x-men – PopCult Reviews

Comic Book Review – X-Men Forever: Once More…Into the Breach

X-Men Forever: Once More…Into the Breach (2010)
Reprints X-Men Forever #21-24 and Giant-Size X-Men Forever
Written by Chris Claremont
Art by Tom Grummett, Rodney Buchemi, Wil Quintana, and Mike Grell

Chris Claremont’s strange & fascinating experiment X-Men Forever comes to the end of its first of two acts. The story thus far has revealed that mutants die younger than humans due to the intensity of their powers burning up their bodies. Wolverine was killed by a strange copy of Storm while the real Storm was revealed to still be a little girl. Rogue seems to have permanently absorbed Nightcrawler’s powers and appearance. Nathan Summers is still in the present and living with his grandparents in Alaska. Kitty Pryde accidentally absorbed one of Wolverine’s claws and part of his personality while phasing through him just before his death. Sabretooth has joined the team, and Nick Fury has embedded SHIELD agents in the school. Jean Grey seems to have struck up a romance with Beast. All the while, the Consortium plots in the background how to take down the X-Men.

Comic Book Review – X-Men Forever Volumes Three and Four

X-Men Forever: Come to Mother…Russia! (2010)
Reprints X-Men Forever #11-15
Written by Chris Claremont
Art by Tom Grummett

X-Men Forever: Devil in a White Dress (2010)
Reprints X-Men Forever #16-20 & X-Men Forever Annual #1
Written by Chris Claremont
Art by Graham Nolan and Tom Grummett

Chris Claremont’s X-Men Forever continues its fascinatingly weird alternate take on the 1990s X-Men. As discussed in the first review, Claremont was given this out-of-canon book to continue his X-Men run and started by shrinking the team to a smaller, more easily handled number. He instituted several other big changes – killing off Wolverine, revealing Storm is still a child, and showing that the adult Storm is some kind of imposter. Nathan Christopher Summers was never sent to the future and more. He’s not done and in Come to Mother…Russia, Claremont keeps providing new takes on familiar faces. One of these is a character who retired in Uncanny X-Men and even walked away from the book when Bob Harras pressured him to bring back Colossus.

Comic Book Review – X-Men Forever Volumes One and Two

X-Men Forever: Picking Up Where We Left Off (2012)
Reprints X-Men Forever #1-5
Written by Chris Claremont
Art by Tom Grummett

X-Men Forever: The Secret History of the Sentinels (2012)
Reprints X-Men Forever #6-10
Written by Chris Claremont
Art by Paul Smith and Steve Scott

This year, 2024, I read through the entirety of Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men run. It’s one of the all-time great comic book runs with highs and lows, but always something new and interesting. It came from when comic book characters were not IPs making billions of dollars in box office revenue. With less scrutiny came more creativity & risk. But, by 1991, Marvel Comics wanted an X-Men comic that wasn’t so weird and had traditional team dynamics with missions against the villains of the month. Claremont stepped away. But he wouldn’t burn his bridges; Claremont understood the spotlight shifted to the hot young artists like Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld in the early 1990s. He kept plugging away with little projects here and there, even writing for DC Comics. Eventually, he started writing new stories for Marvel about many of the characters he helped to create. The idea was to have Claremont write an out-of-continuity series that continued his X-Men as if there had never been an interruption. Sounds great, right? It’s one of the most insane X-Men things I’ve read in a long time.

