Archives for 2017

Generation X, Vol. 1 – The #36 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 28, 2017 by krisis

Generation X arrived on the verge of the X-Men franchise’s glory days starting to spoil in the Onslaught era. For that reason, many fans tend to write it off – or, they weren’t even around for it.

Yet, the comic readers who stuck by the X-Men through the 90s know that Generation X wasn’t more of the same compared to other X-Men books of the period. A huge part of that was the Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo creative partnership that lasted through the first few years of the series.

Generation X, Vol. 1 AKA by Lobell & Bachalo is the #36 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot.

Visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes, and head to my Guide to Young X-Men to see how many issues of this series have already been reprinted in collected editions.

Past Ranking: #26 in 2016

Probable Contents: This volume would certainly include Generation X #1-25 & Annual 1995, 1996, 1997, and material from Generation X Ashcan Edition, San Diego Preview, and material Generation X Collector’s Preview. It wouldn’t be surprising to also see Uncanny X-Men #316-318 and X-Men #36-37 duplicated from the Phalanx Covenant OHC.

That makes for a somewhat short volume that slightly cuts off the end of the Lobdell/Bachalo run, but it marries to the Operation Zero Tolerance OHC, which begins at #26. Alternately, this book could duplicate #26-31 from that volume to include the complete works of the original creative team, also adding #-1 – pencilled by Bachalo.

(It could also add Daydreamers #1-3, which continues from Generation X #25 and has never been collected.)

Either way, the remainder of the series could likely be knocked out in a single additional volume starting from #32.

Creators: This run is primarily written by Scott Lobdell and drawn by Chris Bachalo with Mark Buckingham and Scott Hana on inks.

An army of pencillers fill in for the year where Bachalo is away – notably including Roger Cruz and Tom Grummett. Issues #28-31, if they were to be included, were written by James Dale Robinson.

Can you read it right now? No. There’s are a pair of Generation X classic trades that run from #1-11, but then you’re stuck with floppies until #26. Guide to Young X-Men covers that and all the rest of the series.

It’s the same story on Marvel Unlimited – #1-11, then straight to #26.

The Details:

Generation X was the totally weird X-Men book that no one knew they wanted but everyone was strangely happy to have when it launched in 1994.

It used to be that New Mutants was the book with the young, school-age cast and Excalibur was the oddball book full of humor. That had changed in the prior year, with X-Force focusing more on a proactive approach to preserving the mutant race and Excalibur finally being sucked into all of the standard X-Men crossover drama.

That left a hole to be filled by a quirky book set at a school. That is what Marvel launched out of the Phalanx Covenant crossover, which introduced a new generation of mutant coveted by the race of techno-organic life forms.

Generation X wasn’t just quirky. It was something altogether different and more transgressive than any X-Men title that had come before. It was a book full of superheroes who wore uniforms but hardly acted as a team. If they had any unifying theme, it was that their powers were metaphors for adolescence that doubled as body horror. [Read more…] about Generation X, Vol. 1 – The #36 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings, S09E10 – “Makeovers: Crew Better Work”

May 27, 2017 by krisis

With only three episodes left until the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race we’re down to the gauntlet of three major every-season challenges: a makeover this week, a ball next week, and presumably some form of RuPaul music video the week after that.

Will this trio of terrible challenges finally shake one queen out of our super-tight top four so we have a clear final three heading into the finale?

This makeover on the members of the Drag Race crew didn’t help much in that respect. We did see one queen take a minor plunge after last week’s standings, but when you see who it is you’ll understand when I say it changes nothing about who is making it to the finale.

X-Factor by David & DeMatteis – The #37 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 27, 2017 by krisis

The X-Men and their various teams have gone through many reinventions in the decades since their birth, but I’d argue one of the most successful of them all was Peter A. David (PAD) writing X-Factor from 1991 to 1993.

This is an X-Men run that remains as delightful for entrenched fanatics as it is for brand new readers. Even if PAD was already cemented as a household name for comic fans thanks to his lengthy run on Incredible Hulk, he was the first author to ever focus on Polaris and he turned Multiple Man into such an enduring fan favorite that he spawned another 100+ issue run on X-Factor over a decade after this one ended!

X-Factor by David & DeMatteis is the #37 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot. Visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes, and visit the Guide to X-Factor to learn how can you read it today.

Past Ranking: Up one spot from#38 in 2016.

Probable Contents: Collecting X-Factor #71-83, 87-105, & Annual 8-9 (and maybe #106 along with Excalibur (1988) #82, X-Force (1991) #38.

Yes, that pushes past the PAD material. I’ll explain more below.

See Oversize X-Men: A map of every existing omnibus, plus what’s missing (Part 2: 1991 to 2001) for a map of the remainder of the series.

Creators: Written by Peter A. David (#71-89, with Shana David & Skip Dietz), Scott Lobdell (#90-95 with Joe Quesada), J.M. DeMatteis (#92-105), & Todd Dezago (#103-106).

Line art by Larry Stroman (#71-81 with Tom Raney, Kevin J. West, Brandon Peterson, & James Bosch), Rurik Tyler, Marc Pacella, Jae Lee, Joe Quesada (#87-92 with Aldrin Aw & Jan Duursema), Terry Shoemaker, Paul Ryan, Greg S. Luzniak, Jan Duursema (#97-106 with Greg S. Luzniak, Bryan Hitch, & Roger Cruz), Chris Batista, & Mat Broome.

