X-Men: Inferno Prologue by Louise Simonson

X-Men: Inferno Prologue Reviews

• 
  Sean Gibson

  You know that feeling right before you sneeze? How it’s like simultaneously unbearable, but also kind of nice, because you know you’re going to feel better when it all comes out and your nose doesn’t tickle so much anymore? And, you know how sometimes you feel that way, but then lose the need to sneeze? That’s this collection, for the most part.
  
  We can debate the merits of Inferno elsewhere (for my money, it’s the subsequent sneeze, only instead of getting a threefer like you needed, you only get a pair of sneezes, and you’re left a little unsatisfied and wishing there was something more consequential, like a primo snot rocket), but the lead-up to it feels like a lot of dithering without much particular purpose (an aborted dry sneeze, if you will). There are a few solid issues here and there (notwithstanding Walt Simonson’s oddly angular representation of our good friends in X-Factor), but it’s mostly pretty meh, particularly the lamentable “Beast gets dumber every time he uses his powers!” subplot. (Like, how do you know if he’s using his powers? Does he lose an IQ point every time he picks up a milk jug, or just when he hoists a detached sentinel hand over his head?) Even Chris Claremont, who’s the all-time greatest when it comes to soapy drama without much action, offers up some Uncanny issues that could best be described as milquetoast (though the Brood issues aren’t bad).
  
  Like, throw some pepper in this biatch and get the party started, you know?
  
• 
  Shannon Appelcline

  As was often the case in the late Claremont era, the three X-Men titles are clearly ranked. X-Men has the best writing, and although it's not at its height of a couple of years ago, and occasionally goes over-the-top and becomes accidentally farcical, it's still pretty great at times. New Mutants is next, primarily held up by the great characters that Claremont created, but definitely headed downward since his departure. And X-Factor is worst, because no one made the original X-Men that interesting during the period, and Simonson wasn't the best writer. The nice thing about this collection is that both Claremont and Simonsson are writing a little better than you'd expect for this time period, so it's better than average.
  
  X-Factor: After the Fall (27-28). Louise Simonson's writing was often this weakest point of this X-era, and these issues show why. They're both very shallow, something that's not helped by the very comical art. It's nice to see X-Factor begin a new era, past the Ghostbuster silliness of their first few years, but nothing particularly constructive happens in these first issues (other than learning about their ship). [5/10].
  
  X-Men: Deadly Games (228). A filler issue if there ever was one, plotted by De Falco not Claremont. It's dull and at the time it was very frustrating, having to wait another month to find out what had happened to the team [4/10].
  
  X-Men: In Australia (229-230). This was really the start of a fine new sequence for the X-Men. The Reavers are a great new foe, and the whole new setup is fun, but the Christmas issue is actually what really shines here, with the X-Men just doing .. good [8/10].
  
  New Mutants: After the Fall (62-64). These shorts are all nice character pieces, though they're all slow by modern standards. The Amara story is probably the best, and shows off what the later New Mutants could have been without cartoonish Brett Blevins art. The Illyana story is a fun one-off, even if it's largely a filler story. The burial of Doug is a rough piece that also captures Warlock's alien-ess well [6/10].
  
  New Mutants: Sorcerer's Duel (65-66) / X-Men: Dressed for Dinner (231). One of the problems with Fall of the Mutants was that it pretended to be a big crossover, but it wasn't, it was just three different stories, of various levels of importance. This is one of the stories that made up for that, because it reflected one of the major events (the Death of the X-Men) in another title (New Mutants), and it's pretty wonderful, because Illyana decides to go after Forge. There are huge plot holes in this arc (mostly centering around Freedom Force and Forge still sitting around Dallas months later ... but maybe we assume that Illyana jumped back in time). Despite that, it's a great arc, not just for the plot, but also for Illyana's characterization (and some of the most important setup for Inferno) [7/10]. The X-Men issue is then a very nice follow-up on similar topics, as Illyana and her brother meet [7/10].
  
