Rating: 
Summary: Bargain Purchase, Thick Volume Of Classics In One Place
Review: This series is a great buy for those who want to read classic stories but do not want to shell out the big bucks for Masterworks editions or originals. Each book offers about 20 issues of continuity in a single volume. This is a great book detailing the original X-Men, how they came to be, and their earliest encounters with some of their deadliest foes. The characters are developed nicely early on, especially the intellectual Beast and moody Cyclops. The Juggernaut, third Magneto, and Sentinal storylines are quite exciting, especially with the X-Men on the ropes. These stories are from a simpler time but they are a lot of fun. Hopefully, Marvel will continue this series and explore more of the original X-Men, and possibly the Frank Miller Daredevil run, the Simonson Thor series, and more Avengers.
Rating: 
Summary: See How the Legend Began...
Review: Those who doubt the magnitude of the debt current comics fans owe to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby need only pick up a copy of "Essential X-Men vol. 1" to become true believers. Most latter-day X-fans associate all that is good and pure with this title to Chris Claremont and John Byrne. As this collection of the first 24 issues of the title shows, however, Claremont and Byrne were truly standing on the shoulders of giants. How many of these fans know, for example, that Lee and Kirby created many of the X-Men's archenemies? Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The Juggernaut. The Sentinels (yes, that's right---the Sentinels!). Much of the X-Men mythos emerged from the fertile collaboration of Lee and Kirby. Unfortunately, the X-Men were a bit of an also-ran in the Lee/Kirby stable. The stories are fearly pedestrian, the art not as grandiose as we expect from Kirby, and the title ultimately languished until Claremont and Byrne brought it back from the ashes like, well, a Phoenix. Still, this is a worthy glimpse into the birth of a legendary superteam, and I heartily recommend this collection to X-philes everywhere.
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