Jim Lemoine
May 18, 2004, 12:53 am
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/comix10_logo.gif" align=left border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">The Top 10 Moments of the Jemas/Quesada X-Men Revamp
Writers: Mitch Brown, Nick Costanzo, Jon Hancock, Tan K., and Joel Phillips
Editor: Jim Lemoine
"It was the best of times," or "it was the worst of times," depending on which type of fan you ask... but no matter which side of the fence you sit on, there's no denying that the three years of the Jemas/Quesada revamp on Marvel's X-Men titles have changed the franchise forever (assuming, of course, that change doesn't get swept under the table or retconned in future revamps). Where most mutant "creative revamps" over the years have featured little more than revised team line-ups and a few new costumes, the new initiative initially helmed by Morrison, Casey, Claremont, and Milligan was arguably the first to truly earn the title "creative revamp." Costumes were replaced by uniforms, superheroics were replaced by schools, Hollywood, and business concerns, old characters died and new ones were introduced (only to quickly die themselves, in Milligan's case), Deadpool got amnesia, Cable became a soldier, Blink returned and brought some friends along, Genosha got bombed, a brothel got torched, the XSE was formed... all, for better or worse, as part of the biggest X-Men reimagining in history.
And now with a more retro Reload on the way for the mutant books, the era of Jemas and Morrison has come to an end. Is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing?
Well, that's not for us to say.
What we will say, though, is that no matter which side of the fence you sit on, you have to admit that there were some darn great moments in the past three years of mutant comics. Join us now, as a cynical columnist, a Morrison acolyte, a Claremont disciple, a man who admits to loving Maggott, and a writer who can best be summed up in one word ("indescribable") share their Top Ten Moments of the Jemas/Quesada Mutant Revamp. Just for fun, we've given our list-writers several opportunities to interrupt their colleagues and argue the merits of their picks (the interruptions are marked with red text and the icon of the interrupting writer). So read on, dear reader, remember that most of it's meant in good fun (we think), and don't forget to vote for the best list when you're done!
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Making his ComiX-Ten debut, Jon Hancock (a.k.a. Jonberg) was the first to submit his list, laughingly daring his opponents to rebut him:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick10.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#10: Death of a Giant Killer
Stuff Psylocke and U-Go Girl. The most meaningful and moving death of this revamp has to be that of John Proudstar, Thunderbird. Stranded with his fellow Exiles, the gruff former Horseman of Apocalypse found it hard to fit in with his fellow teammates. Slowly he began to form a relationship with T.J. Wagner, Nocturne, who had dated her reality's James Proudstar. After much internal soul searching, John and T.J. gave into their mutual passion after the team checked into a hotel following an easy mission. The two became inseparable despite their "Beauty and the Beast" romance. When the team was transported to a reality that saw the Earth conquered by the Skrulls, the couple was split up and only reunited once the Skrulls fled the ensuing threat of Galactus. John was the only one capable of attacking Galactus, tearing him open in order to detonate a bomb inside the world eater. The subsequent explosion left him in a coma from which he would never recover. Seeing a replacement teammate appear, T.J. realised that she would never see the father of her unborn child again, a child he never knew he fathered, and was teleported away whilst clinging onto her lover's prone form.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick9.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#9: Mimic Flirts with Power
Most people regard Mimic's relationship with Blink to be the character's only romantic gesture. However, he has sought the attraction of another. The team had been transported to Canada and was meant to prevent the death of Alpha Flight at the hands of the Hulk. While there, Mimic sought to regain his power of flight, having lost his wings when he mimicked Phoenix's cosmic might. His scheme was simple and after a night in a bar he convinced, through undisclosed means, Jean Paul Beaubier to allow him to mimic his flight powers. Not an issue later, the shallow swine shares his first kiss with Blink. The rogue!
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick8.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#8: Anarchist's Lady Macbeth Complex
Quirks amongst characters are commonplace but rarely are they so controversial. For a guy who appears as cool and calm as Tike Alicar, it's not surprising to find he has some skeletons in his closet. When those skeletons turn out to be his hatred of his own ethnicity, it's another matter entirely. Being born a mutant made Tike a minority within a minority. His power of sweating highly volatile chemicals also made him fanatical about washing his hands... only it wasn't the sweat he was trying to remove. When the team recruited Spike, another black hero, Tike was labelled a coconut by Spike; brown on the outside, white in the middle. Tike's continual obsession of trying to wipe out that "damn spot" of colour was fascinating. When this was coupled with his fear of being killed off due to the team exceeding its ethnic quota, the character's psyche was clear for all to see.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick7.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#7: Head Trips
Possibly my least favourite idea of Queseda and Jemas' time at the Marvel helm was the 'Nuff Said month. I'm not a fan of comics for the artwork; I like lots of dialogue. However, two particular issues really showed how this idea could be executed well. The journeys into Doop's and Professor Xavier's consciousnesses were full of trippy imagery and illustration. For me, these issues highlighted the artistic talents of Allred and Quitely better than anything else. The miniature Doops and individual fears of the X-Forcers were portrayed in such a psychedelic manner that the reader was compelled to appreciate the art. Not only did this show highly surreal and original artwork but it also provided chunks of characterisation as we learnt how much Edie values being able to talk and how Phat was scared stiff of the ghetto. Similarly the New X-Men tale showed awesome landscapes and frightening structures within Xavier's mind. The looks exchanged between Jean and Emma were priceless but the sheer unorthodox nature of this and the X-Force issue's backgrounds and scenery highlighted for me just how much comic book art can contribute to a story.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick6.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#6: Saved by the Bullpen
I first started reading comics again due to Marvel's dotcomics. (come back please!!!) While browsing the site I chanced upon Chris Giarrusso's creations, the Mini Marvels. Many cynics will tell you that love at first sight is fiction, but I just think they've not seen these guys. They're not only the cutest and most adorable little fellas, they're also comedy gold. There're so many favourites that it is hard to pick out one moment to encompass the series. Thor's "HAVE AT THEE" battle cry will forever echo in my ears, as will Cyclops' anguish at the discrimination against mutants meaning he can't have an eye test. Wolverine's playground gossiping after witnessing Rogue give Gambit cooties is genius, almost as good as his reaction to the Human Torch asking him to play. Best of all though has to be Mini Marvels Hawkeye. This character needs a series of his own. Whether he's showcasing his new haircut or costume in an attempt to woo the ladies, or offering his services as barber to other heroes, the archer is the glue that holds these strips together. Plus he's got his own theme tune.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick5.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#5: Look at the Pretty Pictures, Ma!
I've previously stated how the art in comics means little to me. I'll read a comic and recognise who's saying the words and what's going on, but unless it really sticks out as being out of place, like Tan Eng Huat's recent JLA, I'll not spend time to notice the difference between artists. Then two people just reached out of the page, grabbed me round the throat and slammed my face into some of the most adorable art work I'd ever seen. I'd always admired the painted comics by Alex Ross and Greg Horn, but they were special cases. However, when I saw the pencils of Ethan Van Sciver and Salvador Larocca I was amazed. I never realised how comic book art could look so dang pretty! Not only was it poignant, it was intricate (every time I see EVS' drawings of Jean Grey, I marvel at the hair and fire detail.) It wasn't brutally lifelike but it wasn't garishly caricatured or goofy. The art these two men produced was in a class of its own. In my opinion, the mainstream attention that these two artists received due to their work on their respective X-titles is the greatest achievement that Queseda and Jemas' revamp made.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick4.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#4: They're Not Different, They're Special
Growing up I was always looked on as something different to my fellow classmates because I was a geek. Not a bookworm, but an unathletic sort who had a wide vocabulary. I'm not sure about where you live but in the North of England, being well spoken isn't something to cherish. This gave me a special admiration for the other group of school outcasts, those who were special. When Grant Morrison decided to turn New X-Men into Saved by the Bell with super powers, I was delighted to see him include every area of school life, especially the special class. Any one of these characters could have released a Marvel Icons series and I'd have bought it. Childlike minds are always fascinating and when you've got a group who include a living fart and a non-existent student, there's as eclectic a group of characters as you're ever likely to get. Basilisk, Beak, Angel, Ernst. These are all names that conjure up thoughts to make me grin. The fact that these same students helped to take control of one of America's most important cities just adds to the attraction. The Special Class was the group I could associate with more than any other X team. They were unique, funny, friendly and just cool.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">All I can say is that at least, with the Special Class, we got exactly what the name suggested: a group of mentally deficient lame-os that even Professor Integration-and-Equality-for-All saw fit to isolate from the rest of the student population. Basilisk’s death should have made my list, satisfying as it was, but I wouldn’t want to soil the rest of my list by mentioning him.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/X96Screen5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick3.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten"></a>#3: Who Knew that Nixon Did Something Good for his Country
Comics were something that only my big brother read for a long time. The X-Men were little people on his posters, bed covers, and a cartoon show with a kicking theme tune. When Big Bro first got me started on comics, it was DC. I'll be the first to admit that I have a much stronger connection to DC characters. The thing that got me interested in reading the X-titles in my brother's stack of comics, and about the characters within them, wasn't anything released by Marvel. It was a wonderful little game released by a group of people unknown to the majority of the civilised world. When I discovered it, X-Assault became my life. I sucked at the trivia but wanted to learn. I loved the idea of picking all my favourite characters and finding new villains and events. When the updates started being released I was desperate to find out the secrets and that's what brought me to this wonderful community (now you know who to blame). <a href="http://www.nixonvision.com">X-Assault</a> was fresh, funny, addictive, and neverending in its game play. When the virtual trading cards were introduced, I spent hours in the University computer room, e-mailing codes to my brother so he could compile our album. The more characters that were introduced, the more trivia was asked, and thus the more I wanted to read all the back issues. X-Assault changed my life in a lot of ways (sadly that's not an overstatement). Thank you for a wonderful little game and all the fun it brings. A better advert for X-titles does not exist.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#2: Tonight's Main Event Will Be... What do you mean it's over already?
