The X-Men and the Avengers: The Gamma Quest

Marvel Berkley/Byron Preiss Productions Prose Novels

by Greg Cox

Bringing the classic X-Men and the Gamma Quest trilogy back into print in a brand-new omnibus.

The X-Men--mutant protectors of a world that fears and hates them. The Avengers--Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the greatest super-team ever assembled. When the Scarlet Witch of the Avengers and Rogue of the X-Men both disappear under mysterious circumstances, each team's search leads them to more questions than answers. Desperate to recover their missing teammates, they must join forces to uncover the truth. But their efforts will bring them up against a foe with the deadliest power of to make them turn on each other!

Genres: Marvel, Fantasy, X Men, Fiction, Science Fiction

570 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published January 21, 2020

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for fans of X-Men and Avengers

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt really long, but seeing as how it was originally published as three short novels I don't think I can hold that against it.

For the most part it felt like an exercise in nostalgia for the pre-MCU, even pre-Ultimates Marvel of the mid-90s. This had both benefits (a more or less intelligible continuity) and drawbacks (Iron Man had to keep his helmet on all the time to maintain his identity as Tony Stark a secret, which just felt weird) but for the most part, as a guy who grew up reading the comics published during this very era, felt comfortable for me.


Remember the '90s, kids?

The adventure and the story flowed pretty well even if some of the characterizations felt hokey or hopelessly dated (Captain America actually using phrases like, "That's the American way!" as part of his internal dialogue was particularly egregious) but, as is often the case with these kinds of stories, the vainglorious ravings of the villains were the more entertaining parts.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up ‘cuz I couldn’t find my individual copies, so it was nice to have all three books in one collection. It is a nice collection, overall. The cover is adapted from X-Men vol 2 #26 and not from the series of books. Granted, it does have four of the main characters in the story on the cover, but I think I would have liked to have seen some kind of blending of the three covers of the original series (if it were legally possible; the three covers can be combined into one “giant cover” and is a “beauty to behold”). Or, have the covers of the three books acting as a “wrap-around cover” for the omnibus collection. That might have worked. I also missed the illustrations before each chapter; the SFBC editions of two of the X-Men omnibus editions (of Mutant Empire and Legacy Quest) included the illustrations before each chapter. (It’s funny; I forgot the one X-trilogy was also a “Quest,” just like this one is a “Gamma Quest.”)

Some random thoughts, in general: There was a point raised in another trilogy (i.e. – The Mutant Empire) about how the “fact” that the X-Men usually fight other mutants who wish to harm humanity in some way generally supports the very fears of non-mutant humans about what could happen to them if (powerful) mutants did “come into power” or of how dangerous mutants can be (compared) to non-mutants. Compound upon that the Beast breaking the law like he did in the beginning of the first book, or how the X-Men have readily and easily broken various laws in other books, is it any wonder they are considered outlaws and criminals as well? (And, yes, I realize that vigilantism is against the law, anyway, making most superheroes lawbreakers, anyway, but there is a bit of a difference when “heroes” help capture villains versus heroes breaking into and out of police stations, destroying public and government property in the process, and justify it as “the ends justify the means!”)

The experiments the Leader is performing upon Wanda, Rogue, and Logan are pretty horrific. It is almost amusing how Rogue gets “angry” that Wanda’s “torture experiments” are “psychological in nature” until she has to undergo those experiments herself. It was an interesting mix of heroes who were taken, but it makes sense that these three would be taken to be experimented upon because of their unique talents and abilities. I cannot remember the purpose behind the abductions of these three heroes, so it will be interesting to “re-discover” what the ultimate plan/purpose is behind their being taken. I remember assuming it had to do with the Leader’s “adaptoids” (or whatever his humanoid creations were called in the early days when he used to regularly fight the Incredible Hulk, die, and somehow be “reborn” and returned to life so he could battle the Hulk again at some later point in time. He is like the Red Skull – no matter how many times he dies and is pronounced “DOA,” he always seems to have some ‘backstory’ or ‘reason’ as to why he was only “mostly dead” and not “all dead”).

Just as “most” of the Avengers are not available for this story, most of the X-Men are not available, either. Jean, Professor X, and “half the team” are in the Savage Land and incommunicado for now; Bobby Drake is in Scotland with Moira Taggart (50). Betsy Braddock had left the team after her crippling injuries suffered when fighting Amahl Farouk (59). I assume Colossus has been either gone or dead for some time by this point? (He had left the team and joined Magneto’s Acolytes for a time before Magneto’s orbiting satellite fell from orbit and Colossus went on to join X-Calibre; some time after that point, he injected himself with the antidote to the Legacy Virus as he transformed into his mutant form and died, thus saving the rest of “mutantkind” from dying due to the Legacy Virus.) I do not know what happened to Kitty Pryde at this point, either – she was either off the team or had joined X-Calibre, but I do not remember which it was.

