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Best X-Men Run ... — Description
WARNING : Whatever happens follow the instructions. Contains opinions, general agressivity, acidic remarks and honesty. Unfit for cardiacs and pregnant women. Can be read with the voice of Skeletor or Anthony DeMartino...

I've been hyping for this for a while and some of you knew it will come to this. devilkais.deviantart.com/art/X…

THIS is my favorite X-men run EVER. I give it to you without any of that nostalgia bullshit (I pretty much read Marvel and DC's old stuff as an adult. Never grew up with those comics.) and no modernist innane snootiness (Sorry kids, but the 00's managed to top the flaws of the 90's impressively ! So don't start with your "DuhGrimmGittyDuuhh", my pretties, I only know what I actually experience. And what I experience is what goes !)

I raise my glass to Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell for their handling of this team and doing what I thought was IMPOSSIBLE 7 years ago : Making me actually interested in Marvel's Mutants. I shit you not, I never thought I'd care about this particular franchise, I did not grow up with it and a lot of the stuff Comics Critics seem to gush on and on about did not really sway me all that much. Then again, I always experiment in order to judge... I may be an opinionated jerk, but said opinion always has some fucking foundation somewhere !
But THIS Run ? Especially from 1992 to 1996 ? Best Plotlines (Yup I said it. You may quote me on that !), Best X-team line-up (I did not dislike any of the X-men in this poster. They even made me like those I disliked or did not give a shit about in other runs! That IS A DAMN FEAT !), Best antagonists (The greatest are the 2 guys on the foreground. ) and some of the best (and LAST) character development these folks will ever get . They did not pretend it was Voltaire , they just KNEW that they were writing about these characters and did so without any pretension or pseudo-intellectual "2DEEP4U" crap whatsoever.
They kept the characters heroic, but also made them flawed and have some dark moments. They sometimes had them fail in spite of their insane efforts or score small victories here and there. But they always worked to be better or improve their situations... That's how you get my attention and appreciation in the long run.

What's that ? The 90's Comic Book crash ?
I'll ask you this question in return : Why should I honestly even give a shit about that ? I wasn't even reading Superhero comics at that time ... And you do realize that I READ the fucking things, I don't PUBLISH them ?!

What's that ? " The X-Men are only defined by Claremont and Morrison" says you.

This is the kind of moronic statement makes me want to either eat my own face or disembowel you unspeakably, thus I'll hit you with the truth that you can't handle. I went into all of this Tabula Rasa and have seen loads and loads of moronic twats insulting THIS run. (To the point where some jackass insulted it to elevate Austen's.... Seriously, I was speechless.). Let's reply properly in 2 parts.

For the former part :
To be honest, I've never found Claremont as amazing as everyone makes out. If the real deal X-men was ONLY and PURELY Claremont's , I would not even be talking about them (This may surprise you but I only discuss about what I really love and very rarely about what pisses me off. Why ? Cuz life's short that's why !)
The main reason being that Claremont's sensibilities (characters and plots) simply aren't mine AND if you know my favorite X-men characters then you must've guessed that most were not developped by him or he had very different plans for them. Some shmuck says that Lobdell and Nicieza are just Claremont Wannabes ? Well that's a GOOD thing because after rereading Claremont entire 70s and 80s runs, there's only so much BDSM, Mind-Control, Peace and War speech, whimsy and ickiness my brain can take. Thus when re-reading the UXM books, in chronological order, I honestly saw what they brought as something new and different to the table. That and I am a lot more in the "Louise Simonson's X-Factor" side of the 80's X-men rather than his, mostly because the character focus was much more to my taste.
Now , don't get me wrong, there are many stories from Claremont's runs I do like and it is interesting to see the shifts that occur whenever an artist changes. I will give his different runs a fair shake one of these days and even rank them. Though, FUCK the Claremont/Byrne run ! There I said it. That stuff gets so many praise (despite that what I actually found praise-worthy in it is kind of gets brushed aside surprisingly...) that it is just GRATING !

