Like All in the Family and The Jeffersons. Like Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. Like Cheers and Frasier. The X-Men have a long and storied history of birthing spin-off titles. Many
of these spin-off titles became successes in their own right, lasting
over 100 issues for their initial runs, or being re-launched as
multiple volumes. And, on occasion, the spin-off titles are even
better than the mother team. Here are my thoughts as to the best runs
from the X-Men family of titles.
John Byrne’s Alpha Flight
(#1-28, 1983-85): Though Bill Mantlo’s tenure lasted longer, and
featured up-and-coming artists like Whilce Portacio and Jim Lee, the
original run of Alpha Flight is still the best. John Byrne crafted a
great mix of characters. The costumes had a consistent look,
while still being individual. And the range of powers worked well.
Plus, he did a great job of mixing up the kind of threats that the team
faced: menaces that were uniquely Canadian like Tundra, and classic
Marvel villains like Diablo. And, oh yeah, there’s also that classic 12th issue, featuring one of the most surprising and best character deaths.
Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz on New Mutants
(#18-31, 1984-85): I was somewhat hesitant to name this run because
it’s almost always named as the best run of New Mutants and I think
that tends to underrate some of the other runs. For example, Jackson
Guice did a great job on stories with the Hellfire Club, the Sentinels
and Limbo. And Bret Blevins had a great, fun look for the team on the
stories he did with Louise Simonson. But in the end, I had to go with
the run that is the best. Claremont
and Sienkiewicz had the best line-up. Magik and Magma are already part
of them at the beginning of this run. Cypher and Warlock are added
during it. Plus, there are the classic villains specific to the New
Mutants: the Demon Bear, Magus (Warlock’s father) and Legion. And, oh
yeah, there’s a wonderful list of guest stars like Nightcrawler,
Colossus and Cloak and Dagger.
Louise and Walt Simonson’s X-Factor (#10-39, 1986-89): Louise started writing X-Factor before her husband joined her as artist and stayed on long after he left (issues 6-64), and she teamed up with some other great artists on occasion (like Paul Smith and Whilce Portacio) but the best of X-Factor
clearly came when the two Simonsons were working together. The Morlock
Mutant Massacre. Apocalypse. The fall of Angel, and the Angel of
death. Getting rid of the mutant-hunters angle. The return of
Madelyne Pryor as the Goblin Queen. The addition of young wards, like
Boom-Boom, Skids, Artie Maddicks and Leech. Henry McCoy’s reversion to
his beast form. It seems like classic moments were happening every
couple of issues. The fall of Angel, especially, is one of comics’
great tragedies.
Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri on Wolverine
(#31-57, 1990-92): There weren’t a lot of long-standing runs on
Wolverine. Creative teams tended to come in for a single arc and then
depart again. But there is at least one long run that stands out as a
classic: the combination of Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri. Together,
they weaved a wonderful web of inter-connecting plots. The Hunter in
Darkness, Deathstrike, Sabretooth, Albert and Elsie Dee: they all
wandered in and out of the title in various combinations so that the
run felt like one, long story. And Silvestri’s art was remarkable. He
could draw the gritty Sabretooth and the cute Elsie Dee with equal
ease. Hama would put together another good run with Adam Kubert, but his best work came in conjunction with Silvestri.
Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld on X-Force
(New Mutants #98-100, X-Force #1-12, 1991-92): I’ve talked about why I
like Rob Liefeld on other occasions so I won’t go into that this time.
I’ll just note some of the reasons why I like this run. One: the
wonderful litany of villains like the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants,
Mask’s Morlocks, Stryfe’s Mutant Liberation Front and Gideon’s
X-Ternals. The X-Force seemed to run from one threat straight into the
arms of another- when they weren’t fighting two enemies at the same
time. Two: the wonderful collection of new and supporting characters
like Deadpool, Kane and G.W. Bridge. Fabian
Nicieza would put together a second great run with artist Greg Capullo,
with an even better line-up as Rictor and Moonstar became cast
regulars. But the stage was set in this excellent opening run.
