October 20, 2020: Exiles, Annihilation, New Mutants, and X-Men

New Mutants Annual #7 by Fabian Nicieza and Guang Yap (1991) Turns out we weren’t quite done with New Mutants yet. This comes out well after New Mutants had been cancelled and turned into X-Force, which is certainly odd. I’d suggest that Marvel didn’t want to publish an annual shortly after a series began, but

October 19, 2020: Exiles, Uncanny X-Men, and X-Force

Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #277 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee (1991) This is an overall solid conclusion to a somewhat rushed storyline that suffers mostly from spending too much time on fights. The goal was accomplished, though: the team is almost entirely back together. I’m not entirely sure how Xavier broke free of his

October 18, 2020: Exiles and Uncanny X-Men

Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #276 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee (1991) There are only three remaining Claremont issues after this. Depressing. The computerized version of Xavier and the X-Men is terrifying. Huh, another Claremont issue with primary female characters getting brainwashed. Overall good issue, but nothing special. We’re building to the Muir Island Saga

October 17, 2020: Exiles and Excalibur

Excalibur Vol. 1 #36 by Scott Lobdell and David Ross (1991) Alan Davis will be returning to Excalibur soon, but unfortunately not yet. This issue is perfectly fine for a fill-in issue. It’s definitely worse than #35, by the same creative team, but it’s acceptable. To me, Captain Britain is the least interesting character on

October 16, 2020: Exiles and Excalibur

Excalibur Vol. 1 #35 by Scott Lobdell and David Ross (1991) Claremont is now off of Excalibur for good. For now, he has been replaced by Scott Lobdell, though that won’t last long. For a fill-in issue, this is very entertaining. D’Spayre is always a strange inclusion in any story, but it had been about

October 15, 2020: Exiles and Excalibur

Excalibur Vol. 1 #34 by Chris Claremont and Ron Wagner (1991) I don’t care about any hate that people may have for the Girl’s School from Heck storyline; I really enjoyed it. It’s weird, but very charming, and shows off Claremont’s ability to generate interesting melodrama out of anything. This is Claremont’s last issue of

October 14, 2020: Exiles and Excalibur

Excalibur Vol. 1 #33 by Chris Claremont and Ron Wagner (1991) I went into the Girl School from Heck storyline under the impression it’s rather controversial. Honestly, I’m two out of three issues in, and, while it’s certainly different than what we typically expect out of an Excalibur comic, it’s pretty fun and overall enjoyable.

October 13, 2020: Exiles and Excalibur

Excalibur Vol. 1 #32 by Chris Claremont and Ron Wagner (1990) This is a rather controversial storyline. I’m not sure why yet, as this issue doesn’t seem particularly bad. Wagner’s art is great here for building tension. You know something is just off with everything. Mesmero is really lame. I think Claremont only continues to

October 12, 2020: Exiles, X-Factor, and New Mutants

X-Factor Vol. 1 #64 by Louise Simonson and Whilce Portacio (1991) Like I said before, I’m always happy to see stories focusing on Iceman in this era. He’s by far the least developed of the X-Factor team. I’m also a fan of arcs that split up teams into smaller parts to provide better character moments.

October 11, 2020: Exiles and X-Factor

X-Factor Vol. 1 #63 by Louise Simonson and Whilce Portacio (1991) Louise Simonson continues to be on X-Factor for now even though she has left New Mutants. She’s always been better on this series anyways imo. A rare story arc that focuses on Ice Man. And he gets to go to Japan? He’s by far