| Title | : | Essential X-Men, Vol. 1 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0785123768 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780785123767 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 520 |
| Publication | : | First published March 10, 1979 |
Essential X-Men, Vol. 1 Reviews
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Trade paper back reprinting of Giant Size X-Men #1 and Uncanny X-men #94-119, featuring the debut of the 'new' X-men and the birth of the Phoenix. A dead brand that was last seen reprinting old stories is rejuvenated by
Len Wein and then changes the face of comics forever with
Chris Claremont and co.
At the time a diverse group of mostly new mutant characters were introduced, as the old team, bar Cyclops and Jean were dumped. This new team were flung together as a dysfunctional group, a rarity at the House of Ideas! Alongside year-long sub plotting, sometimes decades long foreshadowing, the background-less mysterious and very volatile Wolverine, a much darker Magneto etc. a new franchise was born, and within a decade was at the top of the American comic book sales list!
X-Men #129, was the first all-colour comic I had in my collection and I fell in love with the series immediately. So to be honest from a quality point of view the area covered in this volume is not top drawer, but as for laying down the foundations of the X-Men, this volume is everything! Fun fact - the book didn't even go monthly until The Uncanny X-Men #112! 7 out of 12. A comic book series that rose from the ashes and became a cultural phenomenon;
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Essential X-Men, Vol. 1 contains Giant Size X-Men #1 and X-Men #94-119.
The X-Men battle Krakoa, Count Nefaria, Kierrok the Damned, Eric the Red, The Sentinels, Black Tom Cassidy, The Juggernaut, Magneto, Firelord, The Shi'ar Royal Guard, Alpha Flight, Sauron, Warhawk, Mesmero, and Moses Magnum. Thunderbird dies. The Phoenix Force is awakened.
Uncanny X-Men was all reprints of earlier X-Men comics when Giant Size X-Men came out featuring a new team of X-Men, led by Cyclops, to rescue the old X-Men. The next thing you know, The X-Men suddenly become Marvel's A-List players. The multi-national roster of X-Men, penned by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Byrne, was THE comic of its day.
While I wouldn't say it stands the test of time as well as some books, it's easy to see why this book was the dog's bollocks back in the day. So much crazy shit happens! After Len Wein and Dave Cockrum got the ball rolling, Claremont and Byrne took the ball and kicked it into the stratosphere.
Essential X-Men lays the groundwork for the X-Men being Marvel's top franchise for a couple decades afterwords. Jean Grey becomes the Phoenix. Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, and Nightcrawler join the team. We'll just gloss over Banshee at the moment. Magneto re-establishes himself as the top villain. The Juggernaut and Sauron are brought back into the fold. Muir Island is established. Professor X and Lilandra of the Shi'Ar begin their relationship.
For an iconic X-Men read, this is it. This is where the X-Men join the A-list, where they break out of the pack and become Marvel's meal ticket for decades to come. Four out of five stars. -
With a diverse cast of characters; more realistic art; and episodic, soap-opera storytelling that began moving away from the simple "monster-of-the-week" stories of the silver age, the X-Men fully embraced the bronze age of comics.
This book actually made me think of the early Spider-Man stories because Claremont is firing on all cylinders here and creating characters and ideas that have stood the test of time and show up in comics today. The Shi'ar (including Gladiator and Lilandra), the N'garai, the Starjammers, the Phoenix, Logan's obsession with both Mariko and Jean...this book is packed to the gills with iconic things.
Not every story is a solid winner, but this is a fantastic start to the run that helped the X-Men conquer the comic book world. -
There's a lot of nostalgia wrapped in these pages for me, and it can be very difficult to separate that nostalgia from what is actually on the page. Giant-Size X-Men #1 hit the stands at a point when I was almost waiting for it. I had been reading the reprint issues that the X-Men title had been at that point for about a year and while enjoyed the stories and the characters it was difficult to really get into it because it was just a reprint title, like Marvel's Greatest Comics, Marvel Tales, Marvel Spectacular, Marvel Double-Feature and Marvel Triple Action (which were also titles I picked up when funds were available that featured reprint stories of the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Thor, Captain America & Iron Man and the Avengers) but there was no new title for X-Men, only the reprints. So when Giant-Size X-Men showed up I was really excited. Here was a new appearance of Wolverine, a Canadian super-hero who had previously appeared only as an opponent for the Hulk, the return of Cyclops, Professor X, Banshee and Sunfire with a whole bunch of new characters in their first appearances. Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler and, my personal favorite,
Thunderbird, all added something to make me sit up and take note. Most importantly was that for the first time since the creation of the Black Panther, it seemed that Marvel was acknowledging that there were Marvels out there in the world other than just in the US. And that was cool! The departure of the old guard members (Angel, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Havok and Polaris) and Sunfire only added a level of realism that to my young sensibilities seemed very believable and then came the death of Thunderbird which shattered my mind. Here was my favorite member of the new team, sacrificing himself for really no reason at all. For me this was as poignant as Gwen Stacy dying in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. And from then on I was hooked. I have to admit that the every other month publishing schedule was disappointing and the contents of issue #106 and #110 almost drove me away, but the arrival of John Byrne as regular penciler (yes, I've been a Byrne-victim since his work on Iron Fist and, dare I admit it, Space: 1999) made me a committed reader of issue after issue. Needless to say, these issues have been among my prize possessions from those years and they were read and re-read every summer for years (until my collection grew so large that reading them every summer was impossible).
