X-Men: Mutant Massacre

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #210-214

by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson

The Marauders are slaughtering Morlocks in the sewers of New York in this epic adventure, and the high-flying X-man called Angel loses his wings. This story features the first appearance of Mr Sinister.

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

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 20, 2010

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

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating 3.7 stars.
Devastating that a whole (group/race?) of people was so viciously and maliciously wiped out.

I wish we had learned of a motive more than there was a mysterious leader dictating the Marauders actions.
From what I read, this was the first shadowy appearance of Mister Sinister!

I liked how Thor was involved however, I would’ve liked it better if ish #373 had a little more to do with it.
Interestingly, Thor and X-Factor are the only series to actually make a crossover to one another.

In saying that, I really liked how each issue continued their own stories outside the MM plot.

My favourite part would have to be the first time Wolverine and Sabretooth fight. Wolvey didn’t fight to win, he fought smart and was able to get away with the injured Morlock Healer.

I was also intrigued by the two brief appearances of Apocalypse. He’s gathered two out of his Four Horsemen.

I’m so excited to see Angel’s story line play out (even though it’s devastating for Warren). I remember seeing this plot in the 90’s show and loving it. I can’t wait to read the source material!

Overall, this story line wasn’t as crossover-y as I thought it might be. I appreciated the emotional moments we saw, though I think we could’ve seen a little more.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Created as a way to reduce the Mutant Population, Mutant Massacre is more of a contained slaughter than a world wide wipe. Weaving together several titles into one coherent story can be difficult, and that is reflected here. The first half is very well done, however, the decline is quick, culminating in an abrupt and unrewarding conclusion. Claremont's brand of drawn out dialogue and a need to overexplain what we see on the page is back, and although it can be tedius at times, it works for the most part. Overall, it is an overhyped event that is both iconic and groundbreaking in its own right, whilst also leaving a lot to be desired.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume collects the most well executed Marvel comics event/crossover I have read. It may even be better than most of the even/crossover comics I have read from any publisher.

In this book, we have Uncanny X-Men #210-214, X-Factor #9-11, New Mutants #46, Daredevil #238, Power Pack #27, and Thor #373-374.

There was no need for a "Mutant Massacre" series of comics to tie things together. A reader of X-Factor was not obliged to read all the others to know what was going on. However, when read all together, the whole thing was powerful, exciting, tragic, and worth every minute of reading.

This story has long-term impact on all the characters involved. It definitely changed the X-Men and X-Factor completely!

This collection takes several major characters out of action, maybe forever. It also provides the addition of Psylocke and Dazzler to the X-Men. Another highlight comes from the many appearances of Sabretooth throughout this collection!

For fans of the mutant comics from Marvel, this is essential, highly recommended!

[Ronyell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduction:

After I heard so many good reviews on this comic, I just had to read this and oh boy, I just have so much to say about this particular comic book! I know that so many events had happened before “X-Men: Mutant Massacre” happened (as was stated by the characters in this comic), but I wanted to read this so badly that I was willing to skip the last few issues of “X-Men” just to get to this comic! “X-Men: Mutant Massacre” was a first for me in many different ways: it was the first “X-Men” comic book that I read that featured Elizabeth “Betsy” Braddock, also known as Psylocke, the first time I had read about the original “X-Factor,” the first time I had read about “The New Mutants,” the first time I had read “Daredevil” and the first time I had read about the “Power Pack.” With the combined writing of Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, and Ann Nocenti and the combined artwork of John Romita Jr., Terry Shoemaker, Bret Blevins, Walter Simonson, Jackson Guice, Sal Buscema, Jon Bogdanove, Rick Leonardi, Alan Davis, and Barry Windor-Smith, “X-Men: Mutant Massacre” is definitely a story that “X-Men” fans have to check!

What is this story about?

When the Marauders, a group of mutant assassins, started killing most of the Morlock community, the X-Men, now lead by a Mohawk wearing Storm, step in to help out the Morlocks. Meanwhile, X-Factor, a group of mutant hunters who are actually the original five X-Men (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast and Angel) in disguise, try to defeat the Marauders while Angel goes through an emotional trip that would change him forever. Also, this comic features guest appearances from Thor, Daredevil, the New Mutants and the Power Pack who also try to help out the X-Men in defending the Morlock community!

