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.

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 # 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.

Review # 159: "X-Men - Dream's End"

The "X-Men" franchise was in a bad way at around the turn of the century. Bloated with content over the course of the 90's, the bottom had fallen out a few years earlier. Alan Davis couldn't save it, not even with the culmination of the Apocalypse "Twelve" story. So Marvel turned to the man who defined the title, Chris Claremont, bringing him back after creative differences drove him away about ten years prior.

And it didn't work.

Review # 137: "Magik: Storm and Illyana"

This will be fun. My favourite comic writer of all time teamed up with a penciller and inker who I recently panned.

Review # 132: "X-Men: Mutant Massacre"

"Mutant Massacre" made X-Men history by being the first crossover between three X-family titles and is regarded by many as one of the greatest X-Men stories of all time. But while it has its share of memorable moments, I really can't say I agree.

Review # 130: "X-Men - Days of Future Past"

"Days of Future Past" is one of the greatest X-Men stories ever. The concept of a time-traveler from a bleak future venturing to the past was a fresh idea at the time, as beaten into the ground as it's become now. Still, there's a reason why pop culture keeps going back to it: when done correctly, it works. Look no further than the X-Men film based on this very title.

Review # 129: "Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 2"

On the one hand, the second "Uncanny X-Men" omnibus by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Dave Cockrum isn't as fascinating as the first one.

Review # 128: "The Dark Phoenix Saga"

This is a write-up I have been looking forward to since I started this blog. With no reservations I can tell you that "The Dark Phoenix Saga" is my favourite comic book story of all time, one of my favourite stories of all time and my pick as the greatest in the history of its medium.

Review # 107: "X-Men - Battle of the Atom"

It's nice to see a franchise heading in a direction I like. What isn't nice is when it's kinda stumbling in that direction.

Review # 90: "X-Men Vol. 1 - Primer"

I'm yet to read any of Brian Michael Bendis' work on the X-Men books, but if he represents the "A" line, then the "B" line is giving him a run for his money.

Review # 83: "Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron Vol. 7 (The Hellfire Saga)"

"The Hellfire Saga" is so good it gives Jason Aaron a serious claim as one of the greatest X-Men writers of all time. It's one of those stories where everything comes together so well that it makes all that preceded it much better. Quite an achievement considering - despite sidetracks from the Avengers vs. X-Men event - it took about 30 issues of build to get there.

Review # 56: "X-Men - Deadly Genesis"

"Deadly Genesis" is a bit of a placeholder story after "House of M" despite some major repercussions within its pages. It tightens up the loose end of Professor X's whereabouts but doesn't do much in the way of forwarding the M-Day storyline.

Review # 35: "Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron Vol. 5"

While I appreciate Jason Aaron's ambition to make "Wolverine and the X-Men" a mixture of both whimsy and darkness (almost like Hogwarts with mutants,) there's always a line that can be crossed and things become too absurd. I think he may have done that here.