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X-Treme X-Men

Oversize X-Men: A map of every existing omnibus, plus what’s missing (Part 4: 2008 to 2015)

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This is the end, my friends! The last in a series of four posts covering how Marvel could cover every X-Men comic book in omnibus volumes.

This post covers every X-Men series from Messiah Complex to the end of Marvel Now in an effort to give you maximum ideas for the The Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus Secret Ballot, where you vote for the comic runs you’d most like to see in an oversized format. Monday I covered all of X-Men from 1963 to 1991, Tuesday I reviewed 1991 to 2001, and yesterday I broke down 2001 to 2008.

With 21 more omnibuses from Messiah Complex to AvX and another 10 from Marvel Now, this edition brings our grand total of potential X-Men volumes to 113 possible omnibuses – which begs the question: How many of these could we possibly see in our lifetimes before books become completely obsolete and comics are downloaded directly into our brains?

At Marvel’s current rate of only a handful of X-Men omnibuses a year, it’s never going to happen.

Yet, with most Marvel omnibuses selling between 1,000 and 2,500 units in their first week, it makes me wonder how many of these books we could see if Marvel abandoned the outdated Direct Market model for determining their pre-order volume and sell-through.

Picture this – in October 2017 Marvel partners with Kickstarter plus one of the big online comic book sellers as a distributor to introduce the new “X-Men Omnibus Club: Year 1.” [Read more…] about Oversize X-Men: A map of every existing omnibus, plus what’s missing (Part 4: 2008 to 2015)

Collecting X-Treme X-Men as Graphic Novels

The definitive, chronological, and up-to-date guide and trade reading order for collecting X-Treme X-Men comic books via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperback graphic novels. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Collecting X-Men Graphic Novels: A Definitive Guide. Last updated October 2017 with titles scheduled for release through March 2017.

X-Treme X-Men, Vol. 1 (2001) #1The X-Men line received a major shake-up to its status quo in 2001. To make way for Grant Morrison’s academically focused team in New X-Men, Marvel spun off some of its most beloved X-characters into a third flagship X-title, penned by veteran scribe Chris Claremont and launched with artist Salvador Larroca.

This new team boasted heavy-hitters Storm, Rogue, Bishop, Thunderbird, and Sage, and would later feature Cannonball, Gambit, and Shadowcat. Psylocke, Beast, and Wolverine also appeared, though they were shared with Morrison.

It’s important to note that, at its launch, X-Treme X-Men was the only X-team that featured a consistently fantastical, heroic theme. Morrison’s New X-Men trended more cerebral and sci-fi, while Austen took Uncanny X-Men to a more soapy, relationship-focused feel. Meanwhile, X-Force relaunched as the tongue-in-cheek X-Statix. X-Treme was alone in carrying the banner of a classic X-Men feel.

It was also the solo comic book at the time to feature Storm, Rogue, or Bishop, who barely even make a guest appearance elsewhere during this run.

X-Treme ran for the full length of Morrison’s run on New X-Men. Afterwards, Morrison’s slimmer, scholastically-focused team was in turn spun off into Astonishing X-Men, penned by Buffy creator Joss Whedon. Astonishing borrowed Kitty Pryde from this book, with the main two X-Men titles absorbing most of the other characters.

The X-Treme X-Men title went unused for almost a decade before being revived in 2012 for an unlikely purpose – a reality-hopping Dazzler vehicle penned by Greg Pak that might have been better off known as Exiles. [Read more…] about Collecting X-Treme X-Men as Graphic Novels