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Uncanny X-Men Omnibus, Vol. 1 (Uncanny X-Men Omnibus #1)

by Chris Claremont, Len Wein, John Byrne (Illustrator), Dave Cockrum (Illustrator)

4.24 of 5 stars 4.24 · rating details · 409 ratings · 10 reviews

When a young writer named Chris Claremont took over X-Men in 1976, few fans could predict the incredible impact he would have on the Marvel Comics series. With a flair for realistic dialogue, heartfelt storylines and hard-hitting action, Claremont's writing breathed life into the characters. In collaboration with artists Dave Cockrum and John Byrne, Claremont crafted a run...more

Hardcover, 848 pages

Published August 2nd 2006 by Marvel

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Feb 05, 2009 Randy Lander rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, swanky-hardcovers, marvel-superheroes

It's hard to believe in these days of a dozen X-titles, but there was once a time when the X-Men weren't popular. Despite a well-liked run by Neal Adams revamping the original team with new costumes, the book fell into reprints and from there, cancellation. Almost. A young upstart named Chris Claremont, fresh off smaller Marvel books like Iron Fist, came in with artist Dave Cockrum and created a completely new team, ditching all but one member of the original team. They added minor, unknown char...more It's hard to believe in these days of a dozen X-titles, but there was once a time when the X-Men weren't popular. Despite a well-liked run by Neal Adams revamping the original team with new costumes, the book fell into reprints and from there, cancellation. Almost. A young upstart named Chris Claremont, fresh off smaller Marvel books like Iron Fist, came in with artist Dave Cockrum and created a completely new team, ditching all but one member of the original team. They added minor, unknown characters like Banshee and Wolverine to a cast of brand new names like Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler. And thus, the world-spanning empire of the X-Men began, in Giant-Size X-Men #1. Cockrum left relatively early in the run to be replaced by an up-and-comer named John Byrne, and together, Claremont and Byrne created a legend that is still making money hand over fist for Marvel today. The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus collects the beginning of what is most likely the best the X-Men will ever be, and certainly the best that they have ever been (and yes, I'm taking into account Grant Morrison's generally excellent but flawed New X-Men run).

In the same ballpark in terms of importance to comics (or at least Marvel), this one contains the Giant-Size X-Men #1, X-Men Annual #3 and Uncanny X-Men #94-131. Within the almost 850 pages of this oversized hardcover volume are classic X-Men stories, including their first run-ins with Alpha Flight, Proteus, the Shi'ar and the Hellfire Club, as well as fights with classic foes like Magneto, Juggernaut and the Sentinels. The DNA for practically everything that the modern X-Men are, as well as the source material for the majority of the movies, is found in these stories.

The characters are much stronger in these early days, partly by virtue of being new but also because Claremont gives them more depth than their often two-dimensional characterization in modern comics. Wolverine is a cocky, competent scrapper willing to break the X-Men's laws against killing, but he's not the uber-badass that makes for such boring modern-day tales. This Wolverine is shaken when he faces the reality-warping Proteus, such that Cyclops has to snap him out of it. Cyclops is likewise not the milquetoast that most modern writers present him as, but a confident leader who breaks out of the head schoolboy mode he had been in when a battle strands him away from Professor Xavier's counsel, forcing him to truly lead the X-Men, in the field and off, for a good chunk of these stories. Storm is presented as one of the most powerful mutants on the planet, not an also-ran X-Man to be married off for stunt value. Colossus, while conflicted, isn't as whiny and mopey as the character who has now suffered the loss of his sister, his brother and his parents at the hands of unimaginative writers who could think of no better plotline than to kill off a supporting cast member for angst value. Nightcrawler is also not mired in angst, but rather has a healthy dose of rough times thanks to his socially-unwelcome appearance combined with a generally upbeat attitude that serves his swashbuckling persona well.

While the stories are solid from the start, there's a noticeable uptick in quality of story when John Byrne comes aboard as co-plotter. Perhaps Byrne and Claremont shored up each others' weaknesses, perhaps they were just both young and at the top of their game, but at any rate, this run on Uncanny X-Men is probably the best argument there is for the perfect synergy that can occur in comic-book creating. With innovative new villains, constant surprises and status quo changes, all without resorting to cheap shock tactics like crossovers, deaths and "everything you know is wrong" revelations, these comics read like a manual on how to write the superhero genre.

The plotting of these X-Men issues shows off Claremont's reputation for long-developing subplots. In later years, he was known for creating dangling stories that never resolved, but at this point in his career, these one- and two-page teasers sprinkled into current stories paid off, sometimes a year down the road, in stories that benefitted from the build-up. The Dark Phoenix saga, which just gets rolling as this book closes out, has its beginnings early on as Jason Wyngarde begins influencing Jean Grey's mind. The story of Proteus, Moira MacTaggert's powerful and evil mutant son, gets started in the return of Magneto issues and only comes to fruition almost two years later, with scenes sprinkled throughout to build up to the epic conflict. Even Claremont's scripts, now so easily mocked for their over-the-top style, are fresh and evocative. The first time you hear Wolverine's catch-phrase, it's a clever summing-up of who he is, not a cheesy cliche. The same goes for Claremont's description of the awesome power at Storm's command, the physical strength of Colossus or the scary cosmic energy that Phoenix wields.