Forever the debates rage about who would win in a fight between Hero X and Hero Y. However, few would argue against the idea that of all the heroes likely to thrive against adversity, Captain America would be the one. The Exiles had been transported to a reality where Earth's heroes had been captured by the conquering Skrull race and were forced to fight gladiatorial combat within their own weight classes. There were fan favourites amongst the gladiators and some of them even had their own supporters, but the undisputed champion was Steve Rogers. He was meticulous in his attack, studying his opponent and exploiting all their weaknesses. When Mimic was entered into his weight class and quickly destroyed all competition he faced, a fight between the two was eagerly anticipated. The two competitors squared up and the crowd held its breath. As Steve Rogers leapt forward, Mimic did the unthinkable. Through all his fights he always knew that this contest would happen one day and so had kept one last surprise. Cleanly decapitating Rogers with his optic blast, Mimic won the fight in a matter of seconds.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo">Silly Jonberg! Mimic didn't decapitate Steve Rogers in that fight. Cap still had to lead a merry band of idiots on a crusade to destroy Galactus' machinery before finally getting vaporized by said demi-god.
Besides, we all know that the really great thing about that fight was Mimic giving the crowd the finger afterwards.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick1.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#1: GERONIMOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
I'm a big guy. Real big. But I don't mind, I like me the way I am. Cuddly. Big people in literature are always favourites of mine.
They don't get much bigger than Fred J. Dukes.
The Blob always seemed pretty kooky to me as a character. He was fat... and that was his power, essentially. I knew there was something more though. There was a better way to employ such enormous obesity than being able to stand still. Thinking to my other passion of wrestling, I remembered the Earthquake sit down splash or the P.N. News big splash from the top rope. That was how you use weight. Thank you, Joe Casey, for realising this. No image or moment in comics will stick with me as much as the grinning figure of the Blob, plummeting from the sky, having been winched there by about 4 helicopters. That's what I always wanted to do to my school bullies and I'd have just as wide a grin on my face. That one frame encapsulates so many adjectives. Iconic, awesome, hilarious, painful, gratifying, satisfying, and downright frightening. Fatties all over the world should have pride at what girth can achieve.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">Your favorite moment of the era is a fat guy falling out of a plane, which was used as a cheap action gimmick in a sub-par storyline, and wasn’t even an original idea anyway (I think it was even in the cartoon, for God’s sake)? I'm not sure which is lamer: you for picking this as #1, or the era for having nothing better to offer.
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Next up, ComiX-Fan Columnist and ComiX-Ten veteran Joel Phillips grudgingly stepped up to the plate to comment on an era he wasn't particularly pleased with:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">In case it’s been unclear up until now, I have been a particularly unhappy X-Men reader for the last few years. Picking ten great moments of this era is kinda like trying to pick ten things you like about being sent to a maximum security prison. There are good things to be named (free food), but the bad things (male rape) tend to stand out more in your thinking.
Anyway, here’s what I got:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick10.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#10: I Need This Like I Need a Hole in the Head...
I actually didn’t much care for the X-Force silent issue, but the starting premise, Doop popping a pimple and inadvertently sucking everyone in the room into his cavernous body, has to be one of the more memorable moments of any era.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick9.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#9: I Feel Pretty
At the end of the Chamber miniseries, Chamber proves that his interest in a mutant girl is predicated solely on her ability to change into the form of a normal, beautiful woman. Naturally, she tells him to stuff it. It’s an important moment since it makes the point that readers and creators tend to favor the “pretty” mutants as well... an interesting commentary, given what the X-Men are supposed to be about.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick8.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#8: Skewering Expectations
Everybody was so sure that the danger was over. One of the members of X-Force was going to die, and the Anarchist was stuck out in space. We shouldn’t have been surprised, all the signs were there. The introduction of the Spike practically guaranteed that it would be the Anarchist who died. Of course... it wasn’t. The Anarchist came back, and a battle ensued. A spike flew out, skewering readers, and U-Go Girl. And despite the fact that the character had been around for only twelve issues or so, we cared. We cared a lot. Some people think too much in fact, as this moment is the one many people point to as the moment Milligan’s mutants peaked, and soon began to go downhill.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick7.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#7: Oh my Stars and @*#&ing Garters!
Not a particularly meaningful moment, I just like that line. That and I thought we were getting a little blue. On an even lighter note, I came surprisingly close to including “Moo” as well.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick6.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#6: Psychic Rescue in Progress
The New X-Men silent issue is the best of all the silent issues by far. The stunning and symbolic imagery makes it flow beautifully and with a depth uncommon to X-comics these days. This entry could cover the entire issue, but I would like to highlight one precise moment. It is the moment where Jean enters the tower and finds Xavier, naked, crouched amidst broken symbols and struggling to hold his enormous head aloft. That single panel speaks volumes about Xavier, how others see him, and how he sees himself.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick5.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#5: Reeding Into Things
This probably seems like a cheap pick, but I found and signed onto ComiX-Fan (then X-Fan) to discuss this era of X-books. I got my own column and joined the staff based off pieces I wrote about this era of X-books. There have been many times that writing and discussing one of my columns has provided me with more fun than whatever comics I bought and read that week, so that’s got to be worth something.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo">You had me up till here, Joel. Then for some reason you reference some column nobody ever bothers to read all the way through. Utterly boring, horrible pick! Honestly, what the hell were you thinking? ;)
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar8614_1.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Mitch Brown">Yes, Joel, undoubtedly your column has provided most of the best moments in X-Men comics for the past three years. Got ego, mate? (A cheap shot I know, but as you said yourself, its a cheap pick).
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick4.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#4: Let it Bleed...
This greatest moment of Morrison’s run is the last moment... or the first moment... or all the moments, I suppose. It’s the moment where the Phoenix finally does what it was meant to do and becomes what it was meant to become. Morrison approached the issue of the Phoenix with an expert touch, and he must be given credit for it. His final definition of the Phoenix reconciles all past versions while widening the concept into something newer and richer. I’d put this moment even higher on this list if I weren’t positive that damn near all of it will be undone when X3 rolls into theaters and the character makes a “surprise” return to the comics... again.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick3.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#3: The Art of War... Corporate Style
Joe Casey, with his final story on Uncanny X-Men, did more than any other writer in delivering on the promise of this era of X-Men responding to new, different challenges in new, different ways. When the Vanisher wakes up in a hot tub with Stacy X and realizes he’s been “enjoying her services” for several weeks, we knew we were in for an interesting solution to the new threat he posed. The rest of that solution was, for the X-Men at least, just as new: Archangel bought him out. The X-Men didn’t beat anyone up, or strip them of their powers, or overload their powers, or harness the energy of the sun to do anything. They kept the guy busy with some adrenal luvin’, and they bought him out. Great stuff.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#2: Stuff It!
You’re a ragtag bunch of mercenaries and madmen. You must fight one final battle against a nearly unstoppable foe, one who stole your powers, your memories, and part of the very essence of who you are. Finally, amazingly, you win the day, and your enemy is dead before you. So what do you do now? Stuff his corpse and take it on vacation, of course! The final page of Agent X is one of the funniest happy endings I’ve ever seen in comics, and will forever be one of my favorites.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick1.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#1: New X-periences
The best moments, I think, are the ones that continue to move us long after. For my #1 pick, I choose the moment the X-books introduced me to the work of Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, Frank Tieri, and Brian K. Vaughan. These writers showed me something during a period I found otherwise lacking. They each have a new fan in me, and every new work of theirs I read stems from those first moments. This might not have been the greatest era of X-books ever, but any experience which can lead me to books like Queen & Country and Y: The Last Man is worthwhile.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock">If Bishop decided tomorrow that he was gay and then proceeded to eat the entire contents of his fridge, he still wouldn't be as big a cop out as that entry. (Gotta love a cheap pun.) Truly shocking.
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Then we thought it might be nice to have someone contribute who actually, y'know, liked the X-books during the revamp. Nick Costanzo fit the bill:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick10.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#10: Thunderstud
The second I first saw Neal feel up Psylocke in X-treme X-Men #1, I just knew I'd hate him forever. How is Bishop's towel boy, who is completely useless in battle to the point where the Cameron twins are able to outshine him, able not only to shag resident X-Hottie Betsy Braddock, but also able to bag Heather like a week after Psylocke's death? Congratulations, Thunderbird, its crap like this that made us all hate you so much.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick9.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#9: Coach Touched Me in my No-No Place
I had my reservations about the revamped X-Force, but after a while there's just so much critical praise and acclamation you can ignore before you have to at least take a look. So I picked up a copy of X-Force #120, not really sure what to expect. But wow... I was not expecting Coach to drug U-Go Girl and nearly rape her before being stopped. I had heard that X-Force was pretty shocking and hard-hitting, but I didn't believe it until I read that.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick8.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#8: I Liked Him, at Least
Frank Tieri helped to inject some much-needed life into the background of Wolverine in the past few years, most notably with the advent of a completely new Weapon X series. Sadly, not all good stories have a happy ending. One of my favorite, and one of the most short-lived X-Men ever, Maggot, fell victim to the new Weapon X program in issue #5, in a gas chamber no less. Of course, this was done mainly because Maggot wasn't very popular, and no one really liked him that much or even noticed that he'd left the team back in the late nineties. But I was a fan, and it was hard to see him go.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar8614_1.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Mitch Brown">I get the impression that you may have missed the brief on this month's Comix-Ten. Either that or you have some kinky sado-masochistic tendencies that you've been keeping the staff in the dark about. First off, you inform us of your hatred for Thunderbird III... but then you still list him as one of the best moments of the revamp. And now I get down to #8, and you're now telling us about one of your favourite characters being sent to a gas chamber, and somehow this is meant to be a good thing? You're one of those guys who get a chuckle out of the obituaries, aren't you?
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick7.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#7: Collapsed Lung Not Super Fun Time Agony... HeeHee!
There's something very surreal about seeing very cute anime girls attempting to assasinate a mob boss while butchering the english language, but somehow Gail Simone makes it work with her all-too-brief return to Agent X. Not only was that scene funny, but it made perfect sense (in a weird sort of way), and it's my favorite moment from one of my all-time favorite comic series.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick6.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#6: A Lunch Break Leads Me Back to Addiction
For years I'd been away from comics and never thought I'd return. Though I didn't realize it then, the stories of the time just bored me away, so much that when I finally stopped reading them, I almost didn't notice. But then, during a lunch break while working at a grocery store, I picked up a copy of Wizard to pass the time, and low and behold I get an entire issue devoted to the X-Men revamp, and find myself psyched beyond belief, enough to get me back into comics for the last three years.
Strange how this newest revamp is having almost the exact opposite effect....
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick5.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#5: You Mean He Can Still Write?