Inks by Al Milgrom with Clifford E. Van Meter, Andy Lanning, Jeff Albrecht, Mark McKenna, Terry Austin, & Steve Moncuse.

Colors by Glynis Oliver with Mike Thomas, Kevin Tinsley, Brad Vancata, Marie Javins, Ariane Lenshoek-Pinheiro, Tom Smith, Matt Webb, Carlos Lopez, and Joe Rosas.

Can you read it right now? Not entirely. You can get through #92 with current collections, but then there is a gap until #106. The same is true for Marvel Unlimited.

The Details:

Peter David wrote the perfect first issue with X-Factor #71.

I’ve read this run several times, and along with many voters on Tigereyes’ secret ballot I would say it’s amongst my favorites. Yet, at the time in 1991, the announcement of this cast and creative team supplanting the original five X-Men largely written by Louise Simonson in X-Factor drew a reaction more like “Uh, I guess it could work?” [Read more…] about X-Factor by David & DeMatteis – The #37 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

Avengers by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 2 – The #38 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 26, 2017 by krisis

No, your eyes do not deceive you and it is not a typo – we’ve got a tie for the #38 most-wanted omnibus, and that tie brings us the newest of all the runs in the survey results.

Avengers by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 2 is the #38 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot. Visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes.

Past Ranking: This is a 2017 debut; Volume 1 debuted at #10 with a bullet in 2016.

Probable Contents: It’s complicated. I cover it in full at the bottom of the post.

Creators: Written by Jonathan Hickman.

The co-writers and other artists vary wildly depending on what gets collected, but the core issues that we’ll see no matter what were drawn by Salvador Larroca and Leinil Francis Yu (Avengers) and Simone Bianchi, Rags Morales, Valerio Schiti, Kev Walker, and Larroca (New Avengers).

Can you read it right now? Yes! This Avengers and New Avengers portions of this run have now been collected in three formats, all still readily available. Avengers World is around in TPB only. It’s all covered on the Guide to Avengers Flagships.

Plus, all three series are available in full on Marvel Unlimited – Avengers, New Avengers, and Avengers World.

The Details:

The first Avengers by Jonathan Hickman Omnibus will be in our hands in a matter of weeks, and it collects exactly what fans were hoping for (and exactly what I predicted last year) – an integrated run of Avengers and New Avengers that incorporates Infinity, ending with Avengers (2013) #23 and New Avengers (2013) #12.

There is much debate over what a second volume of Hickman Avengers will contain, and I’ll cover that in detail below. What’s in common between the three possibilities is that it will surely cover both Avengers and New Avengers through the start of the “Eight Months Later / Time Runs Out” period, which begins in Avengers #35 and New Avengers #24.

The issues leading up to that point are very different across the two titles. [Read more…] about Avengers by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 2 – The #38 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

Wolverine, Vol. 3 AKA by Hama & Silvestri – The #38 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 26, 2017 by krisis

Of a number of Marvel authors who pulled half-decade-or-longer runs on their titles in the 80s and 90s, Larry Hama’s run on Wolverine tends to be one that gets overlooked. Maybe that is because Hama wrote such a far-ranging, diverse take on Wolverine that saw him as both superhero and civilian, savage and strategic, and solo and surrounded by friends and allies.

While these initial years aren’t necessarily the best of that run, they might be the best looking thanks to increasingly flashy art from Marc Silvestri leading up to his departure to launch his own Cyberforce for Image Comics.

Wolverine Vol. 3 AKA Wolverine by Hama & Silvestri is tied as he #38 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot. Visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes and visit Guide to Wolverine for details on how to collect every Wolverine issue, ever.

Past Ranking: Ran ked #47 in 2016, it’s debut

Probable Contents: Wolverine (1988) #31-57, along with at least the three OGNs, which stood in for annuals in this period – Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure, Wolverine: Bloodlust, and Wolverine: Rahne of Terra.

Since those issues have been recently recollected in paperback (and are just a modestly-sized book when combined), this volume could also include some or all of other contemporaneous Wolverine material including stories from Marvel Comics Presents #62-71, 85-92, & 97-100, Marvel Fanfare #54-55, and Marvel Collector’s Edition; plus any or all of Fantastic Four (1961) #347-349, Wolverine/Punisher #1-3, Spider-Man (1990) #8-12, and the original graphic novels Wolverine: Bloody Choices and Hearts of Darkness.

Creators: Issues of the main Wolverine series were written by Larry Hama with a single fill-in by Peter David.

The run was penciled by Marc Silvestri (with fill-ins by Larry Stroman and Jerry DeCaire and an arc by Andy Kubert) with Silvestri inked by Dan Green. The run was colored by Glynis Oliver, Mark Chiarello, and Steve Buccellato.

Can you read it right now? Yes! This omnibus will primarily be a collection of three paperbacks – Wolverine by Hama & Silvestri Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and Weapon X Unbound. Unfortunately, only six issues of this run are on Marvel Unlimited at the moment.

The Details:

There have always been two kinds of Wolverine runs – ones where he works adjacent to the X-Men being a superhero, and others where he’s entirely off on his own.

This initial two-year burst of Larry Hama’s lengthy run as writer is unusual because it contains both. The stories feel a little insubstantial today after 25 more years of Wolverine adventures and revelations, but some of the beats of these stories set the tone for Wolverine (and the shattered memories of his past) for years to come. [Read more…] about Wolverine, Vol. 3 AKA by Hama & Silvestri – The #38 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017