Jim Lee

X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #5: X-Tinction

A reading order for stories starting from Uncanny X-Men #244 in May 1989 and ending with Uncanny X-Men #280 in September 1991, plus New Mutants, X-Factor, Excalibur, Wolverine, & more. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Collecting X-Men: A Definitive Guide. Last updated March 2021.

Era #3: New Mutants X-Men Reading Order Guide Era #5: X-Tinction

What does Era #5: X-Tinction include?

This era of the reading order focuses on a period where all of the X-Men teams are unravelling, and ends with each title in the franchise refocused for their sales dominance of the early 90s.

We begin this era with a flash of hope after a difficult run for the main X-Men team, who had been presumed dead to the world (including their many former teammates) since Fall of the Mutants.

The X-Men reconciled with X-Factor at the end of “Inferno,” with everyone happy to learn their friends were alive – including the revelation of Jean’s resurrection! Meanwhile, the New Mutants were rattled to find their friend Illyana reduced to childhood and Excalibur had barely agreed to become a team.

However, just a few issues later, the X-Men would be disbanded after a brutal fight with Master Mold, X-Factor would be stuck off the planet, New Mutants would see a key member perish, and Excalibur would be stranded across multiple dimensions!

In Uncanny X-Men, this leads to an unusual 18-month period where there was no X-Men team in the flagship X-Men title. Stories alternated between Wolverine’s adventures with Jubilee and glimpses at the scattered team, many of whom had no memories of their prior lives.

Meanwhile, Moira MacTaggert began to assemble a new team of mutants on Muir Island with the corrupting influence of the Shadow King looming over her. Wolverine and Jubilee collect Betsy Braddock, now in Kwannon’s body, while a mysteriously de-aged Storm meets Gambit, and Rogue is stranded in the Savage Land (where Magneto lurked, after abandoning the New Mutants in the wake of Inferno).

At the same time, Wolverine’s solo title delved into his long-hinted mysterious past. Despite many indications that Logan had lead a long and secret life prior to his joining the X-Men, up to this point there had been few concrete connections to it shown on the page. Claremont, Peter David, and finally long-time scripter Larry Hama teased both Logan’s connection to Sabretooth and fleshed out his connections in the Madripoor underworld, buiding up to the bombshell “Weapon X” flashback story in Marvel Comics Presents #72-84.

Chris Claremont began to reassemble the X-Men starting with “X-Tinction Agenda” in Uncanny X-Men #270. This crossover through all three main team titles served to further disband the classic New Mutants cast – which had just lost Dani to her other life as a Valkyrie but gained the paramilitary Cable as their new leader.

New Mutants runs for just three more issues after the end of “X-Tinction Agenda,” adding Shatterstar and Warpath to the team and seeing Deadpool’s debut. These are widely acknowledged (and collected) as a prelude to X-Force. The New Mutants were already dead and gone.

It all came to a climax in pair of stories. First, in X-Factor’s “Endgame,” Apocalypse takes a keen interest in Nathan Christopher Summers. Then, “The Muir Island Saga” brings together the remaining X-Men left unfound during “X-Tinction Agenda.” That set up a massive combined squad of primary X-Men for their face-off against Magneto at the beginning of the next Era, as well as an all-new X-Factor team.

Flagship X-Series in this era:

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #244-280 & Annuals 13-15 – see Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont

Ongoing X-titles released in this era (listed in order of age of series):

Alpha Flight (1983) #71-101 & Annuals – see Alpha Flight
New Mutants (1983) #75-100 & Annuals – see New & Young X-Men
X-Factor (1986) #40-70 & Annuals – see X-Factor
Excalibur (1988) #8-41 & Specials – see Excalibur
Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #17-85 – This features Wolverine and others; see Logan – Wolverine
Wolverine (1988) #4-47 & OGNs – see Logan – Wolverine

Limited Series released in this era (listed in alphabetical order):

Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown (1988) #1-4

Later X-titles set in this era:

X-Men: True Friends (1999) #1-3
Clandestine (2008) #1-5

Notes:

This era includes the events Atlantis Attacks, Acts of Vengeance, Days of Future Present, X-Tinction Agenda, Muir Island Saga, & Kings of Pain.
Wolverine’s legendary “Weapon X” story from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #72-84 was published in this era, but it appears in Era 1 per its chronological placement.
The late 80s and early 90s was one of the most intertwined era of X-Men, including many instances where you need to switch back and forth between single issues! I have tried to vastly simplify that without creating too many spoilers.

Top 12 X-Men Collections of 2011 – Reprinted Material

January 3, 2012 by krisis

Welcome to 2012 – I am still a comic book geek.

Specifically, the X-Men.

Yep. That’s a lot of comic books.

Specifically, I own something like 95% of every X-Men comic book ever reprinted.

On New Years’ Eve I said to myself, “You dashingly handsome scoundrel, how can you use your obsession to aid people who like the X-Men a normal, healthy amount – unlike you?”