Alright, I'm not trying to be mean, just honest. I really didn't like X-Treme X-Men for most of the time I read it. Sure it was well written, well drawn, but something always seemed missing. Then came Intifada. Suddenly, I found myself riveted by a surprisingly relevant story with some really cool sub-plots underneath. This was the first arc that seemed to really set X-Treme apart from the other X-Men titles, and even the other super-hero titles as a whole, and though it never really had the time to flourish before the Reload, the stage is still set for some cool XSE stuff in the future.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock">I didn't think he ever stopped being able to write. That is, if you like your stories as fresh as cheese from the 1970's. Woooh! Look at the superhero stories! Look at the costumes and the aliens and the big bangs!!! Yay for Storm being butch again! And if Chris has regained a talent, it's a shame he lost it for his recent JLA run.
Let me make a Disclaimer: I actually like lots of Mr. Claremont's work. It's just that this seemed too good an opportunity to miss for a typical fanboy rant.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick4.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#4: Oh... So That's Why He's In Charge...
Like most young fans these days, my first experience with the X-Men came in the early nineties with the original X-Men animated series. And like most of you, I wondered why the hell Xavier was still around. Oooo, I can talk with my head, real powerful there, Chuck.
Thankfully, Grant Morrison knows how to write telepaths, and in the process made Xavier go from a seemingly harmless pacifist too afraid to use his powers, to a chillingly effective manipulator of the mind. Whether creating a telepathic army out of Multiple Man, casually stripping away the anger of a few Muslim terrorists, or bringing the Shi'ar Empire to its knees while under control of Cassandra Nova, Morrison showed just how powerful telepathy can be, and finally made me realize why the X-Men listened to him for all these years.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#3: No One Saw That Coming
Indeed, the wonderfully surreal ending to Grant Morrison's New X-Men was so strange, I don't think anyone saw it coming. In the end, everyone was being manipulated by a bacteria strain that had existed since the beginning of time. It was trippy, weird, and cool. Not only that, but it explained everything from Beast's transformation to the insane actions of Magneto in his final moments. It proved that Morrison really did know what he was doing the whole time, and gave us something rarely seen in X-Books these days: A satisfying conclusion that was worth the wait.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar499_7.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Tan K.">Bah! I got tired of Morrison-lovers loving the fact that Grant blurred the lines between individuality and his own personal philosophy. Professor X (and for that matter a few of Morrison's X-Men save for maybe Emma) were so playing the part of Morrison's ideological views of the world instead of the other way around that it was sickening. These characters are individual people, and they should have been allowed to remain true to who they were without having a puppet master controlling their words and actions.
And bacteria was the driving force behind 3 years of stories? Please...Gigli and Ishtar were more compelling.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#2: Illusions shattered
One thing you can count on in comics is that the bad guy's evil plan is always foiled. That missile won't hit its target. That bomb won't explode. So when Cassandra Nova sent out those hybrid sentinels, I wasn't worried. Not until I saw Genosha burst into flames, at least. And then, as Cerebra coldly displays the population of the country falling from the millions... to the thousands... to mere hundreds... that's when I realized that New X-Men was something different, and that's what kept me reading after the initial high of coming back to comics wore off.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick3.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#1: The Best X-Men Story Ever
From the official ComiX-Fan review of the Uncanny X-Men Vanisher storyline:
"And Joe Casey finally steps into the big leagues, proving he can’t only compete with his fellow X-writers Chris Claremont and Grant Morrison, but that he has the potential to blow both of them away. “Absolute Progeny” is the single best X-Men story I’ve read.
Period."
Seriously, how the hell do you top that? At a time when Joe Casey was just a little higher on the popularity pole than Chuck Austen is today, he cranks out the absolute brilliance that is Absolute Progeny, a story where even the harshest Casey critics had to yield to its greatness. God I miss Joe Casey... looking back his loss was the beginning of the end for my interest in the current X-Men.
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To represent the Morrison faction, we called in Mitch Brown to share his Top Moments:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar8614_1.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Mitch Brown"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick10.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#10: Day of the Dead (X-Treme X-Men #18)
Easily my favourite issue out of the entire run of X-Treme X-Men. Claremont writes one of the best emergency room sequences ever in the aftermath of “Invasion,” and the guest appearances by certain Avengers is nice, but what was really great about this one was seeing Jean, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, and Beast rushing to their fallen comrades' aid – reminding us that no matter the differences between the three X-Men teams, they’re all still a family. In the era of “New”, this issue provided a welcome return to the old-school camaraderie and family feel of the old-school X-Men.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick9.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#9: Wolverine Relaunch (Wolverine #1)
The last thing I thought the world needed was a new Wolverine #1. Tieri had done a decent job with the character, and I failed to see how a new creative team alone warranted relaunching an entire series. After reading the first issue of Rucka and Robertson’s “new” Wolverine – I completely agree with Quemas on this one. Wolverine #1 was a massive departure from what we had seen on Wolvie’s original ongoing series. Rucka & Robertson gave us an intelligent but bestial Logan, consistent with the character’s essence without falling into the tired run of Weapon X-best-there-is-bub clichés. Rucka & Robertson did the impossible – made Wolverine a title you could feel GOOD about reading again.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick8.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#8: Guy and Edie Finally Do It (X-Force #124)
Forget Emma Frost, Edie Sawyer (U-Go Girl) was the best superbitch in X-comic history. Self-obsessed, arrogant, morally questionable, but underneath it all, you could tell, was a heart of gold waiting to shine its light on the world. In X-Force #124 we saw exactly what happened to make Edie the woman she was. This is one of the top issues of Milligan and Allred’s run on X-Force (though Allred is missing from the credits of this issue – replaced temporarily by equally talented Darwyn Cooke).
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick7.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#7: Superheroics in the Boardroom (Uncanny X-Men #409)
Say what you want, but I loved Joe Casey’s run. Sure he was a little inconsistent and unorthodox, but that’s what endeared me to his stories. He wasn’t afraid to try and mess with the X-concept, and in Uncanny X-Men #409 he pulled off one of his best experiments: Stacy and the Vanisher getting hot and heavy while Angel decimates an entire criminal empire with his cellphone. Who needs guns when you’ve got sex and money?
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick6.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#6: R.I.P. U-Go Girl! (X-Force #128)
Maybe this isn’t a “best” moment, but its definitely one of the saddest and one of the best reading. We knew it was coming – someone on the new X-Force was going to die. Everything was pointing to Tike, but alas, poor innocent (okay, maybe not innocent) fan favourite U-Go Girl is the one to bite the bullet this issue, struck down before we really got to know her. Comics don’t surprise me very often, but seeing Edie impaled on the spike, meekly whimpering “... I’m scared,” came completely out of left field. We’ll miss you Girl! (sniff...sniff...)
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick5.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#5: They’re Doing... What?!?? (Origin)
Origin... who actually thought this would be good? Quemas, Jenkins and Kubert surprised the hell out me with their story of the boy who would be Wolverine. No Sabretooth (at least as far as we know...), no Weapon X, no X-Men, no Alpha Flight, no costumes, no adamantium. Instead, Marvel gave us the unexpected story of a sickly young boy and the tragedy that befalls his family. I was so expecting this to suck in too many ways to count, but somehow the origin of Wolverine was a great piece of comic art, and a thoroughly enjoyable read.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar499_7.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Tan K.">Even though I would have loved to address your #1 choice, Mitch, I decided to let your short-bus ways of thinking exist in peace. Instead, let's address the so-called groundbreaking Origin. Somehow, taking one of the richer, more complex, and intriguing characters in all of fiction and revealing that he was some sick rich kid didn't really do it for me. The redhead was a nice touch, but the rest of his "Origin" was so generic and predictable it was shameful.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick4.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#4: Jean vs the U-Men (New X-Men #120)
Yeah, I’m predictable. The final four entries on here are ALL Morrison moments. I could’ve easily made my entire list full of them – for me, his run was just THAT good. In NXM #120, Jean Grey went up against a cadre of U-Men without her teammates, and showed just why telekinesis is cool. Grant’s inventive use of processed food stuffs and bodily functions will go down as one of the best fight scenes I’ve ever seen in a comic book. And again, not a punch is thrown.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick3.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#3: Silence: Psychic Rescue In Progress (New X-Men #121)
For the most part I hated the whole 'Nuff Said gimmick, but Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely somehow turned a stupid marketing stunt into a truly cool comic book. Quitely gives us his best in this issue as the White Queen and Jean traipse about in Professor Xavier’s mind. No one writes psychics/telepaths like Grant Morrison – no one. Emma taking that belt from her flask, Jean and Emma’s bizarre symbolic communication, Quitely’s surreal mindscapes, and Xavier’s giant head... the entire issue rocks.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#2: Return of the King (New X-Men #151)
No, not that King, I’m talking about Silvestri. I, for one, never thought I’d see Marc on an X-title again after he formed Image/Top Cow, and I definitely thought I’d never see him drawing the X-Men with Grant Morrison scripting it! Silvestri’s one of the best talents the industry has to offer, and having him team up with GM fulfilled about a million fanboy fantasies for me. Big thumbs up to Quemas for setting this up, and bigger thumbs up to Silvestri and Grant for the awesome finish that was “Here Comes Tomorrow”.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo">Wow... stuff about U-Go Girl, Phoenix, Silvestri and even the NXM silent issue. Gee, I NEVER saw any of those picks coming... I'd write more, but right now your list left me in the mood for a nap.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick1.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#1: “Suddenly I don’t have to look like an idiot in broad daylight” (New X-Men #114)
Logan summed it all up with that line. Ditching the spandex was a gutsy move on Marvel’s behalf, and one that for the most part paid off (even if we’re back to the yellow and black clown-looking Wolverine again now). Removing the costumes symbolized the mammoth change in focus, direction, and aesthetic that Casey and Morrison brought to the X-Men. This wasn't just about dressing them up in black - it brought the X-Men up-to-date and out of the 80s.
For me, the new costumes were less about aesthetic so much as what it symbolised. With Morrison and Casey, for better or for worse we got a truly "new" way of looking at the X-Men in terms of storytelling, ideas, direction, and characterisation, and the quite radical shift in how the X-Men looked reflected that perfectly.
Militant Black Leather Uniforms = new and exciting. Technicolor Retro Spandex Costumes = old, tired, and irrelevant. Morrison and Casey = new and exciting. Reload = old, tired, and irrelevant. Are we seeing a connection here? Okay, maybe that was harsh.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock">What is this? Queer Eye for a Straight Columnist? Your favourite moment was when they dressed up in leather?! Comic book issues aren't the only ones you possess. I'm surprised Number Two on your list wasn't Jean's new hairdo, or Lilandra's impeccable jewelry!
