X-Men Epic Collection, Vol. 8: I, Magneto

X-Men Epic Collection

by Chris Claremont (Writer), Dave Cockrum (Illustrator)

Chris Claremont reunites with Dave Cockrum for another run of X-Men classics! They put the all-new, all-different mutants they made famous into an action-packed pressure cooker through Arcade, Dr. Doom and Garokk that blows its top with the return of Magneto in an anniversary extravaganza! Next, it's the immortal “Kitty's Fairy Tale,” a storybook fantasy that introduced Kitty's loyal pet dragon, the lovable Lockheed! Brent Anderson draws a double-sized annual teaming the X-Men with the FF against the barbarian Arkon! And, just because we love ya, we’re including Avengers Annual #10, featuring the iconic first appearance of Rogue! Also featuring guest-appearances by Spider-Woman and Dazzler, the fan-favorite Savage Land saga from Marvel Fanfare and rare X-Men stories from Bizarre Adventures!

COLLECTING: Uncanny X-Men (1981) 144-153, X-Men Annual (1970) 5, Avengers Annual (1967) 10, Bizarre Adventures (1981) 27, material from Marvel Fanfare (1982) 1-4

Genres: Comics, X Men, Marvel, Comic Book, Graphic Novels

480 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2021

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collects the Uncanny X-Men run that begins right after John Byrne left the book. Dave Cockrum returns as the main artist. It has team-ups with the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, along with the first time Spider-Man gets devolved into Man-Spider while traveling in the Savage Land. The X-Men fight Dr. Doom, Arcade, Magneto, and the Hellfire Club. Some interesting groundwork gets laid that affect the X-Men years later like when Magneto crushes a Russian sub and the inkling of the Reavers is formed when Cole makes his first appearance. He was a Hellfire Club henchman that Wolverine mauled during The Dark Phoenix Saga and needed to have his limbs replaced with cybernetics. Rogue's first appearance also begins some things that will affect her and Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) for years. I also enjoyed how Kitty Pryde kept making these awful costumes that only a 13-year old girl would come up with.

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's true that Chris Claremont wrote a lot of iconic storylines on his X-Men run, it's not less true that he also wrote a lot of incredibly uninspired stories bloated with exposition and tiresome ideas, and this collection is the living proof of it, there's barely anything of interest in this epic collection, Claremont was struggling to come up with fresh material in this period, repeating encounters with Magneto, Doctor Doom and Arcade and mimicking the Dark Phoenix storyline with Ororo, while wasting Scott's solo adventure with yet another romance story that ended with an overplayed trip to the Bermuda Triangle, only Kitty Pryde fans might get something out of this collection.

Artwise, Dave Cockrum and company were now replacing the legendary John Byrne, and the art took a big drop in quality, as you can tell from the covers, they're just not as good, and that new Kitty Pryde costume goes down as the ugliest, lamest thing I ever seen in the Marvel universe.

I thoroughly recommend you to skip this volume, or save it for last.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty forgettable stories here. It does have some of Chris Claremont’s philosophical exploration which while overblown and heavy handed, I still really enjoy. I especially enjoyed the depth that he gives Magneto where you can reasonably see how he comes to the conclusions that he does about the need for force, the use of power, and the complexity of human actions. A flawed villain who has some noble instincts. But not the best collection and it pales in comparison to the previous volume that included both the Dark Phoenix Saga and the Days of Future Past 2-issue story arc.

[Aisling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carol should never have forgiven the Avengers for what they did to her.

[Gabriel James Maurice Rodriguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Throwaways

Total loss of steam after John Byrne left, it appears. This collection is burdened even further with backups tales, including 100 pages of black and white reprints.

Only worth getting to power through the run, I would recommend switching to the 1000+ omnibus for these years. Cheaper and less ephemera

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a few misfires in this collection that keep this from being as iconic as X-Men Epic Collection, Vol. 6: Proteus and X-Men Epic Collection, Vol. 7: The Fate of the Phoenix but this is still a blast to read. Claremont keeps heaping storyline on top of storyline, pulling parts of the entire X-Men run from issue #1 all the way through his last collection.