This graphic novel contains stories from:

Uncanny X-Men (issues #210 – 214)
X-Factor (issues #9 – 11)
New Mutants (issue #46)
Thor (issues #373-374)
Powr Pack (issue #27)
Daredevil (issue #238)

What I loved about this story:

The story: Usually, I do have problems with reading crossovers in comics because the stories almost never match up as long as you have different writers writing each story, but for a crossover, I found this story pretty impressive! I liked the fact that all of the stories mentioned in this graphic novel actually flowed well together and it felt like we were getting one cohesive storyline instead of having several different things happening all at once and it made me really enjoy the storyline! I really enjoyed the way that each different writer had a different take on the Marauders attacking the Morlocks as we see the attacks on the Morlocks from the X-Men, Thor, the Power Pack and Daredevil’s viewpoint. The stories that I really enjoyed in this graphic novel were the stories written by Chris Claremont as he wrote the stories for “Uncanny X-Men” and “New Mutants.” I loved the way that Chris Claremont made the story extremely dramatic and intense as we witness many Morlocks being killed in brutal ways and the X-Men characters dealing with the tragedy emotionally. I really enjoyed how Chris Claremont handled Storm’s character as we see her being emotionally affected by the situation and how it affected her position as the leader of the X-Men and it was truly moving seeing Storm struggle with being the leader of the X-Men. I also enjoyed seeing Storm as the leader of the X-Men since it was rare of me to see her in such a position. I really enjoyed Chris Claremont’s writing in “New Mutants” as the characters were really interesting, especially Illyana Rasputin (Magik), Warlock, Danielle Moonstar (Valkyrie) and Samuel Guthrie (Cannonball) and it was great seeing a younger generation of X-Men step up the plate in this tragedy. Louise Simonson’s writing for “X-Factor” was fantastic as it was interesting seeing the original five X-Men work together again and I enjoyed seeing how the murdering of the Morlocks affected them and how the mutant community looks at them as they were disguised as the mutant hunting team “X-Factor” even though they were trying to help the mutants. I also enjoyed Louise Simonson’s writing in “Power Pack” as it was hilarious and intense at the same time as I really enjoyed seeing the adventures of Franklin Richards and the Power Pack as it is rare that I see a comic book with small children being superheroes, which I thought was really cute! I really like Ann Nocenti’s writing in “Daredevil” as the fight between Daredevil and Saber tooth was really intense and I enjoyed the inner monologues of Daredevil as it really defined his position in being a superhero.

The artwork: Out of all the graphic novels I had read, “X-Men: Mutant Massacre” probably had the most artists I had ever seen out of any graphic novel! Each artist had contributed greatly to this storyline and I had enjoyed each one! My favorite artwork in this book came from Jackson Guice’s artwork in “New Mutants,” Rick Leonardi’s artwork in “Uncanny X-Men,” John Romita Jr’s artwork in “Uncanny X-Men,” and Sal Buscema’s artwork in “Daredevil.” (I know that there is some hate on John Romita Jr.’s artwork in current comics, but I enjoyed the scratchy artwork he created for this storyline).

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The reason why I gave this book a four star rating was because I felt that Thor’s side of the story was a bit of a distraction for me as it focused too heavily on Thor and I am not used to the “Shakespearean” dialogue that Thor usually talks in. Also, you can tell that so much has happened before this storyline, so anyone (like myself) who just jumped in to read an X-Men comic might be wondering about how half of the events that happened to the characters happened in the first place.

This was back in the days when continuity was important in comics.

This comic also deals with the theme of death and sorrow as many characters are killed in this graphic novel and that might upset sensitive readers.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, despite the four star rating (the “X-Men” storylines alone are five stars in my book), “X-Men: Mutant Massacre” is definitely one of the darkest yet most invigorating series I had ever read and anyone who is a huge fan of the X-Men will definitely enjoy this book!

At the end of this book, I've wondered whatever happened to Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler and Colossus? They were injured in battle, but they never really told us if they ever got better or not. That was apart of the story I would have like to see resolved. Also, here are some of my favorite moments from this comic:



Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Asciigod · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gets a "Low" 3/5 rating from me due to the wildly inconsistent quality of the titles involved in this crossover. It's actually somewhat comical to have such disparate titles juxtaposed in a graphic novel collection. Makes it completely clear just how new and unpolished this whole "giant crossover" gimmick was at the time. Why is Thor involved in this? Daredevil? His appearance at least makes sense... I guess. Power Pack? Are mutants immune to abortions?