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">The thing I found the costumes most symbolic of is how horribly superficial Marvel and its fans are in what constitutes “change” (or, as you put it, “new and exciting”). And this idea carries over into Reload: there are numerous reasons why Reload is “old, tired and irrelevant” and the costumes are none of them. Pretending this is an actual issue of any importance makes discussing more important things almost impossible, and is a big part of why the discussions we have of comics are disregarded by many as frivolous and nitpicky.
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And finally, pinch-hitting for the Claremont faction, Tan K. stepped up to the plate:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar499_7.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Tan K."><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick10.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#10: "So long. Farewell..." and whatever the hell the rest of the words are to the song.
I cannot even hide it in a joke. When Neal Sharra(a.k.a. Thunderbird III) left, I was ecstatic. I am as big a Claremont fan as they come, but he was the flattest character in maybe X-history. Well, not the worst. Lobdell and Austen created some characters, right?
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick9.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#9: "Let My People Go..."
Riddle me this. What caused Claremont to exit in the early 1990's? What expedited the degradation of the X-Franchise in the 1990's? Who demolished all of the plots and ideas of Claremont, Kelly, Seagle (and I guess maybe Scott Lobdell) in the late 1990's and early 2000's? The editors. Thank God they were put in their place. I mean, Claremont got to follow through on all of his X-Treme X-Men ideas, right? Betsy was able to come back, Heather Cameron was going to get explored more, the Diaries were... Okay, well, let's look at Uncanny X-Men. Joe Casey was so successful that he... no, that didn't seem to work either. Well, at least Grant Morrison's New X-Men was given a free ride for three years.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock">I'm sorry, was that actually an entry? You picked editors but not really but then yes but then no. Y'know, I wonder why I bothered at all to think about my list. If someone had told me I could get away with just making each entry a combination of English sentences that didn't actually require a specific best point, I'd have done it a million times quicker.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick8.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#8: "Common Cents" or "Worth Its Weight in Pennies"
Finally, an issue's content that was equal to its price tag: Uncanny X-Men #423. 'Nuff Said.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">I paid 25 cents for this crap, which stinks. I mean, I could have found better use for that money… like flipping it mindlessly until I dropped it into the sewer. But what’s worse is the $2.50 I paid for the issue that followed it, which concluded this mess as the single worst X-story I think I’ve ever read… AND I’VE READ ALL OF THEM. And yet, like the kid who keeps putting his hand on the stove, I bought Austen’s 25 cent Avengers issue. It sucked hard too. I’m one more marketing gimmick away from becoming a ward of the state.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar8614_1.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Mitch Brown">Damn, Tan, you paid 25 cents for this? My comic shop paid ME to take that one off their hands.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick7.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#7: Love that Jewish Girl
One of the bright spots during this three-year period was the return of everyone's favorite Sprite... errr...Shadowcat... in Mekanix. In typical Claremont style, he merged the old with the modern. Last we saw her, she had exited the X-Men for good. We got to see the strong young woman take on hate groups, Sentinels, and herself. After being diluted for such a long period of time, Kitty Pride was back, but she was more mature and not as naive....BUT she was the same. Mekanix was probably one of the best X-books that hardly anyone tried.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick6.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#6: Hey, It Only Took 40 Years to Finally Characterize the Guy....
I know there are Archangel fans out there. Bless them. Why? For a guy to have been around for such a long period of time and never have more than an inch of personality (I'm being generous) astounds me (well, not as much as him having fans). Well, Joe Casey decided to take on this monumental task. You know what? He gave Warren a unique, realistic personality with depth. Something that could be explored in the future. A mutant Donald Trump with some scruples, humanity, and no toupee. Chuck Austen took over and continued this deeper Warren but in a different, more gentle, Brad Pitt approach (with some R. Kelly mixed in if you know what I mean...hehe). Whether you like Casey's or Austen's approach, the man finally was given a personality.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo">Oh, Tan, how could you? Get me all hyped up about Warren's great character development under Casey only to then claim that Austen added something to his character? If by more "gentle approach" you mean violently ripping off his manhood, turning him from a corporate shark into a complete idiot, and saddling him into the most contrived relationship I've ever seen, then, yeah, I guess I can see that. I put what Austen did to Archangel under the ten worst things of the relaunch, right under what he did to Iceman.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick5.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#5: New Characters
Cassandra Nova, Khan, Vargas, Stacy X, Lifeguard, Slipstream, Stepford Cuckoos, Beak, etc. The diversity and newness of these characters was sorely needed in the X-Universe. From the destruction of Genosha to a galactic invader to a group of snobby rich girls, these people added new dimensions to the X-lore instead of being generic copies of previously existing characters. AND just in case anyone is wondering, I did see Slipstream as a positive addition.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar8614_1.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Mitch Brown">You put Vargas, Lifeguard and Slipstream in the same category as Cassandra, Beak, and the Cuckoos? I'm sorry, but the mega-powerful, near invincible Vargas counts as one of the most generic and uninteresting villains I've seen in comics. Lifeguard and Slipstream? Yeah, the X-mythos is truly reverberating from the impact of that pair's introduction. Marvel must be swimming in pitches for ongoings for the Cameron Twins. I've certainly never seen a Marvel character who could traverse huge distances nearly instantaneously with his surfboard and...BEHOLD! It's the Shiar equivalent of the Super Skrull who happens to look like she strolled off the set of Baywatch. Just what the hell have you been smoking and does it make "The Draco" read any better?
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick4.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#4: "Invasion Turning Point" or "I'm a Cop No More"
This arc was probably one of the more important arcs during this three year period. The story wasn't particularly groundbreaking, but there were so many other elements to this arc that people forget about. Anyone remember Storm during the 1990's? Me neither. She was a stale shell that was relegated to the background and made Halle Berry's Storm look like Meryl Streep. In Invasion, (1) Claremont revived Storm to her spirited, strong self. (2) Bishop finally started to branch away from his boring future cop persona. It was here that the transformation began. I didn't see it then, but I do now. Claremont brilliantly started to tap into the talents that a man from the future should have, and he began the injection of new personality elements into Bishop. (3) Rogue stopped being the whiny sourpuss who dated Gambit that she was transformed into. The Southern Belle returned, but she was a little more level-headed. Plus something finally different happened to her powers. Because of this arc, we didn't have to hear about her not being able to touch someone for 30+ issues and counting. (4) This was probably the only epic, multi-directional arc that I can remember. Yeah, yeah, "Planet X" was kinda that too, but it really wasn't. In the end, this arc was about character progression that had been missing for nearly a decade.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">Storm didn’t return to being spirited and strong because she had never stopped (unless we change “spirited and strong” to mean “aggressive and over-sexualized”, in which case you have a point). Rogue is still a whiny sourpuss (short of her white streak and obnoxious accent, it’s her defining characteristic), and there’s a reason we didn’t have more epic, multi-directional arcs... 9 times out of 10 they are long (like this one), tedious (like this one), unfocused (like this one) and a drain on the wallet and patience (like this one). Oh, and wasn’t the arc right AFTER this about Bishop investigating a homicide in true “I’m a cop” fashion? The people rest, your honor.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo">Invasion had its moments, but Claremont dragged it out so long that by the end I honestly didn't care anymore. To me, the only good thing about this arc (other than the exit of TBIII and the Cameron Twins) was the fact that immediately afterward, they dropped the bogus diaries storyline and started the whole "alternate to Xavier" stuff that had me so interested, for a while at least.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock">Egads man! This storyline shouldn't be allowed just for the amount of unnecessary rain forest devastation that went on to print it. I could have told that story in one issue. Big alien invades, fancies Storm, Rogue and Gambit whine and embrace, they kinda die but don't, mysterious villain comes back for no reason, heroes win predictably, nothing really changes except the exit of the three characters needing development.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick3.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#3: Moo (and no I don't mean that scene from Imperial...just think about it)
I like Sal Larocca. I like Ron Garney. I like Phil Jimenez. But you cannot tell me that Marc Silvestri's return didn't jumpstart your artistic little heart. Man, I forgot how amazing the X-Men could be. This is coming across as a knock on the other artists, but it really isn't. There are just some people who can flat out draw stuff that makes you drool. Jim Lee proved it on Batman, and Marc Silvestri did the same on New X-Men. If Silvestri was the artist for Morrison the entire way, I could almost guarantee that I would not have been a Morrison critic....Well, I still would have, but not as much. At one point in time, X-Men was the ultimate book to draw for, but most of those artists are in management, are independent, or work for DC. This was a nice revisiting of those magical days.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#2: All New, All Different Concepts: Corporate Takeovers and Bacteria?
More important than the characters was the destruction of the formulaic X-Men. You know what I mean: soap opera, big story, poor continuity usage, and nothing in between. Grant Morrison, Joe Casey, and Chris Claremont need to be applauded for lifting that huge slab of 1990's meat off the X-franchise. You may not have liked their ideas, but there were a lot of new things coming at you for three years. Come on! You cannot even tell me that you saw that bacteria angle coming. Corporate takeover as the final coup d'etat to a storyline? Classic. If you can suprise me, than you deserve a pat on the back.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick1.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#1: It's Over!
The best moment of the "Relauch" had to be the last panel of X-Treme X-Men #46, because it signaled the end. The "Relauch" was needed to refresh those burnt out on the 1990's, attract new readers, try new stuff, and allow new talent to get in, but in the end it was something that was from the beginning a finite initiative. It's over! Thank God!
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And... there you have it. Five different viewpoints, fifty picks total, quite a bit of debate, at least one pick that'll have you screaming, "Right on!", and at least one pick that'll have you asking, "Dude, what are you smoking?"
Don't forget to vote for the best list in our poll....
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ComiX-Fan thanks Jordan Maxwell for his timely image assistance (in this, the first installment in the ComiX-Ten's history that he hasn't written for and thus bored us all into a peaceful nap during), Grant, Joe, and Chris for giving us all so much to talk about, and Tan K. for writing a list that was so easy to get the writers riled up about. I mean, really, Tan, I like Claremont too, but... Invasion?!?
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writers, and are not reflective of ComiX-Fan or its other staff in general.
