Uncanny X-Men; Beyond The Farthest Star, Chris Claremont

"The X-Men are a million miles from Earth, at the mercy of a rcae if deadly creatures known as the Brood. Infected with parasitic larvae, the mutant team must find a way to free themselves from the alien's insectoid clutches before they are transformed into new Brood warriors. An epic battle ensues as the X-Men struggle to stop their foes, whilst desperately fighting to keep control of their minds and bodies. Returning to earth for a final showdown the group must then confront one of their strongest members ho hass been infected with the embryo of a new Brood Queen. Get ready fro some classic X-action at its very best."








This is the bit where I geek out about just how strong this run on the X-Men is and everyone gets bored silly because this is, what, the third time now? The fourth? Who cares! This is magnificent. Claremont's world building is ridiculously vast, and it shows here where the conflict ranges from space battles, war on alien worlds, to internal struggles for the control of self.

Even the most ridiculous stuff (an over-reliance on cloning and magical-healing is already beginning to creep in) is counterbalanced by a rich imaginative seam of wonder, from the Brood's space-whale hunts to the idea of Lockheed.

The brood are a weird mix of blatant 'Alien' rip-offs and super creepy 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' by way of hosting, and their lack of success is a hindrance to what is supposed to be the greatest threat to life in the galaxy.

This isn't the best in the series, by this point Claremont has passed most of the real big moments, like 'the Dark Phoenix Saga' and 'God Loves, Man Kills', and is surfing to a close. It's for completists only, I guess, but really, if this doesn't make you happy, nothing will.

You said it Kitty.

Also Try:
Chris Claremont, Uncanny X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga
Brian Michael Bendis, All New X-Men
Joss Whedon, Astonishing X-Men: Gifted

Also Try -Professor Xavier is a JERK edition:
Ed Brubaker, Deadly Genesis
Joss Whedon, Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous
Various, Avengers vs X-Men

The Korvac Saga, Jim Shooter

"He hails from an unimaginable era: the 31st century. Fleeing through the timestream from the pursuing team of futuristic defenders known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, Korvac the Machine Man has established a secret presence on present-day Earth in the self-created persona of the mysterious Michael. Through such an unassuming guise, Korvac contemplates the elements of a universe he thirsts to command. Yet despite the subtlety of Michael's machinations, the world's greatest super-team - the mighty Avengers - catches wind of his cosmos-conquering scheme, thus drawing the two titanic forces into inevitable conflict."








I picked this up rather randomly in a little second hand Sci-Fi bookshop at the top of the street I work on, a shop notable more for it's devoted attempt to replicate the Black Books experience. To say that its proprietors are disinterested is to do them a grave disservice, they have elevated the idea of apathy to a laconic art form, barely shifting from their amply cushioned positions to extend an ungrateful hand for the cash that disturbs them from the daily routine of opening up, reading and closing time.

That having been said, they always have a weird array of old comics and an excellent back catalogue of trade paperbacks and pulp fiction. Having never read the Korvac saga before, or indeed much early Avengers, it was worth picking up a cheap pocketbook version just to get to grips with a character who is bigger in impact than in actual appearances.

In fact, the only real reference I've ever seen to him was a two part story in Avengers Academy where Korvac reappeared to fight almost every Avenger and trashed them with ease.

What's surprising about the Korvac saga is how little of it is actually related to Korvac. His appearance is scattered through multiple comics before he actually meets the Avengers - battles against the Collector, team-ups with the Guardians of the Galaxy, even Ultron shows up before we actually see Korvac. So whilst the actual fight sequence is amazing, an excellent demonstration of how overpowered the Avengers are by the cosmically fuelled being, it's a little bit of a let down.

In fact, the majority of the book is pretty dull really, which is definitely not what I expected. It doesn't help that the original Guardians of the Galaxy are one of the most dull teams to ever appear in comics, certainly if you have only the experience of seeing them appear alongside the far more interesting (and, importantly, starring) Avengers.

Ultimately, despite its status as a 'classic' this is an unsatisfying and laboured read, one which is hampered by an all over the place cast and a slow burn narrative that drags rather than exciting. Try other stuff first.

Also Try:
Christos Gage, Avengers Academy
Jonathan Hickman, Avengers
Stan Lee, Fantastic Four
Dan Abnett, Annihilation 

Uncanny X-Men, the Hidden Years, The Ghost and the Darkness; John Byrne

"Before House of M, before Onslaught, before the tragedy ofnthe Dark Phoenix, there were a handful of troubled teenagers and one man with a dream. Return to the X-Men's early days and discover the teams lost tales in this exclusive collection, expertly crafted by legendary comic book created John Byrne. The first seven issues of John Byrne's X-Men: The Hidden Years are collected in one titanic tome for the first time! This series chronicles the adventures of Marvel's original team of merry mutants after their Silver Age saga had run its course, and before the launch of the All-New, All-Different band of heroes. COLLECTING: X-Men : The Hidden Years 1-7"










This one is totally bizarre, a John Byrne scripted look back at the 'missing' adventures of the original X-Men team of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel and the Beast. Now, this is a time period ripe for rewriting, as it's widely agreed that the early first X-Men run was not very good, at least until Mutant Genesis and the second team came in.

The problem is that the idea of showing previously unseen adventures of the early team has been done better elsewhere, in First Class. Where as that contained a fresh start for the X-Men that welcomed new readers and old alike, this is a book that is only really relevant to those who have read the full early run, or at least enough to know about the Z-Nox and Professor X's decision to fake his death.

The behaviour of Iceman in particular only really works as part of a larger storyline, and casting the most (literally) chilled out of the original five X-Men as a hot head who quits the team in a huff seems a little bit odd. He's mostly absent for this story, which instead concentrate on Scott, Jean, Warren and Hank journeying to the Savage Land to find the body of Magneto and prove to the Professor that their enemy is truly dead.

Spoiler alert; he isn't.

Although he is a ghost for most of the book; because, the Savage Land.

The Savage Land is such a perfectly goofy comic book concept (mysterious zone in the antarctice circle where Dinosaurs, primitive humans and various other creatures still reside) that's so undervalued by the amount of time that's actually spent there. The stakes are always supposedly raised by a visit there and this never usually pays off, so it's nice to see something more than just the usual 'team turns up, fights a dinosaur, continues as normal' story, and some actual threat from the inhabitants.

Still, this lives up to the early X-Men reputation for being pretty weak. Definitely check out either First Class or All New X-Men instead.

Also Try:
Jeff Parker, X-Men: First Class
Brian Michael Bendis, All New X-Men
Mark Millar, Ultimate X-Men: Hellfire and Brimstone
Chris Claremont, Uncanny X-Men