The answer? I will count down for you the top twelve collected editions reprinting X-Men comics originally released before 2010. There’s a vast world of thousands of X-Men comics that have been released since 1963, and not all of them are readily available to buy in book format. These reprints mean that hard-to-get, or never-before-reprinted issues can be bought in handy collections with better reproduction of the line art than original issues.

(As for new X-Men material from 2011, that will require a whole new post to cover!) [Read more…] about Top 12 X-Men Collections of 2011 – Reprinted Material

DC New 52 Review: Justice League #1

September 1, 2011 by krisis

A schedule of all 52 debut issues due from DC Comics this month. Click through for a full-size version.

This month DC Comics is relaunching their entire line of comics – 52 issues #1s in a single month!

Not only is every series starting fresh, but the relaunch also represents a “soft reboot” of the DC comics universe. That means characters could have a new set of history as they re-debut, including breaking up iconic relationships or being suddenly de-aged back to a more-relatable 20-something.

I am not a DC comics fan, and have never been a regular reader of any of their titles aside than Wonder Woman – so why not try to read and review as many of their new 52 as I can in one month?

Sounds like a plan! The month starts with DC’s biggest gun – Justice League #1, with DC co-publisher and debateably best-penciler in the industry Jim Lee on art, and DC superstar Geoff Johns scripting.

DC Comics Justice League #1, released August 31, 2011.

Justice League #1

Rating: 2.5 of 5 – Okay.

In a line: “You’re not just some guy in a BAT COSTUME, are you?”

140char Review: Justice League #1 – Solid art and interactions between Bats & GL, but the quick-to-read debut kinda falls flat. Not the big gun you’d expect

Plot & Script

DC’s reimagined Justice League are … The X-Men? The issue starts five years in the past when Green Lantern shows up to save Batman from a superhero kill squad in hot pursuit, and you’re hoping against hope the explanation will be something more deft than “because they hate and fear us.”

Yet there we are.

Yes, I suppose hating and fearing people with super-powers makes a lot of sense, but that schtick has been cornered and bludgeoned to death by Marvel. Also, it’s annoyingly dissonant to see these classic characters in that position. Sure, Batman is a wacko vigilante and Aquaman might have a bestiality problem, but is the government really going to chase after The Flash?

The conceit is that five years ago in the new DC universe was effectively year zero, with heroes meeting each other for the first time. Apparently they weren’t too popular with law enforcement (or, at least, Batman wasn’t). We’re treated to Batman’s introduction to and subsequent chafing at Green Lantern, who is as brash as Bats is brooding. GL gets one funny line after another. It’s clear that John’s is used to writing him, and that they’re playing up the Ryan Reynolds aspect of him as much as possible.

Both Batman and Green Lantern art scripted well, and the trickle of exposition from them is just enough to capture the imagination of a new fan. Yet, there is just barely enough plot here to call it an issue. Jim Lee isn’t exactly the fastest penciler in the world, you’d think Johns would write a little more script.

Instead, we get a brief tussle and several episodes of exposition, followed by a blah four pages with kid Cyborg. Also, note that the cast of characters are cynically the two heroes with the most recent movie, plus Superman – because, well… you know.

Artwork

Lee’s action is bold but always easy to follow. What is unexpected (for me, at least), is the wild sketchiness of his shadows. Maybe it’s the doing of inker Scott Williams leaving more of Lee’s original pencil work intact, but the effect reminds me of 70s comics (a good thing).

Lee relentlessly knocks the opening Batman scramble out of the park from the first, deliberately un-iconic shot of Batman. Note all of the random insanity he has Green Lantern creating – a fire truck and giant bats!?

The single page of Superman is intriguing. He’s definitely boyish, but not as much as on the cover. And, though he is lacking his red underpants, the underpants are still sketched on – just colored the same as his legs.

The primary Jim Lee cover is expected, if not classic. Unsurprisingly, his Batman is outstanding (he’s penciled him before). I immediately am annoyed whenever GL wields a gun. Lee’s posing of Superman is strange, so that his eyes are obscured and he looks very boyish. (The Finch alternate is creepy – Superman looks like he should be wielding puppet strings, and Wonder Woman’s head is too big for her shoulders.)

CK Says: Consider it.

Justice League #1 is too quick a read with too little happening along the way.

I don’t mean to grade a comic merely on expectations, but when the words “Justice League” and “Jim Lee” are connected you can’t help but hope for something on the scale of 1991’s all-time best-seller X-Men #1.

Instead, we’re building up the origin of the Justice League from square one – and you could do a lot worse than that! I’d argue that the first issue of your flagship team should either introduce everyone, be a huge blowout, or do both. This sort of expository story belongs in the individual character books, or – at least – explored after you’ve got your hooks in new readers.

X-Men Vol. 2 in the 90s – Definitive Collecting Guide to X-Men (1991) #1-113

The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and trade reading order for the 1990s run of X-Men Vol. 2 (1991) comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections – including X-Cutioner’s Song, Fatal Attractions, Phalanx Covenant, Age of Apocalypse, Onslaught, and more! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated November 2024 with titles scheduled for release through June 2025.

