Customer Reviews

Uncanny X-Men Omnibus (v. 1)

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I just finished reading this amazing compendium.

These X-Men comics represented the absolute best that comics could be in their day. And in many ways, they're the best ever.

I remember reading these issues as if it were yesterday. I instantly loved this team, these characters. They were visually stimulating, thanks to Dave Cockrum's outstanding designs, and were as three-dimensional as any fictional character in any medium - novel, film...anything.
When John Byrne took over, the entire fan community knew they were witnessing something special in comics. There was a desperate wait for those next issues to come out. The previous months' books were read and re-read until that shiny new tome appeared on the rack. "X-Men" was the first book you'd read when you got home, if you didn't read it in the car while your mom drove.
These stories approached myth for us. They resonated. They stuck.
Nearly thirty years later I'm still amazed. As a young kid, I simply was sucked into the breathless, epic storytelling, the seemingly infinite small details tucked into every panel or every plot point, the comedy, the tragedy...
...and the artwork that defines this book to this day.
These are the definitive X-Men.

We are re-introduced to some old friends, like Cyclops and Jean Grey, and find some new ones, like Nightcrawler, Colossus and especially Wolverine. In that Giant-Size X-Men number one, that beautiful fat introduction to this world, we all fell in love with so much of the X-Universe immediately. Re-reading this after so much time allows me to appreciate the artistry of the collaborators, but it also makes clear that when current X-comics get "good", they're getting "good" like THESE stories.

Man-oh-man...remember these stories? The return of the sentinels? Jean becoming Phoenix? Magneto coming back? The Savage Land? Arcade? Proteus? That whole space opera business with Princess Lilandra and the Starjammers? Alpha Flight?

If these words mean nothing to you, they will after you read this book. And you'll never forget them. Just ask the other group of people, who, after reading that list, have a huge grin plastered across their face, as they fondly remember some of the best, beloved moments of their comic-reading life.

Back to physical book itself. It's big and a bit unwieldy. It's a doorstop, for sure.
But the reproductions are beautiful, the art crisply and colorfully done. The binding is more stable than you would imagine, given that there are over 800 pages. The covers are pristine, and the inclusion of the letter columns is key.
They provide perspective and setting. You see how ground-breaking these stories were, just by reading the fan reactions. This really does take you back.

As a one-stop-shopping way to introduce yourself to the modern X-Men, you cannot do any better.

You should be forewarned, however, that these tales lead directly into the story arcs of The Hellfire Club and The Dark Phoenix Saga, both considered high-water marks in the history of comics. This is like watching "The Godfather', but not "The Godfather, Part 2." You'll need to seek them out (there are trades available) and you'll be SO glad you did.

Finally, Marvel should be commended for putting this sort of collection out there for us. These are books any comics fan would LOVE own and read and re-read, and to have them all in one place...in one book...is really a treat.

At sixty-plus bucks, it feels like a bargain. That's saying something...

If you are undecided about whether or not to buy this book, if you love the X-Men but you've already bought and read some of this material before in previous reprint editions, and you're just not sure if it's worth plunking down almost 70 bucks for another reprint... well, that's exactly where I was before I went ahead and ordered this thing, and let me tell you, I am so glad I gave in.

Trust me, if you are an X-Men fan, this book is an absolute treasure. One that you should definitely not pass up... one that you will definitely regret having passed up ten or fifteen years from now when it's (quite possibly) no longer in print.

The production quality is excellent here, it's printed on nice paper, the colors look great, and at the end there's a short but fascinating section of "behind the scenes" material, including character designs, promotional artwork that was originally published in other sources outside the X-Men comic itself, a gallery of all the Art Adams cover illustrations from the 1980's "Classic X-Men" series, sketches showing rejected costume and character designs, not to mention text by Chris Claremont.

To put it in a nutshell, The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus is the comic book equivelant of a special edition director's cut DVD of your favorite movie, with extra features.

The only bad thing about this book is that it is incredibly addictive. Since I got it, I've been reading one chapter every evening... which is great... but the next day, while trying to focus on my pencil-pushing desk job, I keep finding myself distracted by an eagerness to go home, just so I can hunker down on the couch and read another chapter. I'm thirty four years old and I have a good job. I should be above this sort of behavior. But The X-Men Omnibus has devolved my brain back to my Junior High School self, just dying to get out of school each day, so I can go home and read comic books! It's kinda scary.

But I'm loving every minute of it, and if you are an X-Men fan, I have no doubt you will, also. I only hope Marvel will publish an X-Men Omnibus Volume 2. I would love to see the rest of the John Byrne issues and, (oh man!) the Paul Smith issues collected in another volume like this. Wow. Just get it, you will be happy you did.