Comic Book Review – X-Men by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee Omnibus Volume Two

X-Men by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee Omnibus Volume Two (2022)
Reprints X-Factor #63-70, Uncanny X-Men #273-280, X-Men #1-11, and Ghost Rider #26-27
Written by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Whilce Portacio, Jim Lee, Fabian Nicieza, Peter David, John Byrne, Scott Lobdell, and Howard Mackie
Art by Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Klaus Janson, Marc Silvestri, Rick Leonardi, Michael Golden, Larry Stroman, Paul Smith, Andy Kubert, Steven Butler, Kirk Jarvinen, Ron Wagner, Art Thibert, Scott Williams, Hilary Barta, Josef Rubenstein, Michael Bair, Mike Witherby, Karl Alstaetter, and Dan Panosian

The first X-Men comic I ever read in full was Chris Claremont’s final issue. I didn’t know it at the time. It was Christmas 1991. For the last couple of years, I had desperately wanted one of 22 issue comic book grab bags sold in the Sears Wishbook. Having grown up watching Challenge of the Superfriends, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and other animated series, my interest had been piqued. Occasionally, I’d convince my mother to buy me a comic book at the grocery store, or I’d spend some birthday money to pick up a couple. That same year, I purchased some Superman books and a Wolverine comic. But this Christmas gift was the one that changed everything. This was the year I became a comic book collector, not for money, but because I was enamored with these complex worlds and their colorful characters.

Comic Book Review – X-Men: Days of Future Present and The X-Tinction Agenda

X-Men: Days of Future Present (1989)
Reprints Fantastic Four Annual #23, The New Mutants Annual #6, X-Factor Annual #5, and Uncanny X-Men Annual #14
Written by Walt Simonson, Louise Simonson, and Chris Claremont
Art by Jackson Guice, Geof Isherwood, Terry Shoemaker, Chris Wozniak, Scott Williams, Allen Milgrom, Art Thibert, Harry Candelario, Jon Bogdanove, Arthur Adams, Dan Green, Steve Moncuse, Art Thibert, and Bob Wiacek

X-Men: The X-Tinction Agenda (1992)
Reprints Uncanny X-Men #270-272, New Mutants #95-97, and X-Factor #60-62
Written by Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson
Art by Jim Lee, Art Thibert, Scott Williams, Rob Liefeld, Joe Rubinstein, Jon Bogdanove, John Caponigro, Al Milgrom, and Guang Yap

Two of Chris Claremont’s stories dominated his run and every subsequent run to follow – “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past.” That latter story inspires “Days of Future Present,” a kind of sequel focusing on the adult Franklin Richards introduced in the old story. Over in the pages of Louise Simonson’s Power Pack, she had included Franklin, the son of Mr. Fantastic, and the Invisible Woman showcases his burgeoning mutant powers. The adult version of Franklin is essentially a god who can reshape reality. He’s searching for his lost love, Rachel Summers.

Comic Book Review – X-Men by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee Omnibus Volume One

X-Men by Chris Claremont & Jim Lee Omnibus Volume One (2021)
Reprints Uncanny X-Men #244-269, X-Men Annual #13, and Classic X-Men #39
Written by Chris Claremont and Ann Nocenti
Art by Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Rob Liefeld, Rick Leonardi, Kieron Dwyer, Bill Jaaska, Whilce Portacio, Mike Collins, Dan Green, Steve Leialoha, Kent Williams, Scott Williams, Josef Rubenstein, and Art Thibert

Following the conclusion of Inferno, Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men entered a strange period. He would wrap up the Australia-era team only to disband the X-Men. Yet the comic would continue. Instead of team-centered stories, the book became a rotating anthology about mutants who had been or were associated with the X-Men. There wasn’t a team officially bearing that name for nearly a year, but the stories continued. What was happening was a showdown between Claremont and new line editor Bob Harras.

Comic Book Review – X-Men: Inferno Omnibus

X-Men: Inferno Omnibus (2018)
Reprints X-Factor #33-40, X-Factor Annual #4, X-Terminators #1-4, Uncanny X-Men #239-243 and New Mutants #71-73
Written by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, and Mark Gruenwald
Art by Marc Silvestri, Walter Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, Terry Shoemaker, Bret Blevins, Jim Fern, Rob Liefeld, Dan Green, Bob Wiacek, Al Williamson, Al Migrom, Joe Rubenstein, Mike Manley, and Hilary Barta

For five years, Madelyne Pryor had existed as a mystery in the X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe. A few years after losing Jean Grey, Cyclops met her doppelganger, an Alaskan pilot. Their love blossomed, they married, and they even had a baby. But then Jean miraculously returned, and Cyclops abandoned his wife and child so that he could head back to New York City as part of X-Factor. Maddie was attacked by the Marauders, and her baby was stolen. She’d end up with the X-Men in Dallas, where they were killed in front of television cameras only to be resurrected by the goddess Roma and sent off into a new chapter of life in the Australian Outback. Finally, Claremont would reveal the true nature of Maddie in what would serve as the first true X-Men crossover, an event that touched on all the ongoing books and had tie-ins throughout the Marvel Universe.

