Customer Reviews

Essential X-Men Volume 5 TPB

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At the time that I write this, Amazon has not properly identified this item for whatever reason. This is Essential X-Men Vol. 5. The volume is notably thicker than previous entries in the series, apparently because the paper is thicker. This should come as a welcome change for those who have complained about the flimsiness of the paper in the Essentials series - though I never found it to be a problem.

This volume contains The Uncanny X-Men issues 180-198, plus annuals 7 & 8. The bulk of the issues are penciled by John Romita Jr. and inked by Dan Green; a combination which we've already seen in the latter section of volume 4, although the art style is more distinctive here, maybe the artists were honing their technique? And Kitty looks noticably different here, even from earlier issues drawn by the same artists; but then, fans have grown accustomed to the repeated changes in Kitty's appearance as different artists have taken over the magazine.

There are two issues focusing on Storm, titled Lifedeath and (surprise!) Lifedeath II. These are penciled by Barry Windsor-Smith, and they have a look completely unlike any other issues of the magazine (esp. the latter which W-S also inked). Their tone is also atypical, more melancholy than usual - perhaps because of the influence of the artist, who also contributed to the plotting, as was usual with Claremont's X-Men.

Most of these issues display the virtues that are associated with Chris Claremont's long run as writer of The X-Men; chiefly a focus on the characters and their relationships with each other. Among other things, volume 5 shows Kitty's relationship with Peter go through some zig-zags; Storm loses her mutant powers and heads off to her old home in Africa to try to find new meaning in her life; and, wonder of wonders, Magneto - the X-Men's archfoe, whom they have repeatedly combatted since way back in the very first issue - has had a change of heart and has joined forces with Professor Xavier. Actually, this is not too much of a surprise because he experienced a moral crisis at the end of issue 150.

I have just two real complaints. One is that for a while, increasingly throughout the first half of this volume, the writers show a preoccupation with magic and sorcery, which reaches its peak with issues 190-191, which show Manhattan being taken over by the sorcerer Kulan Gath, and magically reduced to primitive barbarism. These two issues in particular have (to my mind, anyway) a rather grim and unpleasant tone. And since our heroes are mutants rather than magicians, they become increasingly helpless throughout these stories and have to be repeatedly bailed out by people such as Peter's sister and Nightcrawler's girlfriend, both of whom secretly practice magic of one sort or another; or by Warlock, a member of the New Mutants who is actually an alien from another planet.

If you find yourself getting depressed at this point, I recommend jumping ahead to Annual #7 (the annuals are included at the back of the volume) which offers a welcome change of tone. After the Kulan Gath sequence, though, Claremont and his collaborators seem to have worked out their fixation with magic, and the following issues return to the character-driven type of story that made this such a great magazine for so long.

My other complaint pertains to the writers' increasing fixation on the theme of anti-mutant prejudice and persecution. Although present in the X-Men since back in Stan Lee's days, the presentation of this theme here starts to become shrill and overbearing. In earlier times there were major characters who were non-mutants, yet were intimates of Prof. Xavier and/or the X-Men, such as Dr. Corbeau and (especially) Moira MacTaggert. I found myself increasingly missing such characters, as the writers sometimes seemed to be slipping into a simplistic world-view in which all mutants are unjustly persecuted and all non-mutants are moral monsters. To be fair, there are some decent non-mutants here, but they are all walk-ons rather than major characters.

However, these flaws are not enough to to spoil the greatness that is Chris Claremont's X-Men. If you have enjoyed the first four volumes of this Essentials series, you owe it to yourself to read this one as well.

Like Lewis Kapell says in his review, this is Essential X-Men volume 5, which does NOT contain "God Loves, Man Kills", which most of these reviews seem to be focusing on. The Essential X-Men books are black & white reprints of the Uncanny X-Men starting with Chris Claremont's first issue.

I enjoyed this, but not as much as the previous volumes. There's nothing remotely as strong as the Dark Pheonix saga, and nothing terribly important seems to happen (with the exception of Ororro's continuing mid-life crisis). This seems to be around the time Marvel started doing crossovers and "event" type comics, as apparently both Secret Wars 1 AND 2 took place during the time the issues in this volume were printed, along with several mini-series, and the launch of the New Mutants comic. The result is that it starts feeling disjointed (like a lot of the modern X-Men stuff does). Some of the most important events that are taking place in these character's lives aren't actually in this book, but rather in the spin-offs, specials, etc., which is very annoying. As an example, early in the book Kitty is on her own, and confronted by Emma Frost (who's supposed to be in a coma) at the end of an issue. It's a perfect cliffhanger...that's never actually resolved in this book, it took place in New Mutants apparently. Instead this book has what seems like a far less interesting story.

Some of the other stories are pretty lame (especially towards the end of the book)-I've more than had my fill of the sewer-dwelling Morlocks, and certainly didn't need to see them take up a big chunk of the book, nor did I need a cross over with the Power Pack... There's almost no time spent on Scott Summer's or his new wife (who just happens to look like Jean), and overall it just doesn't feel like much important happened here. On top of that, Amazon seems to have raised their price on it since I bought it. If you're reading through the X-Men issues from the beginning, it's worth getting this too, but it's not the greatest point to start at, and it's not up to par with the earlier volumes. Hopefully volume 6 (if there ever is a volume 6) will be better.

i love x men have done for years probably always will and this is a good collection of stories...the lifedeath stuff about storm is good, forge (one of my favourite characters)gets introduced, wolverine is his usual self, magneto makes an apearance as a good guy....generally theres a lot of good

but...

its maybe just before this time but man do these comics become grim and miserable...i know its a bit old fashioned but sometimes a nice little bit of escapism would be nice rather than mutant angst over and over...i mean hell does anyone actually break a smile during the whole book?? as mentioned before theres a lot of other stuff going on such as secret wars and new mutants so a lot of plots just seem to go awol by the next story....

it is a good collection of stories...but...its not got the same classic status as Byrne era or Jim Lee era....

recommended cautiously

Ok, ok, I should say comic book junkie, because that's what they were called when I first started reading them some decades ago. This whole series of Essential X-men books are a fun read unless you get bogged down in details. I never did, I just enjoyed reading them. This is a great book. Enjoy

Some interesting story arcs and character development! You really get a feel for Nightcrawler, Colossus, Kitty, and Storm. Also, who knew that Charles Xavier was such the ladies' man? At some point, though the series of events takes a turn for the bizarre, and this volume doesn't cover some of the special cross-over series (the Secret Wars, Kitty and Logan mini-series), so it can be kind of confusing. Overall, a must-read for anyone who's read even one Essential X-Men volume!

Hellfire club machinations, Colossus vs Juggernaut and Lifedeath. All very good. Oh yeah, and John Romita Jr. Did I say John Romita Jr. The way Wolverine manipulates Colossus into getting his arse kicked because it will be good for him psychologically is very amusing, if not good for the surrounding property and its integriy.