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.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 