Peter David’s X-Factor
(#70-91, 1991-93): I included two runs from X-Factor because, by the
time Peter David took over as writer, it was a completely different
title. The main team had rejoined the X-Men. The wards had been
shipped off to the New Mutants. And Peter David introduced an entirely
new line-up in issue 71. This is the line-up and the team that most
fans think of as X-Factor: Havok, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy and
Multiple Man. This is the team that squabbled with government
representative Val Cooper, sat down for psychiatric evaluations with
Doc Samson and had a running rivalry with Random. Though Larry Stroman
is the artist most connected with David’s tenure on the title, I prefer
the work of Joe Quesada, who teamed up with David at the end of his
run.
Alan Davis’ Excalibur
(#42-58, 61-67, 1991-93): This is not the only great run on Excalibur.
The Chris Claremont/Alan Davis issues during the first two years were
classics: Warwolves, Inferno, Technet and the Cross-Time Caper. And
some great artists passed through the title during its later years,
like Joe Madureira, Bryan Hitch, Salvador Larroca and Carlos Pacheco.
But Excalibur’s peak came when Alan Davis was providing both the
stories and the art. It was a wonderful blend of comedy, conflict and
creativity. For comedy, there’s the cover of Captain Britain
with a clown nose and Nightcrawler’s recruitment of Technet after he
broke his leg. For conflict, there were life-and-death struggles
against dark wizards and Jamie Braddock. For sure, Alan Davis’ Excalibur is a great run on a great title.
John Francis Moore’s X-Men 2099
(#1-35, 1993-96): It isn’t well remembered now but X-Men 2099 was a
great title while it lasted. In fact, it was so good that this
spin-off title was able to spin off another title of its own: X-Nation
2099. Ron Lim was the artist for the bulk of the run- his last issue
was #31- and Jan Duursema finished things off at the end. One of the
great things about 2099 is that Moore
gradually abandoned the team concept and focused more on an ensemble of
mutants. Heroes left like Bloodhawk, rebelled like Skullfire or turned
evil like Xi’an.
Villains were broken heroes like Zhang or the Driver. And one villain,
La Lunatica, even joined the team. It truly felt like anything could
happen to the team, as they struggled for the very survival of
mutants.
Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo on Generation X
(#1-31, 1994-97): The first run is still the best. It doesn’t happen
every time, as evidenced by the number of times I credited a second or
third creative team instead of the team that started a title. But it’s
certainly the case with Generation X. Nobody else was able to capture
the camaraderie, the comedy and the conflict of the original creative
team. They established the romantic undercurrent for Banshee and the
White Queen. They introduced the new bad guys like Emplate and Gene
Nation. They brought in the big villains like Black Tom and Bastion.
And Chris Bachalo’s art was simply outstanding, whether he was drawing
Stan Lee as a carnival barker, or playing around with an apple-themed
issue in the Big Apple.
John Francis Moore and Adam Pollina on X-Force (#63-81, 1997-98): I
had the hardest time picking a single best run for X-Force. There were
a handful of runs that I wanted to mention because I like each of them
for different reasons. And while I had a ready-made reason for naming
two X-Factor runs, I had no such excuse for X-Force. And yet, the
title did go through some striking permutations. The pre-Age of
Apocalypse issues have a very different feel and tone from those that
came after. The peak of that latter era came under Moore and Pollina.
Jeph Loeb and Adam Pollina got things started. John Francis Moore and
Jim Cheung kept things going. But the best issues came in the middle
as Moore and Pollina sent the X-Force kids off on their own, in search of experiences, life and adventure.