  X-Men: Brood! (232-234). It's nice to see the X-Men in their new role as global players, and it was pretty astonishing to see the Brood back, on Earth for the first time! (They've been vastly overused since.) The mixture of the brood with mutants was a fun twist, and the bloodthirstiness of this fight is breath-taking. It's amazing that Claremont was able to have three issues be focused on a fight and still make it interesting thanks to the constant character moments! And of course back at home base, we get the rest of the setup for Inferno; great to see it being offered so far in advance (combined with all the Illyana focus over in the New Mutants). [7/10]
  
  The Evolutionary War (Annuals). The years of crossover Annuals were not Marvel's finest hour, but these aren't bad. At least each title gets to tell a self-contained story with the possibility to be meaningful to the overall title. X-Factor's rescue of a mutant moloid was pretty forgettable. The New Mutants' rescue of Magma was better, other than the bone-headed move to change Dani's powers, because Simonsen couldn't understand how a nightmare-and-dream-based power could be useful. The X-Men's restoration of the Savage Land, and their continued role as "legends" is the best ... but then the backup story unleashes one of the worst, juvenile disasters ever on the X-Franchise: X-Babies. Bleh. [6+/10].
  
  X-Factor: Infectia (29-31). Infectia is a fun character, and she suits this comicy artwork well. There's a lot of farce in this arc, which plays well, and it's overall enjoyable, if a bit long [6/10].
  
  X-Factor: Avengers (32). Unfortunately, this fight against fake Avengers isn't nearly as good. There's some nice characterization of the kids, but that's it [4/10].
  
  X-Men: Genosha (235-238). It's the verge of Inferno, and Claremont creates ... Genosha. Yowza. Not only is this a vastly important bit of background that continued to influence the X-Men mythos for years, but it was also one of the first real science-fiction looks at the X-Men, approaching their story in a "If this goes on" manner, rather than just using them as a stand-in for prejudice. Even beyond that, this is a pretty great story, particularly its focus on Rogue and the the takeover by Carol Danvers (as well as hints about the true origin of Madelyn). Sure, there's some dialogue that's become pretty wonky, and the story is about an issue too long, but this is still great stuff. [7+/10]
  
  New Mutants: Lila in Space (67-70). Sadly, the main books end with Simonson at her worst. First up, we have her introduction of the second worst New Mutant ever, Gossamyr (who was only outranked by Simonsson's Birdbrain). Then we get a long MacGuffin quest where Lila is kidnapped by a spidery alien named Spyder (seriously!). This could have been a great space-faring story, but it's dull and doesn't take any advantage of cosmic Marvel. The only good part of the story is the lead-in to Inferno ... which is burning brightly by the end [4/10].
• 
  Stephen

  Welcome back to my trek across 1980s Marvel Comics. Next stop, late 80s X-Men and other mutants.
  
  Wow! This was packed with stuff! I am surprised it was not marketed as an Omnibus. This giant collection has X-Factor #27-32 and Annual #3, Uncanny X-Men #228-238 and Annual #12, New Mutants #62-70 and Annual #4, plus lots of bonus materials.
  
  So, my first question when I started this was, "How the hell can this huge volume actually be a prologue to an event that only lasts 3 months (3 issues of each series)?" Well, it actually made sense after I finished. Everything after the Fall of the Mutants event sets in motion a slow, grinding set up for the Inferno crossover (much like Jonathan Hickman setting up Secret Wars 2015).
  
  The New Mutants was the best of the three titles in this collection. They are still kids, but trying to shake off that mantle and grow up. They are met with Illyana's long downward spiral into demonhood while the forces of Limbo prepare to assault our world. They are testing the idea of independence and it leads only to more disaster. The last few issues chronicle a space adventure that ends in tragedy and plops the team right into the ignition of Inferno!
  
  Next is the Uncanny X-Men. These 8 characters are the X-Men I remember from my teenage years, the default mental image I have for the team. They are Storm, Colossus, Havoc, Wolverine, Rogue, Dazzler, Psylocke, and Longshot. The world believes them dead. They begin adventures in the Australian Outback, but the highlights are missions that lead them elsewhere. Awesome issues include the return of the Brood and the introduction of Genosha, a country that keeps their mutants as slaves. In the background, Madelyne Prior slowly slips into her destined role of Goblin Queen and Harbinger of Inferno.
  
