This is a great collection of X-Men comics detailing the start of the team as most people my age know it: Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Banshee (and sometimes Jean Grey). The comics are old, they're in black-and-white, and they're basically a pulpy soap opera for super hero fans. I love it.The stories have a heavy amount of theme placed on the X-Men being "different" due to their mutant abilities. Professor X makes it clear from the very first origin story (Nightcrawler

This was definitely better than I'd expected. I was wary of reading old, black and white issues of the X-Men for a variety of reasons, and some of my fears proved true. Most of the team members are highlighted based on whatever token cultural discrimination they represent: "the Russkie," "Irish," "the black woman," "elf" (referring to Wolverine for his stature rather than Nightcrawler, who surprisingly receives almost no grief or verbal abuse) and on and on. I cringed every time one of the male

How did these classic episodes fare in 2020?Let's be honest : time was not kind to the predominant comics writing style of the era, and even less to Claremont who loves to clutter the page and fill it with redundant thought balloons. As for the rest : let's revel in unabashed pulpiness! Soap drama! Mysterious origins! Unknown worlds! Scantily clad women! Mysterious renegade space princess! Giant evil god bases! Dinosaurs! Disco space pirates! Disco Phoenix! More scantily clad women! Giant evil s...

With a diverse cast of characters; more realistic art; and episodic, soap-opera storytelling that began moving away from the simple "monster-of-the-week" stories of the silver age, the X-Men fully embraced the bronze age of comics. This book actually made me think of the early Spider-Man stories because Claremont is firing on all cylinders here and creating characters and ideas that have stood the test of time and show up in comics today. The Shi'ar (including Gladiator and Lilandra), the N'gara...

Essential X-Men, Vol. 1 contains Giant Size X-Men #1 and X-Men #94-119.The X-Men battle Krakoa, Count Nefaria, Kierrok the Damned, Eric the Red, The Sentinels, Black Tom Cassidy, The Juggernaut, Magneto, Firelord, The Shi'ar Royal Guard, Alpha Flight, Sauron, Warhawk, Mesmero, and Moses Magnum. Thunderbird dies. The Phoenix Force is awakened. Uncanny X-Men was all reprints of earlier X-Men comics when Giant Size X-Men came out featuring a new team of X-Men, led by Cyclops, to rescue the old X-Me...

I've never read any of the old X-men stuff before but I was always a bit fan of the 90s cartoon, so it was fun to get a glimpse at the original stories. Some of the stuff in this volume is quite cringey or downright WTF, but there's some good stories in there too and I was pleased to find that most of my fave chars were more or less the same as in later iterations.

Trade paper back reprinting of Giant Size X-Men #1 and Uncanny X-men #94-119, featuring the debut of the 'new' X-men and the birth of the Phoenix. A dead brand that was last seen reprinting old stories is rejuvenated by Len Wein and then changes the face of comics forever with Chris Claremont and co.At the time a diverse group of mostly new mutant characters were introduced, as the old team, bar Cyclops and Jean were dumped. This new team were flung together as a dysfunctional group, a rarity at...

There's a lot of nostalgia wrapped in these pages for me, and it can be very difficult to separate that nostalgia from what is actually on the page. Giant-Size X-Men #1 hit the stands at a point when I was almost waiting for it. I had been reading the reprint issues that the X-Men title had been at that point for about a year and while enjoyed the stories and the characters it was difficult to really get into it because it was just a reprint title, like Marvel's Greatest Comics, Marvel Tales, Ma...

A collection of twenty-six issues of the 1970s relaunch of the X-Men. When the original X-Men disappear on a mission Professor X and Cyclops recruit a new international team consisting of Colossus, Storm, Sunfire, Nightcrawler, Banshee, Thunderbird and Wolverine to rescue their fellow mutants.The original X-Men (created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) were fine, but by the 70s they had largely played out. Then along comes Len Wein's 'Giant Size X-Men #1' and introduces a whole host of new mutants an...

Some of the golden years of X-men. Issue 100 was very magical. The art, writing, even the cultural appropriation all belongs in the library of congress. A must-read (despite some of the cringier moments) if only for the stylized art and Claremont's perfectly matched writing style.

What you may not know, true believers, is that the X-Men are the most widely read and profitable characters in the history of the medium - and it's all due to the efforts of Chris Claremont. For 17 years he nurtured this garden, and several that sprang from the same seeds - only to culminate in selling the (still!) best selling issue of a comic in all time, and to be unceremoniously dumped by the company less than two months later. His creations, their lives, loves, histories, and potential left...

I read this knowing that I am in no way a Geek A Nerd or a person with a good memory.NOR AM I HOT ENOUGH TO BE CONSIDERED A GEEK OR A NERD!! Uhhh.... seriously... why is that sexy now? This just makes me feel a bit more stupid and a whole lot more plain. I guess I just don't get how a superhero shirt and thick glasses make you a nerd or a geek. I always thought intelligence was required. But this shows what I know :P With that being said, now that you know that I am in no way a geek or

It was pretty cool to step back in time & re-read some many of these. I remember when Giant-Size X-Men #1 came out in 1975. I had my parents buy me a copy at Pantry Pride (a local, now long-defunct supermarket). I followed the series for a while after that, but at some point, my interest began to wane & the latter half of this collection was all brand-new to me. I was fascinated by the arrival of John Byrne as a writer & artist since I caught on a few years later & began following them again. Th...

Skakow! Brak! Fthom!Learned three important things:1. There are old X-men and new X-men. This book is about the beginnings of the new team, consisting of Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee, some guy that dies in the second issue in this book and then the Phoenix who joins later. The old X-men are Marvel Girl (Jean Grey's old name), Cyclops, Iceman, and a bunch of others that weren't in the movies so I had no idea who they were anyway. I had actually wanted to read the fir...

Pretty good. Unwritten rule in comics that if you are driving anywhere, your vehicle must blow up. Which it did. In eight straight issues. Also, can we not kill off the only Indigenous member of the X-Men for feels? Kind of insensitive.(Not a review, but my phone autocorrected 'kill' to 'lol' and now I'm going to put it in the freezer and hide in my bathroom)

Near perfect superhero comics dragged down by an incomprehensible plot here and there, but hardly. Everything that nerds love in modern comics, weirdly stark superhero drama, personal issues, and a sense of pure progress carrying us along into the glorious future, is crystalized here.

excellent collection.if you can get past the mid seventies comic book tropes and cringey dialogue in the first few issues it settles into being a very good reading experience, the individuals on the team are sticky and Chris Claremont has a very addictive writing style that draws you in and keeps you interested and invested. It's a good start to one of the wildest rides in comic history.

Comfort comics reading. I own a lot (but not all) of the original run of the series, so I supplemented my missing issues with the book. Some observations:1) #111 (the carnival story) and #113 (a battle with Magneto) are probably in my top fifty superhero issues ever. Amazing Byrne art with Claremont at the top of his game in terms of plotting.2) During this reread, I was kinda staggered by how a reboot of the X-Men title with almost all new characters resulted in a lasting legacy of decades of s...

It's the character work that really stands out here. The team learning to work together and the little character moments really differentiate this from other comics of the time. The X-Men have indeed left an indelible mark on both the comic book reader and creators.

A beautiful introduction to the Phoenix. Storm was great in this arc and the development of Jean was wonderful. I'm glad Claremont gave her a little vacation for a few issues before everything goes to shit.