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X-Men Milestones
X-Men Milestones: Operation Zero Tolerance
The biggest and best adventures of Marvel's mighty mutants -these are the X-Men Milestones! A rogue government strike force, backed by powerful international forces and led by the mystery man known only as Bastion, has launched a massive strike against the X-Men. Jubilee and Professor X are already Bastion's captives, and now Operation: Zero Tolerance and its insidious new Prime Sentinels have overrun the X-Mansion and imprisoned half the X-Men -leaving Iceman to fend for himself on the streets of New York! Now, Cable and the X-Men must fi ght a war on many fronts -but it's a war they're losing. Can even the arrival of Marrow, Maggott and Cecilia Reyes turn the tide? Or will this be the X-Men's darkest hour? COLLECTING: GENERATION X (1994) 27, X-MEN (1991) 65-70, UNCANNY X-MEN (1981) 346, WOLVERINE (1988) 115-118, CABLE (1993) 45-47
448 pages, Paperback
First published February 25, 2020
About the author
Scott Lobdell
1,649 books235 followersScott Lobdell (born 1960) is an American comic book writer.
He is mostly known for his work throughout the 1990s on Marvel Comics' X-Men-related titles specifically Uncanny X-Men, the main title itself, and the spin-off series that he conceived with artist Chris Bachalo, Generation X. Generation X focused on a number of young mutant students who attempted to become superheroes in their own right at a separate school with the guidance of veteran X-related characters Banshee and Emma Frost. He also had writing stints on Marvel's Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini-series with artist Gene Ha. He wrote the script to Stan Lee's Mosaic and an upcoming film from POW Entertainment featuring Ringo Starr. He also participated in the Marvel Comics and Image Comics (from Jim Lee's WildStorm) crossover mini-series WildC.A.T.s/X-Men.
He is mostly known for his work throughout the 1990s on Marvel Comics' X-Men-related titles specifically Uncanny X-Men, the main title itself, and the spin-off series that he conceived with artist Chris Bachalo, Generation X. Generation X focused on a number of young mutant students who attempted to become superheroes in their own right at a separate school with the guidance of veteran X-related characters Banshee and Emma Frost. He also had writing stints on Marvel's Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini-series with artist Gene Ha. He wrote the script to Stan Lee's Mosaic and an upcoming film from POW Entertainment featuring Ringo Starr. He also participated in the Marvel Comics and Image Comics (from Jim Lee's WildStorm) crossover mini-series WildC.A.T.s/X-Men.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 30, 2023
In retrospect, I should have stopped at Age of Apocalypse. But at the time, I was intrigued by Onslaught and read it to the end. Can you blame me?
Circa 1996/1997, my teenage self no longer felt the need to read every X-Men book as they were coming out. I had grown up. (I was reading Avengers and JLA, much higher standards you see.)
Still, a few years later I picked up the Operation: Zero Tolerance graphic novel to see what I had been missing out on. Curiosity satiated, it turned out that I hadn’t missed much.
It was a pretty standard mutant story. A dangerous new generation of Sentinels, nominally connected to the government, had kidnapped the X-Men. Being that the robotic villains were formerly human, it was all too similar to the Phalanx which were already far more interesting.
The big twist is that their mysterious pink leader, Bastion, had been Nimrod from the future all along. So, the X-Men escaped as they always. Iceman was the protagonist in the flagship X-Men title, coming out of retirement to take the fight to the big bad guy. Most of the main chapters about Cyclops and Storm and company escaping where in Wolverine, decently written by Larry Hama. By the way, Wolvie wasn’t feral anymore and there was no explanation.
As individual stories, some of the comics were of high quality. Chris Bachelo’s art on Generation X stood out, where Jubilee was dealing with the psychological pressures of being taken prisoner. There were also the tie-ins featuring Cable and X-Force, which were not particularly interesting.
As a whole, it didn’t add up to anything with a lasting impact. And at the same time, Uncanny X-Men were off having better adventures in outer space. I’d definitely recommend the Trial of Gambit graphic novel over this.