  Finally, we have X-Factor. The "deaths" of the X-Men revealed to Cyclops that his son still lives. This set of issues develops new directions for each of the characters and changes the focus of the title completely. Now that the team is known to the public, they can operate more openly. As a lead up to Inferno, we get glimpses of the real masters behind the Right (an anti-mutant organization) and we learn that Cyclops' son is a key to the plans of Limbo's demons.
  
  This served as a great bridge from Fall of the Mutants to Inferno. It sets up a lot of plots that don't all get resolved...so obviously I must read on. Fans of mutant comics really should read this. So much that comes up in the late 90's and early 2000's hinges on some of the events written here.
• 
  Don

  This was good, but I don't feel that it was totally necessary to enjoy the Inferno story, which I'm starting now. All in all a good way to get prepped and have some background, but this is definitely not required reading.
  
  Others have commented that the X-Men stories were the best of the three (agree), but I disagree about New Mutants vs X-Factor. I absolutely hated the New Mutants part of this story. They acted like spoiled brats, so hard to like those characters. And the Warlock character, how he kept inserting "self" into every statement was so damn annoying. It's like the was the prototype for Jar Jar Binks. Meesa help self-friends. Yeah.
  
  Anyways, I did enjoy X-Factor a lot, especially Scott and his quest to find his son. So I'd put them a solid 2nd. Good interplay between the team members and the X-Factor kids were way cooler than the New Mutants. Good group of fun loving teens.
• 
  David

  Not really an Inferno Prologue per se. More like a collection of issue betwixt events. As previously, the X-Factor bits are the best because the talent there is the best with the Simonsons, Mr. and Mrs. as well as with the characters of the original five X-men. The Uncanny issues are pretty decent also though I can't claim to be a fan of the art of Silvestri. Genosha is introduced. And the Australian base of the Uncanny team. The other material is weaker, ie New Mutants is sorry to look at at the end of the book and not much fun to read.
  
  And off to the two Inferno collections for me: all virgin material. I really wish I had Masterworks sets or Omniboos of X-Factor and Excalibur. Note to Marvel Big Wigs: Fans need X-Factor Omnibus 1, 2 and 3 as soon as possible.
• 
  Trevor

  Most of these issues were fairly weak, feeling like mediocre filler to take space before the Inferno event. The exception is the Genosha storyline (Uncanny X-Men #235-238), which was quite good.
• 
  Roybot

  Picking up exactly where the Fall of the Mutants omnibus ends, this is the book that starts the outback era with the X-Men knocking heads with the Reavers and taking the fight to the Marauders. Having helped Roma, the X-Men are now invisible to electronic detection (a trait that actually gets used cleverly to both help and hurt the team at various times), and the world at large thinks they're dead. This is also one of the more stable team lineups in a *long* time (and for a long time to come). Kitty and Nightcrawler are both officially out, having been on Muir Island when the rest of the team sacrificed themselves in Forge's Aerie. They'll soon join with Captain Britain, Rachel, and Meggan to form Excalibur (a team that will largely exist independent of the rest of Marvel's mutant books). The team makup has Storm leading Wolverine, Dazzler, Longshot, pre-ninja Psylocke, Havok, and Rogue with Madelyne Prior tagging along. X-Factor also continues along with a fairly stable core group (the original five, plus Boom Boom, Skids, Rusty, Rictor, Leech, and Artie), living in Apocalypse's sentient ship. The New Mutants, still ostensibly under Magneto's care and tutelage, do... stuff.
  
  My thoughts:
  This is definitely one of, if not my very, favorite periods for the X-Men. This is era leans heavily into the "ragtag team of misfits" element, and the team dynamics are always interesting, as a result.
  
