This post is Filed Under:
Home page Highlights,
Interviews and Columns
Robert Greenberger
by Robert Greenberger
From the dawn of the marvel Age of Comics, the company was very canny about providing up reprints of their earlier stories to keep new readers in the loop. After all, the idea of comic shops and back issue bins was much more than a decade away. But, in 1986, the company provided up something bold and different, creating a reprint series with so much essential new material that readers had to purchase it.
For 44 issues, classic X-Men represented the new X-Men stories, starting with 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1 and included new interstitial material to expand on elements or seed threads. much more than that, under the fantastic Art Adams (and later, Steve Lightle) covers there were also new stories from Chris Claremont and John Bolton, emphasizing, foreshadowing, or deepening what was happening in the main story.
Classic X-Men #7
By 1986, when this series launched, Claremont had developed the mythos is such a complex way that he could enrich the first few years with all this added material. It was audacious on the surface, but the ad-less, $1.25 comic was unequaled for a reprint and shown extremely popular with fans.
One such example was Wendy Browne, who wrote at women write about Comics, “I learned so much from those stories—specifically, the back-up stories that delved into who these amazing characters are. starting me off this way firmly recognized me as a Make Mine marvel kind of girl.”
X-Men classic Omnibus
Marvel is now collecting all this new material in an 1,040 page X-Men classic Omnibus that will come complete with comparisons and text articles discussing what was changed, what was added and why. They’re billing this as a great companion volume to their other X-Men titles and frankly, it is many certainly that.
While Claremont handled all the interstitial writing, spanning the first 27 issues, the art was handled by a broad variety of talents, some blending better with the original Dave Cockrum or John Byrne pages than others. These stalwarts include Chuck Patton and Kieron Dwyer.
Classic X-Men #16
These were interesting and welcome, but it really was the short stories that made the reprint title worth having. Claremont and Bolton shown an adept pairing and I adored their work on Marada She-Wolf and Black Dragon. Here, they present quieter, much more introspective and character driven tales.
When these were first collected in X-Men Vignettes, Claremont wrote, “These were short stories, practically vignettes, focusing on a single character. As such, they rapidly became surprisingly and intensely personal ones for me as a writer. I was getting into the characters’ heads and souls with a focus that often wasn’t available in the regular book, and doing so with a perspective of better than a decade’s worth of work on the title. With John [Bolton] I had an artist who could deal with pretty much anything the story demanded in terms of setting, in terms of characterization, in terms of visual panache. […] With him I could tell stories that simply wouldn’t fit in the fast-paced, widescreen, mega-action adventure ensemble of the main series itself. I could take a slower pace. I could focus. I could stretch some boundaries (even if they were only internal) and maybe break some rules.”
Classic X-Men #34
While Claremont and Bolton formed the bulk of these stories, there were others who got a shot as deadlines forced Claremont to miss some issues. Jo Duffy was first up in #20 with a storm story and with #25, Ann Nocenti efficiently took over as the lead writer. She was an editor turned writer better known for her work on Daredevil but here shows some good character spotlights. Letterer Tom Orzechowski makes two rare writing appearances in issues #25 and #40.
Bolton misses his first story when Claremont was back in #29 with art from June Brigman and Roy Richardson. It’s a good focus on Colossus as he returns home for a visit in Russia. assistant Editor Daryl Edelman takes a turn in #35 with a fun Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde tale and future X-writer Fabian Nicieza wrote a good Banshee spotlight with art from mark bright and Joe Rubinstein.
Interestingly, issues #37 and 38 are devoted to focusing on new member Dazzler, the first from Nicieza and Rick Leonardi and the second from Nocenti and the marvelous Kyle Baker. There’s also an interesting two-parter in #41-42 from Claremont and Mike Collins that inserts Mr. Sinister into Scott Summers’ time at an orphanage.
Classic X-Men #43
One of the most poignant stories is also from Claremont and Collins; in the aftermath of Jean Grey’s death, has a conversation with a construction worker who was the personification of Death.
The final short story as a Rogue tale from Nocenti and Kieron Dwyer, and then the series dropped the new material entirely and went strictly reprint, changing the title to X-Men Classic. A final story, also by Nocenti, with art by Dave Ross and Joe Rubinstein was finally published in the last issue of marvel Fanfare and is, thankfully, included here.
Purchase
X-Men classic Omnibus
Classic covers from the Grand Comics Database.