I thought I was interesting that the Vision kept having flashbacks to his former marriage to and relationship with Wanda in the firstbook. I do not remember him having so many “flashbacks” to his former life in the comics, but it was still interesting that it was happening to him over the course of this first story. He saw himself as “malfunctioning” because of the “memory of these old data files,” but he was also behaving like somebody who was still in love with his former wife. It was an interesting presentation of him, and I thought it did add to his character, making him less inhuman than he kept being referred to as being.

The continual comments in the second and third books comparing the Avengers to “First Class” whereas the X-Men would not have rated “Coach” were pretty amusing to me, for some reason. Cyclops and Storm both sounded a bit jealous at the treatment, the respect and admiration, the Avengers received versus the maltreatment, the disrespect and fear (even loathing) that the X-Men received.

It is funny – I always thought that it was The Incredibles movie that first mentions (mocks) how supervillains always start monologuing their evil plans to the heroes, thus allowing time of the heroes to escape from some deadly trap and foil their plans. However, the author actually has Wolverine doing an internal monologue about how the supervillains always have to brag about their plans and boast about how great they are to their captive audience of heroes, and he actually gets the Leader to start monologuing! It does Wolverine little good, but considering the book in which the moment was described came out nearly ten years before the Pixar movie, I was kinda surprised to discover it (unfortunately, I forgot to mark if it was in the second or third book; I am thinking the third book, as Wolverine would have recovered faster than either Rogue or Wanda after their “escape” turned into near death for them on the Lunar surface before the Leader “rescued” them).

There were moments of (genuine) humor in the story (well, maybe the first book, anyway). I already mentioned Storm’s comment about Thor and Logan’s ‘final thought’ before being captured. Another was a newscaster who wants to scoop everybody else regarding the Hulk’s appearance at Niagara Falls; he rents a boat and heads to the bottom of the Falls to film a story and thinks he is going to be competing with Dan Rather pretty soon (which is even funnier, because Dan Rather would lose his job over shortcuts he started taking (making) in his stories and he finally got called on the carpet for not fully vetting his information properly). That whole part of the book with this report was funny to me, ‘cuz the guy was so arrogant and "stupid” regarding his actions, but he did have it right that (sometimes) he who dares, wins, and he was hoping to win himself. Sadly, his “going the extra mile” failed and Iron Man had to save him from his own poor decisions (granted, if he had succeeded in getting his story, he would have been praised for his taking the chances that he did). Hank Mccoy kept making alternative references to “I’ll be a monkey’s uncle”, and I found them fairly humorous. The moment when Bruce turns into the Hulk in the Canadian Customs Office is pretty funny, too (especially when the Hulk takes the Mounty’s gun and “shoots” the entire “load” into the area of his back between his shoulder blades, claiming it was the best way to take care of an itch he could not reach). I felt like the author wrote the story “favoring” the X-Men over the Avengers, but I also felt like the author was making a “dig” at how Marvel had flooded the market with too many X-titles when Iron Man mentally ran through a “current list” of X-teams during Cap’s presentation (39). The latter two books do get a bit more serious than the first, and did not have as many “funny moments” as the first one did (although the author as still pretty spot-on with the Beast’s continually attempting to inject some kind of humor in every situation). Tony was also pretty funny to me, as he kept schmoozing with Storm and flirting with her throughout the three books, so he also stayed pretty true to character in that respect.

I also liked how the author mixed in elements from the prior books (novels/short stories) written around the same time as this trilogy as well as elements from the comics. It was interesting how different parts of each team’s and each individual’s “history” was blended into the story. I felt it helped move the story along as well as give it some kind of “grounding” in the narrative of the comics themselves (even though the comics did not ever make any kind of reference to the novels). I really liked how the author also referenced other teams of superheroes as well as other “groups” who were not heroes (including villains) as well as non-superheroes who were (are) regular parts of the Marvel Universe. It helped make the novel feel like it was a part of the Marvel U as a whole as opposed to being in some kind of “alternate universe” in which there are no other heroes or teams or anything (like how it usually felt when reading some of the various X-novels written during this period of time). I am glad I took a chance and the time to revisit these “gems” from the mid-90s. Hopefully Marvel will have more “original prose novels” printed (or even some of their “better, more popular” stories novelized).