  Storm's identity is still in flux as she copes with hard decisions and the losses that the team has endured. Wolverine struggles, silently, with the fear that he's losing his mind or that he may not be able to totally trust his senses after detecting Jean's scent several times (nobody having told them that Jean was found alive and well), Dazzler continues to have a very hard time with her new super hero identity and the loss of her singing career and her insecurity around her feelings for Longshot, Longshot is adapting to and learning about this new world he finds himself in, Havok and Maddy start to form a budding relationship made complicated by the fact that she's technically still Cyclop's wife, and Colossus continues to worry about his inability to control his enormous strength or to return to his human form. Rogue, ironically, is the most stable in this new setting, although that will be somewhat short lived. This X-Men part of the book opens strong with the introduction of the Reavers (described, in previews at the time, as a band of mutant cyborgs, though nothing in the actual story ever suggests that they're mutants) as they rob a bank and kidnap a banker who will later become an important character for Wolverine, when she adopts the name Tyger Tiger. The X-Men show up and just roll over the cyborg creeps, taking over their base and making it their new home. Roma gives the X-Men the Siege Perilous. We finally get the payoff from the Brood ship that we last saw waaaaaay back at the beginning of the Fall of the Mutants (it was the entire reason Havok sought out the X-Men) in a pretty solid story showing a religious figure in the X-Men universe that *doesn't* just automatically hate mutants (a nice contrast to Rev Stryker). The story does a nice job of further pushing the X-Men into uncomfortable territory and plays on their personal conflicts, and it gives us that classic Wolverine fighting off a Brood infection artwork that is, seriously, pretty sweet. These issues also see Maddy's turn beginning, as her personal demons start turning into literal demons. Her anger at Scott and her despair over her missing child result in her making a deal with a demon, leading directly to the Inferno story arc. We also get our first introduction to Genosha in a particular strong story arc that finds a depowered Wolverine and Rogue trying to escape the island, commando style. It's pretty sweet, and, obviously, Genosha will become a pretty important locale in a few years with the X-Tinction Agenda crossover. This is probably Claremont at his peak; the stories are more focused, there's a lot less of the overly melodramatic bubbles and overlays and constant repeating of what characters powers are. The stories move at a pretty good pace, and, looking back, you can see how most (not all) of the plot threads really do lead somewhere. These are definitely the highlight, for me. The artwork is pretty uniformly great in these issues, as well. A+ stuff.
  
  X-Factor: This is my first exposure to a lot of these issues, and they're pretty solid. These issues are pretty evenly divided in their focus: Scott and Jean are wandering around looking for Scott's baby (and trying to figure out what they mean to each other). They have a tussle with Freedom Force that has Cyclops literally blast a hole through Blob's shoulder and has the two of them mop the floor with them in order to show how Angry and Badass the two of them (makes them seem a little overpowered compared to their normal power levels, but still pretty fun). While they're off baby hunting, we also get a bunch of Iceman and Beast bouncing around doing hero stuff, and the introduction of a soon forgotten villain, Infecta. Bobby exhibits his peak intellect by not noticing that *maybe* someone named Infecta is... uh... not a good person. Beast's intelligence continues to wane, but he and Trish still get along nicely. The young wards of X-Factor conspire to prevent Infecta from taking over Bobby, and then everyone comes together to fight aliens pretending to be Avengers. Archangel is flying around doing menacing things and getting revenge. The reason these issues are included is mostly for the Mr. Sinister elements; we learn a little more about him and that he's, well, sinister. Also, he's a BIG guy. Despite very little in these issues having anything to do with moving us towards Inferno, I still enjoyed these stories, and the final story gets us back to our blue furred Beast and ends his dunce days, which is nice.
  
  New Mutants: these continue to be the weakest part of the mutant omnibuses, for me. The stories are overwrought and the artwork is, frankly, ugly. That said, they're pretty important for understanding the Inferno arc, so it's good they're here. Basically: the New Mutants continue to chafe about Magneto being their guardian and instructor. Magneto continues to work with the Hellfire Club and be angry at the New Mutants for letting Doug get killed. Magik continues to be influenced by Limbo and, ultimately, opens the portal that lets all hell loose in New York. The artists continue to have a weird obsession with drawing a bunch of early teens in their underwear. Power to the people who like it, but I resorted to skimming most of the New Mutant issues because they're just not particularly fun to read.
  