For the latter part:
Just as a friendly reminder. I've heard good things about it, I've read it THREE fucking TIMES, I REVIEWED it and I can sum it up in one frame (If you are scoleciphobiac, DO NOT click and just keep reading. 4.bp.blogspot.com/-8Y7oltZGykg… )
The only deep thing about it is how profound most comics critics and bloggers heads must have been inside their respective colons when they read it, because there is simply no fucking way in hell this is praise-worthy or could even qualify as decent. It goes hand in hand with Austen's run actually.
But hey, anything that has such an incredible level of shallowness, wretchedness and inconsistency (even within its own bullshit) makes some people frantically try to find meaning in it, even if they have to make it up (The definitive finale story for the X-men... Go fuck yourself, whoever said that). It is basically the comics equivalent of myiasis and the Soja sanction from Riki-Oh.

Now, for the more common complaints...

Dialogue was contrived ?
Congratulations, that's comic book convention at the time and,quite honestly, I did not find their prose as heavy handed as Claremont's. Plus if you have some appreciation for drama and chewing the scenery, you might end up liking it.

Too Much angst ?
Give me a fucking superhero comic from the 80's and on that doesn't have angst ! Plus, both writers knew know to inject their stories with humor as well as great slice-of-life moments and in one-shots no less ! That's how you make characters deep or at least nuanced: the little elements/interactions/gags here and there. The downtime issues they did are what developed many of the x-characters more than we’ve seen since errrr....1997, I guess. (seriously after that, it's mostly the satellite and solo books that become the real deal in terms of characterization!)

It is too 90's ?
No shit Sherlock ! That's WHEN it was written . Wanna know something else ? The Looney tunes were written in the 40's and 50's for the audience at the time. I trust you've deduced where I'm getting at...

Plots going nowehere ?
This accusation is a complete fallacy for a very simple reason.Scott and Fabian actually bothered doing their research and tied up many old loose ends left by their predecessors. If anything, I'd call their run "the LAST FUCKING TIME there was a direction !". I also love how some imbeciles complain about how bad this run is, while the stuff they fucking relish is AT BEST and if I am at my most forgiving not what it's cracked up to be.

The characters were poor replacements for the established beloved Claremontian ones ?
YES, I mean they clearly did not develop any of the members of the cast. And Claremont never split the team, develop members at the expense of others or make changes to the roster. Nah, not at all...

Their villains are so one-dimensional ?
4.bp.blogspot.com/-j4c4a6yornY…

They killed way too many characters ?
Well at least when someone bites it in their stories, not only does it impact the other characters but it's treated like a big fucking deal. And I am not always against a character's death ...it however HAS to be pulled off properly. Tell me now, didn't the 00's start the tradition of pointless slaughter left and right for cheap shock value maybe? Of course they didn't...

There was no closure at all ?
OKAY. This is maybe the con that DOES somewhat tick me off.
While it is true that they weren't able to bring closure to the multiple plot threads they kept introducing, they were hardly the only creative team guilty of that and they definitely WON'T be the last. That's how the Comics Biz works, like it or not.
With that said, it is a shame almost none of their characters or plot threads have been touched upon. There was a fuckton of places to go had they have a fucking clue and did deal with what was set up in this run.

OKAY, If you want me to sum it up as succintly as possible: I'd rather read about the quote unquote 90's has-beens taking on badass antagonists and doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do rather than a fuckload of worthless hypocritical cunts acting "edgy" as if they were "2DEEP4U". Sue me.

My absolute favorite members from the X-men as a general rule are Gambit and Jubilee. Of course there's the massive outcry that they are nothing more than the 90's replacements of Nightcrawler and Kitty but I would state several unsavory remarks about those people brain capacities and their mothers (though the latter will only occur if I am really , really ticked-off .).
For Gambit, there is not much to add here that this is where he got a proper personality and became Remy LeBeau AKA Mr Clopobec. For more details, we've already been through the Cajun's entire character devilkais.deviantart.com/art/L… .

Jubilee is NOT Kitty's 90's replacement despite what people let on (then again, popular conscience is pretty much Bullshit on more occasions than I could ever count in a single lifetime). There IS a replacement for Miss Pryde, from the 90's, who managed to be one of my favorites AND...is not a "she".
Now, Jubilation Lee herself...she's that fucking easy to connect with. She is sassy, cantankerous and boastful but she's no more annoying than most teenagers are at her age. She is one of the closest characters to a down-to-earth person and damn if she doesn't have a heart of gold and a toughness that even she underestimates. Also, like Gambit, she's a pretty funny character and, from MY personal experience,is an absolute blast to draw.
This run is a major step in her characterization from trying to find her place in this world and her own identity amongst a these folks with all of these awesome powers ( her colorful plasma is powerful actually... but there's one big problem: their firepower heavily depends on her mental state. They can become lethal IF she's close to a state of murderous anger or uncontrollable agitation/shock ) to growing as a young woman. She grew even further in Generation X, sharing the top spot of being the best character in that book with another very different person...but that's for another day.

