Review # 79: "X-Men - Second Coming" (and "Second Coming: Revelations")

"Second Coming" is a landmark event for the X-Men, wrapping up the Hope Trilogy with the greatest threat mutantkind has faced as a species: complete annihilation. They have saved the world before, they've faced monstrous fellow mutant supervillains with grand designs that would leave bodies in their wake. They have not, however, faced a hate crime so massive that it threatens to kill them all.

Review # 74: "Necrosha"

"Necrosha" is an underrated story that is a victim of bad timing. Resurrected by former Hellfire Club Black Queen Selene using a corrupting techno-organing virus, friend and foe alike are brought back from beyond the grave to attack the X-Men on Utopia. Selene, meanwhile, readies to feed on the souls of millions of dead mutants massacred on the island nation of Genosha years prior, which would transform her into a God. It's a violent, vile, gripping tale with two very well done parallel stories and a complex backdrop that touches on decades worth of material.

Review # 65: "X-Force/Cable - Messiah War"

"Messiah War" is a big, fat slice of the 90s served up in 2009. X-Force. Cable. Bishop. Stryfe. Apocalypse. It's an over-the-top romp with big guns, cannon fodder and a lot of interior monologue. However, it learns from the past by not getting trapped in 90s mistakes. The stories don't drag, the villains don't state the obvious and both sides fight each other without trying to compete on a debate team.

Review # 58: "X-Men - Messiah Complex"

After what seemed like an endless wave in the 90s, massive crossovers had fallen out of favour at Marvel. They'd become bloated, overly contrived and generally a pain in the ass for collectors. They just plain needed to go away for a while. So they did. The X-Men franchise, which had been the centrepoint for most company crossovers, abandoned the concept for close to a decade. Series like Grant Morrison's "New X-Men," "X-Force/X-Statix," Joss Whedon's "Astonishing X-Men" and Peter David's "X-Factor" stuck to their own stories, and the line enjoyed a creative renaissance.

Review # 57: "X-Men - Endangered Species"

When it comes to superhero concepts, the X-Man Beast has to be among the best. Introduced as a young strongman bloke in the very first X-Men issue in 1963, Stan Lee had the brilliant idea of making Hank McCoy, well... brilliant. The intelligence he began to display in X-Men #3 set him apart from the likes of the Thing and years later, when Gerry Conway (inspired by Roy Thomas) turned Beast into a grotesque, fur-covered, gorilla-like creature it made the contrast that much better. Hank became a walking representation of how you can't judge anyone by not only their appearance, but in this case their mutation. Beast is a symbol for the entire series.