is a great one for X-Men fans. It didn’t disappoint.
January 20, 2022
3.5 stars
This was actually pretty good.
It took a while for me to get through it, but overall, I enjoyed it. The team (and the writers) have finally hit their stride.
The storylines were charmingly wacky; the art was eye-catching and consistent.
My favorite parts were seeing the team interact and watching them deal with their personal drama and acknowledging and actively working to overcome their flaws.
(The only exception is that I have a growing grudge against Cyclops. He is as irritating a character as ever, and not in the fun writers-intended-him-to-be-irritating way, but the I-want-to-reach-through-the-fourth-wall-and-strangle-him-way. So.)
This was actually pretty good.
It took a while for me to get through it, but overall, I enjoyed it. The team (and the writers) have finally hit their stride.
The storylines were charmingly wacky; the art was eye-catching and consistent.
My favorite parts were seeing the team interact and watching them deal with their personal drama and acknowledging and actively working to overcome their flaws.
(The only exception is that I have a growing grudge against Cyclops. He is as irritating a character as ever, and not in the fun writers-intended-him-to-be-irritating way, but the I-want-to-reach-through-the-fourth-wall-and-strangle-him-way. So.)
April 24, 2023
This was the end of peak X-Men with the groundbreaking Days of Future Past, but then a swift descent into surprisingly mediocre fare in subsequent issues. The Chris Claremont/John Byrne collaboration was the beating heart of X-men at the time and Bryne's departure didn't merely result in worse art, the stories themselves significantly degenerated without his input. This volume concludes as Claremont's odd obsession with trying to change Magneto from a raving, genocidal mutant Hitler and into an honorable, misunderstood anti-hero ramped up and even with the hindsight of the character's enduring popularity that was a strange way to take things.
I don't want to say that it was all downhill from here, but the magic was gone. Nothing in the subsequent forty-plus years across the numerous X-Men series and their spin-offs has come anywhere close to the Claremont/Bryne era.
I don't want to say that it was all downhill from here, but the magic was gone. Nothing in the subsequent forty-plus years across the numerous X-Men series and their spin-offs has come anywhere close to the Claremont/Bryne era.
March 25, 2020
It contains Days of Future Past, one of the best superhero comic stories ever written. Other archs included, such as the assault on Castle Doom and the re-encounter with Magneto are quite noteworthy too.
September 29, 2020
The sophistication of the storytelling takes a major dip after John Byrne's departure, with a silly, poorly-written couple of chapters. But Claremont slowly builds up his momentum again, and the last few stories in this collection see the beginning of a return to the series' earlier high standards.
December 15, 2021
Giving this 5 stars because Days of Future Past is extraordinary and for the retcon of Magneto being a Holocaust survivor. These comics can go heavy on exposition, but the story they’re developing is wonderful. 141 is one of my favorite issues so far, if not the absolute best.
March 2, 2023
The first two issues, Days of Future Past are the absolute cream of the crop from the franchise, it’s a true masterpiece but the quality dramatically drops immediately after with some of Claremont’s worse issues and Byrne giving way to a returning Cockrum.
May 19, 2021
5 stars for “Days of Future Past” and “Demon,” but 2-3 stars for the Dr. Doom, Arcade, Cyclops and Magneto stories that were all fairly forgettable.
January 22, 2022
Includes Days of Future Past and kitty Pryde's first adventures with the X-Men.
February 18, 2022
With creators like Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Dave Cockrum, this is X-men comics at their best!
January 15, 2024
Post-Byrne we start to get into the Claremont stuff that isn’t super famous. Some excellent character development for Kitty and Cyclops. Excited to read more.
August 25, 2024
oooooh!! some very juicy Magneto content. and Kitty is such a delight!
December 18, 2025
storm going from "pray to whatever god you believe in" to "wow i am WAY out of my depth here" over the course of one (1) trauma dump from magneto is so funny to me
Read
December 30, 2025x-goats
July 8, 2013
Some solid stories here, including the classic post-apocalyptic time-bender "Days of Future Past." But Claremont also seems a little unsure how to follow the Dark Phoenix saga, especially after John Byrne leaves.
Kitty Pryde gets some fun character-development moments and adds humor and enthusiasm to the stories. Storm is set up as the new focal point, although Claremont takes it a little far in having her wow everyone she meets, including Dr. Doom. There's also a lot of agonizing and elaboration about Wolverine being a killer, which reads as Marvel trying to tone the character down in light of his popularity.
The villains aren't the greatest, especially since Claremont returns to the "noble villain" idea twice in six issues with Dr. Doom and Magneto. The latter's development is especially forced, since when last we saw him he was spitting hatred at the X-Men. It's an interesting new direction for the character, but the transition doesn't feel natural, nor is it believable that he would be bothered by injuring a child (or know so much about Cyclops' love life!).
We also have another digression into Murderworld which is notable only for bringing back some old faces. I'm still not sure why Dr. Doom and Aracde were hanging out. These are fun reads, but they feel unfocused with Dave Cockrum back in the fold.
Read digital editions.
Kitty Pryde gets some fun character-development moments and adds humor and enthusiasm to the stories. Storm is set up as the new focal point, although Claremont takes it a little far in having her wow everyone she meets, including Dr. Doom. There's also a lot of agonizing and elaboration about Wolverine being a killer, which reads as Marvel trying to tone the character down in light of his popularity.
The villains aren't the greatest, especially since Claremont returns to the "noble villain" idea twice in six issues with Dr. Doom and Magneto. The latter's development is especially forced, since when last we saw him he was spitting hatred at the X-Men. It's an interesting new direction for the character, but the transition doesn't feel natural, nor is it believable that he would be bothered by injuring a child (or know so much about Cyclops' love life!).
We also have another digression into Murderworld which is notable only for bringing back some old faces. I'm still not sure why Dr. Doom and Aracde were hanging out. These are fun reads, but they feel unfocused with Dave Cockrum back in the fold.
Read digital editions.
June 22, 2017
I was looking forward to the new X-Men film this year. In preparation for it, my husband suggested reading this. I am glad I did (plus re-watching "X-Men: First Class" the night before seeing the new film) as it added a lot to my viewing. The graphic novel was written a while ago, and while it is the source of the film, it is different enough and well worth the read. I enjoyed both interpretations a lot.
August 9, 2016
I am not quite sure what to rate this, for the storylines contained in this volume vary in quality. Days of Future Past is, of course, a classic; I also enjoyed the final storyline, in which the X-Men must stop Magneto without their powers. Unfortunately, inbetween there is a stretch of dull issues that do little more than retread old plot points. To be honest, I skimmed a couple of them because I just didn't care.
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