X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men!

[areaseven]

Psylocke got killed!

Where's my shotgun?!?

[Pat Payne]

The golden days of X-men are long since over. Back when they had the Blue and Gold teams it rocked, now I don't know what the deal is. Got crappy, so I gave up on it.

Nah, back in the '80s, from the Dark Phoenix Saga up to Muir Isle, that's when it rocked. Blue and Gold teams were OK, but they had lost Chris Claremont by then, and even though he's back doing Xtreme X-Men, I'm still not sure they've found him again. The rest of the X-books are unreadable these days, since they dropped the old formula and have tried to make it "hip" and "postmodern" and as boring as a French film. The writers of Spider-Man (JMS et.al.) at least had the good sense to keep the characters somewhat familiar while still letting them evolve (Pete Parker, high school teacher? I could see that...)

So endeth the rant.

[Hoptimus]

Yes I was very dissapointed that this Xmen animated story didnt spawn a series. Then Marvel brought out that crappy X-Men cartoon in 92(uggh horrible animation!).

I like X-Men Evolution though. It is a nice change to go in a completley different direction than both the comics and the animated series before it.

[Blaine23]

The golden days of X-men are long since over. Back when they had the Blue and Gold teams it rocked, now I don't know what the deal is.  Got crappy, so I gave up on it.

Nah, back in the '80s, from the Dark Phoenix Saga up to Muir Isle, that's when it rocked. Blue and Gold teams were OK, but they had lost Chris Claremont by then, and even though he's back doing Xtreme X-Men, I'm still not sure they've found him again. The rest of the X-books are unreadable these days, since they dropped the old formula and have tried to make it "hip" and "postmodern" and as boring as a French film. The writers of Spider-Man (JMS et.al.) at least had the good sense to keep the characters somewhat familiar while still letting them evolve (Pete Parker, high school teacher? I could see that...)

So endeth the rant.

Big word to that. All the Scott Lobdell stuff is poop compared to Claremont at his best.

Personal fave - Asgardian War. Great stuff, early Art Adams pencils, and the New Mutants at their coolest.

[areaseven]

Over a decade ago, I collected the X-titles merely for the love of the storylines and the excellent artwork by Jim Lee (Wild C.A.T.S, Batman: Hush) and Whilce Portacio (Wetworks). Here's what I had.

X-Men & Uncanny X-Men

I started my collection during "The X-Tinction Agenda" and followed the series from Professor X's return to the team's battle with the Acolytes. I didn't mind Chris Claremont's departure from the series, but when Lee and Portacio left to create their titles for Image Comics, I dropped both X-titles.

Aside from the regular issues, I also have the trade paperbacks "The Dark Phoenix Saga," "Days of Future Past" and "From the Ashes," as well as the graphic novel "God Loves, Man Kills."

X-Factor

Much like X-Men, I was in the middle of "The X-Tinction Agenda" when I picked up this series. Jon Bogdanove's lame artwork still leaves a bad taste. Shortly after that storyline ended, I got hooked on Whilce Portacio's run on the series from Iceman's run with a cyborg Yakuza clan to Nathan (Cyclops' son from the late Madelyne Pryor) being sent to the future, in hopes of a cure to the virus spread on him by Apocalypse. Once X-Factor became a government team based in Washington, DC (with Havok, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Multiple Man and Strong Guy on the roster), my interest in the title went down the drain.

I also have the graphic novel "Prisoner of Love," which was pretty decent.

X-Force

I didn't stay too long with this series, as I wasn't a big fan of Rob Liefield. Deadpool is cool and all, but the storylines were pretty lackluster. BTW, are Cable and Shatterstar still around?

Excalibur

Being a fan of both Nightcrawler and Shadowcat, I followed the misadventures of England's mutant hero team, especially with Alan Davis' excellent artwork. The first graphic novel and "Mojo Mayhem" are excellent works. All other Excalibur graphic novels are crap (especially "Air Apparent").

Wolverine

I occasionally followed this series while Marc Silvestri (Cyber Force) was still doing the art. I really enjoyed the graphic novel "Bloodlust" by Alan Davis. "The Jungle Adventure" was pretty decent, but "Rahne of Terra" was just average.

[Isamu Atreides 86]

did you know Silvestri's coming back to New X-men # 151 in a few months to do the last arc of Grant Morrison's run? should be pretty cool.

i think i Dropped Uncanny and X-men around the time where Stryfe framed cable for shooting Prof X. I dropped X-factor quick too. i absolutely loathed Strong Guy. X-force, i guess i never really got into it, but i did buy the Spiderman Crossover. i never really cared for Wolverine...

[Golden Arms]

I started collecting the various X-books in 90. I went back bought alot of the back issues for uncanny, X-factor and X-men Classics. Salvador Larrocca is returning to uncanny. I really wish he had never left x-treme. He and Claremont were a really good team. I did enjoy Peter David and Joe Quesada's run on X-factor. The book was extremely different than the other core X-books.

[Skull Leader]

Nah, back in the '80s, from the Dark Phoenix Saga up to Muir Isle, that's when it rocked. Blue and Gold teams were OK, but they had lost Chris Claremont by then, and even though he's back doing Xtreme X-Men, I'm still not sure they've found him again. The rest of the X-books are unreadable these days, since they dropped the old formula and have tried to make it "hip" and "postmodern" and as boring as a French film.

So endeth the rant.

Word. From the Secret Wars up until the end of the Muir Island Saga (somewhere around the beginning of the #280s I think) saw the X-men at their absolute best! (not to mention the return of Colossus). It also featured some of the cleanest artwork ever seen for the X-men. I think this is also when we see the most diversity in the team (membership was changing regularly, with people temporarily dropping out and others joining up). Granted: the original team was still called "X-factor", but they still figured largely into most stories (especially the muir island saga.. which crossed between UXM and XF). I definately think this is where the most depth and character comes out

after about UXM#330 or so, things really start going downhill. The Omega-Red Saga in the early "X-men" issues was the last good story they had... in my opinion. They put things in the hands of real hosers I think. Younger readers may better enjoy what's out there now, but not me. I guess I'm just getting old.