The day after my birthday and I had the perfect present: a brand new UNCANNY X-MEN #1 at my local comic book shop. Marvel is releasing a new volume of the flagship X-book. The new era kicks off a ten part epic by writers Ed Brisson, Matthew Rosenberg and Kelly Thompson with artists Mahmud Asrar, R.B. Silva, Mark Bagley and Leinil Yu covers.
X-MEN DISASSEMBLED is the title of this first arc signaling change and pain. Loving X-Men means pain. What will be the big moments as a new creative team takes on the Children of the Atom?
The upcoming relaunch makes me get under the cerebro helmet to recall my most Uncanny X-Men moments:
For this X-Fan is all starts far from the Westchester. My first X-perience was in The Savage Land!
Uncanny X-Men #116 “To Save the Savage Land” was my first ever comic book. Half the team and Ka-Zar were captured and being burned at the stake by Garokk the Sun God aka The Petrified Man. Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler and Zabu (Kazar’s pet sabretooth tiger) trekked through the snow, fought off dinosaurs and a tribe of rogue warriors to save their friends and save the jungle hidden at the bottom of the world. Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Terry Austin X-Men – what a way to fall in love with comic books! The moment I recall most is when Storm soared to save their enemy as the tower of evil crashed around them.
Uncanny X-Men #126 “In Search of Mutant X” What a powerhouse cover showing the team on the hunt for Mutant X aka Proteus. Back then I was too young to understand it all but I was terrified for my heroes after seeing what this force of hungry evil could do. Now I would rate Proteus as probably the most dangerous and powerful foe in the rogue’s gallery.
Uncanny X-Men #137 “The Dark Phoenix Saga” Every chapter is pure storytelling bliss from the introductions of Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost and Dazzler to the showdown with the Shi’ar Imperial Guard. From the Professor Xavier vs Dark Phoenix psi-war to Jean’s sacrifice on the moon. I think the most enthralling storytelling panels have to be the closeups of Dark Phoenix and Professor Xavier’s eyes in the psi war – no dialogue needed. The art spokes volumes.
X-Men #1 The second flagship X-book launched with the powerhouse team of Chris Claremont, Jim Lee and Scott Williams in a classic showdown with Magneto after the Master of Magnetism set up a mutant haven orbiting the Earth. The teams would split into Gold and Blue for a new decade of uncanny-ness!
“Fatal Attractions” No, they didn’t go there! It may go down as one of the most brutal battles between the Children of the Atom and the Master of Magnetism. A grief stricken Colossus joined Magneto’s Acolytes in Avalon. The X-Men confronted their old enemy high above the Earth but this time – the battle pushed everyone beyond their limits. Logan slashed Magneto who did the unthinkable – pull the adamantium off Logan’s bones and painfully out of his body. Professor X lashed out shutting down his old rival’s mind and turning his mind into a vegatable. The epic confrontration would have huge ramifications (feral Wolverine with breakable bone claws,Onslaught) for the X-books for years.
“Age of Apocalypse” – All the X-books cancelled?! I was terrified. We didn’t social media to spoil. We only had solicits. Legion’s attempt to rewrite history backfired leading to a new reality in which Professor Xavier never lived, Apocalypse rose to absolute power and Magneto led bands of mutants to oppose him. Cyclops, Havok and Beast were villains. Sabretooth and Wild Child were X-Men. Blink was alive. Rogue and Magneto were a couple. Wolverine and Jean Grey were together.
New X-Men “E Is For Extinction” is one of the most radical game-changing shifts in X-Men history. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely changed the status quo in just one issue! Leather uniforms, hidden Sentinel bases, a strange new villain named Cassandra Nova and her assault on Genosha killing millions of mutants. As the era evolved Emma Frost joined the X-Men, Professor X was outed and went into outer space, Beast turned even more beasty, the kick drug crisis, evil sentient bacteria and Xorn.
Astonishing X-Men Joss Whedon Cyclops and Emma Frost became a power couple but Kitty Pryde was the heart of this amazing run. Nothing makes my heart stop, tears form and a welp in the throat like Kitty discovering Colossus is alive. As Logan would later say, “about time.”
UNCANNY X-MEN #1 is in comic book shops now.
By Editor