Writers: Mitch Brown, Nick Costanzo, Jon Hancock, Tan K., and Joel Phillips
Editor: Jim Lemoine
"It was the best of times," or "it was the worst of times," depending on which type of fan you ask... but no matter which side of the fence you sit on, there's no denying that the three years of the Jemas/Quesada revamp on Marvel's X-Men titles have changed the franchise forever (assuming, of course, that change doesn't get swept under the table or retconned in future revamps). Where most mutant "creative revamps" over the years have featured little more than revised team line-ups and a few new costumes, the new initiative initially helmed by Morrison, Casey, Claremont, and Milligan was arguably the first to truly earn the title "creative revamp." Costumes were replaced by uniforms, superheroics were replaced by schools, Hollywood, and business concerns, old characters died and new ones were introduced (only to quickly die themselves, in Milligan's case), Deadpool got amnesia, Cable became a soldier, Blink returned and brought some friends along, Genosha got bombed, a brothel got torched, the XSE was formed... all, for better or worse, as part of the biggest X-Men reimagining in history.
And now with a more retro Reload on the way for the mutant books, the era of Jemas and Morrison has come to an end. Is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing?
Well, that's not for us to say.
What we will say, though, is that no matter which side of the fence you sit on, you have to admit that there were some darn great moments in the past three years of mutant comics. Join us now, as a cynical columnist, a Morrison acolyte, a Claremont disciple, a man who admits to loving Maggott, and a writer who can best be summed up in one word ("indescribable") share their Top Ten Moments of the Jemas/Quesada Mutant Revamp. Just for fun, we've given our list-writers several opportunities to interrupt their colleagues and argue the merits of their picks (the interruptions are marked with red text and the icon of the interrupting writer). So read on, dear reader, remember that most of it's meant in good fun (we think), and don't forget to vote for the best list when you're done!
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Making his ComiX-Ten debut, Jon Hancock (a.k.a. Jonberg) was the first to submit his list, laughingly daring his opponents to rebut him:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick10.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#10: Death of a Giant Killer
Stuff Psylocke and U-Go Girl. The most meaningful and moving death of this revamp has to be that of John Proudstar, Thunderbird. Stranded with his fellow Exiles, the gruff former Horseman of Apocalypse found it hard to fit in with his fellow teammates. Slowly he began to form a relationship with T.J. Wagner, Nocturne, who had dated her reality's James Proudstar. After much internal soul searching, John and T.J. gave into their mutual passion after the team checked into a hotel following an easy mission. The two became inseparable despite their "Beauty and the Beast" romance. When the team was transported to a reality that saw the Earth conquered by the Skrulls, the couple was split up and only reunited once the Skrulls fled the ensuing threat of Galactus. John was the only one capable of attacking Galactus, tearing him open in order to detonate a bomb inside the world eater. The subsequent explosion left him in a coma from which he would never recover. Seeing a replacement teammate appear, T.J. realised that she would never see the father of her unborn child again, a child he never knew he fathered, and was teleported away whilst clinging onto her lover's prone form.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick9.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#9: Mimic Flirts with Power
Most people regard Mimic's relationship with Blink to be the character's only romantic gesture. However, he has sought the attraction of another. The team had been transported to Canada and was meant to prevent the death of Alpha Flight at the hands of the Hulk. While there, Mimic sought to regain his power of flight, having lost his wings when he mimicked Phoenix's cosmic might. His scheme was simple and after a night in a bar he convinced, through undisclosed means, Jean Paul Beaubier to allow him to mimic his flight powers. Not an issue later, the shallow swine shares his first kiss with Blink. The rogue!
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick8.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#8: Anarchist's Lady Macbeth Complex
Quirks amongst characters are commonplace but rarely are they so controversial. For a guy who appears as cool and calm as Tike Alicar, it's not surprising to find he has some skeletons in his closet. When those skeletons turn out to be his hatred of his own ethnicity, it's another matter entirely. Being born a mutant made Tike a minority within a minority. His power of sweating highly volatile chemicals also made him fanatical about washing his hands... only it wasn't the sweat he was trying to remove. When the team recruited Spike, another black hero, Tike was labelled a coconut by Spike; brown on the outside, white in the middle. Tike's continual obsession of trying to wipe out that "damn spot" of colour was fascinating. When this was coupled with his fear of being killed off due to the team exceeding its ethnic quota, the character's psyche was clear for all to see.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick7.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#7: Head Trips
Possibly my least favourite idea of Queseda and Jemas' time at the Marvel helm was the 'Nuff Said month. I'm not a fan of comics for the artwork; I like lots of dialogue. However, two particular issues really showed how this idea could be executed well. The journeys into Doop's and Professor Xavier's consciousnesses were full of trippy imagery and illustration. For me, these issues highlighted the artistic talents of Allred and Quitely better than anything else. The miniature Doops and individual fears of the X-Forcers were portrayed in such a psychedelic manner that the reader was compelled to appreciate the art. Not only did this show highly surreal and original artwork but it also provided chunks of characterisation as we learnt how much Edie values being able to talk and how Phat was scared stiff of the ghetto. Similarly the New X-Men tale showed awesome landscapes and frightening structures within Xavier's mind. The looks exchanged between Jean and Emma were priceless but the sheer unorthodox nature of this and the X-Force issue's backgrounds and scenery highlighted for me just how much comic book art can contribute to a story.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick6.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#6: Saved by the Bullpen
I first started reading comics again due to Marvel's dotcomics. (come back please!!!) While browsing the site I chanced upon Chris Giarrusso's creations, the Mini Marvels. Many cynics will tell you that love at first sight is fiction, but I just think they've not seen these guys. They're not only the cutest and most adorable little fellas, they're also comedy gold. There're so many favourites that it is hard to pick out one moment to encompass the series. Thor's "HAVE AT THEE" battle cry will forever echo in my ears, as will Cyclops' anguish at the discrimination against mutants meaning he can't have an eye test. Wolverine's playground gossiping after witnessing Rogue give Gambit cooties is genius, almost as good as his reaction to the Human Torch asking him to play. Best of all though has to be Mini Marvels Hawkeye. This character needs a series of his own. Whether he's showcasing his new haircut or costume in an attempt to woo the ladies, or offering his services as barber to other heroes, the archer is the glue that holds these strips together. Plus he's got his own theme tune.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick5.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#5: Look at the Pretty Pictures, Ma!
I've previously stated how the art in comics means little to me. I'll read a comic and recognise who's saying the words and what's going on, but unless it really sticks out as being out of place, like Tan Eng Huat's recent JLA, I'll not spend time to notice the difference between artists. Then two people just reached out of the page, grabbed me round the throat and slammed my face into some of the most adorable art work I'd ever seen. I'd always admired the painted comics by Alex Ross and Greg Horn, but they were special cases. However, when I saw the pencils of Ethan Van Sciver and Salvador Larocca I was amazed. I never realised how comic book art could look so dang pretty! Not only was it poignant, it was intricate (every time I see EVS' drawings of Jean Grey, I marvel at the hair and fire detail.) It wasn't brutally lifelike but it wasn't garishly caricatured or goofy. The art these two men produced was in a class of its own. In my opinion, the mainstream attention that these two artists received due to their work on their respective X-titles is the greatest achievement that Queseda and Jemas' revamp made.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick4.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#4: They're Not Different, They're Special
Growing up I was always looked on as something different to my fellow classmates because I was a geek. Not a bookworm, but an unathletic sort who had a wide vocabulary. I'm not sure about where you live but in the North of England, being well spoken isn't something to cherish. This gave me a special admiration for the other group of school outcasts, those who were special. When Grant Morrison decided to turn New X-Men into Saved by the Bell with super powers, I was delighted to see him include every area of school life, especially the special class. Any one of these characters could have released a Marvel Icons series and I'd have bought it. Childlike minds are always fascinating and when you've got a group who include a living fart and a non-existent student, there's as eclectic a group of characters as you're ever likely to get. Basilisk, Beak, Angel, Ernst. These are all names that conjure up thoughts to make me grin. The fact that these same students helped to take control of one of America's most important cities just adds to the attraction. The Special Class was the group I could associate with more than any other X team. They were unique, funny, friendly and just cool.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">All I can say is that at least, with the Special Class, we got exactly what the name suggested: a group of mentally deficient lame-os that even Professor Integration-and-Equality-for-All saw fit to isolate from the rest of the student population. Basilisk’s death should have made my list, satisfying as it was, but I wouldn’t want to soil the rest of my list by mentioning him.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/X96Screen5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick3.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten"></a>#3: Who Knew that Nixon Did Something Good for his Country
Comics were something that only my big brother read for a long time. The X-Men were little people on his posters, bed covers, and a cartoon show with a kicking theme tune. When Big Bro first got me started on comics, it was DC. I'll be the first to admit that I have a much stronger connection to DC characters. The thing that got me interested in reading the X-titles in my brother's stack of comics, and about the characters within them, wasn't anything released by Marvel. It was a wonderful little game released by a group of people unknown to the majority of the civilised world. When I discovered it, X-Assault became my life. I sucked at the trivia but wanted to learn. I loved the idea of picking all my favourite characters and finding new villains and events. When the updates started being released I was desperate to find out the secrets and that's what brought me to this wonderful community (now you know who to blame). <a href="http://www.nixonvision.com">X-Assault</a> was fresh, funny, addictive, and neverending in its game play. When the virtual trading cards were introduced, I spent hours in the University computer room, e-mailing codes to my brother so he could compile our album. The more characters that were introduced, the more trivia was asked, and thus the more I wanted to read all the back issues. X-Assault changed my life in a lot of ways (sadly that's not an overstatement). Thank you for a wonderful little game and all the fun it brings. A better advert for X-titles does not exist.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#2: Tonight's Main Event Will Be... What do you mean it's over already?
Forever the debates rage about who would win in a fight between Hero X and Hero Y. However, few would argue against the idea that of all the heroes likely to thrive against adversity, Captain America would be the one. The Exiles had been transported to a reality where Earth's heroes had been captured by the conquering Skrull race and were forced to fight gladiatorial combat within their own weight classes. There were fan favourites amongst the gladiators and some of them even had their own supporters, but the undisputed champion was Steve Rogers. He was meticulous in his attack, studying his opponent and exploiting all their weaknesses. When Mimic was entered into his weight class and quickly destroyed all competition he faced, a fight between the two was eagerly anticipated. The two competitors squared up and the crowd held its breath. As Steve Rogers leapt forward, Mimic did the unthinkable. Through all his fights he always knew that this contest would happen one day and so had kept one last surprise. Cleanly decapitating Rogers with his optic blast, Mimic won the fight in a matter of seconds.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo">Silly Jonberg! Mimic didn't decapitate Steve Rogers in that fight. Cap still had to lead a merry band of idiots on a crusade to destroy Galactus' machinery before finally getting vaporized by said demi-god.
