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Essential Essential X-Men?

Simplist

15:52 / 13.06.03

In the interest of getting more out of the current NXM run, I've started in reading the Essential collections of Claremont's early tenure. I'd read some of the high points that were previously collected in shorter trade paperbacks over the years, but never actually started from the beginning. I'm just finishing the second volume (which runs through #144) and thinking of picking up the third, but I've read various places that the quality starts to drop off about that time. So my question is, just how "essential" is the rest of Claremont's run? Are volumes 3 & 4 worth the $30 I'll have to spend on them, or will they just ruin the genuinely warm feelings I have for the book after reading volumes 1 & 2?

sleazenation

16:05 / 13.06.03

As with so many things in life, it depends - There is a definite watershed at the end of The Byrne Claremont collaboration but the series is still reasonably fun not *essential* by any means but then I don't think any oother run is really "essential" in getting more out Morrison's x-men. Best bet is to have a flick through in the shop and see what you think...

some guy

17:02 / 13.06.03

On the contrary, I think the series gets better after Byrne leaves. The third and especially fourth Essentials are superb, and a lot more relevant to setting up the more modern elements of the franchise than the Byrne work. These are the books that cover the true addition of Kitty to the X-Men, the introduction of Rogue and the Brood, the brilliant Dracula crossover, the 'origin' of Magik, Magneto's arc toward redemption and Storm's arc toward a darker side. This is the better Cockrum run, the essential Paul Smith issues and the debut of John Romita Jr.

Now where the fuck is Essential 5?

Murray Hamhandler

18:28 / 13.06.03

Contradictory info: word from Bristol recently had Marvel bigwigs saying that more Essential volumes were on their way, although none were currently scheduled. This month's Previews has a solicitation for Essential Human Torch, along with the notice that it will be the last of the Essential volumes. So...who knows?

Matthew Fluxington

19:13 / 13.06.03

I would tend to agree with Laurence, though I'm not really a big fan of the second Cockrum run in Volume 3. Volume 4 is fantastic, and as Laurence says, it sets the tone of future X-Men stories far more than the Byrne run. The Byrne run is very good, and there is a lot of joy to be had from Vol 2, which includes the entire Dark Phoenix storyline and Days Of Future Past.

Another major draw of Volume 4 is that it contains all ten issues of Paul Smith's run, which in my opinion look even better in black and white than in color. His art on the X-Men was probably the best ever in my estimation, matched only by Frank Quitely.

I really want to know when future Essential X-Men volumes are being released, I would very much like to have the entire John Romita Jr. run in book form. That would account for volumes 5 and 6, and the Silvestri run would be 7 and 8, and the end of the Claremont run would fill a ninth volume.

Matthew Fluxington

19:15 / 13.06.03

What the hell? Why print an Essential Human Torch when an Essential X-Men 5 could be printed? It seems like a no-brainer that the X-Men book would outsell the Human Torch.

some guy

19:34 / 13.06.03

Kirby. There's a market for obscure stuff like an Essential Human Torch. But not a large one, so the Essential format is ideal. With the X-Men stuff, they might be holding off on more Essentials in order to prevent a glut in advance of a complete Marvel Masterworks line, or color TPBs.

Simplist

19:35 / 13.06.03

Hey, they printed Essential Ant-Man ahead of all kinds of stuff. Must've been somebody's sentimental favorite...

Thanks for the responses, all. Guess I'm leaning toward buying the things. Have to say, these have been more satisfying reading so far than nearly any other comics I've bought in several years.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

19:37 / 13.06.03

Because the Human Torch is the last of the Silver Age series to get printed and once they do that, they'll have them all done. Then they will see how they sell before going into newer books.

In fact, the former editor of the Essentials said Marvel has no plans for any new volumes this year, but the sales are always better than they expect, so who knows.

Matthew Fluxington

20:01 / 13.06.03

I sort of figured that those were the reasons, but it is very frustrating that a large and significant chunk of the original Claremont has never been collected, especially given that the X-Men is such a huge franchise.

I would hope that sometime over the next five-ten years all of the Claremont run is available in trade paperback form, and if they want to do it all in color, that's just an added bonus.

some guy

20:45 / 13.06.03

I don't understand why there aren't Annual collections: X-Men: 1977 with all of that year's issues plus the annual. Then you could pick and choose which years to buy.

Matthew Fluxington

22:51 / 13.06.03

That's a pretty good idea, Laurence. The only problem is that there probably a few stories that maybe start in November and end in February, which may make the books a little disjointed.

some guy

23:35 / 13.06.03

In theory it'd boost sales, because you get to December and DAMN! What happens next?

dlotemp

23:43 / 13.06.03

The Yearly annual is not a bad idea but one that comes at a bad time; if you catch my drift. Marvel's current theory is to have a high quality reprint line, the Archives, and a low quality Essentials line. An "ANNUAL" collection would fall somewhere between those two types of books and siphon buyers from them. So don't expect them to pick up that idea immediately.

Still not a bad idea. Maybe if they don't continue the Essentials line.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

04:48 / 15.06.03

Marvel is actually pushing pretty hard not to have continued graphic novels, and I got an actual letter of apology when I wrote in (because my 14 year old son was MAD) when one of the Spider-Man Essentials ended in the middle of a continued story. I agree with that...you don't want people to buy a $15 book and not get a complete story. I know novels are doing it, but fantasy novels are actually seeing a drop in sales when they have series (other than the damn Robert Jordan books).

gergsnickle

22:38 / 15.06.03

Although this may be late, I'm writing to suggest NOY buying Essential X-Men vol. 3 (or whatever it is after the Byrne ones end) - The issues in this collection were the only ones I'd never read, so this winter I bought this and, man, did it suck. Half-baked phoenix resurrections, a silly dracula story, some bad alien stories, I was really disappointed. Granted, there are some good ones too (the doctor doom/arcade ones) but the less said about this period the better. The volume after that (which I did not buy as that was when I originally started collecting) has far stronger stories and then stops right before tthings go off in a whole new dirrection, but the (new) Brotherhood of Evil Mutants story was good.

dlotemp

00:29 / 16.06.03

Thanks to Solitare Rose for the feedback on the non-continued graphic novels. Just goes to show that seemingly good ideas may not always work, and that consumers always want some sense of closure.

PatrickMM

02:06 / 23.04.08

As a side note to this, does anyone know if there's a second Uncanny X-Men omnibus in the works? Once again, they've put out a collection of those same Giant Size era and Byrne era issues, then stopped moving forward before they get to the best of the run. Why not put out one of those books every year until we've got the entire Claremont run in a nice format, and include all the ancillary material, like Kitty Pryde/Wolverine and X-Men/Asgard, seeing as how he actually incorporated those minis into the main continuity.

And, to answer the question of this thread, the Byrne run is by no means the high point of Claremont X-Men. For me, it's what someone on here dubbed "The Saga of Storm's Mohawk," the Paul Smith era, the Mutant Massacre stuff and the Fall of the Mutants. Yes, the second Cockrum run is a bit spotty, and there's really bad issues in the 190s, but by no means is the Byrne run the highlight of the Claremont run.

Neville Barker

00:12 / 24.04.08

I agree with PatrickMM that the mohawk and massacre are where Claremont's run really takes off. Personally though I feel that from 'Inferno' on through what was at the time advertised somewhere as the 'dissolution and rebirth' saga (where the team members that don't die choose to walk through the siege perilous, all the way up until about where Gambit comes in, that's the pinnacle. Gambit's okay, but he leads right into the shadow king (yawn) and popularity that clogged the continuity and killed the book until GM did that wonderful thing that he did.

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