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141st out of 482 books
—
210 voters
Essential X-Men, Vol. 1 (Essential X-Men #1)
Wolverine! Nightcrawler! Storm! Colossus! Endowed with unique abilities, these mutants were summoned by Professor X to rescue the original X-Men, an underground organization sworn to protect those that fear and hate them. Relive their original adventures; discover the human within the hero and the truth behind the legend. Collects Giant-Size X-Men #1, X-Men #94-119.
Paperback, 520 pages
Published
October 18th 2006
by Marvel
(first published February 1st 2002)
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Aug 03, 2011
Nadine
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
graphic-novels,
2011-challenge
Skakow! Brak! Fthom!
Learned three important things:
1. There are old X-men and new X-men. This book is about the beginnings of the new team, consisting of Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee, some guy that dies in the second issue in this book and then the Phoenix who joins later. The old X-men are Marvel Girl (Jean Grey's old name), Cyclops, Iceman, and a bunch of others that weren't in the movies so I had no idea who they were anyway. I had actually wanted to read the fir...more
Learned three important things:
1. There are old X-men and new X-men. This book is about the beginnings of the new team, consisting of Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee, some guy that dies in the second issue in this book and then the Phoenix who joins later. The old X-men are Marvel Girl (Jean Grey's old name), Cyclops, Iceman, and a bunch of others that weren't in the movies so I had no idea who they were anyway. I had actually wanted to read the fir...more
The beginning of the best x-men stories written. These early stories had faults and were on shaky ground but you slowly but surely get sucked in to the storyline as it unfolds. The artwork goes up a notch when John Byrne comes on board but was decent in the earliest issues. I definitely enjoyed the subtle humor like when the writing team writes themselves into the plot during the Phoenix/Firelord fight in issue 105 or Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in issue 98. You also have nods to Edgar Rice Burrough...more
Ah...
Ein Genuss sondergleichen. Mit "Giant-Size X-Men #1" begann der Siegeszug der X-Men, was vorher ein teilweise belangloser Titel war, wurde zu einem der Flaggschiffe von Marvel.
Die gesamten 500 Seiten sind ein einziger Knaller. Claremont schafft es, dass man das Buch nicht aus der Hand legen kann - hätte ich die Originalcomics damals lesen müssen, ich wäre GESTORBEN vor Spannung im Wartemonat auf die nächste Ausgabe. Die Zeichnungen sind brilliant - zwei Zeichner, die ihre Kunst perfekt behe...more
Ein Genuss sondergleichen. Mit "Giant-Size X-Men #1" begann der Siegeszug der X-Men, was vorher ein teilweise belangloser Titel war, wurde zu einem der Flaggschiffe von Marvel.
Die gesamten 500 Seiten sind ein einziger Knaller. Claremont schafft es, dass man das Buch nicht aus der Hand legen kann - hätte ich die Originalcomics damals lesen müssen, ich wäre GESTORBEN vor Spannung im Wartemonat auf die nächste Ausgabe. Die Zeichnungen sind brilliant - zwei Zeichner, die ihre Kunst perfekt behe...more
I read this knowing that I am in no way a Geek
A Nerd
or a person with a good memory.
NOR AM I HOT ENOUGH TO BE CONSIDERED A GEEK OR A NERD!! Uhhh.... seriously... why is that sexy now? This just makes me feel a bit more stupid and a whole lot more plain. I guess I just don't get how a superhero shirt and thick glasses make you a nerd or a geek. I always thought intelligence was required. But this shows what I know :P
With that being said, now that you know that I am in no way a geek or a nerd, I...more
A Nerd
or a person with a good memory.
NOR AM I HOT ENOUGH TO BE CONSIDERED A GEEK OR A NERD!! Uhhh.... seriously... why is that sexy now? This just makes me feel a bit more stupid and a whole lot more plain. I guess I just don't get how a superhero shirt and thick glasses make you a nerd or a geek. I always thought intelligence was required. But this shows what I know :P
With that being said, now that you know that I am in no way a geek or a nerd, I...more
Feb 22, 2011
Craig a.k.a Meatstack
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
kreft-library,
2011
If you know the backstory, the X-men was a franchise bound for an early grave by Marvel comics. Then this crew stepped in, and "rebooted" the franchise. The stories that follow in this volume in essence saved the franchise and moved it into one of Marvel's top properties.