  Other stuff in this book; there's a nice Storm solo story from Marvel Fanfare that shows a meeting between her and Mystique that sort of adds to/changes things from the previous book. There are a bunch of adverts/teasers included (the earlier mentioned reference to the Reavers being mutants, for example) that are kind of neat to see. There's a whole Mojo section dealing with how the X-Men dying ruins his profits, leading to the creation of the X-Babies (for better or worse, depending on how you feel about them). Orphan Maker and Nanny show up a few times but their whole gig isn't explained in this volume. There's a bunch of cool splash pages and covers and artwork included in the back. The mutant issues of Evolutionary War are included here, though the rest of that crossover aren't, so you'll need to buy that omni if you're particularly interested. The X-Men visit Savage Land as part of that crossover, leading to the introduction of Peter, the son of Nereel and Colossus, but Nereel hides that fact from Colossus (although it seems like Longshot knows that Peter is Colossus' son?).
  
  
  Overall, a very good omnibus, if you like that era (which, obviously, I do). This really marks a new start for the X-Men and a major tonal shift for the team. This is also the point where the mutant part of the 616 starts to become much more insular; future crossovers focus pretty exclusively on the mutant books (Inferno is the last major crossover to feature non-mutants, at least for a long time, and the none of the non-mutant books are directly involved in the plot, they're just issues showing what those characters are doing while the city goes to hell). It's kind of fun to see how even the villains are responding to the death of the X-Men (I particularly enjoy the part where Sinister complains about how *he* wanted to be the one to kill the X-Men and that he feels cheated by their deaths). Next up, Inferno.
• 
  Jorge Schumacher

  3,5 estrelas
• 
  Vincent

  The X-men issues are pretty great, but X-Factor and New Mutants can be a little hit or miss with their story lines. Still an overall enjoyable read and it’s definitely fun to see the setup for Inferno happening in the background.
• 
  Ed

  X-Men: Inferno Prologue is a grab-bag of stories that are only bundled together because they were published in the lead up to the Inferno crossover. I've reviews the X-Factor issues elsewhere, so I won't cover those here.
  
  X-Men issues 229-238 are the highlights for me. 229 kicks off the "X-Men in Australia" era of the book and is pretty good on its own. The Reavers are fun villains. 230 is a fun Christmas story; 231 is a less-fun Colossus-centered story. 232 through 234 has the Brood showing up in Denver (and wrapping up some long dangling minor plot threads) for a very fun story. There's also some very intense and sad stuff with Madelyn Pryor back in Australia.
  
  235 through 238 introduce the mutant apartheid state of Genosha and are another strong storyline. There's some really impactful writing of a sexual assault as well as a whole segment where Carol Danvers personality temporarily takes over Rogues body that could be confusing but is done really well. The finale in 238 also sets up Madelyn Pryor's upcoming turn to villainy but it's all fairly confusing and feels like there's a few missing pieces.
  
  New Mutants 62 through 70 are less interesting to me. 62 is a pretty fun story with Magma and Empath. 63 is a fill-in that's set during the events of New Mutants 21; it's a confusing mess but has a very cool cover. 64 is the funeral of Doug and that parts fine. Warlock then reanimates Doug's body and it's really dumb. 65 & 66 have Magik attempting to kill Forge to avenge her thought-to-be dead brother Colossus. It's well done stuff and I really liked how Ilyana's confusion was handled. 67 through 70 is an arc featuring characters named Spyder & Gosamyr and it's all as bad as those names would suggest.
  
  The two annuals (New Mutants Annual #4 & X-Men Annual #12) tie in to the Evolutionary War crossover. Neither of them are that good (although very little of the crossover is). The New Mutants annual has writing that just seems off and very simplistic. Like it comes from a Saturday morning cartoon. It does have a very nice Dani backup story, though. The X-Men annual, by contrast, is damn near inscrutable. In addition to tying in to the Evolutionary War crossover and calling back to the early part of Claremont's X-Men run it also builds off a 1985 Avengers story AND some back-up stories from Classic X-Men. I had almost no idea what was going on and the hyper-compressed storytelling made it even worse. There's also a Mojo/X-Babies story that I didn't enjoy.
  