This was also the end of Scott Lobdell’s tenure, replaced by Joe Kelly who’s a good writer but didn’t stick around long enough to have a big impact. That went for most of the X-Men writers until the next decade…
Thus, Zero Tolerance makes a fitting enough end for a 90s X-Men reread.
Ah, what an era it was. They were never as good as the Chris Claremont saga which changed the superhero genre forever, but many of the crossovers were highly entertaining and do leave fond memories. Especially for my generation. Even in its sometimes-immature excesses, it peaked in 1995. Sales reflected this, and the X-Men haven’t been quite the same since.
I have to reiterate: The best X-Men reading order is everything Chris Claremont from the 70s to 80s, then read the 90s crossovers, and just stop at Age of Apocalypse.
There were other eras, of course, in which critically acclaimed authors came on and revived the franchise to new heights. Those, however, are stories of the 21st century.
Of the 1990s and the 20th century, I am done here.
Circa 1996/1997, my teenage self no longer felt the need to read every X-Men book as they were coming out. I had grown up. (I was reading Avengers and JLA, much higher standards you see.)
Still, a few years later I picked up the Operation: Zero Tolerance graphic novel to see what I had been missing out on. Curiosity satiated, it turned out that I hadn’t missed much.
It was a pretty standard mutant story. A dangerous new generation of Sentinels, nominally connected to the government, had kidnapped the X-Men. Being that the robotic villains were formerly human, it was all too similar to the Phalanx which were already far more interesting.
The big twist is that their mysterious pink leader, Bastion, had been Nimrod from the future all along. So, the X-Men escaped as they always. Iceman was the protagonist in the flagship X-Men title, coming out of retirement to take the fight to the big bad guy. Most of the main chapters about Cyclops and Storm and company escaping where in Wolverine, decently written by Larry Hama. By the way, Wolvie wasn’t feral anymore and there was no explanation.
As individual stories, some of the comics were of high quality. Chris Bachelo’s art on Generation X stood out, where Jubilee was dealing with the psychological pressures of being taken prisoner. There were also the tie-ins featuring Cable and X-Force, which were not particularly interesting.
As a whole, it didn’t add up to anything with a lasting impact. And at the same time, Uncanny X-Men were off having better adventures in outer space. I’d definitely recommend the Trial of Gambit graphic novel over this.
This was also the end of Scott Lobdell’s tenure, replaced by Joe Kelly who’s a good writer but didn’t stick around long enough to have a big impact. That went for most of the X-Men writers until the next decade…
Thus, Zero Tolerance makes a fitting enough end for a 90s X-Men reread.
Ah, what an era it was. They were never as good as the Chris Claremont saga which changed the superhero genre forever, but many of the crossovers were highly entertaining and do leave fond memories. Especially for my generation. Even in its sometimes-immature excesses, it peaked in 1995. Sales reflected this, and the X-Men haven’t been quite the same since.
I have to reiterate: The best X-Men reading order is everything Chris Claremont from the 70s to 80s, then read the 90s crossovers, and just stop at Age of Apocalypse.
There were other eras, of course, in which critically acclaimed authors came on and revived the franchise to new heights. Those, however, are stories of the 21st century.
Of the 1990s and the 20th century, I am done here.
May 30, 2021
This brings to an end Lobdell's adjectiveless run, tying up the loose ends of Bastion and Zero Tolerance that had been seeded pre-Onslaught.
In the end, I'd say it's a disappointing storyline in that Bastion is too vague a villain. It's implied he is a robot or some type of advanced Sentinel and his job is to save humanity. When the X-Men question his goals being genocidal in nature and whether this still makes him human, he doesn't really provide much of an answer. So yeah I guess he's been programmed to save humanity and we have to take that at face value. The fact that he's less human than the mutants he's saving everyone from really makes his goal illogical.
So I had a hard time buying in. There's 4 storylines here: Jubilee captured by Bastion - apart from Gen X #27, these were through page exerpts; Wolverine and a few X-Men from Uncanny, in his monthly title escaping Bastion's base; Cable protecting the mansion against an attack from Bastion, and; Iceman and a ragtag crew trying to fight off Prime Sentinel attacks in New York. I found the Iceman story the best, Bobby got to flex in taking a leadership role and use his powers creatively, and Dr. Reyes and Marrow bounced off him in a fun way.
