Marvel Masterworks X-Men Comic Book Review: Enter the Phoenix! Plus Wolverine, Storm and Nightcrawler!

X-Men No. 101, the first in this volume, has Jean Grey (Marvel Girl) reborn into the Phoenix (with a far cooler costume!). Over the next seven issues, through No. 108, Claremont reveals Phoenix to be hugely powerful, with enough strength to bind the universe back together. You'll have to read the story to understand it.

Jean Grey and her development as the Phoenix would become a major plot and theme for the next 36 issues, with lots of twists building up to a climax that is still considered a classic decades later.

Claremont would become known for his characterizations of strong females, in part because of the way he dealt with Jean Grey. One of the more interesting aspects to his handling of her was that he gave her a full life outside the X-Men, with a roommate sharing her apartment and appearances by her parents. That might not sound like much, but it did flesh out who she was in a more realistic manner.

My one quibble is that issue No. 101 starts off with a bang, a continuation from issue No. 100 (which isn't included in this collection.) The story flows fine even without the earlier issue, but still it is a bit annoying!

This image of Phoenix is from the Marvel Masterworks book

Magneto was the X-Men's very first villain, appearing in issue No. 1 in Sept. 1963. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, at first he was the typical bad guy striving for world domination. But as he led his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants over the years writers characterized him more as using force in an attempt to make the world safe for mutants.

By the time the X-Men was being revived, Magneto had fought many other superheroes and been defeated so many times it was getting hard to take him seriously. In fact, in his previous fight, against a superhero team called the Defenders, Magneto had even been turned into a baby (see Defenders No. 16)! As I said, hard to take seriously.

But in issue No. 104 in this volume Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum begin Magneto's return to the pantheon of top Marvel villains. Magneto is restored to adulthood, and at full strength. He toys and easily beats the Banshee-led X-Men (who are missing Phoenix and Cyclops), with the team being forced to run away after a timely intervention by Cyclops.

This set the tone for Magneto to grow into the powerful character he would become in the X-Men franchise, and this issue showed the depth of Claremont's writing. If he had the new team defeat Magneto right away, it would have been much harder for the reader to believe that he was as powerful as Claremont intended.

This image is of Magneto from issue No. 104, as reprinted in the Marvel Masterworks volume.

Here is the cover of X-Men No. 104, the classic issue that brought back Magneto and started to establish him as one of the most-important villains in the Marvel Universe! Long-time fans will note the similarity of the cover to X-Men No. 1, when the old team of X-Men faced off against Magneto in the team's very first adventure!


XMen - 104 Apr by marvelclassics
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Issue No. 109 in this collection contains the debut of Weapon Alpha, a Canadian superhero who is designed to be that country's equivalent of Captain America. But his mission in this issue is less heroic -- he has hunted down Wolverine, intent on bringing him back into the service of the Canadian government, by force if necessary.

The battle itself is inconclusive, with Weapon Alpha breaking off and disappearing once he realizes that he has bitten off more than he can chew. His final thoughts in this issue is that next time ''I'll bring Alpha Flight with me.''

And that is another part of why the early run of new X-Men was so fresh and exciting. Claremont once again planted a seed that would blossom much later. First, in a classic two-part battle 11 issues later, starting in X-Men No. 120, when Weapon Alpha returned with Alpha Flight for Wolverine. Alpha Flight would later get its own long-lived series that lasted 11 years.

Weapon Alpha, later renamed Guardian, was created by artist John Byrne, who had taken over drawing the X-Men from Dave Cockrum an issue earlier.

The shot here is a close-up of the character from the cover of X-Men No. 109, as reprinted in the Marvel Masterworks volume.

The rest of this Marvel Masterworks collection is uneven, unfortunately.

There's a very strong two-parter with the X-Men (minus Cyclops and Phoenix) fighting Juggernaut and Black Tom Cassidy. The story provides some much-needed background to Storm, and positions Banshee as second-in-command of the team.

There's also a very dynamic multi-part tale that features extraterrestrial villains and the fate of a world in another universe. The tale introduces the space pirates the Starjammers, led by Cyclops' father, and gives Wolverine a new costume that he wore on and off for a number of issues afterward. The best part of this tale is when the X-Men go up against a band of aliens that are homages to DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes, which X-Men artist Dave Cockrum had drawn before moving over to Marvel Comics.

That's the good. The bad? Issue No. 106 was a fill-in issue that interrupted the above tale (and remember at the time the X-Men was bi-monthly, which meant the story was delayed four months!) The art was by Bob Brown, who had a long career in comic books but really his work on the issue is very much subpar. He had actually died a few months earlier, so this was a posthumous publication. Worse was the story, written by Bill Mantlo, which had the new X-Men squaring off against the old X-Men -- only six issues after Claremont and Cockrum had done the same thing!

Also poor is issue No. 110, the last story reprinted in this volume. Featuring a forgettable villain called Warhawk, the story was done by fill-in artist Tony DeZuniga. I liked his work on the DC Comics western hero Jonah Hex, but it was all wrong for a superhero group.

The illustration is the back cover the Marvel Masterworks volume, showing all but the first of the issues that are reprinted in the book.

This t-shirt has the classic Wolverine logo on it and will mark the wearer as a fan of the most-popular X-Man!
There are numerous styles and sizes available once you click through, so check them out today!


Wolverine by marvelclassics
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I always thought Storm's classic costume was her greatest, and never understood why Marvel changed it (especially to that awful mohawk!) There are many styles and sizes for this t-shirt once you click through, so check them out today!


Storm Retro by marvelclassics
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Marvel Comics Retro: The X-Men Comic Book Cover #101, Phoenix, Storm, Nightcrawler, Cyclops (aged)


9 in. x 12 in.
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The Marvel Masterworks series began in 1987, with the publication in hardcover of volumes dedicated to the early issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, The X-Men, The Fantastic Four and The Avengers. Over the years Marvel has come out with more than 170 volumes while expanding the line to include comics from the 1940s and 1950s, as well as later ones.

The company also has reprinted many of the volumes in paperback, and sometimes changed the contents of the volume when doing so. So be sure you check exactly what you are getting when you buy a Marvel Masterworks volume!

The stories in this X-Men volume of Marvel Masterworks also appear in Marvel Essential X-Men volume 1. The big difference, and for some people this is huge, is that the Marvel Essential series is in black & white on cheaper quality paper. In fact, the Marvel Essential book reprints Giant-Size X-Men No. 1, as well as X-Men No. 94-119. Many, many more stories, so more bang for your buck!

The criticism of the Marvel Essential volumes is that the black & white reprints simply don't represent the comics the way they are meant to be enjoyed. I can understand that criticism, as in many issues the colors do add a great deal to the readers' enjoyment. Still, I figure the two series can co-exist, with each serving different audiences.

Marvel Essential X-Men Comic Book Review: Wolverine, Storm and a Return to Greatness!
Marvel Essential X-Men collects Giant-Size X-Men 1 and X-Men 94-119. Giant-Size X-Men No. 1 introduced the new team of superheroes, reviving the X-Men comic.

BAMF! If you are a true comic-book fan that sound can only mean one thing -- Nightcrawler!


Nightcrawler BAMF by marvelclassics
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When you wear this t-shirt, be prepared to be greeted with cries of ''Enter: The Phoenix'' from true comic-book fans!

I don't remember this logo from the time Phoenix debuted, so it may be that Marvel created it for later collections or issues.


Phoenix - XMEN - Marvel Comics Retro by marvellogos
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Cyclops Retro - Firing Optic Blast by marvelclassics
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