Now for the 4 other that are my absolute favorites due to their developments or because I said so :

Jean rules and the phoenix drools. I am that dude who would stab your eyes (as Stryfe says so eloquently ) if you EVER talk about the fucking Phoenix to me. I only liked fiery space chicken on 2 occasions MAX, neither is the "Dark phoenix Saga" and one has jack shit to do with Jean.
I'll never be sorry that Jean was brought back. In fact, her coming back in X-Factor was one of the best fucking ideas in comics history ever! Much like a comatose patient awakening , she had to deal with changes that happened during her absence. Plus she and the rest of the O5 will learnt about how misguided nostalgia can have sinister consequences (Heh..). And I loved the way she got mad and refused to acknowledge Rachel as her daughter. People would call it self-centered but that's pretty understandable : she fucking REFUSES to be just a pawn in some cosmic game. Simonson did give a darker side to Jean's character , then Fab and Scott acknowledged that and perfectly rolled with it. That's a FAR better take than the whole Phoenix force host concept. As kind and pleasant Jean is, she has a very nasty temper that will make anyone regret that they set her off.
And her numerous deaths ? If you really believe that whole "Jean dies all the time" fallacy, you clearly have been drinking as a fetus.

Next in line is the actual Kitty Pryde replacement from that decade: Bishop. Yup, he is the "rookie" of the team so to speak and he's much like her, quite the good student (and the DOFP stuff...his version at least was fun to watch.) and a sort of younger sibling to Storm. The difference is that while Kitty and the focus she received made me wanna punch babies at times, I had absolutely no problem warming-up to Bishop. True, he is not the most revolutionary character ever BUT there is definitely a surprising adorable quality to him. The concept of the guy is so fucking simple that it is almost elemental ; he's a workaholic boyscout and the epitome of altruism and loyalty, which is nicely balanced by his social awkwardness (he's utterly confused by the concept of dates or action flicks...). Bishop is basically a teddy bear under a mass of muscles and lawful dedication.

Next one is the other by-the-book dude (much less than Bishop, who confesses being a fan of his BTW!), Cyclops.
Cyclops is a jock ?.... Since fucking when?! Okay , I'll be very clear here; I never shied away from insulting the 00's aberrations that pass for Cyclops or Wolverine and for good fucking reason. Comics critics and fans say how Cyke became SO totally interesting and how he's gonna save the mutant race and how he's making sacrifi... EAT A DICK ! The 00's "Cyclops" is what is called by ANYONE with more than 2 neurons to rub together a worthless sack of shit. Those who keep saying nowadays "Cyclops is right" should learn that paint chips do not a healthy meal make. Interesting ? Yeah, because God knows that a segregationist dipshit that lies and harms his own friends, has NO reaction about his own fucking family dying left and right and , for some BAFFLING reason, gets praised for all of it IS my idea of compelling !Sure.
Whedon made Cyclops awesome again ? Whedon's "Cyclops" is MAYBE, at best, a paralytic tailless spermatozoon compared to the Mofo from this poster.
THIS is the 90's Scott Summers ; the dude who for some reason NOBODY talks about, while he is by all rights and Logic the fucking benchmark I judge other takes on the character ! Lobdell and Nicieza clearly loved the guy for what he was and fucking GOT that Cyclops IS driven by reason and steadfastness. They did not forget his past mistakes like "Inferno" or the "End Game" situation, they BUILT upon that to develop Scott's character and intelligently ditched the bullshit rivalry with Wolverine. What we got instead was him being Cable's dad (another FANTASTIC idea ! And Papa Scott doesn't take well to those who harm his loved ones !), confronting his own evil reflection (who we will talk about soon), facing his own mistakes and doubts and even surpassing Xavier in maturity and experience (Who's the man now biatch ?!).
I fucking BOUGHT that this dude is a leader and he never needed to rub it in anyone's face (He reminds me of this dude in many ways images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__c… )
Also, he's really chill and likable. For a guy who's said to be a stiff, he actually is one witty deadpan snarker when he wants.