  This also contains a nice Angel short story and a fantastic Storm/Mystique story that really emphasizes the queerness of those characters.
• 
  Chad

  This is a really terrific era of the X-Men. All three books are really good. This is the era of the X-Men after Fall of the Mutants. The world thinks the X-Men died saving the world. They are hiding out in the Australian Outback and can't be videotaped or photographed as they go on covert missions around the world. We get the first appearance of the Reavers. There's a great story fighting the Brood with an iconic cover with a Brood egg inside of Wolverine. We get our first look at Genosha, the island that is run by mutant slaves. While all this is happening, Madelyn Pride is in the background being seduced by demons as the lead in to Inferno. The 3 annuals are all part of the Evolutionary War event that went through all of Marvel's annuals that year. The art tag teams between Mark Silvestri and Rick Leonardi.
  
  The X-Factor issues are the weakest of the 3 titles. It's a book in transition after they saved NYC from Apocolypse during Fall of the Mutants. They're figuring out what to do with his ship. Infectia rolls into the picture and causes big changes to Beast. Walt Simonson's art is great.
  
  The New Mutants are dealing with the death of Doug Ramsey during Fall of the Mutants. His funeral is just a great but sad issue. Reading these all at once though, Rahne gets over his death and fixates on Sam awful quick. I think that was a misstep. Illyana is trying to maintain her hold on Limbo without turning into the Darkchilde in another lead in to Inferno.
  
  The X-Men just are consistently fantastic all through the Claremont era.
• 
  Lance Grabmiller

  Collects X-Factor #27-32 and Annual #3 (April 1988 - September 1988), Uncanny X-Men #228-238 and Annual #12 (April 1988 - late November 1988) and New Mutants #62-70 and Annual #4 (April 1988 - December 1988). This is basically just a linking volume between the end of Fall of the Mutants and the beginning of the Inferno storyline. As such, it's a pretty mixed bag of stuff. The X-men stuff is mostly good, though not their finest, the X-Factor stuff is okay but the New Mutants stuff is pretty exhausting. More of them sneaking out every issue under Magneto's nose and getting in trouble. This has pretty much been the storyline of the New Mutants since Magneto took over and it is just exhaustingly stupid. And the Evolutionary War stuff (in the Annuals) is disjointed because it only tells half the story (the rest happened in non X-men related Anuals.
  
  This officially get beyond my childhood comic collection. My last issue of Uncanny X-men was one of the ones where they are battling the brood early on in this collection. Still, I plan to at least finish out the Chris Claremont years.
• 
  Sophia

  I have to applaud Claremont’s ability to leave little hints that eventually expand into full story lines.
  It allows for smooth transitions between plots and honest character growth.
  
  And to also write like, four series at a time, is impressive!
  
  Going through my updates, I skimmed or skipped basically every issue before the Evolutionary War annuals.
  
  What can I say, I prefer reading about the characters interacting with one another than seeing them fighting various villains.
  
  The Genosha plot was actually really interesting. It's an analogue of sorts that also includes a showcase of Madelyne Pryor’s Goblin Queen abilities.
  
  Also introduced is this Rogue-Carol psyche switch. It was a fascinating look at what goes on within Rogue after she’s absorbed another person’s energy. And how part of that energy lingers.
  
  I mused previously on how Wolverine can be in two places at once, him still being a part of the team and also being in Madripoor. I kind of wish we were told the continuity of his appearances, though, I suppose it doesn’t really matter.
  
  While I was happy I finished this CE, I had wished I read this a little faster.
• 
  Jeff

  This wide ranging set of stories from the X-Men, New Mutants, and X-Factor in the late 80’s was OK.
  
  The X-Men story about Genosha was the best of the lot. But there were a few additional interesting plot lines like the New Mutants dealing with the death of Cypher and X-Factor acclimating to Apocalypses ship.
  
  But there is plenty of garbage as well including the New Mutants story line with Gossmyr and Spyder; Cyclop’s continuing aggravating storyline about abandoning his wife and son (he is the most unsympathetic X-hero of all time here); the terrible High Evolutionary storyline in the annuals; and the idiotic storyline of Beast getting dumber as he gets stronger.
  