Besides, we all know that the really great thing about that fight was Mimic giving the crowd the finger afterwards.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Jonpick1.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#1: GERONIMOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
I'm a big guy. Real big. But I don't mind, I like me the way I am. Cuddly. Big people in literature are always favourites of mine.
They don't get much bigger than Fred J. Dukes.
The Blob always seemed pretty kooky to me as a character. He was fat... and that was his power, essentially. I knew there was something more though. There was a better way to employ such enormous obesity than being able to stand still. Thinking to my other passion of wrestling, I remembered the Earthquake sit down splash or the P.N. News big splash from the top rope. That was how you use weight. Thank you, Joe Casey, for realising this. No image or moment in comics will stick with me as much as the grinning figure of the Blob, plummeting from the sky, having been winched there by about 4 helicopters. That's what I always wanted to do to my school bullies and I'd have just as wide a grin on my face. That one frame encapsulates so many adjectives. Iconic, awesome, hilarious, painful, gratifying, satisfying, and downright frightening. Fatties all over the world should have pride at what girth can achieve.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">Your favorite moment of the era is a fat guy falling out of a plane, which was used as a cheap action gimmick in a sub-par storyline, and wasn’t even an original idea anyway (I think it was even in the cartoon, for God’s sake)? I'm not sure which is lamer: you for picking this as #1, or the era for having nothing better to offer.
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Next up, ComiX-Fan Columnist and ComiX-Ten veteran Joel Phillips grudgingly stepped up to the plate to comment on an era he wasn't particularly pleased with:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">In case it’s been unclear up until now, I have been a particularly unhappy X-Men reader for the last few years. Picking ten great moments of this era is kinda like trying to pick ten things you like about being sent to a maximum security prison. There are good things to be named (free food), but the bad things (male rape) tend to stand out more in your thinking.
Anyway, here’s what I got:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick10.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#10: I Need This Like I Need a Hole in the Head...
I actually didn’t much care for the X-Force silent issue, but the starting premise, Doop popping a pimple and inadvertently sucking everyone in the room into his cavernous body, has to be one of the more memorable moments of any era.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick9.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#9: I Feel Pretty
At the end of the Chamber miniseries, Chamber proves that his interest in a mutant girl is predicated solely on her ability to change into the form of a normal, beautiful woman. Naturally, she tells him to stuff it. It’s an important moment since it makes the point that readers and creators tend to favor the “pretty” mutants as well... an interesting commentary, given what the X-Men are supposed to be about.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick8.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#8: Skewering Expectations
Everybody was so sure that the danger was over. One of the members of X-Force was going to die, and the Anarchist was stuck out in space. We shouldn’t have been surprised, all the signs were there. The introduction of the Spike practically guaranteed that it would be the Anarchist who died. Of course... it wasn’t. The Anarchist came back, and a battle ensued. A spike flew out, skewering readers, and U-Go Girl. And despite the fact that the character had been around for only twelve issues or so, we cared. We cared a lot. Some people think too much in fact, as this moment is the one many people point to as the moment Milligan’s mutants peaked, and soon began to go downhill.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick7.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#7: Oh my Stars and @*#&ing Garters!
Not a particularly meaningful moment, I just like that line. That and I thought we were getting a little blue. On an even lighter note, I came surprisingly close to including “Moo” as well.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick6.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#6: Psychic Rescue in Progress
The New X-Men silent issue is the best of all the silent issues by far. The stunning and symbolic imagery makes it flow beautifully and with a depth uncommon to X-comics these days. This entry could cover the entire issue, but I would like to highlight one precise moment. It is the moment where Jean enters the tower and finds Xavier, naked, crouched amidst broken symbols and struggling to hold his enormous head aloft. That single panel speaks volumes about Xavier, how others see him, and how he sees himself.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick5.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#5: Reeding Into Things
This probably seems like a cheap pick, but I found and signed onto ComiX-Fan (then X-Fan) to discuss this era of X-books. I got my own column and joined the staff based off pieces I wrote about this era of X-books. There have been many times that writing and discussing one of my columns has provided me with more fun than whatever comics I bought and read that week, so that’s got to be worth something.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo">You had me up till here, Joel. Then for some reason you reference some column nobody ever bothers to read all the way through. Utterly boring, horrible pick! Honestly, what the hell were you thinking? ;)
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar8614_1.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Mitch Brown">Yes, Joel, undoubtedly your column has provided most of the best moments in X-Men comics for the past three years. Got ego, mate? (A cheap shot I know, but as you said yourself, its a cheap pick).
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick4.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#4: Let it Bleed...
This greatest moment of Morrison’s run is the last moment... or the first moment... or all the moments, I suppose. It’s the moment where the Phoenix finally does what it was meant to do and becomes what it was meant to become. Morrison approached the issue of the Phoenix with an expert touch, and he must be given credit for it. His final definition of the Phoenix reconciles all past versions while widening the concept into something newer and richer. I’d put this moment even higher on this list if I weren’t positive that damn near all of it will be undone when X3 rolls into theaters and the character makes a “surprise” return to the comics... again.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick3.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#3: The Art of War... Corporate Style
Joe Casey, with his final story on Uncanny X-Men, did more than any other writer in delivering on the promise of this era of X-Men responding to new, different challenges in new, different ways. When the Vanisher wakes up in a hot tub with Stacy X and realizes he’s been “enjoying her services” for several weeks, we knew we were in for an interesting solution to the new threat he posed. The rest of that solution was, for the X-Men at least, just as new: Archangel bought him out. The X-Men didn’t beat anyone up, or strip them of their powers, or overload their powers, or harness the energy of the sun to do anything. They kept the guy busy with some adrenal luvin’, and they bought him out. Great stuff.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#2: Stuff It!
You’re a ragtag bunch of mercenaries and madmen. You must fight one final battle against a nearly unstoppable foe, one who stole your powers, your memories, and part of the very essence of who you are. Finally, amazingly, you win the day, and your enemy is dead before you. So what do you do now? Stuff his corpse and take it on vacation, of course! The final page of Agent X is one of the funniest happy endings I’ve ever seen in comics, and will forever be one of my favorites.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick1.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#1: New X-periences
The best moments, I think, are the ones that continue to move us long after. For my #1 pick, I choose the moment the X-books introduced me to the work of Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, Frank Tieri, and Brian K. Vaughan. These writers showed me something during a period I found otherwise lacking. They each have a new fan in me, and every new work of theirs I read stems from those first moments. This might not have been the greatest era of X-books ever, but any experience which can lead me to books like Queen & Country and Y: The Last Man is worthwhile.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock">If Bishop decided tomorrow that he was gay and then proceeded to eat the entire contents of his fridge, he still wouldn't be as big a cop out as that entry. (Gotta love a cheap pun.) Truly shocking.
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Then we thought it might be nice to have someone contribute who actually, y'know, liked the X-books during the revamp. Nick Costanzo fit the bill:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick10.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#10: Thunderstud
The second I first saw Neal feel up Psylocke in X-treme X-Men #1, I just knew I'd hate him forever. How is Bishop's towel boy, who is completely useless in battle to the point where the Cameron twins are able to outshine him, able not only to shag resident X-Hottie Betsy Braddock, but also able to bag Heather like a week after Psylocke's death? Congratulations, Thunderbird, its crap like this that made us all hate you so much.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick9.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#9: Coach Touched Me in my No-No Place
I had my reservations about the revamped X-Force, but after a while there's just so much critical praise and acclamation you can ignore before you have to at least take a look. So I picked up a copy of X-Force #120, not really sure what to expect. But wow... I was not expecting Coach to drug U-Go Girl and nearly rape her before being stopped. I had heard that X-Force was pretty shocking and hard-hitting, but I didn't believe it until I read that.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick8.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#8: I Liked Him, at Least
Frank Tieri helped to inject some much-needed life into the background of Wolverine in the past few years, most notably with the advent of a completely new Weapon X series. Sadly, not all good stories have a happy ending. One of my favorite, and one of the most short-lived X-Men ever, Maggot, fell victim to the new Weapon X program in issue #5, in a gas chamber no less. Of course, this was done mainly because Maggot wasn't very popular, and no one really liked him that much or even noticed that he'd left the team back in the late nineties. But I was a fan, and it was hard to see him go.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar8614_1.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Mitch Brown">I get the impression that you may have missed the brief on this month's Comix-Ten. Either that or you have some kinky sado-masochistic tendencies that you've been keeping the staff in the dark about. First off, you inform us of your hatred for Thunderbird III... but then you still list him as one of the best moments of the revamp. And now I get down to #8, and you're now telling us about one of your favourite characters being sent to a gas chamber, and somehow this is meant to be a good thing? You're one of those guys who get a chuckle out of the obituaries, aren't you?
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick7.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#7: Collapsed Lung Not Super Fun Time Agony... HeeHee!
There's something very surreal about seeing very cute anime girls attempting to assasinate a mob boss while butchering the english language, but somehow Gail Simone makes it work with her all-too-brief return to Agent X. Not only was that scene funny, but it made perfect sense (in a weird sort of way), and it's my favorite moment from one of my all-time favorite comic series.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick6.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#6: A Lunch Break Leads Me Back to Addiction
For years I'd been away from comics and never thought I'd return. Though I didn't realize it then, the stories of the time just bored me away, so much that when I finally stopped reading them, I almost didn't notice. But then, during a lunch break while working at a grocery store, I picked up a copy of Wizard to pass the time, and low and behold I get an entire issue devoted to the X-Men revamp, and find myself psyched beyond belief, enough to get me back into comics for the last three years.
Strange how this newest revamp is having almost the exact opposite effect....
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick5.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#5: You Mean He Can Still Write?
Alright, I'm not trying to be mean, just honest. I really didn't like X-Treme X-Men for most of the time I read it. Sure it was well written, well drawn, but something always seemed missing. Then came Intifada. Suddenly, I found myself riveted by a surprisingly relevant story with some really cool sub-plots underneath. This was the first arc that seemed to really set X-Treme apart from the other X-Men titles, and even the other super-hero titles as a whole, and though it never really had the time to flourish before the Reload, the stage is still set for some cool XSE stuff in the future.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock">I didn't think he ever stopped being able to write. That is, if you like your stories as fresh as cheese from the 1970's. Woooh! Look at the superhero stories! Look at the costumes and the aliens and the big bangs!!! Yay for Storm being butch again! And if Chris has regained a talent, it's a shame he lost it for his recent JLA run.
Let me make a Disclaimer: I actually like lots of Mr. Claremont's work. It's just that this seemed too good an opportunity to miss for a typical fanboy rant.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick4.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#4: Oh... So That's Why He's In Charge...
Like most young fans these days, my first experience with the X-Men came in the early nineties with the original X-Men animated series. And like most of you, I wondered why the hell Xavier was still around. Oooo, I can talk with my head, real powerful there, Chuck.
Thankfully, Grant Morrison knows how to write telepaths, and in the process made Xavier go from a seemingly harmless pacifist too afraid to use his powers, to a chillingly effective manipulator of the mind. Whether creating a telepathic army out of Multiple Man, casually stripping away the anger of a few Muslim terrorists, or bringing the Shi'ar Empire to its knees while under control of Cassandra Nova, Morrison showed just how powerful telepathy can be, and finally made me realize why the X-Men listened to him for all these years.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#3: No One Saw That Coming
Indeed, the wonderfully surreal ending to Grant Morrison's New X-Men was so strange, I don't think anyone saw it coming. In the end, everyone was being manipulated by a bacteria strain that had existed since the beginning of time. It was trippy, weird, and cool. Not only that, but it explained everything from Beast's transformation to the insane actions of Magneto in his final moments. It proved that Morrison really did know what he was doing the whole time, and gave us something rarely seen in X-Books these days: A satisfying conclusion that was worth the wait.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar499_7.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Tan K.">Bah! I got tired of Morrison-lovers loving the fact that Grant blurred the lines between individuality and his own personal philosophy. Professor X (and for that matter a few of Morrison's X-Men save for maybe Emma) were so playing the part of Morrison's ideological views of the world instead of the other way around that it was sickening. These characters are individual people, and they should have been allowed to remain true to who they were without having a puppet master controlling their words and actions.
And bacteria was the driving force behind 3 years of stories? Please...Gigli and Ishtar were more compelling.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Nickpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#2: Illusions shattered
One thing you can count on in comics is that the bad guy's evil plan is always foiled. That missile won't hit its target. That bomb won't explode. So when Cassandra Nova sent out those hybrid sentinels, I wasn't worried. Not until I saw Genosha burst into flames, at least. And then, as Cerebra coldly displays the population of the country falling from the millions... to the thousands... to mere hundreds... that's when I realized that New X-Men was something different, and that's what kept me reading after the initial high of coming back to comics wore off.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Joelpick3.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#1: The Best X-Men Story Ever
From the official ComiX-Fan review of the Uncanny X-Men Vanisher storyline:
"And Joe Casey finally steps into the big leagues, proving he can’t only compete with his fellow X-writers Chris Claremont and Grant Morrison, but that he has the potential to blow both of them away. “Absolute Progeny” is the single best X-Men story I’ve read.
Period."
Seriously, how the hell do you top that? At a time when Joe Casey was just a little higher on the popularity pole than Chuck Austen is today, he cranks out the absolute brilliance that is Absolute Progeny, a story where even the harshest Casey critics had to yield to its greatness. God I miss Joe Casey... looking back his loss was the beginning of the end for my interest in the current X-Men.
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To represent the Morrison faction, we called in Mitch Brown to share his Top Moments:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar8614_1.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Mitch Brown"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick10.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#10: Day of the Dead (X-Treme X-Men #18)
Easily my favourite issue out of the entire run of X-Treme X-Men. Claremont writes one of the best emergency room sequences ever in the aftermath of “Invasion,” and the guest appearances by certain Avengers is nice, but what was really great about this one was seeing Jean, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, and Beast rushing to their fallen comrades' aid – reminding us that no matter the differences between the three X-Men teams, they’re all still a family. In the era of “New”, this issue provided a welcome return to the old-school camaraderie and family feel of the old-school X-Men.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick9.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#9: Wolverine Relaunch (Wolverine #1)
The last thing I thought the world needed was a new Wolverine #1. Tieri had done a decent job with the character, and I failed to see how a new creative team alone warranted relaunching an entire series. After reading the first issue of Rucka and Robertson’s “new” Wolverine – I completely agree with Quemas on this one. Wolverine #1 was a massive departure from what we had seen on Wolvie’s original ongoing series. Rucka & Robertson gave us an intelligent but bestial Logan, consistent with the character’s essence without falling into the tired run of Weapon X-best-there-is-bub clichés. Rucka & Robertson did the impossible – made Wolverine a title you could feel GOOD about reading again.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick8.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#8: Guy and Edie Finally Do It (X-Force #124)
Forget Emma Frost, Edie Sawyer (U-Go Girl) was the best superbitch in X-comic history. Self-obsessed, arrogant, morally questionable, but underneath it all, you could tell, was a heart of gold waiting to shine its light on the world. In X-Force #124 we saw exactly what happened to make Edie the woman she was. This is one of the top issues of Milligan and Allred’s run on X-Force (though Allred is missing from the credits of this issue – replaced temporarily by equally talented Darwyn Cooke).
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick7.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#7: Superheroics in the Boardroom (Uncanny X-Men #409)
Say what you want, but I loved Joe Casey’s run. Sure he was a little inconsistent and unorthodox, but that’s what endeared me to his stories. He wasn’t afraid to try and mess with the X-concept, and in Uncanny X-Men #409 he pulled off one of his best experiments: Stacy and the Vanisher getting hot and heavy while Angel decimates an entire criminal empire with his cellphone. Who needs guns when you’ve got sex and money?
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick6.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#6: R.I.P. U-Go Girl! (X-Force #128)
Maybe this isn’t a “best” moment, but its definitely one of the saddest and one of the best reading. We knew it was coming – someone on the new X-Force was going to die. Everything was pointing to Tike, but alas, poor innocent (okay, maybe not innocent) fan favourite U-Go Girl is the one to bite the bullet this issue, struck down before we really got to know her. Comics don’t surprise me very often, but seeing Edie impaled on the spike, meekly whimpering “... I’m scared,” came completely out of left field. We’ll miss you Girl! (sniff...sniff...)
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick5.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#5: They’re Doing... What?!?? (Origin)
Origin... who actually thought this would be good? Quemas, Jenkins and Kubert surprised the hell out me with their story of the boy who would be Wolverine. No Sabretooth (at least as far as we know...), no Weapon X, no X-Men, no Alpha Flight, no costumes, no adamantium. Instead, Marvel gave us the unexpected story of a sickly young boy and the tragedy that befalls his family. I was so expecting this to suck in too many ways to count, but somehow the origin of Wolverine was a great piece of comic art, and a thoroughly enjoyable read.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar499_7.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Tan K.">Even though I would have loved to address your #1 choice, Mitch, I decided to let your short-bus ways of thinking exist in peace. Instead, let's address the so-called groundbreaking Origin. Somehow, taking one of the richer, more complex, and intriguing characters in all of fiction and revealing that he was some sick rich kid didn't really do it for me. The redhead was a nice touch, but the rest of his "Origin" was so generic and predictable it was shameful.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick4.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#4: Jean vs the U-Men (New X-Men #120)
Yeah, I’m predictable. The final four entries on here are ALL Morrison moments. I could’ve easily made my entire list full of them – for me, his run was just THAT good. In NXM #120, Jean Grey went up against a cadre of U-Men without her teammates, and showed just why telekinesis is cool. Grant’s inventive use of processed food stuffs and bodily functions will go down as one of the best fight scenes I’ve ever seen in a comic book. And again, not a punch is thrown.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick3.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#3: Silence: Psychic Rescue In Progress (New X-Men #121)
For the most part I hated the whole 'Nuff Said gimmick, but Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely somehow turned a stupid marketing stunt into a truly cool comic book. Quitely gives us his best in this issue as the White Queen and Jean traipse about in Professor Xavier’s mind. No one writes psychics/telepaths like Grant Morrison – no one. Emma taking that belt from her flask, Jean and Emma’s bizarre symbolic communication, Quitely’s surreal mindscapes, and Xavier’s giant head... the entire issue rocks.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#2: Return of the King (New X-Men #151)
No, not that King, I’m talking about Silvestri. I, for one, never thought I’d see Marc on an X-title again after he formed Image/Top Cow, and I definitely thought I’d never see him drawing the X-Men with Grant Morrison scripting it! Silvestri’s one of the best talents the industry has to offer, and having him team up with GM fulfilled about a million fanboy fantasies for me. Big thumbs up to Quemas for setting this up, and bigger thumbs up to Silvestri and Grant for the awesome finish that was “Here Comes Tomorrow”.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo">Wow... stuff about U-Go Girl, Phoenix, Silvestri and even the NXM silent issue. Gee, I NEVER saw any of those picks coming... I'd write more, but right now your list left me in the mood for a nap.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Mitchpick1.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#1: “Suddenly I don’t have to look like an idiot in broad daylight” (New X-Men #114)
Logan summed it all up with that line. Ditching the spandex was a gutsy move on Marvel’s behalf, and one that for the most part paid off (even if we’re back to the yellow and black clown-looking Wolverine again now). Removing the costumes symbolized the mammoth change in focus, direction, and aesthetic that Casey and Morrison brought to the X-Men. This wasn't just about dressing them up in black - it brought the X-Men up-to-date and out of the 80s.
For me, the new costumes were less about aesthetic so much as what it symbolised. With Morrison and Casey, for better or for worse we got a truly "new" way of looking at the X-Men in terms of storytelling, ideas, direction, and characterisation, and the quite radical shift in how the X-Men looked reflected that perfectly.
Militant Black Leather Uniforms = new and exciting. Technicolor Retro Spandex Costumes = old, tired, and irrelevant. Morrison and Casey = new and exciting. Reload = old, tired, and irrelevant. Are we seeing a connection here? Okay, maybe that was harsh.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock">What is this? Queer Eye for a Straight Columnist? Your favourite moment was when they dressed up in leather?! Comic book issues aren't the only ones you possess. I'm surprised Number Two on your list wasn't Jean's new hairdo, or Lilandra's impeccable jewelry!