The ending of the Wolverine story was sort of ridiculous however. It's just invariably silly and it means X-Men #70 is included, even though it isn't Zero Tolerance related but it finishes off that dumb plot.
The collection is done well to include page excerpts from relevant issues but it doesn't include the X-Force Zero Tolerance crossover issues. Those were in the initial collection and in the oversized hardcover. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing but it's something to note.
In the end, I'd say it's a disappointing storyline in that Bastion is too vague a villain. It's implied he is a robot or some type of advanced Sentinel and his job is to save humanity. When the X-Men question his goals being genocidal in nature and whether this still makes him human, he doesn't really provide much of an answer. So yeah I guess he's been programmed to save humanity and we have to take that at face value. The fact that he's less human than the mutants he's saving everyone from really makes his goal illogical.
So I had a hard time buying in. There's 4 storylines here: Jubilee captured by Bastion - apart from Gen X #27, these were through page exerpts; Wolverine and a few X-Men from Uncanny, in his monthly title escaping Bastion's base; Cable protecting the mansion against an attack from Bastion, and; Iceman and a ragtag crew trying to fight off Prime Sentinel attacks in New York. I found the Iceman story the best, Bobby got to flex in taking a leadership role and use his powers creatively, and Dr. Reyes and Marrow bounced off him in a fun way.
The ending of the Wolverine story was sort of ridiculous however. It's just invariably silly and it means X-Men #70 is included, even though it isn't Zero Tolerance related but it finishes off that dumb plot.
The collection is done well to include page excerpts from relevant issues but it doesn't include the X-Force Zero Tolerance crossover issues. Those were in the initial collection and in the oversized hardcover. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing but it's something to note.
September 1, 2024
X-Men Milestones: Operation Zero Tolerance, calificación 2.5 /5 estrellas
Esta fue una historia aburrida parece que Scott Lobdell le hacía falta Fabian Nicieza. Está trama estaba basada en la época de John Byrne (esa trama terminó usándola en X-MEN ELSEWHEN) y Chris Claremont, idearon una historia donde el Project Wideawake de Sebastian Shaw, Robert Kelly y Henry Peter Gyrich usaban Sentinels de menor tamaño para cazar mutantes como pogromos para los judíos, como una eterna alegoría de que los mutantes representan a los judíos en el universo Marvel Tierra 616.
Scott Lobdell pedía a gritos salir del libro de X-Men se esforzó con dialogos extensos inecesarios, estúpidos, que saturaban de forma asfixiante el arte y no daban ganas de leer. Con unos nuevos X-Men olvidables Cecilia Reyes, Maggot, Marrow y Joseph.
Scott Lobdell uso personajes poco interesantes y forzados por inclusión como la Doctor Cecilia Reyes, Marrow (en esa época la nueva Wolverine), Bastion (el nuevo William Stryker), los Prime Sentinels (que son un plagio de los Terminators), Sabra (propaganda de Israel, pero nunca mencionan en Marvel Comics la invasión de Israel en Palestina), ¿Que hace el intrascendente Cannoball en la alineación de los X-Men?, Psylocke (la escriben como un prepotente marimacho bravucon), Maggot, G. W. Bridges. Todo esto fue un punto muy bajo en X-Men. De lo agradable sería Daria, Jubilee y un poco Ice-Man (eterno tonto que por momentos trato de no serlo).
Escribieron Scott Lobdell y Larry Hama a Cyclops como un inútil novato, el Cyclops explosivo leí en Byrne Robotics que fue una trama planeada en 1980 por Claremont. El enfrentamiento contra Bastion bastante decepcionante. Pelean y hablan al mismo tiempo como obra de teatro. El comic de Cable en ese momento era aburrido.
Esta fue una historia aburrida parece que Scott Lobdell le hacía falta Fabian Nicieza. Está trama estaba basada en la época de John Byrne (esa trama terminó usándola en X-MEN ELSEWHEN) y Chris Claremont, idearon una historia donde el Project Wideawake de Sebastian Shaw, Robert Kelly y Henry Peter Gyrich usaban Sentinels de menor tamaño para cazar mutantes como pogromos para los judíos, como una eterna alegoría de que los mutantes representan a los judíos en el universo Marvel Tierra 616.
