Review # 188: "New X-Men by Grant Morrison Ultimate Collection Vol. 1"

After the X-Men died a slow death through "The Twelve" and "Ages of Apocalypse," it wandered like an undead zombie shambling through stories involving the High Evolutionary and the intergalactic community. Alan Davis was trying, bless him, but the series was in such dire need of rehab it seemed like there was nothing Marvel could do to fix things.

Review # 187: "X-Men - Ages of Apocalypse"

Upon reading "Ages of Apocalypse" and "The Search For Cyclops" (also included here,) I have no doubt you will agree that at this time the X-Men franchise needed to be taken out back and shot.

Review # 186: "X-Men - The Twelve"

With the X-Men franchise sagging, "The Twelve" is like a Hail Mary pass. It's presented as the be all/end all story for the villain Apocalypse. Unfortunately, the Hail Mary plunks on the 12 yard line with everyone waiting in the endzone.

Review # 185: "X-Men - The Shattering"

Marvel made what SHOULD have been a good decision when it put Alan Davis in charge of the X-Men in the late 90s. With his quality work on "Excalibur," strong knowledge and dazzling art, along with the company's similar hiring philosophy propelling the "Avengers" to its all-time best run under Kurt Busiek and George Perez, this move should have turned the company's flagship franchise around. Unfortunately, things don't always work out that way as Davis offered up what is arguably the most disappointing story in X-Men history. "The Shattering" is NOT that story, but it sets it up.

Review # 184: "X-Men - Operation Zero Tolerance"

"Operation Zero Tolerance" is the practical endpoint for the X-Men under Scott Lobdell. While he lingers for another few issues, this is the last major story of his seven years on the title, not counting a brief return at the start of the millennium. As far as swan songs go, it's not bad. But it's not great either.

Review # 182: "Onslaught"

Many people point to "Onslaught" as the narrative point where Marvel collapsed in the 1990s. I'm inclined to agree. However, I never expected my re-read of this saga to make me worry so much about Marvel's immediate future.

Review # 181: "X-Men - Road to Onslaught Vol. 3"

Finally in part three of "Prelude to Onslaught" do we finally hit on some actually important pre-"Onslaught" moments as the "X-Men" franchise mainly under the direction of Scott Lobdell at this point continues to slowwwwwwwwly make its way to its next big event. Well, actually, in terms of time the proceedings are not that slow. There were so many annuals and special editions beyond the two main series themselves that you could find yourself with 3-to-4 X-Men comics coming out each month, and that doesn't even count the spinoffs.

Review # 180: "Age of Apocalypse" - Sidestories

These sidestories are collected in an unusual way sequentially. Most of these stories were included in "Age of Apocalypse: The Complete Epic Vol. 1" due to chronology as the majority take place before where AoA truly began, "X-Men Alpha." If the Complete Epic volumes are what you've come across, I recommend reading this after Vol. 2. Even then, I might avoid reading "X-Man '96" before you see Sugar Man for the first time in "Generation Next." That happens towards the end of volume 3. It's optimal to discover the AoA universe as originally presented, then dive into the background before story matters truly escalate.

It should also be noted that all of these are included in the AoA companion omnibus that was released far more recently.

So, let's get to it:

Review # 179: "Age of Apocalypse"

I think what I like the most about "Age of Apocalypse" is its organization. Melding so many titles together into one story is difficult at the best of times, let alone one in which you've just created an entirely new universe where the patriarch of the X-Men was killed before the team could be formed. Each series can be divided into one of two categories: it either furthers the plot of restoring shattered history, or explores the crises this world is facing.

Review # 178: "Age of Apocalypse Prelude"

I feel pretty comfortable calling "Age of Apocalypse" the best comic book crossover of the 90's, for whatever that's worth. For my money it is the only "X-Men" story arc from the Nicieza-Harras-Lobdell trinity that stacks up with anything that came before or has come since. It was a project birthed from wild ambition, sequenced perfectly and executed soundly. All to examine what the world of the X-Men would be like if Charles Xavier had not been around to form them.

Ah, but in the lead-in lies a flaw.

Review # 172: "X-Men - 'Muertas' and 'Bloodline'"

Sometimes ideas that shouldn't miss end up doing just that. Brian Wood's all-female X-Men team is one of these examples. Maybe in a different world where Wood wrote more than just 17 issues, things would have turned out better. The work is good, only it's disappointing. "X-Men" comes off as a truncated, wasted opportunity.

Review # 171: "Wolverine Epic Collection Vol. 1 - Madripoor Nights"

Great writers fuel great characters, and Wolverine has had quite a few. Larry Hama, Joss Whedon and Jason Aaron are among the many who have given Logan a great voice, but there is no one better than the man who gave Wolverine a great mind, Chris Claremont.

Giant Size Review # 5: X-Men by Bendis

Brian Michael Bendis' X-Men run is starting to show promise on the other side of "Battle of the Atom." Moving the All-New X-Men to the Cyclops camp allows the time-displaced original team to confront some of its issues without ongoing distractions, while Scott's newly-discovered charges are beginning to come into their own as characters. But there are still some bumps in the road, including one of the most befuddling crossovers in recent memory.

Review # 169: "X-Factor Visionaries by Peter David"

You could make a case for Peter David's original time on "X-Factor" as the best X-family creative run of the entire 1990s. Its peaks likely weren't as high as the best the main "X-Men" line had to offer at points, but it makes up for it by being of consistent good quality.

Review # 168: "X-Men - Inferno Prologue"

Interesting technique being employed by Marvel with this omnibus, as "X-Men: Inferno Prologue" collects all material from "Uncanny X-Men," "New Mutants" and "X-Factor" between the crossovers "Fall of the Mutants" and "Inferno." If this is their model going forward - collecting the "big three" of the 80s in single collections - then I am all for it. Better to keep all of the setpieces in one place, even if it does create some unevenness in terms of quality.

Review # 167: "Magneto - 'Infamous' and 'Reversals'"

An ongoing Magneto series was long overdue. It's actually a little mind-boggling that Marvel hadn't pulled the trigger on one for arguably its greatest villain character (though not perhaps its greatest villain) until recent history. Though, I've gotta say... they picked a great time to do it.

Review # 166: "X-Force/Spider-Man - Sabotage"

The X-Force/Spider-Man crossover "Sabotage" has a special place in my collection. I feel it is my duty to preserve it for future generations so they can see everything that was wrong with comics in the early 90's.

Review # 165: "X-Men Vignettes"

Nothing beats finding rare collections at a comic convention. My latest trip from my favourite shelves at Ottawa Comiccon turned up two pieces of pure gold for an X-Men superfan like me: volumes one and two of "X-Men Vignettes."

Giant Size Review # 4: 90s X-Men ("Bishop's Crossing," "X-Cutioner's Song" and more)

I've gone on record before about how I'm not the biggest fan in the world of the writing during the Nicieza-Harras-Lobdell (NHL) era of the X-Men. While they had their flashes of brilliance, most of their work is far too wordy, is shallow (disguised as deep) and compromises a lot of the action on-page.

Review # 162: "All-New Doop"

When news broke last year that Peter Milligan would be returning to Marvel to pen a miniseries about Doop - the green blob he created in the pages of X-Force/X-Statix - I was thrilled. Unfortunately, I think I set my expectations too high.