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Classic X-Men #24-44

X-Men Classic: The Complete Collection vol. 2

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In 1986, Marvel launched CLASSIC X-MEN, a series that reprinted the "All-New, All-Different X-Men" era - with a twist! All-new backup stories fleshed out the 1970s tales and delved deeper into the characters' lives - and new story pages were even inserted into the reprints, expanding on key moments and sowing the seeds for future storylines! Now, all this newly created material has been collected together, allowing fans to explore the early lives of Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Havok, Polaris, Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde, Banshee, Dazzler, Rogue and Mystique like never before! Friendships are forged, losses are mourned and lives are transformed in these rare tales that dance between the raindrops of some of the most revered X-Men comics of all time! COLLECTING: CLASSIC X-MEN 24-44, MATERIAL FROM MARVEL FANFARE (1982) 60

520 pages, Paperback

First published November 27, 2019

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44 people want to read

About the author

Chris Claremont

3,286 books899 followers
Chris 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.

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Profile Image for Quentin Wallace.
Author 34 books179 followers
January 21, 2025
This volume finishes up collecting all of the new stories and material from the Classic X-Men reprint title. The stories just weren't as good as the stories in the first volume, as we start to get new creative teams and the lack of consistency hurt. Completists will love this volume as it reprints the covers and extra pages, and even features some new pages and covers from the "Amazing Adventures" X-Men reprint series.

Overall these collections were great because they collect such obscure material, but I was reading for the new back up stories, and in this collection the stories just weren't that strong.
48 reviews
January 24, 2026
Maybe I never liked comics. Maybe I just liked Chris Claremont's writing style.

Okay... they aren't bad, but the ones not written by Claremont kind of seem to miss the point of what these backup stories are supposed to do. The ones in the previous volume are there to develop the internal world of the characters. Let them monologue or share their thoughts on more nuanced topics. Storm talking to an author about creative blocks. Nightcrawler trying to cope with uncertainty while a loved one is in the hospital. One of my favorites the one where Jean and Misty are going to save a family of dolphins. Yes, it's silly, but this story both develops Jean's struggle with her powers (in a way showing her exploding into flames for the tenth time doesn't) and shows how she is handling her friendships during this time. Neither of which are things the medium of comics typically allow very well.

These new ones.... well first of all, the art is in a different style for many of them. They played a lot with distortion and more simplistic drawings. Maybe my standards are a little inflated after the last volume, which is some of the best comic art I've seen, but this felt lazy by comparison. I didn't like it when it was changed, but the few in the original style were really good.

The new writer, while I can tell she is very politically active (and cool that way) feels like she didn't grow up reading these characters and therefore understand them at the same level. Which normally wouldn't matter, but that's pretty crucial for these stories in particular. The way Scott takes roughly four seconds to cheat on Jean at a party is so out of character... he's the one whose whole thing is his rigid self control... TF? The same goes for Wolverine's whole creepy attitude toward Jean. There is supposed to be a love triangle, but in this version of said love triangle, Wolverine isn't trying to corner Jean weird places and get her to have sex with him, which is genuinely what one of the stupid stories is. The rest of the stories are more about him holding back and kind of holding a quietly simmering resentment for Scott and knowing he can't interfere. I miss Claremont's version of Wolverine, who had a moral code that wouldn't let him kill a deer. There are better ways to deal with these topics, and they aren't 10 pg. story material.

Sorry. I just thought I was getting forty more stories of Jean and Storm becoming close friends and Jean meeting Death. My bad, I guess.
Profile Image for Chaitra.
4,598 reviews
April 19, 2024
*Joint review of Vol. 1 & Vol. 2*

I initially thought it was worth reading despite being a slightly modified version of #94 - #137. Yes it has the extra story, but most are written by Ann Nocenti, a couple by Fabian Nicienza. They're fine, as far as deeper explorations of characters go, but I just wasn't sure where they got their base characters from. They felt different. I get it if it was a new run, but these are supposed to be Claremont's x-men. They come across as slightly distorted versions of themselves and that's damned odd and off putting. And this goes for the extras written by Claremont himself.

I liked one early Wolverine story and one with Rogue, as she's not yet made an appearance in the flagship x-men series I'm reading on the side (I'm on #144). And maybe Magneto's origin story. And it was interesting to see Apocalypse appear in the Moses Magnum origin. Beyond that this was a waste of time.
Profile Image for Sophia.
2,890 reviews388 followers
Read
February 5, 2025
Similarly with the first volume, I didn't know this existed until I almost don't need it anymore.

What makes this bit worse, this volume is not available on KU!

Anyway, here is the list of the issues I read:

Classic X-Men #27
Classic X-Men #32
Classic X-Men #36
Classic X-Men #39

Maybe I would've read more of the stories if I had these volumes but I don't want to go backwards right now.
Profile Image for Matt Aukamp.
103 reviews3 followers
July 7, 2024
I hate to say it, because she was such a superstar editor, but I really don't like Ann Nocenti's writing on X-Men titles. The dialogue is so stilted and awkward and unnatural and the metaphors are like lead bricks, smashing you over the head.

The collection is INCREDIBLY well curated, though. The editorial team did a fantastic job digging up little gems and curios that are just awesome to see and have in a collection.
422 reviews2 followers
September 9, 2023
X-men classic incomplete collection is more accurate. You get fractions of stories, some cover art. But nothing complete or full. Entire storylines are glossed over. This is best a companion piece to the X-men Masterworks
Profile Image for Jefferson.
802 reviews7 followers
September 24, 2020
The quality takes a major nosedive in this second volume, with mediocre stories and poor artwork, even from artists who normally turn in much better work.
Profile Image for Brent.
1,058 reviews19 followers
February 4, 2022
Two and a half stars.

There were a couple of decent stories in here but for the most part they were dreamlike, weird and surprisingly bad.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews

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