December 24, 2020: Secret Invasion, X-Force, and X-Men

X-Force Vol. 1 #9 by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza (1992) Sam is alive! Who would’ve thought? Sam is an external? Who would’ve thought (literally)? Grade: B+ New Avengers Vol. 1 #41 by Brian Michael Bendis and Billy Tan (2008) I really like the focus on individual characters in these tie-ins, showing how they got

December 23, 2020: Mighty Avengers, X-Force, and Storm

X-Force Vol. 1 #8 by Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza, and Mike Mignola (1992) While not great, this is the best issue of X-Force thus far, just because meaningful plot happens. Grade: B+ Mighty Avengers Vol. 1 #13-14 by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, and Khoi Pham (2008) I’m really liking the Mighty/New Avengers tie-ins, more-so

December 22, 2020: Secret Invasion, X-Men, and Excalibur

X-Men Vol. 2 #9 by Jim Lee and Scott Lobdell (1992) Why is Ghost Rider even in this arc? I’m not reading the corresponding issues in that series, but they appear to be somewhat unimportant. Gambit’s backstory is so weird. Lobdell gets Jubilee’s dialogue right. She’s still funny even 30 years later. Grade: B+ New

December 21, 2020: Secret Invasion, X-Men, and Hellions

X-Men Vol. 2 #8 by Jim Lee and Scott Lobdell (1992) I like the amount of cross-over with Uncanny is in this issue. It was weird that they were living in the same house and would almost never mention each other. Rogue and Gambit are really starting to be an item. Bishop is more of

December 16, 2020: New Avengers, Excalibur, and Marauders

Excalibur Vol. 1 #47 by Alan Davis (1992) Finally, Kitty is back! I love so much how Davis just wrote like two whole pages here just to specifically retcon away Excalibur: The Possession. He must have hated that story more than even I did. Davis brings a lot of Excalibur history back into the forefront

December 15, 2020: New Avengers, Excalibur, and X-Factor

Excalibur Vol. 1 #46 by Alan Davis (1992) New Avengers Vol. 1 #35-36 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Yu (2007-2008) X-Factor Vol. 4 #3 by Leah Williams and David Baldeon (2020) Wolverine Vol. 2 #42 by Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri (1991)

December 14, 2020: New Avengers, Excalibur, and X-Force

Excalibur Vol. 1 #45 by Alan Davis (1991) Davis’s Excalibur is the best X-book of the era by far. He has the character voices down perfectly, provides them with meaningful development, and weaves the most interesting plots of the time. Where is Kitty throughout this? I guess you can’t have every character in the spotlight

December 9, 2020: Captain Britain, X-Force, and Wolverine

X-Force Vol. 1 #5 by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza (1991) Going from any of the other contemporary X-titles into reading X-Force is a trip. Nothing ever happens here. The amount of words on the page rivals a modern comic. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is back, and they brought Sauron. Did anyone ask for

December 8, 2020: Captain Britain, Uncanny X-Men, and New Mutants

Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #286 by Whilce Portacio, Scott Lobdell, and Jim Lee (1992) The storyline is still lame, and it still is a poor version of an X-Factor story from a few years back, but the replacement of John Byrne for Scott Lobdell improved the readability significantly. The only real takeaway from this arc

December 7, 2020: Captain Britain, Uncanny X-Men, and Cable

Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #285 by Whilce Portacio, John Byrne, and Jim Lee (1992) As much as I haven’t liked the Byrne/Portacio run on UXM, I have to admit this is better than the previous issues. It still isn’t good, just not horrible. I might be more inclined to like it if it weren’t a