Essential X-Men volume 1

Essential X-Men volume 1
Marvel Comics
Writer: Chris Claremont
Art: John Byrne & Dave Cockrum
BW, 528 pgs
$14.95 US / Higher in Canada

I’ve always been intimidated by Marvel’s line of X-Men books. Throughout my youth, I had been familiar with the likes of Spider-man, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Flash, but didn’t become aware of the X-Men until the early 1990s. I was in high school at the time, and this was a particular period when, for whatever reason, the X-Men were making quite the impressionable mark on kids who read comics. There was a strong resurgence of all things X-Men, but it’s the video games, both arcade and console, that I remember most. I seem to recall during this particular period, Gambit was getting a lot of attention, but right behind him was the man in the yellow spandex with the bad ass metal claws.

I’ve looked at the Marvel shelves in comic shops many a time, eyes wandering along the numerous X-Men titles, wondering what kind of stories were playing out between the covers. Every time I picked up an issue to browse, however, there seemed to be too much to take in. Who were these guys and gals, these mutants? And what’s with the bald guy in the wheelchair? And so I never delved into the world of the X-Men. It seemed like too much of an undertaking to learn all their history.

“I want to read some X-Men books,” I told Dana, fast-forwarding to the present. “Give me some core X-Men stuff. Some essential X-Men reading.”