Welcome!

[sheliak]

Welcome to X-Men Classic!

This is a community dedicated to the classic Claremont-era X-Men! Related titles very much included. If you want to talk about New Mutants, X-Factor, Excalibur, the Magik miniseries, the Fallen Angels or anything else X-related from this time period—go right ahead! We hope you’ll have fun here.

To get the discussion rolling, tell us about the comic or arc that got you hooked on the era, or X-Men comics in general!

Comments

[laceblade]

Hi! This community has fortuitous timing because I'm actually reading the X-Men comics for the very first time. A couple of years ago, I started with the Dark Phoenix saga because this article suggested it was a good place to start.

Right now, I'm in 1988/1989, smack in the middle of the Inferno arc - like I literally read the "Part 1" collected book and am waiting for "Part 2" to come in through the outerlibrary loan program :D The X-Men are all "dead" in Australia, except for their grieving counterparts who are meanly not told that it's all a fakeout!!?!

I've read some of the associated limited runs - Wolverine & Kitty Pryde mini-series, Illyana in Limbo mini-series, Fallen Angels, etc. The ones I'm reading right now include X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, X-Terminators (I think I just read the last one?), Power Pack, and Excalibur. I am sad that the fourth/final edition of Power Pack never got published! But now I have something to hunt for in used bookstores.

Illyana/Magik is probably my favorite character. This whole "having a darkness inside of you and being afraid of it" thing is way too on the nose for me, a person who loves metaphors for depression in fiction.

I've also strongly clamped on to Kitty Pryde, probably because 1) she has brown curly hair like mine, and 2) she joined the X-Men team essentially right during/after the Dark Phoenix saga, or where I started, so it feels like we've been going through this thing together.

The Bill Sienkiewicz art was mind-blowing while it lasted. I recently grabbed basically his entire run for $1 per issue at a sale, :D

I am aware of a few vague spoilers (e.g., Illyana), but am excited to continue through this run of "canon," and to continue through the 1990s and 2000s, both good and bad. The hardest part right now is figuring out where/how to continue the storylines. I might need to get a digital subscription to Marvel Unlimited at some point so that I can continue with New Mutants, Power Pack, and whatever other random things were never collected (e.g., Cloak & Dagger).

[sheliak]

I felt so sorry for everyone who wasn't in on the secret. (And in some cases, it seems like a terribly foolish decision--I'm thinking of Magneto left with nine teenagers to look after and no backup, and Illyana losing her brother when she's struggling so already, and Mystique wanting to avenge a daughter who isn't really dead...)

Illyana is one of my favorites too. Her struggles really made an impression on me as a teenager.

[julian]

Wow, cool. You should review 'em in here as you read 'em!

(I was peeved at their grieving counterparts not being told. Limp way to create angst and drawma, really.)

[lilacsigil]

Yeah, I was not a fan of the fake death thing! Fair enough for the world to think they're dead, and maybe even go into isolation, but it took a real toll on the rest of their friends and family. And it wasn't like the other mutants were going to run off and tell the media all about it!