All that being said, it's still the 70's comic book with all the limitations that entails. However for someone looking to get the back story for the x-men world, this book is a must read.
I really do not know what else to say ab...more
All that being said, it's still the 70's comic book with all the limitations that entails. However for someone looking to get the back story for the x-men world, this book is a must read.
I really do not know what else to say ab...more
So far these comics are about as fun as the old batman show with Adam West. they don't go to deep, the writing isn't spectacular but it's enjoyable to read a little bit every day. every one or maybe two episodes the x-men run into some sort of mad genius who is bent on world domination or at the very least killing the x-men for good. typically they start out having no chance of surviving at the beginning of the issue until one of the members of the group comes up with some way for them to defeat...more
This is a great collection of X-Men comics detailing the start of the team as most people my age know it: Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Banshee (and sometimes Jean Grey). The comics are old, they're in black-and-white, and they're basically a pulpy soap opera for super hero fans. I love it.
The stories have a heavy amount of theme placed on the X-Men being "different" due to their mutant abilities. Professor X makes it clear from the very first origin story (Nightcrawler...more
The stories have a heavy amount of theme placed on the X-Men being "different" due to their mutant abilities. Professor X makes it clear from the very first origin story (Nightcrawler...more
I bought this because I wanted to see more of where the X-Men that I love started from. I was disappointed that this wasn't the stories of the first X-Men, but the second, "New" X-Men (Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Banshee, etc.) Not that I don't like those guys, I just wanted to look at the beginning and get to these guys in their time. That aside, this was a wonderful little glimpse into why the X-Men became as big and important as they did. The Phoenix story really is wonderful an...more
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Where it all began... err rebegan. Len Wein and Dave Cockrum take the dormant and hardly spectacular original series and, as the title says, make it "all-new, all-different". Giant Size X-Men #1 actually isn't the greatest of stories. Not well written short of perhaps the Nightcrawler beginning, if you like your comic narrative boxes a tad over the top. But the character creation itself is an achievement in itself. Though it would take Claremont and later Byrne to start filling them out better.
A...more
A...more
It is a slow read in the beginning as you make the transition from one group of X-Men to the next, but once that is past, the storyline really begins to build. I was impressed with the fact that, while the comic follows the typical brawler mentality, there is actually some thought to developing the characters along the way and paying attention to the overall story. These comics are from 1977-78, and I found myself wishing they were still just 35 cents apiece.
i really enjoy the origin stories of the x-men. these issues were full of fighting and whatnot, proving the new team's abilities, etc. overall, fun to get to the beginnings of it all. took a long time to read though (over the course of three months?) because i had to discern the black & white panels a lot of the time. a color-version of this would be nice.
30 years ago this stuff was groundbreaking. Today it shows a good beginning to a more modern style of storytelling. The book greatly improves with John Byrne's artwork. I wasn't a big fan of the sci-fi space stuff but the Savage Land Storyline was pretty good. It's fun to read Wolverine before he was a huge deal and he was only given a few panels here and there.
eh...this 70s writing is kind of for the birds. sexist, borderline racist (even though x-men is this allegory for race relations), and the omni-present narrator is the most annoying thing ever. Why do all the x-men refer to themselves in the third person? oh well - at least you get to read the Phoenix origin story, which is pretty much the best part of this volume.
I wanted to get some clarity on the *real* X-Men backstory, since there have been a lot of resets in the franchise, between Ultimate and New and First Class... I was surprised by how engaging and entertaining it was! And Claremont was only just beginning!
Note: The "new" X-Men really got their butts kicked a lot in the early days! It was quite amusing to follow...
Note: The "new" X-Men really got their butts kicked a lot in the early days! It was quite amusing to follow...