And last one... is ICEMAN ! I have to say that Bobby's progress was implicit through the stories and they gave him more to do than simply be an Ice Cube dispenser. Pretty impressive not that I've reread his story. We got to know that behind the jokester facade, Robert Drake has a very tense relationship with his father and some insecurities when it comes to his powers. Then he grew a pair...which is better than the current little bitch that's only good for keeping the sodas cold.

Some others are pretty much established from the get go and are not all that changed. Beast ? Who the fuck would want to change everyone's favorite kickass intellectual ? (Idiots that's who!). Storm does not have as much focus as before (though still plenty !) which is a good thing because this is a damn TEAM book ! Rogue ? Well thankfully they did not reiterate the whole "Carol Danvers story" because GOD did it get OLD ! Plus she does get to kick ass and take names. Wolverine ? Logan ONLY appears when it is REALLY crucial devilkais.deviantart.com/art/E…

As for the others that did change but are not quite in my first tier affection, well : Colossus definitely has some of the best development, but NOT as an X-man. Archangel is STILL a whiny bitch (I mean WALLAH ! The guy complains about what Apocalypse did to him left and right. But what did Blue-Lips do to him ? Aside from saving his ass and improve him on so many levels ? You tell me...). To his credit, he still has some cool moments thanks to our following member. When it comes to Psylocke, while I agree that the whole Revanche plotline was kinda weak overall, it is still made up for by some cool character moments and by the fact that Spiral had her hands on the whole ordeal ! Plus , Seeing how schizo Bettsy was written under Claremont, I'm hardly surprised they came up with this direction for her (plus, the Siege Perilous ? Meh...)!

Finally, these X-men go watch the Rocky Horror Picture show. I am not even kidding ! When I say this is the Best TEAM EVER ! Did I forget someone ? Naaah...

Well since we have 11 plotlines to discuss ( 9 of which concern BOTH writers. And credits go to people writing some of the concerned one-shots and minis...), let's follow the map beforehand, shall we ? I will be focusing on what affects this team in oarticular...

I. OMEGA RED, UPSTARTS & MOJOVERSE :

This part is mostly about tying loose ends from older runs and introducing new characters and concepts. The team is "separated" into Blue and Gold team (for the best. I mean we have Scott and Ororo who are both capable so it is better to share the duties). Since this is the most chaotic in terms of plot threads, I've decided to go swiftly through them :
- The Omega Red story introduces us to the titular villain , Arkady Rossovich then Maverick and RE-introduces Sabretooth in his new and improved version. It is a fairly decent action story with the Blue Team kicking ass and taking names to save the kidnapped Wolverine.
- The Upstarts part is , I think, the best and most consequential one ( though Fitzroy was the only one allowed to fulfill his true potential). It contains the slaughter of the Hellions, Donald Pierce done goofin' (as usual it appears), Jean penetrating Emma (not like that, ya crazies...) and the introduction of the Bish himself ! I have to hand to Selene, there was a good reason Shaw never trusted her.
- Fabian Nicieza starts his run with the Mojoverse story and it seems to close the Longshot plotline.
- The Gold team meet up with Mikhail, Piotr's long lost brother. It's an okay story, but I have to add that Mikhail seems to work for only this story. I mean the Morlocks again ? Pfah. There's a reason a wise man found them to be an evolutionary dead end. But the best things to come out of these are the inclusion of Bishop and the start of Colossus's development.
- Finally there's the revelation that Gambit has easily one of the worst relationships with his family in law, but hey, you already know that by this point. And the whole Ghost Rider/Brood part is just silly fun.

II. X-CUTIONER'S SONG :
[UXM #294-297,X-FACTOR #84-86, X-MEN #14-16, X-FORCE #16-18, STRYFE'S STRIKE FILE, WHAT-IF#69 ]

Already discussed it. And it is my 2nd favorite X-men story.
devilkais.deviantart.com/art/F…
I'll add that the What-if is also great : Apoc doesn't manage to save Xavier despite trying and he shows us what happens when he fights SERIOUSLY... while defending himself. And it easily have the best exchange between Nathan and Stryfe.