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When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby originally created the X-Men, the title was far from being one of the best received to come out of Marvel. Nevertheless, when a new interest was found of the series, the X-Men lived again, thanks to writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum. The first thing they did? Revitalize the whole team. With Professor Xavier and Cyclops the only X-Men not captured by a monstrous island, Xavier recruits a whole new international team of mutants to save his old students. Here, we are introduced to fan favorites like Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Storm; while Wolverine (originally created by Len Wein in the pages of the Incredible Hulk) joins as well, as well as others such as Thunderbird, Sunfire, and Banshee to boot. This new team of X-Men didn't get along with one another, which was a nice touch of Claremont's writing, adding a never before seen inner-group conflict, mainly focusing around the love triange between Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Wolverine. Later on in this massive volume, the team gets thinned out, and that's where it really takes off in later issues. And who could forget the monumental events to come from the Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne (who would later join as artist) era? From the return of Magneto to Jean's transformation into the Phoenix, the Uncanny X-Men Omnibus is an absolute must own for older X-Men fans who don't own any of the previously released trades and cherish their old comics. The colors look better than ever, and while the dialogue may be dated, Claremont's then edgy storytelling still manages to pack a punch. Though some of the best stories to come from the Claremont reign aren't here (Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past), make no mistake that this Uncanny X-Men Omnibus is some of the best bang for your buck you'll ever find, period.

This first brick-like volume contains Giant-Size X-Men #1, and then (Uncanny) X-Men #94-131. This is the whole first Chris Claremont/David Cockrum run, and the more sizeable part of the revered Claremont/John Byrne run. There are a lot of "classic" stories here, including the "Phoenix Saga", the debut of Alpha Flight, "Proteus," and the first part of the "Dark Phoenix Saga" (it seems like an odd place to cut off, but reading these comics makes you realize that there's seldom any clear ending point between arcs; there's always at least two things happening, and one is never resolved in the same issue as the other).

It is, all and all, a hugely enjoyable run, and there are all kinds of first appearances scattered throughout the story. The primary lineup is fairly consistent throughout, with Cyclops, Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Banshee (a lot of people also include Jean Grey in this, but she's not really a team member [she's not mentioned in the blurb on the opening page], but a supporting character, and is usually dragged into the action); Professor X is in the background, and former X-Men Beast, Havok, and Polaris show up several times.

One thing to note is that a lot of people talk about how the modern X-Men comics are too often dragged into stuff that shouldn't really involve the X-Men, and then offer up this period as a counter-example; given that there are several times when the X-Men cross over with, of all things, "Power Man and Iron Fist", for no reason other than Chris Claremont was involved with that series too, this period is perhaps not the best example (the most bizarre of these being Storm venturing back to her birthplace, finding it inhabited by a bunch of junkies who try to knife her, only to be rescued by Luke Cage, who then delivers a lecture of kids wasting their lives). Now, there are a couple of stories that deal specifically with mutants, but most of the time it's just the X-Men in well-done superhero adventures.

As a diehard fan of the 90s "X-Men: The Animated Series", reading this makes you realize just how many of that show's stories were based on the Claremont comics fairly directly; not just the big stuff like the two "Phoenixes" and "Proteus", but also "Xavier Remembers" (#117) and "Repo Man." (#120-121) I actually liked the animated series' version of "Proteus" a lot better; in the comic version, Proteus is a pretty straightforwardly Pure Evil, refers to Joe as "the-one-I-hate," and, for an episode that deals with such a key component of Moira's life, not having Professor X there seems like a real waste. The Animated Series version does something a lot more interesting with Proteus; it focusses on the idea of Kevin as an isolated youth who doesn't understand why his father isn't around, and pursues him despite the clear evidence that Joe is a jerk. It also focusses squarely on Professor X's complicated relationship with Moira, and his attempts to help Proteus. Finally, it uses Proteus to touch on other characters' feelings of rejection because of their mutancy (Rogue), and also on political cynicism (Joe is a "family values" politician who doesn't want to be seen with his son because he's a mutant).