Scott Lobdell pedía a gritos salir del libro de X-Men se esforzó con dialogos extensos inecesarios, estúpidos, que saturaban de forma asfixiante el arte y no daban ganas de leer. Con unos nuevos X-Men olvidables Cecilia Reyes, Maggot, Marrow y Joseph.
Scott Lobdell uso personajes poco interesantes y forzados por inclusión como la Doctor Cecilia Reyes, Marrow (en esa época la nueva Wolverine), Bastion (el nuevo William Stryker), los Prime Sentinels (que son un plagio de los Terminators), Sabra (propaganda de Israel, pero nunca mencionan en Marvel Comics la invasión de Israel en Palestina), ¿Que hace el intrascendente Cannoball en la alineación de los X-Men?, Psylocke (la escriben como un prepotente marimacho bravucon), Maggot, G. W. Bridges. Todo esto fue un punto muy bajo en X-Men. De lo agradable sería Daria, Jubilee y un poco Ice-Man (eterno tonto que por momentos trato de no serlo).
Escribieron Scott Lobdell y Larry Hama a Cyclops como un inútil novato, el Cyclops explosivo leí en Byrne Robotics que fue una trama planeada en 1980 por Claremont. El enfrentamiento contra Bastion bastante decepcionante. Pelean y hablan al mismo tiempo como obra de teatro. El comic de Cable en ese momento era aburrido.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 30, 2024
An x-men crossover that wasn’t…but it’s managed to have an impact almost 30 years later
X-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance was a bizarre 90s X-men storyline that essentially threw a theme at every active x-title but didn’t have them actually interact…
In the year or so leading up, various x-titles hinted at Zero Tolerance, a new shadowy organization led by the mysterious Bastion. It was hinted to be in response to the Onslaught event (though it would later be revealed to be due to something else).
Anyway, it also had the issue of impacting the ongoing stories of all the mutant stories…so what you are reading is disjointed and may not make sense if you aren’t familiar with the characters.
In fact, it essential impacts the middle stories of most of the tertiary titles with each book being largely unaware of impacts on eachother.
Still, some good things came out of it. Bastion, prime sentinels, and Dr Ceclia Reyes are probably the biggest elements that were established here (even though Bastion had already appeared but wasn’t established as the threat he would be here).
Well recommended even though new readers may be confused at times…
X-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance was a bizarre 90s X-men storyline that essentially threw a theme at every active x-title but didn’t have them actually interact…
In the year or so leading up, various x-titles hinted at Zero Tolerance, a new shadowy organization led by the mysterious Bastion. It was hinted to be in response to the Onslaught event (though it would later be revealed to be due to something else).
Anyway, it also had the issue of impacting the ongoing stories of all the mutant stories…so what you are reading is disjointed and may not make sense if you aren’t familiar with the characters.
In fact, it essential impacts the middle stories of most of the tertiary titles with each book being largely unaware of impacts on eachother.
Still, some good things came out of it. Bastion, prime sentinels, and Dr Ceclia Reyes are probably the biggest elements that were established here (even though Bastion had already appeared but wasn’t established as the threat he would be here).
Well recommended even though new readers may be confused at times…
March 21, 2022
This collection is rated at exactly 3 stars and who am I to interfere with that kind of mediocrity. Scott Lobdell has a loose grip on this event but there are long, fun stretches particularly the Iceman on the run storyline that I really responded to.
July 30, 2026
Mostly read it because it was used as a good chunk of inspiration for season one of X-Men '97, which I think did this story better. In this version, a few X-Men get captured and treated unfairly, but overall, it doesn't really amount to much in the grand scheme o' things.
September 25, 2020
This was my introduction to X-Men and comics in general, and as such it will always hold a special place for me.
August 13, 2024
Top to bottom bad. Everything is bloated, but it’s the 90s of course. Everything has to be big to hide its emptiness.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews