Written by Peter David, his adaption of the Josh Whedon’s First Astonishing X-Men arc.
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All posts for the month December, 2013
Writer & Artist Phil Jimenez
Co-Writer Scott Lope
Colorist Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer VC’s Cory Petit
Come Conquer The Beasts Part One
I do enjoy seeing Jimenez on Wolverine, especially as he co-wrote the issue and added the Jean Grey School to the issue.
This arc is essentially an Anti-Poaching storyline. Hopefully Marvel submits this for a grant and gets the word out, as I am not sure who is on the Pro-Poaching side of the issue but Jimenez seems to be really coming down on the issue.
I like the call back to an early Uncanny issue where the X-Men think Logan is a savage and kills for killing sake, but he just likes to sneak up on a beast and pet them. Apparently he did this even during 1931 and in South Africa. He takes a baby elephant under his wing. He is currently looking for it in the present year. Not sure what the life span is for an elephant but 82 years seems to be a long time.
How long do elephants live? Google tells me 80 years for Asian elephants in captivity and 60 years in the wild.
So this story is already pushing things but I’m getting ahead of it.
Logan is back in South Africa in the present day, on one of his hunts, and smells death. He sees hyenas and vultures and comes across three rhino corpses.
These rangers show up, and Logan is so angry that he goes into a blind rage and attacks one of them. He moves on to their lady leader and she finally snaps him out of it. I sort of love this turn of events as how many times has he just jumped at a guy, killed him and we just take it for granted that that guy was a bad guy? At least thousands of times? The leader calls him an Avengers, which I like, he should act as a responsible member of the number one superhero team on the planet.
One of the rhinos is not dead and Logan has to put her out of her misery, heart breaking stuff.
They get back to their base and Logan finds out that the guy he darn near killed will be okay, and Logan makes this off handed joke about buying him a fruit basket and a teddy bear. The leader states that he should buy them, instead, a few more vests and three new rifles. He tries to come off as a cool guy but is quickly shown to be the savage and fool that he really is, in this moment.
We get a recap on how the poachers do their business. I didn’t know the horns and such were used in medicine and “cheap jewelry.” You would think that if you are going to kill thousands of animals, you would at least use it in expensive jewelry but still, poaching is wrong.
We cut to the Jean Grey School. First, we get Lockheed pfht-ing at Kroaka. Then we cut to Kitty Pryde, teaching a class on superhero fashion and codenames. She is wearing a pink shirt, which Marvel has really been putting her in pink colored outfits when they show her teaching or running the school. Just something I have been observing.
Quinten Quire is quick to make fun of her horrid multi-color outfit with roller skates. The bane of all Kitty Pryde fans, as people point to it as an example of how silly the character was. That and her multiple code names, but it has only been three codenames, so people are going to extremes with that.
Kitty gets a call and Wolverine needs her so she dismisses the class early. She assigns a paper on crime-fighting in heels, that is due on Friday, which I love that as an assignment. Broo comments that he liked that above referenced costume.
Kitty explains how the poachers move their ‘goods.’ She mentions Madripoor, a country (only in Marvel) that Logan has a bunch of history with.
We get a flashback to a time, a few years ago, when Patch (Wolverine’s Madripoor disguise, pretty much Logan in a white suit, with a eye patch over his left eye) kills the then prince who ran the country. At one point, Logan was tricked into marrying Viper, which she married him so that she can rule Madripoor. Then his son Daken ruled the country – its more the size of an island, like Hawaii size, that’s how big I have imagined it. Mostly, Tyger Tiger has been the ruler during the off years. She is essentially the ‘go to’ leader.
Before hanging up the phone, Wolverine tells Kitty to look for his elephant. Kitty asks out loud, how she should do that and Doug Ramsey shows up and tells her how to do it. Hopefully this means that Kitty will be in the next issue. I am pretty sure this is the first time Kitty and Doug have been shown together since his return from the dead and her returning from deep space, so this should have been a bigger moment.
We end the issue with Logan finding the three warehouses and Tyger Tiger are with him, as they enter one of them. We see a warehouse full of tusks, horns and tiger heads. It does look disgusting, especially when you realize that each horn represents one rhino, each two tusks is one elephant and well, naturally, each tiger head is one tiger.
Also, Tyger Tiger is apparently cool with the poachers as she is now mad at Wolverine and is going to kill Wolverine.
Written by Steve Seagle
Pencils Chris Bachalo
Inkers Thibert, Townsend and Sowd
Colors Liquid! & Monica Kubina
Letterers RS, JG and Comicraft/AD
Covered dated March 1999, also has one of those gatefold out covers with the
Whatever happened to Liquid!? Before Laura Martin, they were the only Colorist I knew.
When I think of X-Men and Christmas, this is the comic I think about. It is all from Colossus’ perspective, and it is nice to see how he interacts with various members of the team.
Thanks to this great website, you can follow along!
http://amocat.net/kiotr/KIOTR-Gallery/Uncanny-X-Men-365-Ghost-of-X-mas-Past!
Colossus wakes, to hearing a voice of a lady, that has him running around the attic. Storm believes he just has too much coffee but Colossus is haunted by the voice, and how it keeps asking him to remember. He hears a smash from outside, Colossus runs outside and runs into Wolverine.
Wolverine invites him to his cabin that Logan moved into so that Colossus can have his old room. At the cabin, Logan has been having a get together, Gambit and Puck are the other guests. Once Colossus mentions the ghost, Gambit is quick to ask questions. Gambit is asking questions regarding the ghost that his haunting him, the same spirit we will follow, if we choose, in Gambit’s original ongoing, which I only own a few issues of, issues one, five and the 2000 annual.
Gambit leaves the cabin, and Colossus is quick to follow. Colossus goes back to his room and sees that his painting of the spirit now has some words on it. The mystery grows!
He starts walking around and thinking about the ghost and how walks through walls just like . . . he bumps into Kitty Pryde. She is downstairs waiting for Kurt. She also accuses him of drinking too much coffee and going to bed early – so of course, he is awake in the middle of the night.
Kurt teleports back with a tree that was thrown away. Kitty and Kurt want some ribbon and Rogue has some in her room, but she is sleeping at the moment. Kurt thinks he can teleport in and out quickly, but Kitty is quick to mention the stench. Why Kitty doesn’t just phase through the wall is beyond me but they can wait I suppose.
Colossus hears a voice that states he remembers and Colossus opens the door shouting about why he must be tormented. Turns out, he has entered Professor Xavier’s room. Xavier mentions, every year on Christmas Eve, that he remembers his fallen students. We get a great glimpse at the sorrow Xavier carries with him, he has sent so many to their death.
Colossus reenters his room and sees a second drawing of his which now has words on it.
Colossus finally recognizes the voice, it is his dead sister, Illyana. He steps through a teleportation ring, and he is face to face with Illyana’s spirit.
She needs him to remember something, she explains how the powers at be have rules and she can only tell him one word, remember. He finally remembers what is in the attic. His boxes from his Excalibur days, that he put in the attic and never opened, as he wanted a fresh start. He finds his picture of Illyana and goes to sleep holding it. Illyana gets this fun line, “You know what. It’s magic, Peter … … or should I say, Magik.” Which she was never that fun or funny but I like how now she is on the other side, she can lighten up.
While he is sleeping, we see someone wearing a hat swipe his current picture.
Issue ends with the X-Men around the tree, Colossus presents to everyone are his paintings.
Turns out Marrow has been doing the writing on his art, as a thanks for him painting her back in Uncanny 361.
Next issue begins the Magneto War! Which I own all five issues, one of these days we will cover that here.
David Benioff’s first novel, 25th Hour, which he adapted into a film that Spike Lee directed. Famously has Edward Norton’s character, Marty, wishing he had the power to phase, like that girl from the X-Men.
The reference is on page 39 of the novel.
Writer Josh Fialkov
Penciler Alvaro Martinez
Penciler John Lucas
Colorist Jordie Bellaire
Letterer VC’s Joe Sabino
Part One of Three
Ultimate Kitty Pryde is only referenced twice in Rogue’s narration captions. Which I find disappointing as I was hoping she was leading the charge. Hopefully she shows up in this mini or the proper Cataclysm miniseries.
Kitty sends a rescue squad to what is left of Tian. Jimmy Hudson, Rogue, Iceman, Blackheath, Mach-2 and Stomr. They are there to rescue Pixie. The character intro captions are very funny.
Nice seeing Rogue in a proper outfit, instead of that skimpy bikini she was wearing in the woods. Ultimate Rogue has become quite harden. She has lost so much, friends, lovers and security. She is tired of it all.
On the other hand, Iceman hasn’t changed at all.
Jimmy finds Pixie, she is surrounded by some mutants from Tian who are taking care of her – Silence (a new character), Strong Guy (already better than his proper version), Amp (new, maybe?) and Beak – who is even sadder than his proper Marvel character. Lucky for these new characters, Silence is able to calm everybody down as the X-Men are ready to attack them.
Galactus shows up and has everyone spooked. Pixie wakes up and sees Galactus and due to Amp’s ability to increase powers, Pixie teleports them to deep space, where the Ultimate Galactus bugs are located. They all start freaking out being in space and surrounded by this metal bugs that all they want to do is consume. Consume. CONSUME.
Beak recommends Silence calms them down, Blackheath says the “ugly bird man is right.” Beak then says “Words hurt, dude.” Which is such a great line.
One of the bugs, Gah Lak Tus, kills Silence. This sets off Rogue and starts wanting to destroy these things, she is not going to watch any more death. She absorbed Jimmy’s powers, so she has bone claws. I wonder if the creative team forgot that Jimmy also has the ability to turn those claws into metal – unless he lost that in his own miniseries, I only read the first issue.
Issue ends with Rick Jones showing up, as he is now Captain Marvel. Iceman calls him a total spaz. Future does not look bright for the X-Men or the Ultimate Universe.
Writer Chris Claremont
Penciler Marc Silvestri
Inker Joe Rubinstein
Colorist Glynis Oliver
Letterer Tom Orzechowski
Cover dated June 1988
This takes place during the X-Men Outback era.
The X-Men have taken over the Reavers’ old base, and with it comes their treasures that those foes have stolen over the years.
Before that, the team is getting use to the new location in Australia. Their current base is an abandon town.
The team right now is Storm, Madelyne Pryor, Rogue, Havok, Psylocke, Dazzler, Colossus, Wolverine and Longshot with an assist from Gateway, a mute teleporter. The team has no Danger Room so they come up with inventive ways to test each other.
Apparently one of Longshot’s powers is that he can sense who the last owner of an item is. So with Longshot’s psychometry, he wants to return all of the items returned. The team can’t decide what is the right course of action. Rogue grabs one random piece of jewelry, the team with Pyslocke’s help, can see what Longshot sees. Wolverine doesn’t believe it is their job to seek out victims and give back the missing products. Get a great moment with Wolverine and Havok, these two have no past relationship.
The world suspects the X-Men are dead, sacrificing themselves to save Dallas, so technology can’t see them thanks to Roma. Storm wants to do the treasure returning mission, and Wolverine says she is the boss.
After a day of Longshot reading the items, sending the data, with Psylocke’s power, to Madelyne to track the locations. Dazzler falls in love with a motorcycle. Rogue talks to Gateway and he agrees to teleport the team and the items around the world. Psylocke will give him the locations telepathically.
Of course, this just happens to be Christmas Eve, so people are going to think Santa, not only found their stolen goods, but were able to return the items – which I am sure Santa could do that, he is one jolly elf.
We cut to Salem Center, New York, where the locate schools’ combined choirs, which include New Mutants and especially Magik, who is grieving her supposed dead brother as well as the actual dead, Doug Ramsey.
They deliver all of the treasures to all the people. Except for the bike, Dazzler gets to keep the bike she fell in love.
Issue ends with Rogue gifting Gateway with a flute. He enjoys it and all is right again with the world.
I own the fouth one of these, and quite enjoyed it. The Kevin Smith Daredevil one is also good.
Not sure why they never made Ultimate Spider-Man DVDs or continued the Ultimate X-Men ones, but five was the last one of these. Kitty is barely in it, but she is in it and Kitty DVDs are hard to come by.
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/11/04/2013-top-100-comic-book-storylines-master-list/
Thanks again to Brian for all the work that he does to make these lists happen! Must be extremely time consuming!
Some quick tallies :
Characters
3 Love and Rocket Stories
8 Batman Stories
6 Avengers Stories
2 Y The Last Man Stories
3 Spider-Man Stories
4 JLA Stories
4 Superman Stories
3 Swamp Thing Stories
2 Ultimates Stories
5 Sandman Stories (out of 9 options!)
7 X-Men Stories! WOOO!
2 Cerebrus Stories
2 Green Lantern Stories
2 Daredevil Stories
and a slew of one timers
Creative
2 Jaime Hernandez
2 Neal Adams
6 George Perez
4 Roger Stern
2 Jim Shooter
4 Brian Vaughan
10 Alan Moore
2 Howard Porter
8 Grant Morrison
3 John Byrne
3 Ed Brubaker
5 Kurt Busiek
2 Mike Zeck
6 Frank Miller
3 Mark Millar
3 Bryan Hitch
2 John Buscema
5 Neil Gaiman
5 Mark Waid
2 Garth Ennis
3 Chris Claremont
2 Dave Sim
2 John Cassaday
2 Ketih Giffen
2 Geoff Johns
2 Stan Lee
2 Scott Synder
2 Jeph Loeb
2 Alex Ross
2 Marv Wolfman
2 Frank Quitely
01. “Watchmen” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (Watchmen #1-12)
Classic story, I would have swapped it with number two
02. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin (X-Men #129-137
The storyline that gave the world Kitty Pryde! That alone makes it worthy of the top spot!
03. “Born Again” by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli (Daredevil #227-233)
By far the best Daredevil story but it also ruin the character forever as all writers keep coming back to it.
04. “All Star Superman” by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (All Star Superman #1-12)
Not a fan of Quitely ‘s art style and I’ve only read the first three issues. The animated adaption was pretty good, currently only half way through with it.
05. “Dark Knight Returns” by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson (Batman: The Dark Knight #1-4)
One of the better “finale” stories, then Strikes Back happened.
06. “Year One” by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli (Batman #404-407)
Has to be one of the better origin face lfits. Gave us Long Halloween and Dark Victory as well as a slew of other “year one” stories from DC.
07. “Kingdom Come” by Mark Waid and Alex Ross (Kingdom Come #1-4)
Packed with great moments! I like that once Superman was done with his never ending battle (!) he went back to farming.
08. “Season of Mists” by Neil Gaiman, Kelley Jones, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Matt Wagner, Dick Giordano, George Pratt, and P. Craig Russell)
Still the only Sandman I have read outside of the Death miniseries.
09. “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale” by Art Spiegelman (For simplicity’s sake, let’s just say Maus: Book 1 and Book 2)
Such a good and personal work, it will ruin whatever good mood you are in at the time but it should be read more.
10. “Crisis on Infinite Earths” by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Dick Giordano and Jerry Ordway (Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-12, plus a bunch of tie-ins)
The plot synopsis should be enough for people, it is a giant tome to read.
11. “The Long Halloween” by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (The Long Halloween #1-13)
Really like this, there are times when I pick this up to look or read certain pages, and then start reading it again.
12. “The Judas Contract ” by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Dick Giordano and Mike DeCarlo (Tales of the New Teen Titans #42-44, Tales of the New Teen Titans Annual #3)
The only Teen Titans I have read, besides that JLA vs. Teen Titans mini, great use of the character Terra.
13. “Kraven’s Last Hunt” by J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod (Amazing Spider-Man #293-294, Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132 and Web of Spider-Man #31-32)
J.M. DeMatteis is by far my favorite Spider-Writer, and this isn’t even close to his best Spider-Man story.
14. “The Great Darkness Saga” by Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt (Legion of Super-Heroes #290-294)
Only Legion story I have read, it was okay. Every time it is collected, the cover always spoils the big reveal, thus making the first three issues pointless build up.
15. “Days of Future Past” by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin (X-Men #141 and Uncanny X-Men #142)
Two issues that forever change the X-Men Franchise! Time travel and alternate histories have been with the franchise ever since. Two issues, and Kitty / Kate Pryde show how you can display great character development in such a small amount of work.
16. “V for Vendetta” by Alan Moore and David Lloyd (After beginning serialization in Warrior, V for Vendetta #1-10)
I saw the movie first and there is that seen where Natalie Portman gets captured and I had a suspicion of who was her captor and I said, if it is who I think it is, I am buying that trade tonight. And I did. Sort of like the movie more.
17. “The Coming of Galactus” by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott (Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #48-50)
In three issues, Lee / Kirby gave us Silver Surfer and Galactus!
18. “The Elektra Saga” by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson (Daredevil #168, 174-182, 187-190)
I must have read this, most likely the Frank Miller Daredevil Visionaries Volume 1, especially is the Elektra story so I must have.
19. “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” by Alan Moore, Curt Swan, Kurt Schaffenberger and George Perez (Superman #423 and Action Comics #583)
This is another great finale story. The scene with Kypto is powerful and full of emotion.
20. “American Gothic” by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, Rick Veitch, Stan Woch, Ron Randall, Alfredo Alcala and Tom Mandrake (The Saga of the Swamp Thing #37-38, 42-45, Swamp Thing #39-41, 46-50)
Haven’t read this one
21. “The Age of Apocalypse” by Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, Fabian Nicieza, Andy Kubert, Joe Madureira, Steve Epting, Roger Cruz and a pile of other artists and writers (X-Men: Alpha #1, Amazing X-Men #1-4, Astonishing X-Men #1-4, X-Men: Omega #1 plus a bunch of tie-ins)
This gave us what was my favorite alternate version of Kitty, but now is my second favorite, right behind Ultimate Shadowcat. AoA Kitty is so full of edge and life that it is crazy!
22. “The Sinestro Corps War” by Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Peter Tomasi, Ivan Reis, Ethan Van Sciver, Patrick Gleason plus a whole lot of other pencilers and inkers (Green Lantern Sinestro Corps Special #1, Green Lantern Vol. 4 #21-25, Green Lantern Corps #14-19)
Have not read
23. “Civil War” by Mark Millar, Steve McNiven and Dexter Vines (Civil War #1-7)
Crazy how much influence this still has on the Marvel Universe.
24. “Batman R.I.P.” by Grant Morrison, Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea (s #676-681)
One of the few solo Batman work I have read of Morrison’s, pretty good but I am sure I would appreciate it more with reading all of the proper build up.
25. “The New Frontier” by Darwyn Cooke (DC: The New Frontier #1-6)
Only saw the animated adaption, which is quite good.
26. “Who is the Fourth Man?” by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (Planetary #1-12)
Still my only Planetary experience, another title that you sort of have to read all of it prior for all of the impact.
27. “Under Siege” by Roger Stern, John Buscema and Tom Palmer (Avengers #270-277)
Most likely one of my first exposures to the Avengers, and definitely one of the first trades I got. I remember being a young lad and my mother buying like ten trades for me at a Hastings and got exposed to so many classic stories.
28. “Runaways Volume 1″ by Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, Craig Yeung, Takeshi Miyazawa and David Nebold (Runaways #1-18)
I was a huge fan of Runaways, but with all of the new “Seasons” I jumped off with the conclusion of season two. Really like Gretch and Old Lace. Nico was a good character too. Molly Hayes has grown on me over the years as well.
29. “Deus ex Machina” by Grant Morrison, Chas Truog, Doug Hazlewood, Mark Farmer and a few other artists (Animal Man #18-26)
The only Animal Man I have read. Ruin the character as well, as DC had no idea what to do with him afterwards.
30. “Brief Lives” by Neil Gaiman, Jill Thompson, Vince Locke and Dick Giordano (Sandman #41-49)
Have not read
31. “Marvels” by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross (Marvels #1-4, plus #0, I guess)
Great introduction to the Marvel Universe. Gives you some real highlights and atmosphere. I would have swapped it with Kingdom Come’s placement.
32. “From Hell” by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell (From Hell #1-11)
I have tried reading this. So many captions and historic pieces. Saw the movie and tried to read it again and couldn’t do it.
33. “Hush” by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee and Scott Williams (Batman #608-619)
This might have been my last Batman story I read, as a hardcover as well, until Batman RIP. Huge blockbuster of a story.
34. “Olympus” by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, John Totleben, Tom Yeates and John Ridgway (Miracleman #11-16)
This trade, while I was getting the Wizard Top 100, cost me close to one hundred dollars. Not sure if it was well worth it but it was the final trade I needed to buy so in that respect it was worth it.
35. “The Death of Gwen Stacy” by Gerry Conway, Gil Kane and John Romita (Amazing Spider-Man #121-122)
Huge moment, followed by another huge death in the second issue. Both ruin by future storylines.
36. “E is for Extinction” by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and Tim Townsend (New X-Men #114-116)
I remember being excited to read this when it was first published, hoping Morrison would do for the X-Men what he did for JLA. For me, he didn’t do that but I do love my omnibus of the entire run.
37. “All in the Family” by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon (Preacher #8-12)
This is still the only Preacher I have read. The articles I have read about Preacher makes me think I would like the series.
38. “Final Crisis” by Grant Morrison, JG Jones, Doug Mahnke, Carlos Pacheco, Lee Garbett, Matthew Clark, Marco Ruby and a host of inkers (Final Crisis #1-7, Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1-2, Final Crisis: Submit #1 plus I would throw in Batman #682-683)
Tried reading the trade and just couldn’t get into it.
39. “The Black Mirror” by Scott Snyder, Jock and Francesco Francavilla (Detective Comics #871-881)
Haven’t read this one either.
40. “The Last Iron Fist Story” by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja, Travel Foreman and Various Artists (Immortal Iron Fist #1-14, Civil War: Choosing Sides and Annual #1)
Haven’t read this but heard wonderful things about it.
41. “If This Be My Destiny” by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee (Amazing Spider-Man #31-33)
Issue 33 is amazing, with Spider-Man lifting all of that debris. Surprised that hasn’t been adapted in animation or in the films. Such a great moment.
42. “We3″ by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (We3 #1-3)
Have not read
43. “Return of Barry Allen” by Mark Waid, Greg Larocque and Roy Richardson (Flash Vol. 2 #73-79)
Have not read
44. “Blackest Night” by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert (Blackest Night #1-8)
Have not read
45. “Identity Crisis” by Brad Meltzer, Rags Morales and Michael Bair (Identity Crisis #1-7)
Haven’t read this and been meaning too as I like Meltzer.
46. “Infinity Gauntlet” by Jim Starlin, George Perez, Ron Lim, Joe Rubinstein and a couple of other inkers (Infinity Gauntlet #1-6)
So many big moments, Captain America standing up to Thanos. Spider-Man looking for Mary Jane after half the universe has been killed, Kitty Pryde showing up in issue two.
47. “Ultron Unlimited” by Kurt Busiek, George Perez and Al Vey (Avengers #19-22)
By far the best Avengers story and Busiek and Perez killed it on this story. Best use of Ultron still.
48. “Doll’s House” by Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg and Malcolm Jones III (Sandman Vol. 2 #9-16)
Have not read
49. “The Surtur Saga” by Walter Simonson (Thor #349-353)
Have not read
50. “High Society” by Dave Sim (Cerebus #26–50)
This is one of the two Cerebus stories I have read. Such a grand opus.
51. “The Dark Angel Saga” by Rick Remender, Jerome Opena, Mark Brooks, Billy Tan, Robbi Rodriguez, Richard Elson, Scot Eaton, Dean White and a whole bunch of inkers (Uncanny X-Force #8, 10-18)
Really need to read this as Remender has harken back to this in his Uncanny X-Force later work as well as his current Uncanny Avengers work.
52. “The Kindly Ones” by Neil Gaiman, Marc Hempel, Richard Case, D’Israeli, Ted Kristiansen, Glyn Dillon, Dean Ormston and Charles Vess (Sandman #57-69)
Have not read this.
53. “Annihilation” by Keith Giffen, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Simon Furman, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Scott Kolins, Kev Walker, Renato Arlem, Jorge Lucas, Greg Titus, Andrea DiVito and more (Annihilation: Prologue, Annihilation: Nova #1-4, Annihilation: Silver Surfer #1-4, Annihilation: Ronan #1-4, Annihilation: Super Skrull #1-4, Annihilation #1-6)
Have not read this.
54. “Winter Soldier” by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Michael Lark and Michael Perkins (Captain America #1-6, 8-9, 11-14)
Probably get around to reading this with the movie coming out next year.
55. “Gifted” by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday (Astonishing X-Men #1-6)
I would not have selected story to represent the Whedon run, Torn is where it is at.
56. “Church and State” by Dave Sim and Gerhard (Cerebus #52-111)
This is the second Cerebus I have read.
57. “A Court of Owls” by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion (Batman #1-6)
Have not read this. I like the joke about, and this may not be in the story itself – it can’t be, but the joke goes that Synder found out that a killer clown isn’t a bat’s greatest foe, that would be owls.
58. “JLA/Avengers” by Kurt Busiek and George Perez (JLA/Avengers #1-4)
So funny, I began reading these four issues as the list was being announced. Still owes up. Wish we had another crossover of this high quality.
59. “The Longbow Hunters” by Mike Grell (Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #1-3)
This matured Green Arrow like heck! Wish they found a better way than what they did to Black Canary in the story.
60. “Grand Guignol” by James Robinson and Peter Snejbjerg (with Paul Smith) (Starman #62-73)
I need to read this as it has Paul Smith art!
61. “The Great Cow Race” by Jeff Smith (Bone #7-11)
I am amazed how often this is cited as the best Bone story. I like the later storylines better myself, especially with Bartleby – I love that guy.
62. “Safeword” by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan Jr. (Y: The Last Man #18-20)
Still have not read any Y. I was waiting for the movie to come out.
63. “Wolverine” by Chris Claremont, Frank Miller and Joe Rubinstein (Wolverine (1982) #1-4)
The original miniseries that spurred the rest of the X-miniseries, still holds up amazingly well.
64. “Dangerous Habits” by Garth Ennis, Will Simpson, Mark Pennington and a host of other inkers (Hellblazer #41-46)
Still the only Hellblazer I have read.
65. “Tower of Babel” by Mark Waid, Howard Porter, Steve Scott, Drew Geraci and Mark Propst (JLA #43-46)
Probably the last great JLA story from that volume.
66. “Super-Human” by Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch and Andrew Currie (Ultimates #1-6)
I mostly remember this for the Hulk vs. Captain America scenes and how Hulk was obsessed with Freddie Prince Jr. Also, how crazy it would be to fall asleep in 1948 and wake up in 2003? From 1948 to 1963 is insane but 2003? There is no chance that anyone you know is alive.
67. “The Painting That Ate Paris” by Grant Morrison, Richard Case and John Nyberg (Doom Patrol Vol. 2 #26-29)
Have not read this.
68. “The Magus Saga” by Jim Starlin, Al Milgrom and Steve Leialoha (Strange Tales #178-181, Warlock #9-11)
Have not read this.
69. “Anatomy Lesson” by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette and John Totleben (Sage of the Swamp Thing #21-27)
This is the only Swamp Thing I have read.
70. “A Game of You” by Neil Gaiman, Colleen Doran, Shawn McManus, Bryan Talbot and many inkers (Sandman #32-37) – 148 points
Have not read this.
71. “Homelands” by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha (Fables #36-38, 40–41)
The only Fables I have read is the first trade. I have heard that each trade is better than the last; I just haven’t come back to the series. Now that it is ending, maybe that will be the best time.
72. “Knightfall” by Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, Graham Nolan, Jim Balent and a number of inkers (Batman #491-500, Detective Comics #659-666)
There is this great novelization of this story by Denny O’Neil, if you get a chance, try to look for it. I like the comic story as well, sort of a story that ruins a character like Bane, as he can’t ever achieve that level of success again. Such a great plan, blow up Arkham, and then wait until Batman has recapture everyone and then beat and cripple him then. Makes you wonder why he hasn’t just repeated this scheme every two years.
73. “Kree/Skrull War” by Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, Sal Buscema and John Buscema (Avengers #89-97)
I know I have read this but it was a bunch of new information for me at the time and don’t recall enjoying it as much. Should go revisit it again.
74. “Confession” by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Will Blyberg (Kurt Busiek’s Astro City #4-9)
This is another story I need to revisit. I know I enjoyed it and it was either the first or second Astro City story I read, so I was learning as I go.
75. “Ultimates 2” by Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary (Ultimates 2 #1-13)
This second volume reads better, probably because I don’t need another origin story for the Avengers, and so this time, Millar and Hitch and just tell their story and it is action pack.
76. “The Death of Superman” by Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson and Roger Stern (writers), Dan Jurgens, Tom Grummett, Jon Bogdanove and Jackson Guice (pencilers) and Brett Breeding, Doug Hazlewood, Dennis Janke, Denis Rodier and Rich Burchett (inkers) (Superman #74-75, Adventures of Superman #497, Superman: Man of Steel #18-19, Action Comics #684, Justice League America #69)
There is this great-animated adaption that has an even better documentary on it about the creative team and era the story came out. Louise Simonson tells this heart-breaking story about how Ma Kent feels, that really puts the story into a new perspective.
77. “Love and Death” by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben and Rick Veitch(Saga of the Swamp Thing 28-34 & Annual #2)
Have not read this.
78. “Saga, Volume 1″ by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Saga #1-6)
Have not read this. I was too late to the party, I feel.
79. “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 1” by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1-6)
I am a bigger fan of the sequel than the first story but the first one is quite good.
80. “Welcome to Lovecraft” by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (Locke and Key #1-6)
I have not read this.
81. “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck” by Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge #285-296)
This is one of those stories that Comics Should Be Good’s community just loves, and I have wanted to get a copy for a while now.
82. “Squadron Supreme” by Mark Gruenwald, Bob Hall, Paul Ryan, John Buscema, John Beatty, Sam De La Rosa, Jackson Guice and Keith Williams (Squadron Supreme #1-12)
Such an amazing story and it holds up like crazy. Marvel hasn’t really done another story like it since and it just reads like perfect story.
83. “Elektra: Assassin” by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz (Elektra: Assassin #1-8)
I not have read this.
84. “Scott Pilgrim” by Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together,Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe and Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour)
Surprised this entire counts, but I guess the format of it only means it is a six issue story. Not enough Kim Pine for me.
85. “Half a Life” by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark (Gotham Central #7-10)
Have not read this.
86. “Rock of Ages” by Grant Morrison, Howard Porter, Gary Frank, Greg Land, John Dell and Bob McLeod (JLA #10-15)
Surprised they haven’t done an animated adaption of this storyline yet. Probably because it is one of those that they will have to adapt every detail of. Such a great story, I didn’t care for it as I read it originally but then the online community really gave me a new perspective on the story. There is this one moment, early on, that I have remembered ever since. We get a shot of Batman in the Batcave, we see the back of the chair, and he is talking about how the JLA is being taken over, but in a new way, almost as if it is being done like a corporate takeover. Then we get a, feels like a final page splash page in my memory, a shot of Batman, mask off, stating that Bruce Wayne is accustomed to that, or the comment is about how the villains don’t know it, but they are dealing with someone who knows how to handle that type of situation. The pose he is in, with his fingertips touching, I remember really liking it. I should reread that storyline.
87. “Secret Wars” by Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck, Bob Layton, John Beatty and a host of other inkers (Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12)
Marvel’s first crossover, all the heroes – minus Daredevil and Kitty Pryde, versus almost all of the name villains. Lockheed is there for issues one, two and twelve and it was this event that started Colossus’ decent in my mind.
88. “Jimmy Corrigan, Smartest Boy on Earth” by Chris Ware (Acme Novelty Library #5, 6, 8, 9 and 11-14)
Have not read this.
89. “Avengers Forever” by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino (Avengers Forever #1-12)
I really liked this when it first came out. Now that I know more about the Avengers’ history, I should reread it as I bet I will get more out of it. Its one problem is that we are still waiting for Songbird to join the Avengers. I thought Dark Reign would have been the perfect time to do this as it would have matched up rather well.
90. “Sleeper Season 1” by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Sleeper #1-12)
Have not read this.
91. “The Man of Steel” by John Byrne and Dick Giordano (The Man of Steel #1-6)
I have not read this but have read many scenes from it.
92. “New World Order” by Grant Morrison, Howard Porter and John Dell (JLA #1-4)
Now this is out you relaunch a title! I was hooked with the very first issue. The Big Seven reunited, this was my first DC ongoing and once it ended, my days with DC were numbered. Wish it title ended the way it started but most don’t. Morrison was destined to write Batman after this. Surprised it took as long as it did.
93. “Top 10 Season 1” by Alan Moore, Gene Ha and Zander Cannon (Top 10 #1-12)
I have read this but I feel like people like it more than I ever can. It is a clever concept but if it wasn’t by Alan Moore, I wonder if people would be impress.
94. “Blood of Palomar” by Gilbert Hernandez (Love and Rockets #21-26)
Have not read any Love and Rockets but glad it made the list a couple times.
95. “The Death of Jean DeWolff” by Peter David and Rich Buckler (plus many inkers) (The Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #107-110)
Pretty sure Jean DeWolff was my first comic book death, such a great story. It has to also be my first exposure to both Peter David and Daredevil. Such a spectacular story.
96. “The Love Bunglers” by Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets: New Stories #3-4)
Have not read this.
97. “Unmanned” by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan, Jr. (Y The Last Man #1-6)
Have not read this. Great concept though.
98. “The Korvac Saga” by Jim Shooter, Roger Stern, David Michelinie, George Pérez, Sal Buscema, David Wenzel and Pablo Marcos (Avengers #167-169, 170-171, 173-177)
This is another one of those stories that I was lost during my first reading and should revisit it.
99. “First Tale of the Demon” by Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams, Bob Brown, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano (Batman #232, 235, 240, 242-244 and Detective Comics #411)
Can never go wrong with Batman versus Ra’s al Ghul and that is proven with their very first confrontation. I of course, am a much larger fan of Talia than her father but you clearly can’t have one without the other.
100. “The Death of Speedy” by Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets #21-23)
Have not read this.
Out of one hundred stories, I have only not read 36 of the stories. 64% is not good, that’s failing! Going down the list, it isn’t until the 20th rank story and going up the list, 100, then 97 after that. The bottom half is filled with plenty of holes, so I need to do some work if I want to be a better comic reader.
Once again, thanks Brian for compiling the list and for all of the write ups and scanned pages. So much work goes into this endeavor and it doesn’t appear to be easy.
Here is the list without my comments :
01. “Watchmen” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (Watchmen #1-12)
02. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin (X-Men #129-137
03. “Born Again” by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli (Daredevil #227-233)
04. “All Star Superman” by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (All Star Superman #1-12)
05. “Dark Knight Returns” by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson (Batman: The Dark Knight #1-4)
06. “Year One” by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli (Batman #404-407)
07. “Kingdom Come” by Mark Waid and Alex Ross (Kingdom Come #1-4)
08. “Season of Mists” by Neil Gaiman, Kelley Jones, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Matt Wagner, Dick Giordano, George Pratt, and P. Craig Russell)
09. “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale” by Art Spiegelman (For simplicity’s sake, let’s just say Maus: Book 1 and Book 2)
10. “Crisis on Infinite Earths” by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Dick Giordano and Jerry Ordway (Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-12, plus a bunch of tie-ins)
11. “The Long Halloween” by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (The Long Halloween #1-13)
12. “The Judas Contract ” by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Dick Giordano and Mike DeCarlo (Tales of the New Teen Titans #42-44, Tales of the New Teen Titans Annual #3)
13. “Kraven’s Last Hunt” by J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod (Amazing Spider-Man #293-294, Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132 and Web of Spider-Man #31-32)
14. “The Great Darkness Saga” by Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt (Legion of Super-Heroes #290-294)
15. “Days of Future Past” by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin (X-Men #141 and Uncanny X-Men #142)
16. “V for Vendetta” by Alan Moore and David Lloyd (After beginning serialization in Warrior, V for Vendetta #1-10)
17. “The Coming of Galactus” by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott (Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #48-50)
18. “The Elektra Saga” by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson (Daredevil #168, 174-182, 187-190)
19. “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” by Alan Moore, Curt Swan, Kurt Schaffenberger and George Perez (Superman #423 and Action Comics #583)
20. “American Gothic” by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, Rick Veitch, Stan Woch, Ron Randall, Alfredo Alcala and Tom Mandrake (The Saga of the Swamp Thing #37-38, 42-45, Swamp Thing #39-41, 46-50)
21. “The Age of Apocalypse” by Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, Fabian Nicieza, Andy Kubert, Joe Madureira, Steve Epting, Roger Cruz and a pile of other artists and writers (X-Men: Alpha #1, Amazing X-Men #1-4, Astonishing X-Men #1-4, X-Men: Omega #1 plus a bunch of tie-ins)
22. “The Sinestro Corps War” by Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Peter Tomasi, Ivan Reis, Ethan Van Sciver, Patrick Gleason plus a whole lot of other pencilers and inkers (Green Lantern Sinestro Corps Special #1, Green Lantern Vol. 4 #21-25, Green Lantern Corps #14-19)
23. “Civil War” by Mark Millar, Steve McNiven and Dexter Vines (Civil War #1-7)
24. “Batman R.I.P.” by Grant Morrison, Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea (s #676-681)
25. “The New Frontier” by Darwyn Cooke (DC: The New Frontier #1-6)
26. “Who is the Fourth Man?” by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (Planetary #1-12)
27. “Under Siege” by Roger Stern, John Buscema and Tom Palmer (Avengers #270-277)
28. “Runaways Volume 1″ by Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, Craig Yeung, Takeshi Miyazawa and David Nebold (Runaways #1-18)
29. “Deus ex Machina” by Grant Morrison, Chas Truog, Doug Hazlewood, Mark Farmer and a few other artists (Animal Man #18-26)
30. “Brief Lives” by Neil Gaiman, Jill Thompson, Vince Locke and Dick Giordano (Sandman #41-49)
31. “Marvels” by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross (Marvels #1-4, plus #0, I guess)
32. “From Hell” by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell (From Hell #1-11)
33. “Hush” by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee and Scott Williams (Batman #608-619)
34. “Olympus” by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, John Totleben, Tom Yeates and John Ridgway (Miracleman #11-16)
35. “The Death of Gwen Stacy” by Gerry Conway, Gil Kane and John Romita (Amazing Spider-Man #121-122)
36. “E is for Extinction” by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and Tim Townsend (New X-Men #114-116)
37. “All in the Family” by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon (Preacher #8-12)
38. “Final Crisis” by Grant Morrison, JG Jones, Doug Mahnke, Carlos Pacheco, Lee Garbett, Matthew Clark, Marco Ruby and a host of inkers (Final Crisis #1-7, Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1-2, Final Crisis: Submit #1 plus I would throw in Batman #682-683)
39. “The Black Mirror” by Scott Snyder, Jock and Francesco Francavilla (Detective Comics #871-881)
40. “The Last Iron Fist Story” by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja, Travel Foreman and Various Artists (Immortal Iron Fist #1-14, Civil War: Choosing Sides and Annual #1)
41. “If This Be My Destiny” by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee (Amazing Spider-Man #31-33)
42. “We3″ by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (We3 #1-3)
43. “Return of Barry Allen” by Mark Waid, Greg Larocque and Roy Richardson (Flash Vol. 2 #73-79)
44. “Blackest Night” by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert (Blackest Night #1-8)
45. “Identity Crisis” by Brad Meltzer, Rags Morales and Michael Bair (Identity Crisis #1-7)
46. “Infinity Gauntlet” by Jim Starlin, George Perez, Ron Lim, Joe Rubinstein and a couple of other inkers (Infinity Gauntlet #1-6)
47. “Ultron Unlimited” by Kurt Busiek, George Perez and Al Vey (Avengers #19-22)
48. “Doll’s House” by Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg and Malcolm Jones III (Sandman Vol. 2 #9-16)
49. “The Surtur Saga” by Walter Simonson (Thor #349-353)
50. “High Society” by Dave Sim (Cerebus #26–50)
51. “The Dark Angel Saga” by Rick Remender, Jerome Opena, Mark Brooks, Billy Tan, Robbi Rodriguez, Richard Elson, Scot Eaton, Dean White and a whole bunch of inkers (Uncanny X-Force #8, 10-18)
52. “The Kindly Ones” by Neil Gaiman, Marc Hempel, Richard Case, D’Israeli, Ted Kristiansen, Glyn Dillon, Dean Ormston and Charles Vess (Sandman #57-69)
53. “Annihilation” by Keith Giffen, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Simon Furman, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Scott Kolins, Kev Walker, Renato Arlem, Jorge Lucas, Greg Titus, Andrea DiVito and more (Annihilation: Prologue, Annihilation: Nova #1-4, Annihilation: Silver Surfer #1-4, Annihilation: Ronan #1-4, Annihilation: Super Skrull #1-4, Annihilation #1-6)
54. “Winter Soldier” by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Michael Lark and Michael Perkins (Captain America #1-6, 8-9, 11-14)
55. “Gifted” by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday (Astonishing X-Men #1-6)
56. “Church and State” by Dave Sim and Gerhard (Cerebus #52-111)
57. “A Court of Owls” by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion (Batman #1-6)
58. “JLA/Avengers” by Kurt Busiek and George Perez (JLA/Avengers #1-4)
59. “The Longbow Hunters” by Mike Grell (Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #1-3)
60. “Grand Guignol” by James Robinson and Peter Snejbjerg (with Paul Smith) (Starman #62-73)
61. “The Great Cow Race” by Jeff Smith (Bone #7-11)
62. “Safeword” by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan Jr. (Y: The Last Man #18-20)
63. “Wolverine” by Chris Claremont, Frank Miller and Joe Rubinstein (Wolverine (1982) #1-4)
64. “Dangerous Habits” by Garth Ennis, Will Simpson, Mark Pennington and a host of other inkers (Hellblazer #41-46)
65. “Tower of Babel” by Mark Waid, Howard Porter, Steve Scott, Drew Geraci and Mark Propst (JLA #43-46)
66. “Super-Human” by Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch and Andrew Currie (Ultimates #1-6)
67. “The Painting That Ate Paris” by Grant Morrison, Richard Case and John Nyberg (Doom Patrol Vol. 2 #26-29)
68. “The Magus Saga” by Jim Starlin, Al Milgrom and Steve Leialoha (Strange Tales #178-181, Warlock #9-11)
69. “Anatomy Lesson” by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette and John Totleben (Sage of the Swamp Thing #21-27)
70. “A Game of You” by Neil Gaiman, Colleen Doran, Shawn McManus, Bryan Talbot and many inkers (Sandman #32-37) – 148 points
71. “Homelands” by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha (Fables #36-38, 40–41)
72. “Knightfall” by Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, Graham Nolan, Jim Balent and a number of inkers (Batman #491-500, Detective Comics #659-666)
73. “Kree/Skrull War” by Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, Sal Buscema and John Buscema (Avengers #89-97)
74. “Confession” by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Will Blyberg (Kurt Busiek’s Astro City #4-9)
75. “Ultimates 2” by Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary (Ultimates 2 #1-13)
76. “The Death of Superman” by Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson and Roger Stern (writers), Dan Jurgens, Tom Grummett, Jon Bogdanove and Jackson Guice (pencilers) and Brett Breeding, Doug Hazlewood, Dennis Janke, Denis Rodier and Rich Burchett (inkers) (Superman #74-75, Adventures of Superman #497, Superman: Man of Steel #18-19, Action Comics #684, Justice League America #69)
77. “Love and Death” by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben and Rick Veitch(Saga of the Swamp Thing 28-34 & Annual #2)
78. “Saga, Volume 1″ by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Saga #1-6)
79. “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 1” by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1-6)
80. “Welcome to Lovecraft” by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (Locke and Key #1-6)
81. “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck” by Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge #285-296)
82. “Squadron Supreme” by Mark Gruenwald, Bob Hall, Paul Ryan, John Buscema, John Beatty, Sam De La Rosa, Jackson Guice and Keith Williams (Squadron Supreme #1-12)
83. “Elektra: Assassin” by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz (Elektra: Assassin #1-8)
84. “Scott Pilgrim” by Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together,Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe and Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour)
85. “Half a Life” by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark (Gotham Central #7-10)
86. “Rock of Ages” by Grant Morrison, Howard Porter, Gary Frank, Greg Land, John Dell and Bob McLeod (JLA #10-15)
87. “Secret Wars” by Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck, Bob Layton, John Beatty and a host of other inkers (Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12)
88. “Jimmy Corrigan, Smartest Boy on Earth” by Chris Ware (Acme Novelty Library #5, 6, 8, 9 and 11-14)
89. “Avengers Forever” by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino (Avengers Forever #1-12)
90. “Sleeper Season 1” by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Sleeper #1-12)
91. “The Man of Steel” by John Byrne and Dick Giordano (The Man of Steel #1-6)
92. “New World Order” by Grant Morrison, Howard Porter and John Dell (JLA #1-4)
93. “Top 10 Season 1” by Alan Moore, Gene Ha and Zander Cannon (Top 10 #1-12)
94. “Blood of Palomar” by Gilbert Hernandez (Love and Rockets #21-26)
95. “The Death of Jean DeWolff” by Peter David and Rich Buckler (plus many inkers) (The Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #107-110)
96. “The Love Bunglers” by Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets: New Stories #3-4)
97. “Unmanned” by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan, Jr. (Y The Last Man #1-6)
98. “The Korvac Saga” by Jim Shooter, Roger Stern, David Michelinie, George Pérez, Sal Buscema, David Wenzel and Pablo Marcos (Avengers #167-169, 170-171, 173-177)
99. “First Tale of the Demon” by Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams, Bob Brown, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano (Batman #232, 235, 240, 242-244 and Detective Comics #411)
100. “The Death of Speedy” by Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets #21-23)
Writer Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils & Inks Brandon Peterson
Colors Israel Silva
Letterer VC’s Cory Petit
We join the Original Five, Professor Kitty and Magik in Miami as their first mission on Team Cyclops. They are there to locate a mutant in the city.
The Original Five get introduced to the sadness that is the Purifiers. Human that don’t just hate mutants, they hate them on religious grounds. Spouting off bible quotes and being ripe jerks.
Magik and the Original Five are fighting the Purifiers and Kitty runs after the lady mutant. The Original Five are not prepared for this new level of hatred. Jean gets a recap on what the Purifiers have done, including killing the depowered mutants back in the New X-Men title, Reverendn Stryker’s participation and some of the Second Comic exploits.
Angel lifts one of the Purifiers into the sky and gives an awesome speech about how he resembles an angel and shouldn’t the Purifiers rethink their thoughts on mutants being demons and such. Then he drops that soldier to his would be death. Iceman catches him but it looks like Angel had no intention to saving the soldier at the last moment. That fellow was going to die.
Kitty is still chasing this mutant, Laura. They are nowhere near the other members.
The cops surround the Original Five and Magik and tell them to raise their hands.
Poor Scott tries to rationalize with the cops. Saying that the police have nothing to worry about but the police are insane mutant bigots are start shooting their guns. Magik teleports the team back to the New Xavier School. She gets mad at Scott for not instantly listening to her in the first place to back down.
Kitty finally tackles this Laura. Laura goes snikt and turns out, this Laura is X-23 and she has no memory of Kitty.
Next issue promises some kissing!
Writer / Co-Plotters / Penciler Chris Claremont – John Byrne
Inker Terry Austin
Letterer Tom Orzechowski
Colorist Glynis Wein
Cover Dated March 1981
The final issue of the legendary Claremont – Byrne – Austin run and, boy do they kill it with this issue.
I own this issue as one of Marvel Chiller prose books.
Issue opens with a bit of a recap from Uncanny 96, the last time the X-Men fought one of the N’Garai as well as what happen to that creature / alien.
This is the follow up issue to the Days of Future Past two parter. This should have been a nice quiet Christmas issue with the X-Men, Kitty’s first with the team.
The excellent Kiotr fanpage has most of the images on their website :
http://amocat.net/kiotr/KIOTR-Gallery/Uncanny-X-Men-143-Demon
We join Xavier going over the Blackbird procedures with Kitty.
Angel comes in telling Xavier that the car is ready.
Wolverine introduces Mariko to Xavier. Kurt shows up with some mistletoe and kisses Mariko on the cheek. Logan overreacts with a murderous attempt on Kurt’s life. No one is cool about that.
Proving that Kitty didn’t learn anything from that exchange, and grabs the fallen mistletoe and kisses Colossus on the cheek.
Everybody is leaving Kitty in the mansion all by herself. As Christmas isn’t her holiday, she isn’t heading out with the rest of the team. She is going to have the entire mansion to herself. Her first task, is to call Scott and wish him well. Scott is about to join Lee Forrester on an adventure.
Kitty’s second task, to work out in the Danger Room’s gymnasium program. Whenever I read “Olympian Level” strength, I always imagine that hero having to spend hours in a gymnasium. She hears the alarm. Heads to Storm’s attic apartment and sees the windows are broken, and all of the flowers ruin.
Kitty’s third task? Survive!
Now begins an incredible feat of one young lady versus a murderous alien. It doesn’t speak English and it can hurt her in her phase state. This is as do or die as it gets.
It tears walls as if it was paper. It tears through so many walls and floors. Kitty hides under the stairs and it proves that it is smart by being able to track her.
Kitty reaches a phone and doesn’t even get a dial tone when it claws her and hurts her badly. She starts nursing her arm. It draws first blood. Kitty is trying to think of ways to hurt it.
She runs to the Danger Room and turns off all of safety procedures and sets the program to kill.
Fire blasters hurt it a little and the room seems to slow it down.
Kitty escapes that situation and starts running to the Hanger.
She begins to turn on the Blackbird. The N’Garai starts inching towards the jet. Kitty turns on the thrusters and burns the alien to a crisp. She summons all of her bravery to inspect the scene. Once she shows up, through the flames, out reaches a claw!
Turns out, the X-Men were not just abandoning Kitty for no good reason around the holiday season. They went to get her parents, Cameron and Theresa Pryde. Cameron is growing a beard and Kitty is taken back by surprised that her parents are in Westchester, all the way from Chicago. She had just finished a bath.
Kitty had survived her Trial by Fire and passed the greatest test she will ever have to take. On Christmas Eve, Kitty had a rite of passage and turns out that the alien had a little bit of life with. It made some progress but it had finally died. Also, this is one of those first times when the mansion was destroyed and the team will have to rebuild.
Next issue promises The Return of Cyclops!
Letter’s page has an note from Claremont regarding this being the finale issue for both Byrne and Austin. Brent Anderson will take the next issue and then Dave Cockrum returns.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 