Honestly, I love the X-tinctio... er... Massacre concept. Love it almost every time it's utilized in a series (which is, thankfully, quite often!) But here, there are just too many terrible turds clogging up the Morlocks' tunnels.

I don't blame this on what would appear to be the obvious culprits: Daredevil, Thor, Power Pack (!?); the real catastrophe is X-Factor, which is awe inspiring in it's incompetency.

It's shocking that X-Factor survived it's infancy as a title if this is representative of its quality at the time. The plot, if existent, is nonsensical. The combat pacing and layout is confusing, chaotic and unfolds like children playing superhero on the playground: "Nice try Cyclops, but you can't block my ninja star storms!", "Ha! Villionious, I created a optic shield to counter your ninja star storm!", etc. Just bad, bad stuff.

Claremont, of course, shines. Schadenfreude is defined by Webster's as "watching Chris Claremont struggling to keep his own books' narratives afloat when forced to interact with several tangentially related titles by inferior writers. See: Mutant Massacre."

Im my view, a pretty highly overrated experience. Unfortunately. :(

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half was pretty solid.

Watching the mutants get slaughtered by some radical fuckers was pretty great. I also enjoyed the second to last issue with Wolvie and Sabertooth going at it. And even the daredevil issue was pretty fun.

But the rest? Kind of meh. The X-Factor issues lacked weight to them. Didn't feel nearly as serious. Power Pack issue was a waste of my damn time. Not sure why Thor came in, but it was well written but felt out of place. And the very last issue of this run kind of is boring.

I'm just thinking maybe Claremont's writing isn't for me.

[Erich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ceilings consistently collapse to separate implacable enemies who had planned to fight to the death.

[Cameron H · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Don’t you dare fight in here — This is Bloomingdale’s!!!”

Perhaps the best line ever.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mutant Massacre (XM#210-213, XF #9-11, NM #46 +++). The Mutant Massacre was the first major crossover for the X-Men, threading between X-Men and X-Factor, with briefer stops in several other comics (New Mutants, Thor, Power Pack, Daredevil). Even today it remains quite notable for a number of reasons.

First, the continuity between the 11 major comics is superb. The authors clearly carefully collaborated to make sure that they knew where everyone was at every point, and when all the major plot points occurred. This also allowed them to ensure that many of the various comics had major repercussions (in fact, a couple of the most important plot elements occur in Thor, admittedly by Walt Simonson who helped to kick off X-Factor).

Second, it actually has major repercussions. The Morlocks, the X-Men, and X-Factor are all changed forever, each in their own way. Even today, I think the changes to the X-Men are the most stunning. The team that entered the Mutant Massacre was largely the same as the team 70 or so issues earlier, when Kitty Pryde joined the team. There'd always been the occasional addition or subtraction from the team, but nothing large-scale. Over the course of the Mutant Massacre, three different team members are critically wounded, removing them from action, and over the next several issues, four more would join them, fully replacing half the team. This would create the foundation for the more dynamic X-teams of recent years.

Beyond that, this is a great (brutal) crossover that's constantly surprising. It introduces the Marauders and namedrops Mr. Sinister for the first time (though he wouldn't appear until #221). The X-Men issues are the best, then the X-Factor. It's harder to measure the rest, because they're all so caught up in their own storylines (a real change from how crossovers are managed now).

Overall, a monumental, foundational, and groundbreaking crossover [5/5].