Ok, that's the nostalgia. Having said that- most of these stories are rather typical of some of the best stuff Marvel put out in the mid and late seventies. They do hold up, but I also admit that much of that is the familiarity I have with these issues and how beloved they were for me for so many years. Stil, there is some groundbreaking story-telling go on here and Claremont, Cockrum and Byrne are laying the foundation of what would become Marvel's most lucrative franchise for the next 40 years. -
What you may not know, true believers, is that the X-Men are the most widely read and profitable characters in the history of the medium - and it's all due to the efforts of Chris Claremont. For 17 years he nurtured this garden, and several that sprang from the same seeds - only to culminate in selling the (still!) best selling issue of a comic in all time, and to be unceremoniously dumped by the company less than two months later. His creations, their lives, loves, histories, and potential left in the hands of a few artists and an editor in chief who played solely to the stockholders.
Within 5 years, Marvel went bankrupt.
The whole scene is a tragic stranger-than-fiction drama with no happy ending, and an ongoing struggle to bring the characters back to their former glory. There have been really good runs - but nothing that compares to the intricate world-building Claremont nurtured. Today, possibly - with the return of multi-media rights, and with Marvel investing in one of their best writers to handle the line (it's not a comic, it's a family of comics) - good things are happening, but you need about 60.00 a month to follow it fully.
Flash back, now, to the beginning - and the shiny quarter that allowed you to participate every month.
Claremont took over the nearly-dead property after years of stagnation. He had the talents of Dave Cockrum and John Byrne at hand. He didn't single-handedly create the "new" X-Men, but in most senses - he did. Growing their stories and characters from the humble beginnings of Giant-Size X-Men #1 and Lein Wein's thumbnail sketches of the cast.
I didn't go to 5 stars, b/c Marvel's "Essential" line is notoriously sloppy. Thankfully, all the content is there (sans color - a significant absence) - but the design and layout is pretty sad. The cover art is... poor (the choice to not use images by the actual creators is a bizarre one). But it's cheap to buy these newsprint phonebooks - and there's a lot of value in there. I still recommend buying color prints - the best choices being the original process-colored editions. Get Classic X-Men reprints to save some dough - they even have slick back-up stories written fresh for the series by Claremont himself.
Each volume of Essential X-Men really does live up to its name, with Claremont at the helm. The book hits its truest stride halfway through Vol. 2 - but this book doesn't have any duds. Okay - Eric the Red kinda sucks, and there's a filler issue wedged into the works - but for the most part this is 26 solid issues of some of the most important comics there are.
Also - we learn Wolverine's name is Logan from a leprechaun. Praise the comic gods. -
I read this knowing that I am in no way a Geek
A Nerd
or a person with a good memory.
NOR AM I HOT ENOUGH TO BE CONSIDERED A GEEK OR A NERD!! Uhhh.... seriously... why is that sexy now? This just makes me feel a bit more stupid and a whole lot more plain. I guess I just don't get how a superhero shirt and thick glasses make you a nerd or a geek. I always thought intelligence was required. But this shows what I know :P
With that being said, now that you know that I am in no way a geek or a nerd, I read this book because I enjoyed the cartoon from the 90s and all of the movies.
And you know what?
I really enjoyed it and was pleasantly surprised.
This starts out in 1975 where the old team of the X-men is leaving because Professor X found a new team. Well, not really, he found more mutants and the old team was like "Ok... we're done. They can handle things from here."
The only one who stayed was Cyclops.
I really really enjoyed Storm and Nightcrawler in this book. Storm is smokin' hawt and Nightcrawler was just plain cool.
Jean Grey popped in from time to time only to join the X-men again once she became the Phoenix. They really didn't go deep into her story but I know that will be coming up soon.
I'm happy that I read these and while I feel a bit more educated I must remind everyone that I am not a geek, I am not a nerd, and if you quiz me about these lolz... I'm probably not going to remember everyone's name. But this was a lot of fun. I'm ready to read the next one :)
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This was definitely better than I'd expected. I was wary of reading old, black and white issues of the X-Men for a variety of reasons, and some of my fears proved true. Most of the team members are highlighted based on whatever token cultural discrimination they represent: "the Russkie," "Irish," "the black woman," "elf" (referring to Wolverine for his stature rather than Nightcrawler, who surprisingly receives almost no grief or verbal abuse) and on and on. I cringed every time one of the male team members refers to any woman - super-powered or not - as "frails," a noun employed frequently. And of course they're all referring to the wisdom of their white, male boss, Cyclops, who has never ceased to frustrate me.
So despite all the sexism and racism that was totally commonplace at the time (in merely more visible and obvious ways than the commonplace racism and sexism of today), Chris Claremont's storytelling kept me interested throughout. I was even able to be less bothered than usual by the constant reintroductions and the cross references to other issues or titles. A lot of the details and back-stories of the characters which are now well-known canon seem to have not been fleshed out at this point. For example, Wolverine doesn't seem to know that his entire skeleton is coated in adamantium - just that he has adamantium claws, that he heals fast, and that "not an animal has been born that could break [his] bones."
Another sign of the times in comics that I'm not fond of but which didn't detract too much from the story is how the action pacing seems to dictate that in every issue the villains reveal themselves almost right away and have an evil vendetta against the X-Men and the world without needing a motive. I much prefer more recent films and books that have portrayed characters such as Magneto as worthy of sympathy or even as anti-heroes more dignified and effective than some of the protagonists. -
Skakow! Brak! Fthom!
Learned three important things:
1. There are old X-men and new X-men. This book is about the beginnings of the new team, consisting of Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee, some guy that dies in the second issue in this book and then the Phoenix who joins later. The old X-men are Marvel Girl (Jean Grey's old name), Cyclops, Iceman, and a bunch of others that weren't in the movies so I had no idea who they were anyway. I had actually wanted to read the first graphic novels in the X-men series, but that's actually the Essential Uncanny X-men Vol. 1 and, being a graphic novel n00b, I had no idea these books were different. But, apparently this one is better for me anyway, since I am more familiar with these characters from the movie, and being called the Phoenix is way better than being called Marvel Girl IMHO.
2. Wolverine is short and hairy. Hugh Jackman is probably way too hot to play him, but I find I don't care.
3. Cyclops sucks way less on the page than he does on the screen.
Overall I'd say I liked it. Watching the X-men movies is kind of what made me want to get into graphic novels. I was kind of disappointed that this was in black and white. Also, the issue from my library was missing the last half of issue #119, and when I went and looked up what happens it didn't really make a lot of sense. The medium is the message, I guess! Magneto is still my favourite character, but now Storm is my favourite X-Man. -
This is a great collection of X-Men comics detailing the start of the team as most people my age know it: Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Banshee (and sometimes Jean Grey). The comics are old, they're in black-and-white, and they're basically a pulpy soap opera for super hero fans. I love it.
The stories have a heavy amount of theme placed on the X-Men being "different" due to their mutant abilities. Professor X makes it clear from the very first origin story (Nightcrawler being chased through the streets by an angry mob) that even though regular humans might want to kill mutants due to their super abilities or the way they look, it is the mutant's responsibility to use their powers for the good of human kind.
Because this is a rather large collection of a monthly series (over two years worth), it was really interesting to see the changes in tone the story took over time. The story is gradually getting a little darker and I’m looking forward to reading some of the future issues I remember reading as a kid... Nightcrawler and Wolverine meeting the reality twisting "Mutant X" was one of my favorite issues when I was a kid. -
Near perfect superhero comics dragged down by an incomprehensible plot here and there, but hardly. Everything that nerds love in modern comics, weirdly stark superhero drama, personal issues, and a sense of pure progress carrying us along into the glorious future, is crystalized here.
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A collection of twenty-six issues of the 1970s relaunch of the X-Men.
When the original X-Men disappear on a mission Professor X and Cyclops recruit a new international team consisting of Colossus, Storm, Sunfire, Nightcrawler, Banshee, Thunderbird and Wolverine to rescue their fellow mutants.