III. FATAL ATTRACTIONS:
[ UXM #298-305, 315 and ANNUAL #17; X-FACTOR #87-92; X-MEN UNLIMITED #1-2; X-FORCE #25; X-MEN #25; WOLVERINE#75; EXCALIBUR #71]

Fatal Attractions is really the last Magneto story worth a damn. I mean what following story-arc used him properly as a nemesis again ? NONE. And it is quite fitting that the one guy to take him out is the man he called his best friend once. This arc is the right way to close his chapter and to open a new one for the other baddies.
Plus Magneto seems to get a goddamn free pass for the crimes he committed and as such , I've never seen him as that tragic. The tragic origin is here, but Erik himself I stopped sympathising with, especially with whatever happens AFTER this story.
But my grievances aside , it did give us the most interesting Colossus ever. Having seen his sister die by the Legacy Virus (shame that plotline got lost and ignored BUT it definitely knew WHO to claim as a victim. Hehehe...) and lost his brother AGAIN, an embittered Piotr turned his back on Xavier's and joined the Acolytes. Not the wisest move, but a perfectly understandable reaction and one they should have kept him with. There's also the whole part in X-Force with Cable finally admitting the truth to his students (and confronting Magneto to save his "Professor"...) and Wolverine losing his adamantium to get his best characterization ever.

IV. THE ACOLYTES :
[ AVENGERS #368-369, X-MEN #26, AVENGERS WEST COAST #101, UXM #307, UXM #315 , BLACK KNIGHT: EXODUS , WHAT-IF#85]

And It's Crossover time ! With the Avengers no less ! This is pretty much a conclusion to the whole "X-Tinction Agenda" storyline and the Genoshan Government problem.
Basically, Fabian Cortez (AKA Brutus McStarscream) kidnaps Pietro and Crystal's baby girl. Which is both understandable (well, last time we saw the guy, Exodus was slapping him left and right for betraying Magneto...) and brave (did you see what Luna's babysitter even LOOKS LIKE ?! Kudos to him for facing THAT).
Cortez wants to make a bid for power and control the violent mutant population of Genosha to have a solid base for his next coups. So of course the X-Men and some Avengers have to stop the bastard and calm down the fucking situation... their task even made harder by Magneto's most faithful lieutenant who doesn't take nicely to the mistreatments mutants suffered way back.
I have to say though that for a crazy zealot, Exodus is rather lax. Granted he's talking to Magneto's vegetative body (Isn't there one acolyte that believes in euthanasia ? Honestly ?!) as f it 'll answer him, but I guess 700 years in the cooler would mess up anyone. His origin explains why the guy seems insane; he is an improved mutant that Apocalypse experimented on. However, when Bennet refused to kill the Black knight, Apoc saw the experiment as a quasi-failure and comatosed him (for 7 centuries... I know, En Sabah Nur sees time flowing differently...). It makes sense that he's utterly devoted to Magneto since the guy FREED him after all that time. (Imagine if Dr Doom was the one who discovered Exodus instead. The F4 would be so boned !)
The What-if one shot is pretty good, especially for its ending where SURPRISINGLY, Cortez and Exodus do realize their errors and that the Acolytes should be a more benficial organization rather than a belligerent one...

V. SUMMERS BLOODLINE :
[ CABLE v-1 #4-9, UXM #308-309 , X-MEN #24 and 30, EXCALIBUR #75 , X-MEN: PHOENIX 1-3 , ADVENTURES OF CYCLOPS AND PHOENIX 1-4]