[Kyne Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mutants Massacre collects numerous stories from the Xmen story arc. However some stories are stronger than others. The book as a whole suffers from a lack of focus and lack of a real conclusion. It’s best read by someone who wants to read all Xmen story arcs or someone who already has a strong knowledge of comic events. As a pure standalone, it is not recommended due to varying quality of comics and the wide range of titles included.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. This collection of the X-men universe crossover series Mutant Massacre has some thrilling moments but it showcases why I am not a big fan of crossover events. This especially holds true for modern comics. It was probably a marketing ploy back in the 80s to get readers to read books they normally would not touch by having them crossover into the X-titles. In this collection we get at least two issues of Thor, one of New Mutants, one for the Power Pack and the book ends with an issue of Daredevil. In my opinion the X-factor and Uncanny X-men issues were the best. Claremont was just killing it on X-men at this times. His issues of Uncanny really showcase his understanding of the characters and the stakes have real weight in this arc titled" The Mutant Massacre". The Thor issues by Walt Simonson were really good. I am a sucker for Norse mythology so I just enjoyed the stoicism and mystery of Thor telling the kids about his father and the often shrewd ways he would fool the god of thunder. Honestly I just felt like Thor didn't really have any reason for being in such a mutant focus story but I did like the detour. I am really going to check out some 80s Thor after reading this collection. Of course one of my favorite parts about the Mutant Massacre is Wolverine's battle with Sabretooth. The dialogue is just so good and with all the tension that the Marauders bring to the story this fight just ended up being so epic. I really enjoyed this event but it just falls short of being as good as the Phoenix Saga. I just didn't enjoy the Power Pack issue or the New Mutant issue. At least the Power Pack issue had an ending. The New Mutant story really go anywhere. That story just greatly depends on the others in this collection. The artwork is pretty good for that era, especially the art by Romita Jr., Simonson and Alan Davis. Like I mentioned the Uncanny issues were just that good and the art is no exception. The fight between Storm and Callisto was really well drawn and written. This was a fun read through but some of the issues were a chore to get through so I honestly want to give the story 3.5 stars but I'll settle with three.

[Hibou le Literature Supporter · Rating 5 out of 5]

So rereadable. I remember being utterly shocked/captivated as an adolescent by this storyline of the innocent mutant Morlocks hiding in tunnels in Manhattan being hunted down and exterminated by the Marauders (brutal killings of the elderly, the wounded, even children) and the Uncanny X-Men, the original X-Men, Thor, the New Mutants, Dazzler, and Power Pack coming to their rescue. What makes these issues sing is that the good guys are defeated, which for a kid is an amazing introduction to how the real world works.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Welcome to the X-Men of the 1980s. Lots of talky-talk, lots of True Romance, a so-very-80s look. Cutting edge for its time, but we've come so far since then.
Important for the fact it's the first X-Men crossover, and for the changes to the team's line-up, but a bit difficult to get through, especially if you're used to how comics look today.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este pequeño arco me hizo finalmente tener fuerzas para continuar leyendo esta run, aunque no me gustó bastante la aparición de los Marauders sin una explicación más allá de ser parte del plan de mr siniestro quien aún no aparece totalmente aquí.

Betsy como adición al equipo es de mis partes favoritas y Storm sigue teniendo el mejor desarrollo gracias a Chris Claremont.

creo que sí hubiera leído este omnibus por completo sin haber leído ya antes los números con los que se entrelaza a X Factor hubiera sido una experiencia aún mejor.

[Marco Nerlini · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 stars

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't believe I'm honestly enjoying 80's X-men. It's a pretty solid little event with some really horrifying consequences for the teams involved. Bit of a shame there's not a companion book with more of the story collected. Read this along side the first volume of Essential X-Factor which I fell head over heals in love with.

Walt Simonson, duh. Why is it that this material has not reprinted in color anywhere? Roy Thomas labels the current age of comic books as the Age of Reprints. He makes a good argument. It's a shame this overlooked little gem of a series has not been given the color treatment. Though, I must admit I do enjoy being forced to read black and white versions. You do see the art completely differently. Line take over. And line can be astounding.

I do have one gripe with the whole Morlocks business. One that's held-over since I was a teen. The Morlocks are Mutants that cannot pass as human. Basically, they're just too ugly. So they hide in the tunnels under Manhattan Island. Among their number is a mutant named Masque whose power is basically plastic surgery by touch. He can give you a new face. Any face. Or reform your body. Reshape you however he wish - beautiful or ugly. So... if that's the case - why doesn't Masque make all the Morlocks beautiful so they don't have to hide in the tunnels? Such a big plot hole and one never addressed.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mutant Massacre is an event in the most literal sense of the word: an action - the Marauders enter the tunnels where the Morlocks live and kill most of them - which other titles stumble upon, intervene in, or react to. Thor's two issues are typical: he's in New York, some frogs tell him that bad shit is happening in the sewers, and he ends up having an adventure with most of X-Factor before scouring the crime scene with divine fire and leaving. Some of what Thor does is crucial to the overall sequence of events but there's no sense that you're reading two "chapters" of a unified story, or that Thor readers are getting their monthly experience interrupted by someone else's. The Massacre is a thing that is happening in the Marvel Universe - depending on what you're reading across those 3-4 months, you'll get to see some or all of it, but even if you were only reading Uncanny X-Men, you'll get the full picture of those characters' involvement in the event.

