Best X-Men Run

Topic

So when Al-X wants an answer, let’s have a poll.

Replies

If you’d have put Whedon/Cassadays Astonishing in there, I would’ve hesitated before choosing New X-Men by GM/FQ.

Now I didn’t have to.

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Dave

Anonymous wrote:

If you’d have put Whedon/Cassadays Astonishing in there, I would’ve hesitated before choosing New X-Men by GM/FQ.

Now I didn’t have to.

It’s like you read my mind.

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Todd

Where’s the House of M – Second Coming run?

Ben wrote:

Where’s the House of M – Second Coming run?

Where it belongs, off the list.

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Dave, Todd, lorcan_nagle

I voted Claremont and Smith (the Brood Saga is maybe my favorite X storyline and there are a bunch of smaller scale classics by them too like Scarlet in Glory and Professor Xavier is a Jerk) but it easily could’ve been Claremont/Byrne, Claremont/JRJR, or Morrison/Quitely on a different day. Taken as a whole, Claremont is the best though. Morrison’s a close second.

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garjones, Todd

[Steve Sensible]

I never really understood what all the fuss was about over the Morrison run. It was plagued by some awful art, and like every Morrison book since Animal Man, I thought it was pretty underwhelming.

I went with Claremont/Byrne but there’s an awful lot to love about most of Claremont’s run. I might have gone with the Paul Smith run but he only did about 10 issues, IIRC. I’ve never read much further than about #300, so I missed out on all the Australia stuff – is the Silvestri run any good?

What this poll shows is that the X-Men have been blessed with an awful lot of good comics.

Where’s your vote for Thomas/Adams though, David?

• This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by Steve Sensible.

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Todd

Steve Sensible wrote:

is the Silvestri run any good?

I voted for the Claremont/Silvestri run, on the strength of a single issue — Uncanny X-Men #218, a stand-alone issue that focuses on Longshot, Dazzler, Psylocke and Rogue in battle against Juggernaut and a runaway train. This issue really showed Claremont’s talent for writing women, and gave him the opportunity to develop Dazzler (!) as a powerful mutant; Silvestri also drew some pretty awesome action scenes including the one where Rogue has to stop the train without damaging it. Much of the Chris/Mark run had smaller moments like this episode, just before the X-Universe exploded into dozens of titles and semi-annual “events” and the change into a much darker X-Men team.

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DavidM, Steve Sensible, Will_C

Steve Sensible wrote:

I never really understood what all the fuss was about over the Morrison run. It was plagued by some awful art, and like every Morrison book since Animal Man, I thought it was pretty underwhelming.

I liked that it tried to push the big-picture view of mutants forward by treating it as a cultural movement that had grown beyond the simple “feared and hated” of the old days, and moving past the repetitive soap-opera relationships that had gone before.

It felt like it was pushing the book into a new era and making it accessible and relevant again. However, that’s the view of someone who hasn’t liked a huge amount of past X-Men stuff – hardcore fans might feel different.

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Steve Sensible, lorcan_nagle, Will_C

The bad art was really just a few issues in the “Imperial” arc that were rushed due to missed script deadlines. Igor Kordey had to draw a whole issue in one weekend. After that, the art was really good across the board: Quitely, Jimenez, JP Leon, Bachalo, Silvestri, Kordey (with proper lead time), and… sigh… Van Sciver. Never was a big fan of his art but his X-Men stuff was good.

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Ben, Sean Robinson, Todd, lorcan_nagle, Dave

I agree with Steve. I went with Claremont/Byrne because it pretty much defined X men for decades(Phoenix, Hellfire Club…). Many of Morrison’s storylines came from that era. Without C/B there would be no Emma or the Phoenix. Regardless of art quality issues with Morrison’s run, it was not as consistent as Byrne.

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Todd, Steve Sensible

I haven’t read all of it. Maybe just 10-20 issues in total. But, I agree with Gar. The Claremont/ Romita Jr run’s my fave. I adore Jim Lee’s artwork but I found the stories lacking the soap opera of the smaller, more grounded stories. The Byrne run is likewise fantastic to look at, but the stories less sophisticated. Smith’s is wonderful, but too short.

I enjoyed Morrison’s run too, but it owes too much to what came before to herald as the best.

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Rocket, Will_C, garjones

I would have picked the Lobdell/Nicieza run (across Uncanny and adjectiveless); in lieu of that I voted Claremont/Lee.

If it’s just one writer/artist combo, the Lobdell/Madureira run is my pick.

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Ben

Never thought much of Nicieza’s writing but Andy Kubert’s art, with Matt Ryan’s inking especially, was gorgeous.

Lobdell gets a lot of shit, but his Uncanny work was mostly enjoyable. He was good at the melodrama, although his plotting wasn’t the greatest.

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Andrew, Ben

Lobdell himself admits he never plots anything long term but does everything issue to issue. He gives himself a cliffhanger as a challenge of how to get out of it, he’s the anti-Hickman.

Never liked Nicieza but Lobdell does have his moments. I really liked that first ‘Joseph’ issue with the young Magneto but the whole idea never really went anywhere.

I find your lack of Cockrum disturbing.

Steve Sensible wrote:

Where’s your vote for Thomas/Adams though, David?

Give me a chance, I’m not here 24/7.

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Todd

garjones wrote:

Never liked Nicieza

I was a fan of his run on NEW WARRIORS with Mark Bagley and (later) Darick Robertson. He took a team of second-rate characters (Speedball? Namorita? Marvel Boy?) and turned them into a team that I looked forward to reading about each month. Nicieza will likely never be in anyone’s Pantheon of great comics writers, but he had talent especially when he worked on the right books.

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Todd, Ben

I narrowed it down to 2 choices; Claremont & Byrne and Morrison & Quitely.

Went with Morrison as I was in awe of him coming in and turning everything on it’s ear.
It wasn’t ‘change for the sake of change’, or anything haphazard.
Well thought out change and growth.
Got me thinking about a re-read now…

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Will_C, Dave

It’s interesting to note that the two runs that haven’t gotten a single vote are the original Lee/Kirby one and the most recent Hickman one.

I think the best X-Men run is clearly Quicksilver’s.

Dave wrote:

I think the best X-Men run is clearly Quicksilver’s

How do I “no thanks” this?

 

The Lee/Kirby run is pretty forgettable, and it’s worth remembering that up until Giant Size #1 even Neal Adams couldn’t make the book sell enough to prevent them just regurgitating reprints for 5 years.

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Andrew

Steve Sensible wrote:

The Lee/Kirby run is pretty forgettable

It is, I think it’s generally regarded now as the weakest of their collaborations. Still hugely creative of course, we’re still seeing a heap of those characters appearing today.

I didn’t really expect it to garner votes but felt you should really put it in as the originators.

I was actually reading an article on the Adams run the other day and their analysis was Marvel may have jumped the gun a bit on switching the book to reprints as sales were rising but anything like that includes a lot of speculation. It’s highly doubtful it would have hit the sales heights the Claremont run eventually did.

Steve Sensible wrote:

How do I “no thanks” this?

And the worst is Professor X’s.

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Andrew

Claremont/Silvestri, 100%. Probably because it was my first exposure. But damn, everything from the Juggernaut fight to the Siege Perilous was amazing.

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garjones