These epic versions are also preferable to earlier collections as they pull from other titles in a sensible and narratively satisfying way. I don't know of other X-Men collections that thought to include the Avengers annual that introduces us to Rogue and pulls some of the X-Men into a battle with The New Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants (Destiny, Mystique, Pyro, Avalanche, and Blob). There's also a great run of Marvel Fanfare where Spider-Man, Angel, and eventually the X-Men voyage down to the Savage Land. The plot isn't any better than any of the other Savage Land stories but Claremont is constantly improving his character work (often with a billion thought balloons) so the story seems more intriguing.

I also enjoyed the explanations for Kitty Pride's increasingly awful costumes, and how much better her age discrepancy is handled here than Jubilee's will be in another few years. The Storm/Shadowcat dynamic is much more logical than the Wolverine/Jubilee.

There are tons of other great moments in this book that excuse the silliness of the Kitty Pryde fairy tale issue or the rebuilding of The Danger Room after Kitty's adventures in X-Men: Days of Future Past. I also appreciated that they acknowledged the expense of the repairs and that it took months of issues where the repairs happened in the background.

There are also conversations between Nightcrawler and Wolverine, Professor X and Angel, and Storm and Magneto that seem deeper than previous X-Men conversations. Claremont was really hitting his stride. Plus, artist Brent Anderson seems to have a blast on the Fantastic Four/Arkon storyline, posing Wolverine like The Marlboro Man and other cheesecake poses that sexualized him in a manner most artists of the time reserved exclusively for women. Whether intended or not, it felt queer coded.

I didn't imagine putting this in my Headcanon, as this makes three volumes in a row but I think it's solid enough that if you enjoy X-Men this is a great non-classic run of comics to experience.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was onboard with the first half of this - the stuff with Doom and then some Magneto was decent.

But OOF I couldn’t care less about the Savage Land stuff in Marvel Fanfare, and then once it was done I hoped we could get back on track, but no… Have some super predictable body-swap shenanigans. At this point I had completely checked out and didn’t bother with the Bizarre Adventures at the end.

Personally, I had the most fun with the very beginning of Claremont’s run and I hate to say it, but this Epic and the previous just didn’t work for me. Next time I’ll be skipping ahead to some more modern X books to see what else is out there.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rereading these from my childhood. I remembered how much I was moved by the Dark Phoenix saga and then I had no memories of what came next….and now I know why. The storytelling was as bland (and bad) as the artwork. It was just blah. I didn’t care and I didn’t like any of it. So yeah I won’t returned to these for a reread in another dozen years. On to the next trade maybe it gets better?

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved a bunch of these books. Much like the Phoenix saga before it, Chris Claremont is really showing why he was so good at writing these characters. Magneto finally starts to resemble the deep, complicated character that makes him the best villain of all time.

[Matt Aukamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection has a bunch of below-average side-stories thrown in between numbered issues, but this was Claremont at his peak. Some of the most exciting, cinematic, character-forward comics writing that had been seen up til that point

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some very strong moments in this volume as well as some great, light hearted tales.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun read! One of the Marvel Fanfare stories wasn’t my speed, but picking up where my last compilation left off was a neat way to continue filling the gaps in my X-Men knowledge.

[Justin Covey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some strong stories at the start but my god the xmen spend way too much time in the savage land

[IamT-Rex · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 gonna take a break from this run it’s good but ima need some fresh x men cuz this run isn’t bad it’s just I’m 60 issues in and need a breather

[Doug Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

a slight step down from the last three volumes but still some great stuff in here. a lot of great stories and artwork throughout.

[A lireza · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is weaker than "The Fate of the Phoenix," which is a high bar.
Best issues of the collection:
UXM 144 (Scott Vs. D'Spayre),
UXM 145 (Storm Vs. Dr. Doom),
UXM 150 (I, Magneto) &
UXM 153 (Happy ending of Jean Grey according to Kitty's tale).
The best arc in the collection:
UXM 151-152 (Storm Vs. Emma Frost).