This is honestly a wonderfully elegant way to run a crossover. Much is made of how the success of the Mutant Massacre led directly to the crossovers that the X-titles made into a yearly tradition, but Mutant Massacre itself doesn't feel like one of those, and it's more useful to think of two recent Marvel events the editorial teams had direct experience of. One, obviously, was Secret Wars II, in which the parent title had the nasty habit both of resolving situations from individual series and farming out crucial chunks of its own plot, a tight-continuity approach which was horribly unsatisfying. The other, more obscurely, is Thor's Casket Of Ancient Winters event, which like the Massacre has one central thing happen (it's suddenly winter everywhere) and lets the line of comics around it either acknowledge it or not. Ancient Winters was both kinder to the reader and a lot more exciting and enjoyable to suddenly meet, and Mutant Massacre does the same kind of thing at a much higher level of co-ordination and detail.

Mutant Massacre is still one of the most skilfully done crossovers I've ever seen - but it's best read, somehow, by encountering it as you would have in 1986, as an irruption of violence from under the surface of whatever favourite comic you're reading. Treated as a complete story - as in this collection - it runs quickly into the major problem that it isn't one.

For one thing it's extremely front-loaded. By the time the X-Men and X-Factor (the event's dual protagonists) get involved, the Marauders have mostly finished the actual massacre part. There are two issues of the heroic teams engaging the killers, which goes badly, and then around 10 more of fallout, retreat and triage, spread across 5 or 6 different titles. The standard superhero event structure - an act of set-up, an act of reversal, and then ultimately a win - is completely absent: the massacre is a fait accompli and the culprits escape: any victory is held over for a future story.

And the questions any reader coming to the story fresh are going to have - why are the Marauders doing this? Who's behind them? - are simply not answered. Plus the conceptual elegance of the crossover means a lot of practical fudging, especially to keep the X-Men and X-Factor apart. Mutant Massacre is not satisfying in any of the usual ways you expect a superhero comics event to be.

But that's fine. It doesn't have to be. The fact there's no central issue of the event, the fact that the different strands overlap but never actually knot together, means the creators can sell the characters' fear, confusion and desperation: we as readers know more about what's happening than they do, and so we can enjoy things like the X-Men's horror at the wave of fire destroying the tunnels as emotional beats rather than as mysteries (we've read those Thor issues; they haven't).

And those emotions in turn sell the story as significant in ways the actual deaths don't. What we're seeing in Mutant Massacre is the entire premise of both the main mutant books torched - the X-Men have catastrophically failed to protect mutants from a world that hates and fears them*; X-Factor's idea of using human prejudice against itself judo-style has been proven a disaster. The characters most brutally affected - Colossus; Nightcrawler; Kitty; Angel - have been the books' most optimistic. After flirting with the ideas of colourful bronze age storytelling and melodrama (X-Factor) and floating the possibilities of a return to a more carefree, fantastic mode (X-Men), the X-Books have come together and embraced the darkness as a site of story potential. As a coherent event, Mutant Massacre has its flaws. As a story rubicon, it still sells its own importance.

*What's interesting though is that the Massacre is a way to escape from the central storytelling problem Claremont had fallen into - the X-Men can't actually beat anti-mutant prejudice. It takes the grim tone of a world that hates mutants, which makes for very tense, dramatic stories, but also marks a shift away from humans being the X-Men's main problem. From the Massacre on through the 1990s, the driver of the hopeless tone generally isn't a dystopian future but the present of messy mutant politics, and it's no surprise the Massacre sees the intro of Mr Sinister, the messiest character of them all.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Sort of an addendum to the great x-read – just earlier in continuity than all of the post-90s stuff I read at that time…)

First of all, I am giving this book 3 stars which is a little lower than I expected. If you want the too long, didn’t read version of this review, it is this: The Claremont X-men issues are fantastic. The rest is a bit of a meandering mess that mars the whole a bit. Now on to the longer version…

When I was reading the x-books as a youngster, I came in a bit after the mutant massacre. It was mentioned constantly – particularly in X-factor whenever Archangel made an appearance – so I had a pretty good idea of what had happened but when I saw this thick volume at the library I knew I had to borrow it. (Plus any chance I get to read earlyish Claremont x-men books I take it…)