Now let's talk about the most hated couple in Marvel history.
And I know that the most popular statement that most people seem to go on with :
"It was stale and going nowhere and we all knew it. Scott has changed – he's not the teenage boy who fell in love with Jean; when she died for a second time on the moon, their love was over as far as I'm concerned and the stories after that back up my contention – everything after Dark Phoenix was just Jean and Scott trying really hard and failing miserably to recapture that perfect moment of running out hand in hand to face certain death."
... If you buy into this reasoning, congratulations, you give utter cretinism an entire new dimension. So the TRUE Scott Summers and this whole story-arc is a sham ? GO EAT SHIT.
This is mostly the result of what happened in Inferno and End Game (which I consider the moment where the Optimal Cyclops was truly born. Him going Son Gohan on Apocalypse over what happened to his baby was the start of his greatness !), as well as solving the situation of Rachel and Nathan Summers.
The way they pulled this off was utter fucking GENIUS ! Rachel being sent to the future and leading a rebellion cult (the Askani) against Apocalypse's regime ? LOVED every panel of it! They gave Ray one of the best send-offs a character could get instead of letting her storyline rot on the vines (and much like her kid brother, she proves to be a better Xavier than Xavier...).And it does not get more heartfelt than her last words to Kitty "When I'm born to Scott and Jean, Promise me you'll hold me in your arms, keep me safe and warm and give me a hello kiss..." www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFoEol…
Jean & Scott getting married ? FINAL-FUCKING-LY ! And as for them being a boring couple, well I'll take them any day over Reed and Sue AND if those are "boring" characters , can I have more of those ? Because I take people with basic fucking decency over "edgy","mature" cunts anytime ! Also the only true hapiness in their couple is that they had each other at the end of the day. For the rest, they have to face the mofos on the right part of this poster and god knows how many conspirations and bloody conflicts !
With Jean, Cyclops has to be a super-human? That explains why they confess each other doubts and that he has a very relaxed attitude with her and lower the Cyclops mask. Jean is some uber-Godess ? Errr... what is it exactly people do not understand in "Phoenixless Jean Grey" ?
Did I mention that they spent 12 years in a nightmarish future while raising (the underrated greatness that is) Cable ? So much for a "ridiculous teenage fling"...
And THIS is why this run has the BEST Cyclops and the BEST Jean Grey. Never imitated, never acknowledged, always ignored and yet NEVER SURPASSED.
Also, it is the second hint we have about Apocalypse's past...

VI. PHALANX COVENANT :
[ UXM #312-314 ; UXM# 316-317 ; X-MEN #36-37 ; X-Factor #106 ; X-Force #38 ; Excalibur #82 ; Wolverine #85 ; Cable #16]

A collective consciousness infected with the Transmode Virus infiltrates the X-Mansion (after an encounter with Storm and Gambit...who is disliked by Storm's girlfriend. Ain't no love among thieves, Chérie...), kidnaps a small bunch of previously unknown mutants and plots to eliminate mutant-kind (basically they are a more insidious version of the sentinels...).
The best thing about this story is that it is 3 self-contained stories :
* Generation Next: With the X-Men gone, Banshee, Emma Frost, Jubilee and Sabretooth have to save the next generation of mutants from the Phalanx agents led by Harvest.This is the BEST section of this saga. It is the prologue for Generation X BUT also where we obtain the OPTIMAL Emma Frost (a shame she dies with Generation X). Yes, I love Emma Frost (which is why I KNOW that the 00's series about "her" is a pile of shit...) and this is where she gets even more impressive than in her villain days : She penetrates Iceman's body (you'd think that she'd be weirded out by that, but that is not the first time she body-swaps with someone) and gets to eventually learn about the demise of her Hellions. I'll also note that her will (yup, she was careful with what might happen), mentions that she wishes for her school to be "fused" with Xavier's in case something happened to her (well she was in a coma ever since the 1st Arc of this run, sooo...).
* Life Signs: X-Factor, Excalibur and X-Force discover that the Phalanx are losing their hive-mind programming and are becoming more and more independent and alien. The rogue Phalanx Douglock takes Forge, Wolfsbane and Cannonball on a mission to stop this situation from degenerating even further...
* Final Sanction: Cable, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Jean reunite to rescue the X-Men by infiltrating the main base of the Phalanx. Pretty much a consequence of the precedent story-arc and, while it is the weakest in terms of story, it does make for a nice and explosive Finale.

VII. LEGION'S QUEST/ AGE OF APOCALYPSE:
[ UXM #320-321 ; X-Men #40-41 ; Cable #20; X-Men Alpha ;Amazing X-Men #1-4 ; Astonishing X-Men #1-4; Factor-X #1-4 ;Gambit and the X-Ternals #1-4; Generation Next #1-4 ;Weapon X #1-4 ; X-Calibre #1-4 ; X-Man #1-4;X-Men Omega ; The Chosen; RISE OF APOCALYPSE 1-4 ]

I hold Legion Quest/Age Of Apocalypse as the BEST X-Men arc ever. It pushed the enveloppe even further and found a clever way to top the epicness (something this run is pretty good at for the most part). The way the X-men confronted their last moments both in the regular and AOA reality was breath-taking. The AOA X-men are easy to like from the start, most fights are cool, character interractions are brilliant and varied (Not all of them are necessary allies, but all of them will do their damnedest to save their world EVEN if they were doomed from the start...) and Apocalypse and his cohorts are badass as hell.
Since we're on the subject of Apocalypse's origins (I added them here out of praticality) , they gave me a completely different view of the guy. If you really look at him properly, En Sabah Nur is nothing more than a kid who's clinging to the last words that the only person who ever showed him kindness taught him. As such, and while he HAS to be stopped, He is deserving of my utmost sympathy...