Adjectiveless X-Men: X-Men Vol. 2 (1991) #1 – 113 (1991 – 2001)

After almost thirty years with Uncanny X-Men as the core book in the X-Universe, Marvel launched a second, adjectiveless flagship X-Men book in 1991.

X-Men Vol. 2 was the biggest possible of comic blockbusters at its launch – it’s first issue remains the highest-selling comic of all time over 25 years after its release!

It featured the hottest team in comics battling their most-iconic villain in a gut-wrenchingly awesome story penned by their most-celebrated scribe (Chris Claremont) and with all-new looks from the hottest artist in the industry (Jim Lee). The regular roster was even stacked with fan favorites – Cyclops, Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit, Rogue, and Psylocke!

Yet, things were unraveling behind the scenes almost before the book was underway. Claremont departed after issue #3, unhappy with Marvel’s increasing tendency to give their superstar artists like Lee the leeway while rushing writers (a subsequent brief stint by John Byrne ended similarly).

Lee lasted for less than a dozen issues before leaving to become a founder of Image Comics.

Despite the break-up of that initial creative team team, this volume remained a who’s who of X-creators – Fabian Nicieza scripted nearly half of this volume, followed by brief writing runs by Terry Kavanagh, Joe Casey, and Mark Waid.

The book also sustained a strong stable of artists, with Andy Kubert helping to define the look of the early-90s era of X for a third of this run. Claremont would later return for a run, and Alan Davis both wrote and penciled an arc.

This period is exemplified by more then 20 different events, direct crossovers, or runs with informal crossovers with Uncanny X-Men (1963) it endured in its first 100 issues. The team’s A-list roster held up for almost two years before the crossovers muddied the lines between this and the flagship Uncanny X-Men, robbing the book of definition and the Rogue and Gambit drama that drove its earliest issues. [Read more…] about X-Men Vol. 2 in the 90s – Definitive Collecting Guide to X-Men (1991) #1-113

X-Men by Chris Claremont – Definitive Collecting Guide to Uncanny X-Men #94-280

The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and trade reading order for the original run of Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated November 2024 with titles scheduled for release through July 2025.

Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont (1975 – 1991)

X-Men did not officially become Uncanny X-Men until issue #142. However, the cover featured the “Uncanny” adjective starting with #114. Ultimately, many fans and comics resources refer to the entire relaunch from issue #94 forward as Uncanny X-Men – a convention Marvel upholds with the titling of their Marvel Masterworks reprints.

This 16-year period of X-Men by Chris Claremont is indisputable as the most classic era of X-Men, as well as generally considered to be one of the best runs of superhero comics of all time. The vast majority of thematic material later expressed in other forms of X-Men media including films, games, and toys originated in this run.

It all begins in 1975 with Len Wein and Dave Cockrum on Giant Size X-Men, which brought back Wolverine from a single appearance in Incredible Hulk and introduced a trio of characters that have become anchors of the franchise: Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler. It also brought Banshee and Sunfire back into the X-Men cast from their earlier Silver Age appearances, plus introduced Krakoa – the mutant island!

Chris Claremont took over writing duties from Len Wein just a few issues later. Under his pen, the trio of Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus would persist throughout a historic 16-year run that saw X-Men go from a marginal book returning from cancellation to the most-popular comic book franchise in America.

Along the way Claremont and a who’s who of artist collaborators steered the title through many signature foes and historic plots that have influenced movies, books, games, and toys for decades.

The first half of Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont – alongside Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, and John Romita Jr. – features a core of the classic Giant Size team, plus Kitty Pryde, under the leadership of Cyclops and Professor Xavier.

It included classic storylines like Proteus, The Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, The Brood Saga, and God Loves Man Kills. Claremont and his collaborators introduced characters including Moira MacTaggert, Lilandra and the Shi’ar Empire, Arcade, Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club, Dazzler, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Summers, Callisto, Caliban, Forge, Selene, and many more – including importing Mystique and Deathbird from his run on Ms. Marvel! Plus, it saw him launch New Mutants and begin Magneto’s heroic turn.

The latter half of Chris Claremont’s landmark run on Uncanny X-Men – with Romita Jr., Marc Silvestri, & Jim Lee – begins with Storm usurping leadership of the team from Cyclops, who leaves the team for X-Factor. That means none of the original five X-Men star in this period of the book. Storm, Wolverine, and Colossus have seniority, and the team features some lesser-known characters such as Longshot, Dazzler, and original-body Psylocke, while introducing Mister Sinister, Jubilee, assassin-body Psylocke, and Gambit – plus, bringing back Sabretooth from his Bronze Age run on Iron Fist. And, it featured Magneto’s slide back to villainy.

That period bears a distinctly more dark and rebellious tone, with 21 issues passing with no X-Men team in existence! It also introduces the idea of both X-book and Marvel-wide crossovers with Mutant Massacre, Fall of the Mutants, Inferno, and X-Tinction Agenda.

This guide is not a complete reading order that follows the team through all of their various guest appearances! Instead, this guide focuses only on the issues of the Chris Claremont run and issues routinely collected alongside them. For a complete X-Men reading order for this period, start with The Definitive X-Men Reading Order: Second Genesis.