The original X-Men (created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) were fine, but by the 70s they had largely played out. Then along comes Len Wein's 'Giant Size X-Men #1' and introduces a whole host of new mutants and comics were never the same again. This new roster of X-Men had a distinctly international feel, with each member being from a different part of the world, offering a rich variation in cultural backgrounds quite apart from the diversity of their superpowers.
Chris Claremont would then go on to develop these individuals and give them interesting and engaging character arcs, be it Wolverine's harshness softening or Storm's slow appreciation of finally not only having colleagues but those colleagues becoming the family she never had. This team of X-Men is quite simply the most interesting group of characters put together as a team in Marvel's history.
That's not to say that everything here is brilliant stuff.
The X-Men's stories are completely no-holds-barred bonkers and this book takes them into space, to the Savage Land, to an alien world and to an island which is itself a mutant, whilst having them fight robot duplicates, be mesmerised into becoming carnies, meet actual leprechauns and battle dinosaurs. With all that going on, it's safe to say that some of the storylines are either too silly or too contrived to be any good (the second time they fight evil duplicates of the original X-Men, I had to double-check that my copy didn't accidentally have a misprint, but no, they just did the same story again).
Also, it's interesting to go back to these early stories and see that both Cyclops and Xavier are just horrible people, constantly berating their teammates and generally being dicks. I'd long thought that Cyclops' descent into villainy in more recent Marvel stories like 'Avengers vs X-Men' was unfair on the character but having now read this book, I take that back.
Not cool, Scott. Not cool.
* More reviews here:
https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com * -
Comfort comics reading. I own a lot (but not all) of the original run of the series, so I supplemented my missing issues with the book. Some observations:
1) #111 (the carnival story) and #113 (a battle with Magneto) are probably in my top fifty superhero issues ever. Amazing Byrne art with Claremont at the top of his game in terms of plotting.
2) During this reread, I was kinda staggered by how a reboot of the X-Men title with almost all new characters resulted in a lasting legacy of decades of stories. Sure, Lee and Kirby made it happen regularly, but it's incredibly rare these days to get new characters off the ground.
3) Claremont is of course famous for powering up Marvel Girl into Phoenix, but I was struck how powerfully he wrote Storm, to the extent that her claustrophobia was called on again and again as her kryptonite.
4) I consider Lee, Kirby, and Ditko responsible for turning superheroes two-dimensional (in the sense that characters had actual motivations and conflicts). Claremont and Byrne increased that to 2.5-dimensional. In these issues, Claremont increased the amount of soap opera in a more relatable fashion with the result that readers in the letters column would complain about the character's emotional reactions. (E.g., "Shouldn't Scott be more upset about Jean's death?"). A step forward for superhero comics. -
How did these classic episodes fare in 2020?
Let's be honest : time was not kind to the predominant comics writing style of the era, and even less to Claremont who loves to clutter the page and fill it with redundant thought balloons. As for the rest : let's revel in unabashed pulpiness! Soap drama! Mysterious origins! Unknown worlds! Scantily clad women! Mysterious renegade space princess! Giant evil god bases! Dinosaurs! Disco space pirates! Disco Phoenix! More scantily clad women! Giant evil scientist bases! Reasonably sized evil irish person castles!
Dave Cockrum is not yet quite as smooth as he would be later on the title, but Byrne is spot on from the start, and nowhere better served than when Terry Austin inks. Dynamic, glorious, with garish colours and tacky designs, this was really an excellent revamp of the original X-Men idea. The varied cast (OK, it's about as stereotypical as the Street Fighter II cast, that's right, still), the tensions, the fact that the characters actually had some (even yet-to-be-revealed) background really propelled the title.
So maybe it's the nostalgia factor, but it might rock your boat if you let yourself enjoy the ride.
Also, Cyke's an emo asshole, and the real, sadly unsung hero is Nightcrawler. -
It was pretty cool to step back in time & re-read some many of these. I remember when Giant-Size X-Men #1 came out in 1975. I had my parents buy me a copy at Pantry Pride (a local, now long-defunct supermarket). I followed the series for a while after that, but at some point, my interest began to wane & the latter half of this collection was all brand-new to me. I was fascinated by the arrival of John Byrne as a writer & artist since I caught on a few years later & began following them again. This was a nice opportunity to get caught up.
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It took me a LONG time to actually get into this. I would pick it up, read a bit, and put it down again for months.
After some convincing from my husband that these comics were actually good, I started reading again and I’m so glad I did.
