Odd that just last week, I wrote a somewhat critical article about Marvel's Merry Mutants. And here I return to the theme, once more, only with a more POSITIVE perspective. Some could say it's a creative approach to presenting pros and cons about a certain subject. Some could say it's just a stroke of laziness. I could say it's a result of figuring out bridging topics to lead into a 3-part entry to come this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. (And after the night I had, I could also call it an easy out from terrible sleep as a result of KILLER overnight heartburn. Bleh...) But our paths lead us down the chains of the X-Gene again, as we talk about possible Mutant-dom's shining moment in the summer of 1991... That didn't involve a release from Jean Claude Van-Damme.
Marvel, seeking a repeat of the record-setting "Spider-Man #1" sales of the summer of 1990, took a similar approach to the already wild-fire popular X-Line of books. So you had an already hot property being relaunched in certain cases, with some of the hottest artists and writers attached to those projects. I can recall all four key books being a success for the company, with one book in particular surpassing "Spider-Man #1's" success! (I say four key books, because I'm having a devil of a time remembering if "Excalibur" received a refurbishing during this period...) Now I have no real clue HOW I found out about these relaunches. Remember that roughly around this time period, I wasn't considered a real "comic book collector", unless it was a cheap oversized comic book and/or digest. But knowing I could step into the X-Universe from a relatively ground zero approach felt rather inviting, so I took a chance on each of these books, and I bring you my impressions from my 12 year old self in the summer of 1991!
It was interesting to see the return of the traditional X-Uniform in "X-Factor #71". But I do remember a sense of ambivalence about the team members. Yes, I did have an interested in Havoc from when I actually did buy late 80's "Uncanny X-Men" issues, and Wolfsbane was a fond favorite member of "New Mutants". But at best I was luke-warm with Polaris, didn't come to any attachment to Multiple Man... and Strong Man... Ugh... Guido NEVER hit any of my sweet spots. Couple that with a Peter David writing style that didn't grant me any sense of attachment, and Larry Stroman artwork that you STILL can't convince me to like, and you had an X-Book that I only bought one other issue of... #75, to be exact... because it featured the return of Mr. Sinister and his new team, the utterly forgettable "Nasty Boys".
"Uncanny X-Men #281" opened with a bang. LITERALLY a bang, with the decimation of both the cyborg mercenaries known as the Reavers, and the White Queen's team known as the Hellions. (Not counting Firestar, who was busy playing with the New Warriors at the time.) This was the issue to also introduce the concept of a new Hellfire Club, and a technically advanced foe known as Fitzroy, who had control of a new breed of mutant-hunting Sentinel robots. You also had a teaser page featuring the first appearance of Bishop, would-be savior of mutantdom's future! One other unique element of this book was the splitting of the X-Men into two key teams: Blue and Gold. I BELIEVE the team in "Uncanny" was the Gold team, featuring Colossus, Storm, Iceman, Archangel, and Jean Grey. (Never did get around to that code name for Jeannie, eh?) The key selling point for me was the rather stylistic artwork by Whilce Portacio, which was at its most killer at this time period. However, the introduction of Bishop made this book REALLY hard to track down subsequent issues of, and I didn't stay on the title due to inability to find connective issues at the time.
Between selling Levi 501 jeans, Rob Liefeld was also busy working with Fabian Nicieza in reworking Louise Simonson's "New Mutants" into the militant wing of Xavier's dream: "X-Force". Oh, this rebooting I WAS aware of in advance, because I did randomly purchase an issue of the second printing of "New Mutants #100", and they did advertise "X-Force". Now... say what you will about the ridiculousness of Liefeld's artwork... including one main two-page splash that COMPLETELY rips off a "New Teen Titans" splash... and say what you will about Fabian's writing, which was cliché-ridden and far too open-ended for its own good. BUT... the energy of this first issue kept me hooked on "X-Force" until Liefeld's ultimate departure. I believe my dropping point was after the New Brotherhood of Evil Mutants were introduced. Also, this issue was my first exposure to speculator's market mentalities, with the polybagged card incentive. Oh, I never bought more than one issue, because while the included collectors cards were pretty cool, I already HAD my issue. Why purchase more?
Now we're at the record-holder for Marvel. The book that dethroned the McFarlane success train that was "Spider-Man #1". Chris Claremont and Jim Lee's one-two punch that was "X-Men #1". The Blue Team that featured the hot characters of Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Psylocke, and... Jubilee. (Yeah, maybe she was more like microwave lightly defrosted for "heat".) The book that reintroduced Magneto as a threat to the Marvel Universe once more, with a new team in tow in the Acolytes, who had a hidden agenda of their own. That Jim Lee artwork, at that time, was like catnip to comic collectors. I know it was a major selling point for me, and I didn't even regularly follow his run on "Uncanny X-Men", because it was bloody hard... and expensive... to find! This book I did purchase the initial Magneto three issue storyline, and... I didn't consciously drop the book afterwards, but the remaining issues that Jim Lee had artistic chores on were a battle to find off the shelves.
You may notice a theme with a lot of these issues. Namely artists... and Chris Claremont... that migrated away from their bread-winning titles a little less than a year later, leaving Marvel and the X-Universe in a bit of a lurch. However, the power of the Mutants tends to overcome creative losses, and the X-Books found their audience once again. But during this summer of 1991, even if you weren't HUGE on the X-Books, I can probably guarantee you did sample one of these four milestone issues of the period! Or you were a sucker like me, and bought into them ALL!
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