For me, X-Men Epic Collection: Mutant Genesis fills an important hole. You see, I’ve been trying to collect the whole of Chris Claremont’s legendary 16-year run on X-Men in some sort of printed form for a while now.
Finding the beginning of the run is easy. Starting with 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1 and X-Men #94, I only had to find collections of the one series. At some point, Claremont started producing various miniseries that tell side stories for individual characters, like 1982’s Wolverine mini. But most of these are also included alongside all of the Uncanny X-Men issues in either Marvel Masterworks or X-Men Epic Collections.
At some point, collecting Claremont’s X-Men started to get a little more difficult with the release of the first spin-off series: New Mutants in 1982, X-Factor in 1985 and Excalibur in 1988. Still, I continued to focus on the Uncanny X-Men collections to follow Claremont’s core run.
Unfortunately, everything got much more complicated with the onset of regular so-called X-overs, starting with 1986’s Uncanny X-Men #210, the first issue of the Mutant Massacre. Of course, Marvel produces collections of these X-overs – like Inferno or X-Tinction Agenda. But often, there are issues of Uncanny X-Men in-between these X-overs still waiting to be collected in an easy to purchase form.
Yes, I could buy the Omnibuses – but I like to hold books in my hands without causing major joint pain. The Marvel Masterworks series is starting to work its way into these complicated X-over years, but those books have become premiere hardcovers with a premiere price tag. Fortunately, the X-Men Epic Collection paperback series is starting to fill in those voids, and that’s right where X-Men Epic Collection: Mutant Genesis lies.
Courtesy of Marvel
And it’s quite the interesting book historically. X-Men Epic Collection: Mutant Genesis collects the final issues of Claremont’s legendary run, but similar to the storytelling chaos the many X-overs caused, the end of the Claremont era also feels a bit like a convoluted mess.
Only half of the issues are actually from X-Men series: three from Uncanny X-Men (#278-280), one Uncanny X-Men Annual and the first three issues of the famous, adjectiveless X-Men series rebooted in 1991. So, you do get a copy of the best-selling comic book of all time: X-Men #1 from 1991. Otherwise, this collection includes six X-Factor issues (#65-70) starring the original X-Men, plus The New Mutants Annual and the X-Factor Annual that complete the story of the Uncanny X-Men Annual. We also find a convoluted list of contributing writers, plotters and artists. And at least once, the credited writer changes in the middle of a story-arc.
You have to realize, the end of the Claremont run was bumpy, to put it nicely. Over 16 years, from 1975 to 1991, Claremont took the X-Men from B-list heroes to the most dominant superhero franchise in comics. He created some of the most famous comics ever – think The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past – with the help of top artists, inkers, letterers and incredible editors – including Louise Simonson and Ann Nocenti.
But, by the late ’80s, Bob Harras had taken over as editor and he had different ideas on how to reenergize the franchise. Bob wanted to hand the reins over to the highly popular new faces of comics, including Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio and Fabian Nicieza. By the time 1991 came around, Claremont was rumored to only be writing the dialogue for stories completely plotted by the other three.
Courtesy of Marvel
Unfortunately, the effects of this writing-by-committee can definitely be seen in X-Men Epic Collection: Mutant Genesis. The three Annuals are all written by Nicieza, with each issue drawn by a different artist. The only issue with writing credited solely to Claremont is Uncanny X-Men #278, which also happens to be the most well-written issue – good pacing, interesting things happening, a great setup for the story arc. Otherwise, Lee, Portacio or Nicieza are always included as plotters or co-writers.
And Chris Claremont’s actual last issue on Uncanny X-Men is #279 – a 16-year run ended on part two of a four-issue story-arc. Nicieza writes parts 3 and 4. Sure, Claremont truly ends his tenure on the X-Titles with the first three issues of the rebooted, plain-old X-Men. But it still feels like a humbling end to a legendary run that included some of the best comic book stories ever told. I have to admit, I feel plenty of schadenfreude as I think of Harras clamoring to replace Lee, Portacio and the rest of the popular boys, after they jumped the Marvel ship to start Image Comics only a year later.
Courtesy of Marvel
Despite the convoluted creative teams, the comics collected in X-Men Epic Collection: Mutant Genesis aren’t bad, just not the best. You can see why Jim Lee, Andy Kubert and Whilce Portacio are such popular artists – changing industry standards with their big dynamic images of super-masculine and super-feminine characters in poster-ready poses. Everything always looks larger than life.
And the stories include some very important events in the history of the X-franchise. Everything happening is obviously driving toward the big upcoming reboot. Accordingly, the story arc in X-Factor #65-68 – appropriately titled “Endgame” – wraps up the original five X-Men’s tenure on the team with a showdown against Apocalypse. The story includes Apocalypse famously infecting Cyclops’ son, Nathan, with a techno-organic virus before Cyclops let the Askani take him to the future. And we all know what that led to.
Uncanny X-Men #278-280 along with X-Factor #69 – a mini-X-Over called the ‘Muir Island Saga’ – brings all of X-Factor, the current X-Men team and the Muir Island team together to battle the Shadow King. It’s a fairly standard X-Men action adventure with some mentally controlled hero vs. hero fights. But the important part is bringing all these characters together in one place in order to set up the reboot. X-Factor #70 – the first issue of the series written by Peter David – serves as an epilogue that further sets up the future of the X-Men and X-Factor series.
Courtesy of Marvel
And finally, X-Men Epic Collection: Mutant Genesis concludes with the reboot read ’round the world: the final three X-Men comics written by Chris Claremont during his 16-year run, X-Men (1991) #1-3. Even here Claremont is, unfortunately, mostly just scripting while co-plotting with Jim Lee. Lee’s drawings in these three issues would set the standard for what the X-Men would look like throughout the ’90s. The images are iconic and I’m sure every comic fan has seen the famous gatefold cover to X-Men #1. For better or worse, these three issues establish the status quo for the X-Men that is still what most people think of when they think about the X-Men today – including the costumes and character designs used in the popular ’90s animated series.
In that sense, X-Men Epic Collection: Mutant Genesis collects some of the most historically important X-Men comics of the ’90s. While not the absolute best, the stories are definitely good with awesome art. They established a status quo that is still in the minds of many readers, even 34 years later. Plus, these are the very last issues of Chris Claremont’s truly legendary 16-year run on X-Men. For that reason alone, this book needed to be in my collection.
The ‘X-Men Epic Collection: Mutant Genesis’ collects the end of Chris Claremont’s legendary 16-year run on the series. Read More