VIII. THE MURDERER'S CREED :
[ X-MEN UNLIMITED #3 ; UXM #326,328 ; WOLVERINE#90 ; X-MEN #28,33 ; UXM ANNUAL #18 ; RED ZONE ; WHAT-IF#87 ]

This plotline is a bit peculiar, it is not ONE self-contained story arc but it is intersped through the other issues.
I've discussed Sabretooth as a Wolverine villain and already claimed that he was the freaking ROCKSTAR in that book. Now Sabretooth as an X-men villain ? In my top 3, no questions asked. Victor Creed is basically a reverse Pr Ratigan. He does want the X-men to just see him as a murdering animal while in truth he's a deceptive, sneaky bastard and very good at mind games ! No psychic powers or anything, he just needs to push the rights buttons. And he succeeds more often than not (look at how he completely punked Tabby ).
In fact , Xavier's intent of "healing" Victor was met with mixed reactions at the mansion (the common one is that no one really believed that Chuckles WOULD even succeed.):
- At least he's sealed down here so he's not out there harming others ( Scott , Ororo , Rogue )
- Fuck that, he should be sealed FAR AWAY from here (Jean , Hank)
- Let's just kill the fucker ! ( Remy , Bishop , Kitty , Caliban )
And there's the closest reaction to reality ; Jubilee having nightmares about Creed escaping and killing each one of them. I say "close to reality" because I know that if I had a serial killer in my basement, sleeping is easily the last thing I'd do.
As for THIS what-if , it features easily the BEST death of Sabretooth. At the hands of Jubilee.... And it is effectively disturbing.

IX. DR ESSEX :
[ X-MEN #22,23,27,34,45 ; X-MEN ANNUAL 1995 ; FURTHER ADVENTURES OF CYCLOPS AND PHOENIX 1-4 ; WHAT-IF#74 ]

Mr Sinister, amoral geneticist and sexiest villain in the Marvel universe.
I've already said that I found Claremont's original prototype to be kind of meh. Basically it's Wen from Cowboy Bebop but with a degree in android creation. The new and improved one that popped up in PAD's X-Factor is basically the best reinterpretation of Dr Faust.
Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell saw something in him and revised the whole concept, personality included, only his connections to Cyclops and Gambit remained.The man kept appearing occasionally throughout the stories without revealing too much about himself. Later the truth about Sinister ocurred in 2 steps :
Age Of Apocalypse revealed that he indeed had connections with En Sabah Nur himself (Apocalypse referring to him as his Sinister "associate" after witnessing Legion's attack...) and furthermore put in place a refreshing type of rivalry. Nur is all about gathering and improving whoever survives chaotic events and sees science as a mean to an end. Essex is more about order, an immaculate craft and the science itself. It's one of the best relationships in comics, 2 amoral schemers with disparate views on life and humanity and a whole lot more compelling than Xavier VS Magneto (which ran its course...in this run actually !) or Wolverine VS Cyclops (which was good for about 2 minutes...). It is no wonder that Louise Simonson added a tweaked version of this rivalry in X-Factor forever...
All is revealed then in the best Origin mini-series of all ; Further Adventures Of Cyclops and Phoenix (Boy couldn't they pick another title!). Nathaniel Essex was a 19th century scientist obsessed with evolution who performed depraved experiments , out of a laudable intention. Well the guy lost his first baby and he never managed to surpass that tragedy. And because of that obsession, he unwillingly caused the demise of his wife. Since he had nothing more to live for but his work, he made a pact with Apocalypse to grant him power and "immortality", renaming himself Sinister. In many ways , Nathaniel is twisted reflection of Cyclops : neither was at first emotionally mature enough , both faced harsh emotional struggles BUT the laser-eyed guy developped the strength to confront them (see above) while the bearded one could not and gave up his humanity or any kind of empathy (he just sees others as potential test subjects or laboratory employees...Guy even clones his own staff!). That kind of rounds up his obsession with the Summers and Grey bloodline and the fact that he was Scott's "best friend"/caretaker at the orphanage.

