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Summary: Chris Claremont's X-Men try to survive without John Byrne
Review: When John Byrne left "X-Men" as the penciller and co-plotter after the fiasco over the death of Phoenix (a.k.a. Marvel Girl, a.k.a. Jean Grey), Dave Cockrum, the original artist when Chris Claremont resurrected the merry mutants from the purgatory of being a reprint comic, returned to the fold. Cockrum draws most of the seventeen issues and three annuals collected in "The Essential X-Men Volume 3," but you will also find issues drawn by Jim Sherman, Bob McLeod, Bill Sienkiewicz, Brent Anderson, George Perez, and John Romita, Jr. (the last trio do the annuals). The Perez drawn annual is of note, since he would be drawing the main rival for the "X-Men," D.C.'s "Teen Titans." The Sienkiewicz issues, where the X-Men tackled Dracula, is noteworthy because it is drawn like a regular comic book and not in the striking stylized manner we know associate with Sienkiewicz (I am telling you this now so you will not be disappointed when you read it, although his cover is closer to what you would expect, I imagine since it was not inked by Bob Wiacek like the rest of the comic).The stories start with a smitten Dr. Doom kidnapping Storm and ends with a flashback story where Charles Xavier and Magnus (the future Magneto) take on Baron Strucker's Hydra gang. In between there is a rematch with Magneto (you have to have one of those at least once a year, but this one is nothing special), a reunion with the Starjammers (which means Corsair and Scott Summers might finally acknowledge they are father and sun), and a reapperance by Dark Phoenix (could it really be her?). In terms of the characters the three main subplots are Storm taking over as the new leader of the X-Men, Kitty Pryde trying to fit in with the gang, and Charles Xavier being terminally ill. The villains are mostly retreads, from the Hellfire Club to the Sentinels, and more guest stars, such as Dazzler and Tigra, and nobody really new and interesting. In rereading these stories I know that the artwork is not as striking as it was when Byrne was drawing the "X-Men," but it also seems equally clear that the stories are not as epic in scope as what Claremont and Byrne were producing together. When Kitty Pride (a.k.a. Ariel, a.k.a. Sprite) is your most interesting character that is just not a good sign. But then all comic books go through peaks and valleys. Of course, after the issues collected in Volume 2 of this series, it would be hard for these comics not to look lesser in comparison. But eventually the focus will return to Wolverine and things will get a lot more interesting.
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Summary: X-Men:Mutant Genisis is Claremont/Lee's finest work!
Review: X-Men: Mutant Genisis is Chris Claremont and Jim Lee's finest work for Marvel Comics! This X-Men tradepaperback the famous story arc of X-Men#1-7 originally published in 1991! This is the famous story Arc where you see the X-Men split into two teams. One is calles the X-Men gold team and the other is called X-Men Blue team. The focus of these issues is the the X-Men Blue team consisting of Cyclops, Wolverine, Psylock,Rogue, Gambit, and Beast! Magneto and his Accolytes are out for Revenge against Mankind! The X-Men must stop Magneto before he destroys the Earth and all Human life.This is also Chris Claremont's last 3 issues of X-Men! He left the book after a 17 year run on Unccany X-Men. Jim Lee draws all the issues and co-plots the rest. These issues has the first apperances of X-Men characters Omega Red and Maverick!It also tells more about Wolverine's origin as Weapon X! This is the famous X-Men story arc that made Jim Lee famous! Buy it! A Great X-Men Tradepaperback!
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Summary: The X-men rule!
Review: You can't stop reading this book. Especialy if you're a first time reader like I was' Now I want all the X-men comics. The X-men rule!
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