And.. Well, it is a mixed bag. I don’t think Marvel really had a handle yet on how to do a big bombastic crossover and it shows. Claremont’s book is the through-line and it carries everything else. The emotional core is there and it does most of the heavy lifting of the plot as well. Most everything else is pretty tangential (sometimes in strange ways. Did we really need Power Pack of all heroes running around the Morlock sewer tunnels during a massacre that is supposed to be absolutely shocking in its sudden and brutal violence?) and not particularly necessary for the story. X-factor, I suppose, does a decent job of also moving the plot forward but it really feels like they had no idea what story they wanted to tell in X-factor at this time (It’s a far cry from what the book would eventually become at this point) and it is really scattered – both in terms of plot and characterization. The writing in the X-factor issues is *really* over the top comics speak – lots of villainous monologues and talking us through the fight going on.

And then you have Thor and Daredevil. You know, the Daredevil appearance at least makes a bit of sense due to the location and it isn’t a bad story. Just more of a “Why is Daredevil carrying an x-crossover?” sort of weirdness. Thor, though, seems like an inclusion out of left field and in my opinion, it just doesn’t work. He is even given some pretty important moments to carry (finding the crucified Angel, etcetera) but the whole time it feels like he just does not even vaguely fit in this story. Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who is never a huge fan of the rest of the marvel universe crossing over into the x-books (and vice versa) but this one feels particularly egregious and out of place. Oh, and the less said about Power Pack the better. I know they had their fans, but every Power Pack issue I have ever read has had me praying for it to end.

So in the end it is a story that is very much better than the sum of its parts, mostly thanks to the hard work of Claremont to keep the whole story moving and emotional. I want to give it a higher review for the lasting impact that it had on all of the x-titles as it really is a seminal moment in the history of these comics (and I’ve got to say – I really miss the Marauders as villains. The x-books have had so many good villain teams – Marauders, Reavers, Freedom Force, Mutant Liberation Front, the Acolytes… and it seems odd that the modern books haven’t seemed very interested in developing good villain teams. They just want to continually reuse the big big baddies but I digress…).

Is it worth a read? Abso-freaking-lutely. Just understand going in that you are probably going to find yourself skimming through some of these secondary titles that are forced into the storyline.

[Tony Romine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of my goal in reading through Claremont's run of X-Men was to dive into the many epic story arcs of the team throughout it's run. This is the beginning of those, Mutant Massacre was spread through mostly UNCANNY X-MEN and X-FACTOR, but also crossed into issues of NEW MUTANTS, THOR, POWER PACK (ugh), and for some reason DAREDEVIL.

The story is about X-Men and X-Factor (or X-Terminators as they are called here) and various other heroes responding to the slaughter of The Morlocks in their community in the sewers of New York. Now I suppose to really appreciate the emotional impact of this event you need to be a fan of The Morlocks. I am not and have never been, in fact when I realized they were the victims of the massacre, I got pretty happy I won't have to see anymore side stories with these poorly thought out characters.

The best part of this event was the fight between Wolverine and Sabertooth, a rivalry that now ranks with Han Solo and Boba Fett and Superman and Lex as one of the most iconic in fiction. There is also some issues here with Barry Windsor Smith's art, one of my favorite who ever drew the X-Men.
The appearances by New Mutants, Thor, Power Pack kids, and Daredevil are all shoehorned into the event with the most inexplicable part being the New Mutants just straight up disappearing (dying?) and only being mentioned a couple more times throughout the book.

Very irritating in here, to me as someone reading to see the history of the X-Men, is the sudden appearance of Psylocke as the team medic. She's one of the most famous members of the team and there's no explanation as to how she got there. Upon researching it she has over 35 comic book appearances in various Marvel UK comics before she ended up here. Why no backstory catch up for us? Why not include the New Mutant Annual where she makes her first American book appearance?

What's very odd about version of the collection is Mr. Sinister and Gambit are on the cover, but are no where in this book. In fact Gambit doesn't debut in the comics for another 4 years. Mr. Sinister is kind of mentioned once, but you never see him. It does feature various cover art from other versions of the collection and reprints of it in various series. All in all a decent story that shows the direction this series is headed towards.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Świetne wydanie wydawnictwa Egmont, które kryje w sobie kawałek historii X-men, jednak nie spełniając za mocno dzisiejszych standardów, czy to w prowadzeniu narracji czy kreską. Niemniej jest to jeden z tzw. kamieni milowych w historii mutantów. Mroczny fragment, o którym ludzie posiadający gen X woleli by zapomnieć.

