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Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men #8
X-Men Masterworks Vol. 8
Collects Avengers (1963) #110-111, Incredible Hulk #172, 180 & 181, Captain America #172-175, Marvel Team-Up #23 & 38, Defenders #15-16 and Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4.
The culmination of the Silver Age legacy of Marvel's mutant misfits, the X-Men! Closing the gap between the end of the X-Men's original series in 1970 and the debut of the All-New, All-Different team in 1975, the Marvel Masterworks present several X-Men tales that set the stage for Giant-Size X-Men #1! First up: Forced underground by anti-mutant hysteria run amok, the X-Men find themselves pursued by a secret adversary that seeks to pick them off one by one. And if being on the run wasn't tough enough, here comes Magneto! Only the combined might of the X-Men and the Avengers can prevent the Master of Magnetism from unleashing a nuclear holocaust. Then, with the X-Men's ranks dwindling, Professor X, Cyclops and Marvel Girl head West for reinforcements, but instead bump into the Incredible Hulk and the Juggernaut. (Ouch!) Next comes the culmination of the classic Secret Empire saga, where the X-Men find they share a common enemy with Captain America and join forces with the shield-slingin' Avenger to save the nation and rescue their mutant comrades. Then, on the eve of the X-Men's departure to face Krakoa the Living Island, Iceman and the Human Torch team-up to battle Equinox, the Thermo-Dynamic Man-and with his team missing, Professor X must enlist the Defenders to fight a resurgent Magneto and Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant! To top it all off, we've also included X-Man-to-be Wolverine's very first appearance! The ol' Canucklehead leaps from the top-secret Weapon X program and throws down in his first famous battle with the Incredible Hulk. It's the all-time classic that made comic book history! There's also the debut of Madrox the Multiple Man-Chris Claremont's first X-Man-and the Beast vs. the Griffin. This X-tra special Masterworks volume polishes off the library of every X-Fan's dreams-completing the original adventures of Marvel's most-famous super team!
The culmination of the Silver Age legacy of Marvel's mutant misfits, the X-Men! Closing the gap between the end of the X-Men's original series in 1970 and the debut of the All-New, All-Different team in 1975, the Marvel Masterworks present several X-Men tales that set the stage for Giant-Size X-Men #1! First up: Forced underground by anti-mutant hysteria run amok, the X-Men find themselves pursued by a secret adversary that seeks to pick them off one by one. And if being on the run wasn't tough enough, here comes Magneto! Only the combined might of the X-Men and the Avengers can prevent the Master of Magnetism from unleashing a nuclear holocaust. Then, with the X-Men's ranks dwindling, Professor X, Cyclops and Marvel Girl head West for reinforcements, but instead bump into the Incredible Hulk and the Juggernaut. (Ouch!) Next comes the culmination of the classic Secret Empire saga, where the X-Men find they share a common enemy with Captain America and join forces with the shield-slingin' Avenger to save the nation and rescue their mutant comrades. Then, on the eve of the X-Men's departure to face Krakoa the Living Island, Iceman and the Human Torch team-up to battle Equinox, the Thermo-Dynamic Man-and with his team missing, Professor X must enlist the Defenders to fight a resurgent Magneto and Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant! To top it all off, we've also included X-Man-to-be Wolverine's very first appearance! The ol' Canucklehead leaps from the top-secret Weapon X program and throws down in his first famous battle with the Incredible Hulk. It's the all-time classic that made comic book history! There's also the debut of Madrox the Multiple Man-Chris Claremont's first X-Man-and the Beast vs. the Griffin. This X-tra special Masterworks volume polishes off the library of every X-Fan's dreams-completing the original adventures of Marvel's most-famous super team!
302 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 24, 2010
8 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Steve Englehart
1,396 books97 followersSee also John Harkness.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 15, 2022
Oof. This one was rough. It's a collection of X-Men guest appearances during the period where their comic was cancelled, mostly written by Steve Englehart and Len Wein. Some of these are good comics, such as Captain America's Secret Empire arc, but none of them are good X-Men comics.
February 8, 2021
Written in response to watergate and the faltering perception of American exceptionalism, the Avengers and XMen team up to uncover “the secret empire” a cabal of industrialists and advertising men secretly led by a powerful politician and united under the moniker the “Committee to Regain America’s Principles”. They unleash Moonstone “the new defender of the heritage” to spin lies into truth and make Americans question the patrotiotism of Captain American and exploit society’s outcasts, mutants.
Cap reflects on this by saying “say anything loud enough long enough it will sound like the truth, but I considered it the tool of totalitarian governments and not possible in America. I was wrong.”
Also it refers to lasers as "lurid lances of lethal light"
Cap reflects on this by saying “say anything loud enough long enough it will sound like the truth, but I considered it the tool of totalitarian governments and not possible in America. I was wrong.”
Also it refers to lasers as "lurid lances of lethal light"
January 17, 2016
A mishmash of assorted stories from the interval between the original X-Men and its revival. Nothing special, nothing terrible.
June 30, 2024
As hard as it may seem to believe to modern comic fans, there was a time when the X-Men were canceled due to low sales. That's right, after Issues 66, the title became a reprint magazine until the infamous Issue 94. This volume, along with volume 7, document 'The Hidden Years' of the X-Men, where assorted Marvel Bullpen-ers kept the team alive with guest spots in various titles. Giant-Size X-Men No. 1 would be released in the Spring of 1975 and introduce the "New" X-Men, and change the course of comic book history along the way.