Peter Milligan and Mike Allred’s X-Statix (X-Force
#116-129, X-Statix #1-26, 2001-04): Counting 14 issues of the new team
in X-Force, Milligan and Allred’s X-Statix lasted 40 issues. That’s a
pretty good run for a creative team that offered something so
completely different. X-Statix was the title where anything could
happen. The entire team could be killed off at any point (and was,
early on). Rejected members could come back to haunt the team as
villains or as nuisances (see Spike and Lacuna). And the characters,
though strangely likable, were not in the least bit heroes. They were
self-centered and shallow. Yet for some reason, I wanted them to
succeed- even if it was only against their worse natures. The
Anarchist, the Orphan, Venus Dee Milo, U-Go Girl- they’ve yet to wander
into the larger X-world, yet they remain some of the most unique and
interesting characters in that corner of comics.
John Layman and Georges Jeanty on Gambit (4th
series, #1-12, 2004-05): Gambit has starred in 45 issues of his own
titles, counting two limited and two ongoing series. I like the early
mini-series but four issues don’t exactly count as a run. Fortunately,
his final series was an underrated gem. John Layman cast Gambit as an
anti-hero, standing up to the villains of New Orleans
and the Bayou but not exactly trusted by the authorities or the other
heroes. He played around with some good guest stars, like Wolverine
and Brother Voodoo. And the whole thing was drawn beautifully by
Georges Jeanty who would go on to greater fame as the regular artist on
Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Season Eight.
Nunzio deFilippis and Christina Weir’s New X-Men: Academy X
(#1-19 and Yearbook Special, 2004-05): The Millennial generation of
mutants was first introduced in a New Mutants series that moved at a
glacial pace. But when DeFilippis and Weir were given a second chance,
they created something magical. Their Academy X series was evocative
of early Harry Potter novels, as squads of young mutants squared off
against each other in a special school. They did a great job of
establishing friendships, rivalries, mentors and supporting characters,
though they didn’t do a lot with villains. Christopher Yost and Craig
Kyle would contribute another great run. Though their first year on
the title was much too bloody, they settled down in their second year
and told some great stories featuring Mercury, Dust and Limbo.
Tony Bedard’s Exiles
(#46-89, 2004-07): This is easily my favorite run of Exiles. That’s
not to take anything away from earlier writers Judd Winick and Chuck
Austen, both of whom surprised me with their excellent work on this
title. But Tony Bedard nailed the concept perfectly. He switched back
and forth between big stories and small. He kept the line-up in a
constant state of change, while introducing unlikely teammates like
Longshot, Princess Power and Spider-Man 2099. He completely upended
the status quo by revealing the truth behind the Timebroker. And he
did all of that with a wonderful flair for humor. Early on, artists
Mizuki Sakakibura and Jim Calafiore alternated arcs. At the end, Paul
Pelletier was made the regular artist. But Tony Bedard’s run was
excellent with all three artists.
Peter David’s second X-Factor
(Vol. 3 #1-46 and counting, 2006-09): A number of the X-Men spin-offs
have been successful enough on their own to have received multiple
volumes. Excalibur has had four volumes, including one called New
Excalibur. X-Factor, X-Force and Exiles are all on their third. The
latter volumes usually have trouble matching the earlier success, and
few last more than a year or two. But there is one very notable
exception. Peter David’s X-Factor- the third volume of that title and
his second turn at the helm- has defied all prognostications. It’s
happily cruising along in its fourth year and closing in on a 50th
issue. And it seems to be getting better and better. This past year
has had incredible revelations regarding relationships between Madrox
and Siryn, Madrox and Layla Miller and Rictor and Shatterstar. David
has played with mental possession and time travel, yet found a way to
breathe new life into these old concepts. X-Factor is simultaneously
familiar and refreshing. It’s a truly wonderful comic book.
And
that’s all for now. I left out a couple of long-running series in
Cable and Deadpool because I simply don’t own enough issues of either
to have a well-formed opinion. I left out a lot of shorter series as
well. I decided to pick only series that had at least three year’s
worth of issues, with X-Men 2099, X-Statix and Gambit meeting the
minimum threshold. And while I could have chosen a run from
Wolverine’s second series, I chose not to. Once again, the series has
had a lot of arcs but not a lot of longer runs. Anyway, that should
give you a pretty good sampling of the best X-Men spin-off series.
The End.
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