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">The thing I found the costumes most symbolic of is how horribly superficial Marvel and its fans are in what constitutes “change” (or, as you put it, “new and exciting”). And this idea carries over into Reload: there are numerous reasons why Reload is “old, tired and irrelevant” and the costumes are none of them. Pretending this is an actual issue of any importance makes discussing more important things almost impossible, and is a big part of why the discussions we have of comics are disregarded by many as frivolous and nitpicky.
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And finally, pinch-hitting for the Claremont faction, Tan K. stepped up to the plate:
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar499_7.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Tan K."><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick10.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#10: "So long. Farewell..." and whatever the hell the rest of the words are to the song.
I cannot even hide it in a joke. When Neal Sharra(a.k.a. Thunderbird III) left, I was ecstatic. I am as big a Claremont fan as they come, but he was the flattest character in maybe X-history. Well, not the worst. Lobdell and Austen created some characters, right?
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick9.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#9: "Let My People Go..."
Riddle me this. What caused Claremont to exit in the early 1990's? What expedited the degradation of the X-Franchise in the 1990's? Who demolished all of the plots and ideas of Claremont, Kelly, Seagle (and I guess maybe Scott Lobdell) in the late 1990's and early 2000's? The editors. Thank God they were put in their place. I mean, Claremont got to follow through on all of his X-Treme X-Men ideas, right? Betsy was able to come back, Heather Cameron was going to get explored more, the Diaries were... Okay, well, let's look at Uncanny X-Men. Joe Casey was so successful that he... no, that didn't seem to work either. Well, at least Grant Morrison's New X-Men was given a free ride for three years.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock">I'm sorry, was that actually an entry? You picked editors but not really but then yes but then no. Y'know, I wonder why I bothered at all to think about my list. If someone had told me I could get away with just making each entry a combination of English sentences that didn't actually require a specific best point, I'd have done it a million times quicker.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick8.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#8: "Common Cents" or "Worth Its Weight in Pennies"
Finally, an issue's content that was equal to its price tag: Uncanny X-Men #423. 'Nuff Said.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">I paid 25 cents for this crap, which stinks. I mean, I could have found better use for that money… like flipping it mindlessly until I dropped it into the sewer. But what’s worse is the $2.50 I paid for the issue that followed it, which concluded this mess as the single worst X-story I think I’ve ever read… AND I’VE READ ALL OF THEM. And yet, like the kid who keeps putting his hand on the stove, I bought Austen’s 25 cent Avengers issue. It sucked hard too. I’m one more marketing gimmick away from becoming a ward of the state.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar8614_1.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Mitch Brown">Damn, Tan, you paid 25 cents for this? My comic shop paid ME to take that one off their hands.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick7.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#7: Love that Jewish Girl
One of the bright spots during this three-year period was the return of everyone's favorite Sprite... errr...Shadowcat... in Mekanix. In typical Claremont style, he merged the old with the modern. Last we saw her, she had exited the X-Men for good. We got to see the strong young woman take on hate groups, Sentinels, and herself. After being diluted for such a long period of time, Kitty Pride was back, but she was more mature and not as naive....BUT she was the same. Mekanix was probably one of the best X-books that hardly anyone tried.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick6.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#6: Hey, It Only Took 40 Years to Finally Characterize the Guy....
I know there are Archangel fans out there. Bless them. Why? For a guy to have been around for such a long period of time and never have more than an inch of personality (I'm being generous) astounds me (well, not as much as him having fans). Well, Joe Casey decided to take on this monumental task. You know what? He gave Warren a unique, realistic personality with depth. Something that could be explored in the future. A mutant Donald Trump with some scruples, humanity, and no toupee. Chuck Austen took over and continued this deeper Warren but in a different, more gentle, Brad Pitt approach (with some R. Kelly mixed in if you know what I mean...hehe). Whether you like Casey's or Austen's approach, the man finally was given a personality.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo">Oh, Tan, how could you? Get me all hyped up about Warren's great character development under Casey only to then claim that Austen added something to his character? If by more "gentle approach" you mean violently ripping off his manhood, turning him from a corporate shark into a complete idiot, and saddling him into the most contrived relationship I've ever seen, then, yeah, I guess I can see that. I put what Austen did to Archangel under the ten worst things of the relaunch, right under what he did to Iceman.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick5.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#5: New Characters
Cassandra Nova, Khan, Vargas, Stacy X, Lifeguard, Slipstream, Stepford Cuckoos, Beak, etc. The diversity and newness of these characters was sorely needed in the X-Universe. From the destruction of Genosha to a galactic invader to a group of snobby rich girls, these people added new dimensions to the X-lore instead of being generic copies of previously existing characters. AND just in case anyone is wondering, I did see Slipstream as a positive addition.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar8614_1.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Mitch Brown">You put Vargas, Lifeguard and Slipstream in the same category as Cassandra, Beak, and the Cuckoos? I'm sorry, but the mega-powerful, near invincible Vargas counts as one of the most generic and uninteresting villains I've seen in comics. Lifeguard and Slipstream? Yeah, the X-mythos is truly reverberating from the impact of that pair's introduction. Marvel must be swimming in pitches for ongoings for the Cameron Twins. I've certainly never seen a Marvel character who could traverse huge distances nearly instantaneously with his surfboard and...BEHOLD! It's the Shiar equivalent of the Super Skrull who happens to look like she strolled off the set of Baywatch. Just what the hell have you been smoking and does it make "The Draco" read any better?
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick4.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#4: "Invasion Turning Point" or "I'm a Cop No More"
This arc was probably one of the more important arcs during this three year period. The story wasn't particularly groundbreaking, but there were so many other elements to this arc that people forget about. Anyone remember Storm during the 1990's? Me neither. She was a stale shell that was relegated to the background and made Halle Berry's Storm look like Meryl Streep. In Invasion, (1) Claremont revived Storm to her spirited, strong self. (2) Bishop finally started to branch away from his boring future cop persona. It was here that the transformation began. I didn't see it then, but I do now. Claremont brilliantly started to tap into the talents that a man from the future should have, and he began the injection of new personality elements into Bishop. (3) Rogue stopped being the whiny sourpuss who dated Gambit that she was transformed into. The Southern Belle returned, but she was a little more level-headed. Plus something finally different happened to her powers. Because of this arc, we didn't have to hear about her not being able to touch someone for 30+ issues and counting. (4) This was probably the only epic, multi-directional arc that I can remember. Yeah, yeah, "Planet X" was kinda that too, but it really wasn't. In the end, this arc was about character progression that had been missing for nearly a decade.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar6615_2.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Joel Phillips">Storm didn’t return to being spirited and strong because she had never stopped (unless we change “spirited and strong” to mean “aggressive and over-sexualized”, in which case you have a point). Rogue is still a whiny sourpuss (short of her white streak and obnoxious accent, it’s her defining characteristic), and there’s a reason we didn’t have more epic, multi-directional arcs... 9 times out of 10 they are long (like this one), tedious (like this one), unfocused (like this one) and a drain on the wallet and patience (like this one). Oh, and wasn’t the arc right AFTER this about Bishop investigating a homicide in true “I’m a cop” fashion? The people rest, your honor.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/custom_avatars/avatar199_6.gif" align=left border=0 alt="Nick Costanzo">Invasion had its moments, but Claremont dragged it out so long that by the end I honestly didn't care anymore. To me, the only good thing about this arc (other than the exit of TBIII and the Cameron Twins) was the fact that immediately afterward, they dropped the bogus diaries storyline and started the whole "alternate to Xavier" stuff that had me so interested, for a while at least.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/avatar.php?userid=3822&dateline=1063985599" align=left border=0 alt="Jonberg Hancock">Egads man! This storyline shouldn't be allowed just for the amount of unnecessary rain forest devastation that went on to print it. I could have told that story in one issue. Big alien invades, fancies Storm, Rogue and Gambit whine and embrace, they kinda die but don't, mysterious villain comes back for no reason, heroes win predictably, nothing really changes except the exit of the three characters needing development.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick3.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#3: Moo (and no I don't mean that scene from Imperial...just think about it)
I like Sal Larocca. I like Ron Garney. I like Phil Jimenez. But you cannot tell me that Marc Silvestri's return didn't jumpstart your artistic little heart. Man, I forgot how amazing the X-Men could be. This is coming across as a knock on the other artists, but it really isn't. There are just some people who can flat out draw stuff that makes you drool. Jim Lee proved it on Batman, and Marc Silvestri did the same on New X-Men. If Silvestri was the artist for Morrison the entire way, I could almost guarantee that I would not have been a Morrison critic....Well, I still would have, but not as much. At one point in time, X-Men was the ultimate book to draw for, but most of those artists are in management, are independent, or work for DC. This was a nice revisiting of those magical days.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick2.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#2: All New, All Different Concepts: Corporate Takeovers and Bacteria?
More important than the characters was the destruction of the formulaic X-Men. You know what I mean: soap opera, big story, poor continuity usage, and nothing in between. Grant Morrison, Joe Casey, and Chris Claremont need to be applauded for lifting that huge slab of 1990's meat off the X-franchise. You may not have liked their ideas, but there were a lot of new things coming at you for three years. Come on! You cannot even tell me that you saw that bacteria angle coming. Corporate takeover as the final coup d'etat to a storyline? Classic. If you can suprise me, than you deserve a pat on the back.
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/cx108/Tanpick1.jpg" align=right border=0 alt="ComiX-Ten">#1: It's Over!
The best moment of the "Relauch" had to be the last panel of X-Treme X-Men #46, because it signaled the end. The "Relauch" was needed to refresh those burnt out on the 1990's, attract new readers, try new stuff, and allow new talent to get in, but in the end it was something that was from the beginning a finite initiative. It's over! Thank God!
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And... there you have it. Five different viewpoints, fifty picks total, quite a bit of debate, at least one pick that'll have you screaming, "Right on!", and at least one pick that'll have you asking, "Dude, what are you smoking?"
Don't forget to vote for the best list in our poll....
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ComiX-Fan thanks Jordan Maxwell for his timely image assistance (in this, the first installment in the ComiX-Ten's history that he hasn't written for and thus bored us all into a peaceful nap during), Grant, Joe, and Chris for giving us all so much to talk about, and Tan K. for writing a list that was so easy to get the writers riled up about. I mean, really, Tan, I like Claremont too, but... Invasion?!?
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writers, and are not reflective of ComiX-Fan or its other staff in general.