  All that said, it does plant enough seeds for the Inferno event that leaves you ready to dive into that storyline
• 
  Jordan

  I read this very slowly throughout 2019. A few X-Men issues in here were highlights. Storm continues to be a really compelling character. Lots of good Wolverine stuff. The New Mutants issues kind of tested my patience here and there. X-Factor stuff was pretty interesting. I just appreciate that Marvel printed this giant book to help me organize my lengthy X-Men universe read, which feels overwhelmingly complicated without the aid of books like this. On to Inferno vol. 1!
• 
  Bob

  Gems include the debut of the Reavers, a crossover w/ *Master & Margarita*, Cypher’s funeral, a New Mutants v. Forge & Freedom Force 2parter, the 3part Broodgang debut, the 4part Genosha debut, & the 4part Spyder & Gosamyr debut
• 
  Crazed8J8

  So many stories...
  
  An interesting collection, part of the Evolutionary War, the beginning of the Outback X-Men, the New Mutants descent into darkness and loss, plus the introduction of a (temporary) new teammate...
  Great art throughout...
  Bring on Inferno!
• 
  Cameron H

  Hey, Marvel, what are you doing with Longshot? I feel like he’s not a character you should be sleeping on.
• 
  Vasilis Fotsinos

  3.5/5
• 
  Morgan

  What can I say? It’s some of the best X-Men comics ever written. Let’s go into…The Inferno
• 
  Alex

  An omnibus containing filler issues that lead into an event series is perhaps not the easiest sell on its own merits. Obviously, you'd be reading this if you were reading through Claremont's run and pretty much not, if you weren't. That said, there are probably less than 10 Claremont issues here, the rest being X-Factor and New X-Men Simonson issues so it's also a mixed bag in terms of style and content (Simonson does an impressive job of writing the two comics distinctly and differently, as well).
  
  As such there are few noteworthy "big" stories here but scratch beneath the surface and there are some really pleasurable one, the highlights probably being a couple of Uncanny storylines - a quick beat-em up with the Brood on earth is a welcome return for them and the introduction of Genosha is suitably creepy and a good throwback to what always drove this book thematically. Silvestri's art is pretty damn gorgeous but my one criticism is that Claremont has started to struggle to write for it and narrative flow is pretty poor at times.
  
  Elsewhere there's some really nice stuff with X-Factor battling with Apocalypse's ship, which has its own malicious AI and Infectio, a classic poison Ivy type character causes some fun grief for Iceman. I seem to like these X-Factor tales more than most. The New Mutants have to deal with the fact that their irresponsibility causes a death and Magneto spends a lot of time banning them from using their powers and them disobeying and him getting angry. It's a bit awkward as a storyline because the X-men can't not use their powers ... (also the Storm losing her powers thing dragged on for too long, didn't it?)
  
  However, the intersecting of different storylines in preparation for Inferno is quite masterful. Each of the three comics is quietly building towards this and has been for a long time. Most compelling is one of my favourite X-characters Ilyana Rasputin aka Magik who is slowly losing control of Limbo as the series progresses, whilst meanwhile the Scott/Madeline Pryor thing that's been rumbling for near 100 issues across two comics series is taking centre stage. I think he's made the decision to go with Jean Grey now, but what happened to Madeline, exactly? And why has she now taken to wearing a kink outfit.
  
  It's cool stuff - it's a LOT to read in one go. My advice is either take your time or plough through it. Whatever the hell works. Literally, hell for the next bit.
• 
  Jeff

  There is a lot of material to get through. Numerous issues of X-MEN, X-FACTOR and NEW MUTANTS. This is quite the long prologue. Some stuff is excellent, but most of the NEW MUTANT material seems superfluous for a prologue.
• 
  Adam Williams

  3 stars on average. I really like the X-Men outback stuff post-Fall of the Mutants, and the Brood and Genosha stories are fun. The New Mutants and X-Factor stuff is more hit or miss, but some of the New Mutants stuff is strong too. But then of course there's the Gosamyr arc. 😐
• 
  Josh Brown

  For a prologue these are some great stories. Australia looks good on the X-Men.
• 
  Nick

  Some great stories and some fillers. Sets up inferno event perfectly.