Classic Chris Claremont, and although not the start of the X-men saga it may as well be. Although it seems very dated today these comics broke new ground, rehashed a once off Hulk villain in the shape of Wolverine along with a cast, the majority of which are still key players, that are truly 'Uncanny'
As the franchise expanded in the late 80s and 90s, the X-Men franchise grew pretty bloated, but back in the early days, when there was just the one book to follow, it was really something. The exposition gets a little heavy-handed... okay, fine, you're basically beaten over the head with information that is clearly already being displayed for you in the artwork... but if you can get past that, what you're left with is probably the best soap opera to never be televised. The X-Men were originally...more
This is a compilation of episodes of the comic starting with the second generation of X-Men, with Nightcrawler, Storm, Banshee, Cyclops, Colosus, and Wolverine. It gets pretty repetative after a while. Some super villain attacks them, they fight, and get out. Then they do it again.
Was a good collection of all the old X-Men in chronological order. A great way to start at the beginning and catch up. Only downside is that it is black and white instead of color. But, still worth it. I'd read the whole set.
Near perfect superhero comics dragged down by an incomprehensible plot here and there, but hardly. Everything that nerds love in modern comics, weirdly stark superhero drama, personal issues, and a sense of pure progress carrying us along into the glorious future, is crystalized here.
I thought I'd really enjoy going back and reading X-Men from its very beginnings. There just so much of it! God! I thought it would never end! You can have too much of a good thing somethings.
So I stole this book from my boyfriend and read it in one day. I'm not the best comic book reader (I tend to focus on the words, not the pictures), but I have been an X-Men fan since I watched the cartoons back in the day, so this was really fun. It starts not at the VERY beginning of X-Men, but with the Krakoa story that introduced the "new" X-Men (Storm, Nightcrawler, etc). Some of the language is a little dated, but that just makes it funnier, and I really feel like I got a +3 to my nerd cred...more
I mainly read this to learn more of the character backgrounds. It's from the mid to late '70s, and the plots and writing style are really dated. I got pretty bored of the stories themselves, but it contains some good background on Storm, Cyclops, Phoenix, Professor X, Banshee, Nightcrawler and others.
Aug 17, 2009
Frank Taranto
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
graphic-novel,
comics
thoroughly enjoyed rereading these stories that I read when they originally came out. Wish I still had my copies.
Aug 17, 2007
Lindsay
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
X-Men fans, comic book fans, people who've never read X-Men
Shelves:
superhero-graphic-novels
All the cool characters are introduced in this one - Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus - all the cool ones. This chapter in the X-Men's long and kick-ass history is quite possibly its best one. The first generation of recruits - Storm, Banshee, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Thunderbird, and Sunfire - come in kicking ass and taking names. This one has some of the best X-Men stories and builds up to the Dark Phoenix Saga (the best X-Men story of all, but alas, not in this collection). It's so awesome. If yo...more
Good start and it really establishes the characters we've all come to know.
The Czech edition is divided into three volumes:
Vol. 1: Uncanny X-men issues no. 1, 94-103
Vol. 2: Uncanny X-men issues no. 104-113
Vol. 3: Uncanny X-men issues no. 114-124
It's not bad but not as good as the first two movies.
Vol. 1: Uncanny X-men issues no. 1, 94-103
Vol. 2: Uncanny X-men issues no. 104-113
Vol. 3: Uncanny X-men issues no. 114-124
It's not bad but not as good as the first two movies.
Great run...almost all from John Byrne
Reading this to get a background on the X-men may not give you much satisfaction. Yes, the gang is all here but the stories are flaky and it lacks true continuity. Although it was rough going, if you make it through you do finish with a strong sense of personality for each X-men which is helpful. Not sure if I will continue... This to me is an example of writing development you can see on the page. The author is working things out in each issue and a lot of it is bumpy.
Nov 14, 2010
Paolo Antonio Livorati
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
comics-and-graphic-novels
La seconda squadra, la "Saga di Proteus"... tutto materiale classico che avevo già letto fra la fine degli anni Ottanta e l'inizio dei Novanta, ma che qui è ripresentato organicamente (anche se in b/n) e a un prezzo vantaggiosissimo, considerato quanto valgono gli albi originali.
Jun 15, 2008
Evelyn
added it
I went through a big X-Men phase after the third movie came out. Why do I love them so much? Someone laughed at me for saying this, because I sounded like such a counselor, but I love the X-Men because of their group dynamics. TEAM! The best Essential X-Men books are 3 and 4 BTW.
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Chris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Hors...more
More about Chris Claremont...
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Hors...more
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