The story arc in space is my favorite for sure, but everything after the first couple of issues is honestly really great. And it made me appreciate even more some more recent comics that are inspired by this style (Squirrel Girl).
As my husband says, it’s a soap opera with superhero’s and I love it. -
I've never read any of the old X-men stuff before but I was always a bit fan of the 90s cartoon, so it was fun to get a glimpse at the original stories. Some of the stuff in this volume is quite cringey or downright WTF, but there's some good stories in there too and I was pleased to find that most of my fave chars were more or less the same as in later iterations.
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Pretty good. Unwritten rule in comics that if you are driving anywhere, your vehicle must blow up. Which it did. In eight straight issues.
Also, can we not kill off the only Indigenous member of the X-Men for feels? Kind of insensitive.
(Not a review, but my phone autocorrected 'kill' to 'lol' and now I'm going to put it in the freezer and hide in my bathroom) -
It's the character work that really stands out here. The team learning to work together and the little character moments really differentiate this from other comics of the time. The X-Men have indeed left an indelible mark on both the comic book reader and creators.
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Had most of my favorites in this collection of Xmen comics. very good.
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Possibly the most enjoyable of the Marvel essential series. Very good stories.
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My one gripe is that the pool scene was left out but the reference to it in a later issue was left in. Oh the comedy most people reading this book missed out on.
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Great.
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The begining of the greatest and longest run on X-Men history. Even if it is dense by today standards, for me it still hold of as an example of good comic storytelling.
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Where it all began... err rebegan. Len Wein and Dave Cockrum take the dormant and hardly spectacular original series and, as the title says, make it "all-new, all-different". Giant Size X-Men #1 actually isn't the greatest of stories. Not well written short of perhaps the Nightcrawler beginning, if you like your comic narrative boxes a tad over the top. But the character creation itself is an achievement in itself. Though it would take Claremont and later Byrne to start filling them out better.
And by the end of this essential Byrne has begun to take over and Claremont is getting a feel for the characters and the wheels begin to pick up speed.
The recently deceased Dave Cockrum is not my favorite of artists, but he left lasting character designs for three of the most memorable X-Men characters. He is a tad prone to the overdramaticized yelling that Neal Adams and others enjoyed doing as well. There was also some creative paneling. I will assume he is responsible for them.
Claremont's writing really focuses on telling a story over a few issues and creating the hints for his later stories in the midst of the priors. Not exactly new, but I haven't seen it practiced this often this early in comics.
And of course there's the Thunderbird incident. I have seen this copied many times to try and raise the stakes right off the bat in a series. That is probably more Wein's creation though. Or Claremont just really really didn't like Mr. Proudstar.
Anyways the essential has a fairly memorable Sentinel story, the introduction of the Shi'ar/Starjammer characters in the M'Kraan crystal storyline, Magneto's return (he's still poorly motivated), a return to the Savage Land, and a trip to Japan. Along with some setup for Proteus, oh and Jean Grey is calling herself the Phoenix or something like that.
First Appearances: Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, Thunderbird, Moira, Phoenix, Lilandra, Shi'ar peoples, Imperial Guard, Starjammers, Vindicator/Weapon Alpha, the N'Garai, Black Tom, Amahl Farouk/he-goes-by-another-name-but-i-won't-spoil-it and plenty of little plot threads that will play out later.
Contains Giant Size X-Men #1 and The Uncanny X-Men #94-119 -
I bought this because I wanted to see more of where the X-Men that I love started from. I was disappointed that this wasn't the stories of the first X-Men, but the second, "New" X-Men (Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Banshee, etc.) Not that I don't like those guys, I just wanted to look at the beginning and get to these guys in their time. That aside, this was a wonderful little glimpse into why the X-Men became as big and important as they did. The Phoenix story really is wonderful and original, and has some beautiful abstract-ish writing. The stories (esp. the villains) are "simpler" than I'm used to the comics of today being, but there are definitely hidden jems there still to be found.
Even though it took me very long to read this (it's quite large and not that portable) I thoroughly enjoyed it, but would never expect a non X-Men fan to be overly impressed by it. I just can't help but love the origins of something that became such a big part of my life.
Some beautiful old fashioned art, which I've been meaning to have some fun sketching (esp. since this is April and I'm taking the April drawing challenge to draw a picture every day!)
P.S. I realize *now* that I need to buy Essential Classic X-Men Vol. 1 & 2 and Essential Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 to get to the first beginnings. They've been added to my wish-list. ;)