Now for the last 2 parts... Well, Fabian Nicieza has nothing to do with them AND looking at them is more looking at projects that were never allowed to fulfill their TRUE potential (a common occurrence in the biz , baybay !). Though there are several redeeming qualities in both...

X. ONSLAUGHT :
[ Let's go with what worked here : ONSLAUGHT (one-shot) ; UXM #333 - 335 ; CABLE #34-35 ; GENERATION X #18-19 ; X-MEN #55 ; UXM 337 ; X-MEN #59 ]
Pfff... it was unavoidable. In my favorite X-men run, this fucker plays a huge role and I have to begrudgingly admit that YES, Fabian and Scott did a good job with Baldy here. The problem is ; Onslaught was a platinum opportunity to go old yeller on him... errr, I mean to give him a proper send-off ! He's ran his course and what better irony for the X-men than to fight their rabidly powered mentor, who's turned to be his own worst enemy ! Especially since they spent most arcs saving the bastard. Oh, the cruel IRONY !
Now as for Onslaught's powers themselves... I can buy that he can pull off the whole dimensional fabric (after getting Franklin Richards's powers) and that he can attack people with psionic constructs that can physically harm them. Why ? Well I am huge fan of a certain manga that features a very similar concept... need I go on ? Then , Marvel-wise, Legion is already proof that Xavier's sperm is in the top 5 most hazardous weapons in the Marvel universe .
So as I said before, Onslaught may work better in the whole (now extinct) Forever line since it won't be neutered by a stagnating status quo. And I hope they go with Mark Waid's idea for the story : Charles being confronted by his repressed negative emotions personified in Onslaught and ending up being driven by said personna . NO SAVING THROW !
As it is, it is more underwhelming than anything ending-wise but HEY, at least it gets more right than wrong characterization-wise.

XI. OPERATION ZERO TOLERANCE :
[ GENERATION X 26-31, X-FORCE 67-70, X-MEN 65-70, UNCANNY X-MEN 346, WOLVERINE 115-118, CABLE 45-47 ]

Aaaand finally the last of the yearly crossovers. It suffers the same crippling, DUE to the problems of Onslaught actually.
Surprisingly, the best moments of this story occur more in X-Force, Cable and Generation X rather rather than the core X-Books (which stopped evolving or taking risks from this exact point on). The concept , once again, is pretty cool but the execution shows that it was once again neutered. The Idea that Bastion, an updated version of Master Mold, is given a government license to hunt down the X-Teams and other mutants is pretty chilling (once again, Chuck has to bite it so that it works at its apex !). I mean , Bastion's idea of protecting humans was pretty much to turn them into sentinels by implementing cybernetic constructs inside them and masquerade those as "medical interventions". That alone was worth the price of admission !
AND the idea that Iceman would be the one to take him down by proving that he's become more resourceful is EVEN BETTER , which is why Bobbie's growth is tossed away right afterwards...
The ending is just THAT frustrating , it's as if they just pulled the plug on the whole idea and walked away from it, hell even the fight against Bastion feels cancelled. With that said and since I am a "half-full glass" person, I will say that it contains many fantastic moments; X-Force and cable confronting the OZT crew, Jubilee's incarceration and escape, Iceman and Dr Reyes , Jameson facing Bastion, Cyclops having a bomb stuck in his heart (actually THIS should have happened at the very start of this arc. Honestly I always viewed Cyke's death as occurring in the battlefield and after taking down a main antagonist with every last ditch effort he will it into it...) ...

And we're done... Now the Bad news; most of these stories and characters were swept under the rug as of 2001. The Good news ... Well if anything , it fucking deserves an animated adaptation in the same vein of this series devilkais.deviantart.com/art/T…

REFERENCES ... because everyone needs those to draw properly! :

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvrlgv… www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofUwxD… www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is2Vu0… www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-knPV… www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg4y1R… www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZzONn… www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_sGuq… www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie5sK3… www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w9tQJ… www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls7oOx… www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4wILS… www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVEGMa… www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GpveZ… www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUniSn… www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvLDJI… www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv1opi… www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-vSPV… www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zZYV2… www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kkv5x… www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYs4wD… www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn_Uqi…