X-men to już nie X-men. Xavier gdzieś się ulotnił, a opiekę na rezydencją objął Magneto, który stara się chronić studentów, jak może. Bo w mieście pojawiają się różne grupki, które mają na celu eliminację problemowych mutantów. Właśnie jedna z nich, niejacy Marauders, schodzą w kanały i zaczynają rzeź żyjących tam Morloków. Nasi bohaterowi ruszają na pomoc, ale sami mogą znaleźć się w opałach.

Oczywiście możemy też liczyć na małe występy gościnne. Na moment wkroczy Thor, który uratuje skórę Angelowi, a Daredevil będzie musiał stawić czoła rozszalałemu Sabretoothowi. Jeszcze jeszcze zagadkowe Power Pack, ale jest to twór bliżej mi nieznany.

Mamy tu istne zatrzęsienie znanych nazwisk w branży. Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, John Romita Jr., Sal Buscema, Ann Nocenti czy Barry Windsor-Smith. I pomimo tej różnorodności całość jest spójna, także w gestii kresek. Najwyraźniej jakość kreski, jaka była wtedy używana w seriach była do siebie bardzo podobna.

To porządna opowieść, aczkolwiek bez fajerwerków. Bywa zaskakująco brutalna, bo nie tylko ci źli, ale i sami X-meni potrafią nie brać przeciwników żywcem, co może nieco zaskoczyć młodszych czytelników. Niemniej jako lekcja historii seria punktów zwrotnych, jawi się jako coś co można mieć na półce. Zwłaszcza, że żółta okładka się mocno wyróżnia. Szkoda tylko, że historia potrafi wynudzić.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

...and here we have what you would call the TRIPLE dip. I bought the Uncanny X-Men and Power Pack issues when they were originally released back in 1986, and then bought the softcover Mutant Massacre trade paperback several years ago. Then Marvel announced this expanded, high-end hardcover, and with this being a beloved memory from my youth, how could I resist? Nice paper and sewn binding, the only letdown was the inferior linework restoration in Uncanny X-Men Nos. 211-213. I think that those issues looked better in the otherwise inferior trade paperback release.

These were among my favorite issues of the X-Men that summer (cover dates were 4 months ahead in the Direct Market in 1986). I remember being bummed after John Romita, Jr. left the title, only to discover the wonderful artwork of Alan Davis. These issues were also the first time that Wolverine fought Sabretooth, although Marvel would ret-con that to an asinine degree later on. Sabretooth started out as a B-lister, fighting Iron Fist, etc, and then Marvel made him into a "star" in the '90s. Then they crapped up both his and Wolverine's backstories to the point that they don't even resemble the characters they once were and I no longer care about either of them. Back in 1986, though, Issues 212 and 213 were a different story. Wolverine was one of my favorite characters circa 1986, and the fight between him and Sabretooth was something that my comic book collecting buddies and I talked about ad nauseum back then.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marauders attack the Morlocks in a gritty story that would have some lasting and grave consequences for the X-Men. Even some characters not yet introduced at printing would be affected by the events that play out here.

This really is a darker X-Men tale, as a band of mercenaries is assembled with the goal of killing as many Morlocks as they can. The body count quickly rises, and our heroes even find themselves taking lives as events unfold. Fierce battles with meaningful consequence give this book its weight.

Mutant Massacre is also a great introductory vehicle for Sabretooth, who by the end of the volume has made a major impact. His ferocious fight with Wolverine is a touchstone in combative X-Men lore.

My only issue with this volume is the inconsistent quality between the different included titles. Power Pack appears and just doesn't fit in with the story's tone. Daredevil shows up while being written by Ann Nocenti, and the best that I can say about her prose is that it's easily forgotten.

The strongest issues are, unsurprisingly, from Chris Claremont's X-Men. Walter Simonson's Thor also makes an appearance and is strong, though I say that as a general fan of Simonson's run on Thor.