Another thing that's fairly impressive about this run is the narrative flow, which just doesn't let up most of the time. Consider this series of events:

#111 - Beast comes to rescue the X-Men from Mesmero in Texas. At issue's end, they are confronted by Magneto.
#112-113 - Magneto captures the X-Men, flies them to his Antarctic fortress, and imprisons them. They escape, and while Phoenix and Beast end up on the surface, thinking the others are dead, the others end up leaving by a different route, thinking Phoenix and Beast are dead.
#114-116 - While Beast and Phoenix get home and misinform Professor X, the X-Men have an adventure in the Savage Land, including a reunion with Sauron and Ka-Zar, and their first meeting with future continuity-annoyance Zaladane.
#117 - The X-Men get out of the Antarctic, and are rescued by a Japanese vessel on a shady government-sponsored adventure, necessitating radio silence until they get back to Japan.
#118-119 - The X-Men get to Japan, find several Power Man and Iron Fist characters (and one of their villains) there, and help save Japan. They team up with Sunfire once again, and Mariko appears for the first time.
#120-121 - The X-Men catch a flight home, only to be intercepted by Alpha Flight, looking to retrieve Wolverine. Thanks to a somewhat contrived and anti-climactic ending, they fail.
#122 - The X-Men finally get home. Now that's a world tour. It takes several more issues to clarify that the X-Men/Jean and Beast aren't dead, since Professor X has decamped to the Shi'ar Empire with Lilandra, and Jean is off on Muir Island with Moira, Havok, Polaris, and Multiple Man.

One final great feature of the Omnibus is the old Letters Pages ("Mutant Mailbox"), where you get to read people complaining about how Claremont and Cockrum suck, and the original X-Men should be brought back (one letter, in particular, complains about how nothing ever really changes at Marvel, and how they're sure that the old X-Men will be back in action quickly, just like Reed and Sue never stay apart, etc.).

This collection has fallen out of print, so it goes for rather exorbitant sums, but for anyone interested in the classic era of the Uncanny X-Men, this is a strongly-recommended purchase.

This collection of the first 5 years of Claremont's run on Uncanny X-men is a great value. Great quality of the reprinting. My only complaint is minor, that the omnibus overlaps with the first 3 issues in the Dark Phoenix Sage tpb.

Also this book will be getting a new printing in November. Don't pay the marked up prices sellers are gouging for now, just wait. It was in the newest comic solicits from Marvel, it is being reprinted.

If you have not bought the Masterworks editions yet, this is the one to buy. It has all of the four Masterworks material under one cover, plus the letter pages. The letter pages look dingy and yellow, which is what a comic book used to look like after a few readings and having been handed around amongst friends. I have only read a few of the stories so far, Dave Cockrum is a great artist but Marvel apparently couldn't keep a consistent inker with him so his work suffers. John Byrne had Terry Austen inking the bulk of his work so the artwork doesn't vary in quality (top drawer all the way). Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne are heralded for the work they did on this title and without this material there certainly would not have been any X-men feature films.

This is a super-thick, hardcover book, in full-color, filled with so many issue of the classic X-Men stories by Claremont, Byrne and Cockrum. Reading these it's easy to see why this is considered the best run ever of the X-Men....these are fun! The only problem is Marvel needs to publish a volume 2 to complete the storyline. If you can't wait the Masterworks series number 5 picks up right where this omnibus leaves off and has already published the final issues of the Claremont/Byrne run so you don't have to wait.

The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus volume 1 is a must-have book for any X-Fan. Content-wise you get X-Men #94-131, Annual #3, and Giant Size #1. This features the introduction of the new X-Men, the legendary Claremont & Byrne issues taking us into the Dark Phoenix Saga. If you haven't read these then you're in for an incredible ride. Getting so many issues in an omnibus is like getting 4 seasons of a tv show on dvd to watch. If you have read these there is no better collection than this. Production-wise the reproduction and coloring has never been better (yes, better than the Marvel Masterworks #1-4 which overlap with this omnibus). The binding is solid and built to last. Considering X-Men #94 can go easily for several hundred dollars, this omnibus is a bargain considering how many issues are collected. If you're thinking of getting it...don't wait if you see a copy. Big books like this tend to go (and stay) out of print because of low print runs, the expensive cost of printing, and the amount of space they take up for distributors. Unless you want to end up reading these in a digital form, get the book while there are still copies around. For the massive volume of content, the quality of the content, and the A+ book production values, this is easily the best X-collection ever.

At 35 years old, I came into the X universe in 1983 during the Paul Smith run. Even back then, the Chris Claremont/John Byrne run was legendary and hard to get; Especially for a kid. The Classic X-men series was the only way for me to read those early issues. Now those early issues are collected in the Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 1. They've never looked better! Giant sized #1 and Issues 94-107 by Cockrum (RIP) were also great because they were the absolute beginning of what would become the most popular team in comics for the next 20 years. This really is a must have collection for any true X fan. The extras are amazing too! Can't wait for Omnibus Vol. 2 where we get the rest of the Claremont/Byrne run, more Cockrum, and of course Paul Smith!

I have been waiting a loooong time to have this in my hands, it's pure quality and has some of the best stories of the X men I have ever read.