The individual book reviews can be found at:
Lost and Found
Search and Rescue
Friend or Foe

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

341 - 2020

[Amy Walker - Trans-Scribe Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Team-up stories are often one of the best parts in comics. It’s an exciting moment when characters that don’t normally get to share the page team up, especially when two teams of heroes have to work together. The X-Men and The Avengers: Gamma Quest brings together the two biggest Marvel teams as the groups have to work together to track down missing teammates Scarlet Witch and Rogue.

Originally printed as three separate volumes, Lost and Found, Search and Rescue, and Friend or Foe?, across 1999 and 2000, this new release brings the entire story together into one collected edition. Much like previous omnibus editions that Titan have produced, this is a chunky book, totaling nearly 600 pages of small text. I know 600 pages isn’t huge but the individual books clocked in at 800 pages, so that should indicate how small the text in this edition is.

Despite the almost imposing size of the book the story reads a lot better in this format, as the trilogy feels like one story broken into three pieces. However, it does at times feel as if it has been padded out slightly to make up three individual books, rather than being one well thought out story.

Sometimes this is because of the large number of fights in the book, with the heroes having to not only fight villains and their minions, but each other too. These fights are something that’s to be expected from superhero stories, but these scenes often go on for so long that they end up feeling boring more than entertaining. Added to this, there are points where it feels that sentences are being padded out, adding descriptors that feel unnecessary; some parts of the book come across as though every other word has been replaced using a thesaurus, just to include bigger words and lengthen the narrative.

Greg Cox has written dozens of great books over the years, with novels that tie into popular franchises such as Star Trek and Alias, as well as writing adaptations of films and other comic book stories. His recent Batman novel, Batman: Court of Owls, was a great read and one of my favourites of 2019. Cox is a good writer, so the general lack of interest I felt whilst reading this new collection took me by surprise. Perhaps this is due to this it being some of his earlier work. Then again, it might just be my own experience of the book and others will enjoy it.

There is some good stuff here, despite my previous complaints. The book has a good selection of characters from both teams involved, and contains enough references to previous stories and other characters being off doing other things that it feels like it fits into the Marvel Universe well. Cox clearly knows these characters and this universe well, and it comes across like he’s a big fan. This helps make parts of the book a lot of fun, and recreates some of what makes the source material great.

The X-Men and The Avengers: Gamma Quest is a good book, but it didn’t set my world on fire. If the story was a two volume collection rather than three perhaps it would have flowed better for me, and felt better paced. As it is, it’s a decent story that perhaps overstays its welcome due to its length.

Read more book reviews at www.trans--scribe.blogspot.com

[Aighmi* · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit that it took me a while to appreciate the flowery language of this book. I am very fond of Marvel prose novels, and most of them are written much more succinctly. However, the further I went through the story, the more I appreciated that this use of language recalls the exuberance of a comic book. For that, I grew to appreciate the language, though I needed no such time to enjoy the story and characters, about whom I learned a great deal. Fun escapism!

[Morgan]

Originally printed in the 90s & it kinda shows.

[R R Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

This relates to the Audible version.
It started fairly well. But as book one draws to a close you already get hints of the bloated nature of the following two. The story itself isn’t bad. Unfortunately there isn’t 3 books worth of story told. More like 2.

The writer constantly introduces more characters for no reason. Also, for having there main leaders present. Neither team actually fights as a team, the book constantly jumps from one character to another. The most team work is Storm reporting Ironman and the occasional lack luster, quickly passed over moral boost from Cap.
I made it to the very very cliched epilogue but it was an effort. It wasted hours on a pointless battle to resolve things in the last hour and a bit of listening started all thanks to a sudden deus ex machina.

Very disappointed

[Danielle Bergeron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well this was an absolutely awesome read!!! I’ve always loved the xmen and avengers movies, but have never delved into the comics or novels before, and I definitely plan on reading more of the novels!

[Staci Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are into Comic Books and Superheroes, I woukd suggest this book. Part 1 of a 3 part series.

[Jay DeMoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was an enjoyable omnibus and I’m glad I came across it. I’ve always been a fan of team-ups.

[John Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast and very enjoyable read. Would make a great base for a Avengers X-Men movie.

[Tiggnutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

instantly took me back to a great time in Marvel comics. Great story with some truly special characters.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this with low expectations but it's rlly good