Writer Steve Englehart did an excellent job of having an actual ongoing plotline for the X-Men through these various Marvel mags during this time, if readers cared to follow or piece it together for themselves. I had never read any of his run on Captain America and was very impressed with those issues. Artist Herb Trimpe's rendering on the Incredible Hulk issues was great, too. His version of Wolverine would be tweaked by Dave Cockrum and then perfected by John Byrne. What started out as a quasi-villain in the Hulk would go on to become one of the most recognizable characters in all of comics.
This Volume isn't essential for the casual X-Men fan, but if you are a diehard, it's a must. Seeing the puzzle pieces all together like this really changes one's perspective on what would appear to be a scatter shot of issues in one hardcover.
In closing, this book, like all Marvel Masterworks and Omnibus editions released in the last few years, is perfect. The paper, the coloring, the binding, are all done to perfection.
Writer Steve Englehart did an excellent job of having an actual ongoing plotline for the X-Men through these various Marvel mags during this time, if readers cared to follow or piece it together for themselves. I had never read any of his run on Captain America and was very impressed with those issues. Artist Herb Trimpe's rendering on the Incredible Hulk issues was great, too. His version of Wolverine would be tweaked by Dave Cockrum and then perfected by John Byrne. What started out as a quasi-villain in the Hulk would go on to become one of the most recognizable characters in all of comics.
This Volume isn't essential for the casual X-Men fan, but if you are a diehard, it's a must. Seeing the puzzle pieces all together like this really changes one's perspective on what would appear to be a scatter shot of issues in one hardcover.
In closing, this book, like all Marvel Masterworks and Omnibus editions released in the last few years, is perfect. The paper, the coloring, the binding, are all done to perfection.
April 20, 2024
The final X-Men Masterworks book before Chris Claremont's run makes it Uncanny X-Men Masterworks, we have more adventures of the X-Men "in hiding." The highlight of this volume is The Captain America Secret Empire storyline....no, not the one where he isn't a Nazi but everyone thinks he is. In this Secret Empire Story, the American government is corrupt and Steve has to figure out who's behind the conspiracy and how to stop them. Part of the conspiracy is that "they" are kidnapping mutants, so Professor X, Marvel Girl, and Cyclops get involved to track them down.
The X-Men are definitely in the background of this collection, as opposed to being the stars but it is fun to see what they're up to during the "in hiding" years. It's also great to see Juggernaut be considered an important enough X-character to check in with during this era. Even if his frenemy team-up with Hulk isn't that inspiring.
Once again, if you're an X-Men fan, this is a fun look at a weird part of their history but it's not A Great collection, and it's certainly not required to understand X-history.
The X-Men are definitely in the background of this collection, as opposed to being the stars but it is fun to see what they're up to during the "in hiding" years. It's also great to see Juggernaut be considered an important enough X-character to check in with during this era. Even if his frenemy team-up with Hulk isn't that inspiring.
Once again, if you're an X-Men fan, this is a fun look at a weird part of their history but it's not A Great collection, and it's certainly not required to understand X-history.
January 12, 2022
The final book in the Masterworks series of the original X-Men collects all the rest of the appearances after their series was cancelled and before the revival became the biggest comic book sensation in years. A couple issues of Avengers, four very key issues of Captain America, a couple Marvel Team-Ups, a couple Defenders, a Giant-Size Fantastic Four story. Oh, and three issues of the Hulk, two of which introduced a character who hadn't been a part of the original X-Men, but would make a splash in the new version - the Wolverine.
These stories are hit and miss, but I enjoyed them nonetheless, especially the Avengers and Cap issues written by Steve Englehart. Some nice art by Don Heck, Sal Buscema, Herb Trimpe, and especially Gil Kane helps things along. I'm not remembering whether the secret mission the X-Men were put on in an issue of Marvel Team-Up had anything to do with the first issue of Giant-Size X-Men. If not, they didn't follow up on that one.
These stories are hit and miss, but I enjoyed them nonetheless, especially the Avengers and Cap issues written by Steve Englehart. Some nice art by Don Heck, Sal Buscema, Herb Trimpe, and especially Gil Kane helps things along. I'm not remembering whether the secret mission the X-Men were put on in an issue of Marvel Team-Up had anything to do with the first issue of Giant-Size X-Men. If not, they didn't follow up on that one.
April 28, 2018
Bridging the gap between the Original X-Men and the New X-Men, after the Englehart stories are wrapped up, the cohesion of the collection falters. Interesting, but hardly essential.
September 17, 2023
AVENGERS #110-111, INCREDIBLE HULK #172, 180 & 181, CAPTAIN AMERICA #172-175, MARVEL TEAM-UP #23 & 38, DEFENDERS #15-16 and GIANT-SIZE FANTASTIC FOUR #4
January 27, 2025
The 3 stars are solely for the inclusion of the first appearance of wolverine. Everything else in this collection is trash. Opposite of excelsior!
August 23, 2025
they really just had my babies reduced to cameos for years huh. you hate to see it
November 18, 2013
Fairly good Masterworks volume, though very sporadic in content. This fills in the final holes between the old and new X-Men teams. The first appearances of Wolverine are here, along with the climatic issues of Steve Englehart's Secret Empire story arc in Captain America. There are some okay Avengers, Defenders, and Marvel Team-Up stories, as well as a very mediocre tale from Giant-Size Fantastic Four that introduced Jamie Maddox.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews