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Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume Three

Posted by John Klein III on August 13, 2020
Posted in: Paul Smith, Websites. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

https://www.amazon.com/Uncanny-X-Men-Omnibus-Vol/dp/1302927027/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1EWFQBCFBFCX9&dchild=1&keywords=uncanny+x-men+omnibus+3&qid=1597333945&sprefix=uncanny+x-%2Caps%2C197&sr=8-1

You want to know what would make for a great late Christmas present for me?  The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume 3!

I have no idea why this doesn’t come out the week before Christmas, that seems like a scheduling mistake.

I found out about this collection by making a ripe fool of myself on twitter.  The Mutant Menace (a great Twitter account to follow!), posted their desire for a particular trade, and like a real jerk, I offered up how I’ve been waiting for a trade of mine own, and turns out the trade I want is actually happening!

And from there, I had to look it up!

Seriously, I have been wanting this collection to be a thing for years now!  Just the entire Paul Smith run, in a beautiful hardcover.  Now it being $175, is a bit much, and I am sure if I hunted around, I could find a store selling it for 50% off or it will eventually drop in price.  Even $88 seems a tad much for my budget, but I also have a hard time treating myself to things that I really want.

But for $175, we are getting treated to what I will always consider THE run of Uncanny X-Men!   All comics besides one are written by the greatest X-Men writer of all time, Chris Clarmeont!

COLLECTING: UNCANNY X-MEN (1981) 154-175, X-MEN ANNUAL (1971) 6-7, MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL (1982) 5, WOLVERINE (1982) 1-4, SPECIAL EDITION X-MEN (1983) 1, MAGIK (1983) 1-4

154 through 157 is the Starjammers adventure.

158 is Rogue vs. Ms. Marvel 2 and aftermath of the Starjammers adventure.

159’s Bill Sienkiewicz’s Dracula issue.

160’s Brent Anderson’s Limbo issue.

So we are getting the entirety of The Brood Saga, which includes handing the torch from the legendary Dave Cockrum, to the living legend, Paul Smith with 165.

166’s, the first appearance of Lockheed!

168’s Kitty’s “Professor X is a Jerk!” issue.

The Morlock Saga!

171’s Walt Simonson Rogue joining the team.

The Japan Adventure!

Ending with 175’s passing of the torch from Smith to John Romita Jr!

Such an amazing run and lord knows I haven’t read 154 through 161 in quite some time.

Plus, that’s just the main title.

We get Annual 6’s Dracula sequel to 159 also by Sienkiewicz.

We get the very fun Scavenger Hunt in Annual 7 by Michael Golden and Bret Blevins, with an army of inkers.

We get X-Men God Loves, Man Kills by Brent Anderson.

Wolverine 1 – 4 by Frank Miller, the very first Wolverine mini series.

Special Edition X-Men, which reprints Giant Size X-Men.  This will be the only comic in the collection not written by Chris Claremont as Len Wein had the pleasure of co-creating the second generation of X-Men.  The Special does have A Day Like Any Other, by Claremont and Cockrum, wherein Kitty turns 14!

Magik the limited series, which 160 introduces and the limited series provides the full story.  Drawn by John Buscema and Ron Frenz for issue three, and Sal Buscema (my favorite of the Buscemas), for the fourth issue.

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_154

Special thank you for Marvel Fandom for reminding me of how great these issues really are!  They don’t have a handy link to the Omnibus so I had to search all around for the issues.  Such a great website and these comics define the X-Men to me.

So this collection is going to look great, flip to any page, and a time tested and well received issue.  Such a legendary run, and I really really want this!

If you know who the cover artist for the collection is, please let me know and I can update it as I’m searching around and I see people crediting the interior pencilers (which they should), but I cannot find the cover artist.  It is a great cover and I’m happy Lockheed made it to the cover.

Also, apparently this came out in 2016, so I apparently could have had it four years ago.  Oops!

.  .  .

https://x-men.fandom.com/wiki/Uncanny_X-Men_Omnibus_Vol._3_(Hardcover)

Jerome Opeña and Paul Smith are credited to the cover.

I have been just staring at it and marveling at how the cover just does its job so uncannily.

Infinity 2

Posted by John Klein III on September 14, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Written by Jonathan Hickman

Artists are Jerome Opena and Dustin Weaver

Colors by Justin Ponsor

Lettered by Chris Eliopoulos

Part Two of Six

Once again, the X-Men only appear on one page, and only in one panel.

Infinity 2 Lockheed

But that one panel has . . . LOCKHEED!!!

And of the X-Men, he’s the only one actually doing anything to the Outriders.

That one panel has also piqued my interest in the Hunt miniseries.

The rest of the issue is pretty good.

Agent Brand is wearing a suit of armor built for her specific breast size.  That is one of those things in comics that your eyes see and your brain shrugs and moves on.  But what must the female armory look like with just thousands of breastplates built for various cup sizes?  Doesn’t eem practical to me.  Should be more like Fallout 3 where all the armor looks the same, and it all fits the same.  But then no one would wnt to buy that original page of art, I suppose.

That Solar Iron Man looks a tad better this issue, but I still feel like Captain America is making fun of it with Thor when those two chat.

The second best part of the issue is the Inhumans sections.  Which is smart, as it sets up the Inhumanity event.

I like that Corvus Glaive asks where the king is, and how Black Bolt’s thorne has this giant neon arrow pointing down to where he sits.

Is Medusa wearing silk lingerie?  The art team gives her crazy eyes every other panel.

Is Corvus going to every super group and asking for tributes?  Or just the Inhumans?

Really don’t care Maximus making the analogy to Herrod in the human holy books.  I guess that means the Inhumans are the only ones who have to pay the tribute.  Also, it is a dumb line for Maximus, or that to call the books that. As well as, Herrod is an actual person from history, so he can just make the reference.  I don’t buy that at some point, any Inhuman, besides Karnak, would read the bible.  Maybe Medusa did when she didn’t know who she was.

At Whaan Prime, this is what I mean, Thor, Captain America and Spider-Woman, all wearing the same type of space gear.  If you were a superhero, and were in space fighting aliens along with your peers, would you still wear your superhero suit?  I mean, as long as your powers were not connected to your suit.

As soon as I got up there, I would trade my suit for one of my allied alien power armors or something along those lines.  Why would I need to protect my secret identity up there?  Unless your peers haven’t seen your face before, but that’s more of a trust issue.

I do like seeing the Illuminati together, but only on special occasions, it still is a bad ass concept  and I am still loving it.

Marvel is finding more ways to get Black Bolt to speak, and it is high time!

Black Bolt has figured out that Thanos is only looking for his son, and I guess wants him killed, but not at his hands.  You’ll think Corvus would hve said only sons of 16 to 22, but that would have shown his hand to much.

So did Thanos go to a bunch of planets years ago and impregnated a slew of ladies and now wants to kill those offspring?  As we know, one planet did pay the tribute to him or is it different per planet, and on Earth, it is a bonus if he gets his son killed.

Maybe next issue will have these answers and maybe more X-Men involvement.  Maybe issue three will have Illyana, that would be awesome.