[Iantony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This crossovers of 80's X-men is pretty dark for its time. I also want to note that this is the first major X-men crossovers involving . For a big crossover, the continuity between all the single issues involved crossovers is pretty neat, you may not see too many of Thor, Daredevil, X-men, X-Factors, and Power Pack members mingling with each other but you could know exactly where every characters are situated at in the crossover. But the qualities of various titles involved weren't consistent at some point.

The story is quite good and a bit too dark for that time. If you were into X-men, it's important to follow the story as the consequences of this crossover is pretty much a game-changer for X-menverse.

I don't want to say a lot about the art, let's not compare artwork from 80's comic book with the recent ones.


3.5/5 stars for me.

[Sebastian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jak dla mnie zbyt mroczne i brutalne. Nienawiść Marauders do Morlocków niezrozumiała (nawet jeśli to było zlecenie). Okładka zdradza elementy, które w tej historii są jeszcze owiane tajemnicą. Wciąganie do tak brutalnej narracji małych dzieciaków z Power Pack to jakieś nieporozumienie.

Takie tonalne przesunięcie w kierunku mroku i rozpaczy było dla mnie dosyć męczące, choć doceniam rysunki Ricka Leonardi’ego i Barry’ego Windsor-Smitha, które najbardziej pasują do tych smutnych opowieści. Na pewno Masakra Mutantów była punktem zwrotnym w życiu wielu bohaterów tego albumu, ale czy była potrzebny kamieniem milowym?

[Omar Gómez · Rating 3 out of 5]

  X-Men Milestones: The Mutant Massacre (2019), calificación 3/5 estrellas

  Fueron innecesarias algunas apariciones como la de Thor, Daredevil y Power Pack, me parece sobrevalorada la historia solo mencionan los fans el encuentro de Wolverine vs Sabretooth pero según Byrne en su foro Byrne Robotics tenía planeado ese encuentro para 1981.

  Fue un fracaso el de los X-Men por no poder evitar las muertes de morlocks.

  También era malisimo el comic de X-Factor los personajes fueron escritos como tontos, nunca destacaron Ángel y Ice Man por eso cancelaron X-Men entre 1969-1975. Tampoco era muy bueno el comic the New Mutants, que después cambió el nombre a X-Force.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new ranking for Mutant Massacre being 5 stars is shocking me. I know this book continues an ascent every time I come back to it, but to put it down at the end and realize that it hit so many resonating notes in my mind, enough to warrant it standing with the best of Claremont's time was a complete shock to me.

I'm probably just lonely right now. And this is me getting to hang out with my friends. Hmm, hangout with my friends through one of their darkest periods. Does that make me sick?

I can't expect others to follow me in this review. These 5 stars were 23 years in the making. (The story came out 39 years ago, but I was late to the party.)

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marauders are massacring the morlock mutants in the tunnels. The X-men, X-Factor, New Mutants, Thor and Power Pack go to help. The storyline works really well, and it doesn't pull any punches with the horror of the situation. The way the characters react is really well written, all want to protect the mutants, though a lot are not successful. This was a game changer, it showed prejudice for what it is, and brought a sense of reality to the world of the mutants. I particularly liked Thor trying to help, and not caring what those he helped looked like. A very good read.

[Tom Malinowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way way back in the days of yore...the first mutant crossover....what a doozy the Mutant Massacare turned out to be as there are lots of deaths. The Mauraders are killing the Morlocks, shunned mutants who have found peace living in the sewers underground New York. The X-Men and X-Factor along with Power Pack, Thor, and the New Mutants, even Daredevil are featured here. Some milestones are Peter, Kitty, and Kurt getting hurt...which will eventually lead to two of them forming Excalibur. And Dazzler finally joins the team as well as Psylocke.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0

It is so fun reading a collection that was so important in my youth. It was interesting revisiting old characters, locations and storylines that clearly had a big impact on my development as a young adult. Seeing the themes found in many of these stories today as an adult make their relevance to my life then, and their connection to deeper societal issues, even more apparent and appreciated. I cherish the lessons in embracing diversity, teamwork, redemption, love, purpose, leadership, morality, self belief, overcoming adversity and so many more that so skillfully fill these pages.

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mutant Massacre is the first X-Men crossover event and it's really good, bringing together Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants and all their respective villains into one huge, incredibly violent showdown. Recently it had felt like Claremont had lost his way, having too many separate plot threads running at the same time without any coming to fruition. This event regained my faith in him. It's the most fun I've had with X-Men since Dark Phoenix.