Comic Book Review – X-Men: Inferno Prologue Omnibus

X-Men: Inferno Prologue Omnibus (2021)
Reprints X-Factor #27-32, X-Factor Annual #3, Uncanny X-Men #228-238, X-Men Annual #12, New Mutants #62-70, New Mutants Annual #4, Marvel Age Annual #4, and Marvel Fanfare #40
Written by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Tom DeFalco, Walter Simonson, and Mark Gruenwald
Art by Marc Silvestri, Walter Simonson, Rick Leonardi, Jon J. Muth, Bo Hampton, Bret Blevins, Terry Shoemaker, June Brigman, Arthur Adams, Steve Lightle, Tom Artis, Paris Cullins, Ron Lim, John Buscema, and Craig Hamilton

The X-Men are dead. At least, that’s what the world believes in Chris Claremont’s landmark run. The Fall of the Mutants storyline ended with the team dying and secretly being resurrected by the goddess Roma. These are not the X-Men from the animated series or the films but a roster not referenced in contemporary comics or media adaptations. Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, and Rogue are here – standards that we associate with the team over the decades. But there’s also pre-ninja Psylocke, Cyclops’s brother Havok, pop star Dazzler, and Mojoverse refugee Longshot. Madelyne Pryor, Cyclops’s wife & a dead ringer for Jean Grey, is there too. More on them later, as this collection begins with X-Factor.

TV Review – X-Men ’97

X-Men ‘97 Season One (2024)
Written by Beau DeMayo, Charley Feldman, JB Ballard, and Anthony Sellitti
Directed by Jake Castorena, Chase Conley, and Emi-Emmett Yonemura

I was a big fan of the X-Men animated series on Fox in the 1990s. It just so happened that it aired at the same time as my sister’s beloved Saved By the Bell. Thank goodness for VCRs. I ended up with quite a few episodes on tape to rewatch them, which I did many times over. I can’t say I kept up with the show well after the first three seasons. I definitely never would have guessed we’d see a revival of the series and one that doesn’t just try and recreate the original. Instead, this is a slight maturation of the format and the quality of storytelling. It still reads like Saturday morning cartoons, albeit with a more modern serialized structure.

Comic Book Review – X-Men: Fall of the Mutants Omnibus

X-Men: The Fall of the Mutants Omnibus (2022)
Reprints New Mutants #55-61, Uncanny X-Men #220-227, X-Factor #18-26, Captain America #339, Daredevil #252, Fantastic Four #312, Incredible Hulk #336-337 & 340, and Power Pack #35
Written by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Peter David, Ann Nocenti, Mark Gruenwald, & Steve Englehart
Art by John Romita Jr, Marc Silvestri, Walt Simonson, June Brigman, Todd McFarlane, Sal Buscema, Jon Bogdanove, Kieron Dwyer, Keith Pollard, Kerry Gammill, & Bret Blevins

Mutant Massacre was not the end of the shake-up Claremont wanted with the X-Men books. With the pending launch of Excalibur and Wolverine’s solo ongoing set to start, the writer stepped away from New Mutants, handing the reins to X-Factor writer Louise Simonson. The Fall of the Mutants would be a crossover in theme only; each of the three X-books at the time would have a contained storyline to dramatically shift the status quo. There are some light mentions of events in the other books, but nothing that would force readers to buy all three. The tie-ins to other comics are even less necessary and can easily be skipped (as I did with many).