Some, including the artist himself, would probably argue that Byrne's best work is to be found later in his career, and certainly he has some fine work to his name, but it's hard not to look at these issues and see an artist working at peak skill. Byrne depicts stunning vistas in Japan, the Savage Land, Scotland and a snowed-in Canadian airport, as well as plenty of believable New York scenery. Byrne's take on many of these characters, from Cyclops to Nightcrawler to Colossus, is the definitive one in my mind, and it takes only a glance at any of these pages to see why. He captures the savage danger barely restrained of Wolverine, the allure of Storm and Jean Grey and the anguish of Cyclops when he believes Jean to be dead (not once but twice during these tales). Byrne delivers any number of exceptional action scenes as well. In one particularly memorable example, the Alpha Flight/X-Men battle starts with Sasquatch, barely visible except for muscular arms, holding back a DC-10 as it tries to take off, followed by a full-on well-choreographed battle between two superteams that closes out with an infuriated Cyclops about to knock out Northstar's teeth. Dave Cockrum's work is solid and grows stronger with each issue, and George Perez's guest turn is some of his strongest art, with plenty of the detailed fantasy backgrounds to be expected, but artistically, Byrne steals the show.

Beyond its impressive contents, the Marvel Omnibus is a triumph of production values. It's the same oversized trim as Marvel's other hardcovers, and it's printed on a nice, thick paper that has just the right balance between flatness and glossy. The colors have been "reconstructed" in some places, but not "remastered," and the result is that this is like the original comics, presented on the best possible paper for their style of illustration and coloring. There are also a few nice extras, including a few pages of original art, text pieces by Chris Claremont and Stan Lee, Dave Cockrum's original sketches for some of the characters (with copious design notes), pinups and a puzzle page (!) by John Byrne and even the 37 covers from the '80s Classic X-Men that reprinted these issues. The inclusion of these covers was a big bonus for me, as I first read all of this material in Classic X-Men and those covers stimulate my memories of the stories in a nice, pleasant nostalgic way. They're also just plain terrific covers by guys like Art Adams and Steve Lightle. These extras give a strong indication of the attention to detail that the editors and designers put into this book. Mark Beazley, Cory Sedlmeier, Michael Short, Jennifer Grunwald and Jeof Vita should all take a well-deserved bow.

Another bonus that makes the Omnibus special is that it contains the letters pages from all the issues, which helps to put the issues in the context of their time. Many of the fans were in an uproar about this complete change of cast and new creators, and it was clear that the book was struggling in the marketplace. Ironically, most of the books that were selling well in this time period are either looked down upon or forgotten, while this is held up as the gold standard of superhero comics. This might provide a slightly bitter comforting thought to creators struggling with low sales and critical acclaim in today's market, although I suspect it's about as helpful as struggling artists hearing that most artists are only appreciated after their death. The letters pages were an interesting place for debate, though, as the editor ran not just positive buzz but several negative (often brutally so) letters, and responded thoughtfully to all of them. It's still not as stimulating as the fondly-remembered letters pages of Cerebus, Grimjack, Starman and other esoteric books, but it's much more interesting than most current letter columns and their modern equivalent, the message boards.

If you do check this one out and wind up digging it, you might want to know that this is the second such volume, the first one containing the first thirty issues of the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby Fantastic Four. With any luck, we'll be seeing more in the future... at the very least, a volume two (and maybe even more?) of Uncanny X-Men would be nice to complete this well-regarded run. (less)

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Jan 27, 2009 Paul Dinger rated it 5 of 5 stars

It is hard now to think that this was once Stan Lee's worst title. There really wasn't much to say about the Xmen then. Kirby deserted the book quickly and with rare instances the art was nearly as bad as the stories. True, guys like Roy Thomas and Neal Adams did a great job, but really the book wasn't going anywhere. Really the guy who saved it was Chris Claremont. Taking it up after Len Wien came in and did one issue, another rat leaving the sinking ship, Claremont really turned it into someth...more

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Oct 17, 2011 Federiken Masters rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans del género y de los autores

Recommended to Federiken by: Que estaba a mano, su fama

Al fin llegué a las raíces, a la regénesis que redefinió la historieta de superhéroes, para bien Y para mal. Y la verdad es que en algunos aspectos envejeció un poquito y no resulta impecable, pero a grandes rasgos sigue siendo un muy buen comic, sobre todo si se lo compara con lo que había antes (dentro del género, se entiende) y más todavía con lo que quedaría después, en los resacosos 90s. Eso sí, tampoco entiendo por qué lo marcan como una de las obras maestras más grandes de la historieta s...more Al fin llegué a las raíces, a la regénesis que redefinió la historieta de superhéroes, para bien Y para mal. Y la verdad es que en algunos aspectos envejeció un poquito y no resulta impecable, pero a grandes rasgos sigue siendo un muy buen comic, sobre todo si se lo compara con lo que había antes (dentro del género, se entiende) y más todavía con lo que quedaría después, en los resacosos 90s. Eso sí, tampoco entiendo por qué lo marcan como una de las obras maestras más grandes de la historieta si renguea en algunas partes. Supongo que porque fue un comic bisagra que contrastaba mucho con otros del estilo y que este contraste influyó lo suficiente como para que, por ejemplo, Grant Morrison afirmara que era lo mejor que se haya hecho jamás con los personajes. Para mí, lo mejor que se hizo con los X-Men fue justamente el laburo de Morrison. Pero si ese fue lo que fue justamente por haber estado influenciado por esta etapa, bien por eso.

Me gustó:
-Por primera vez los estadounidenses entendieron que no se puede hablar de un grupo a escala global cuando la inmensa mayoría de los personajes son yanquis y los que no son de países inventados. Acá de golpe y porrazo quedaron dos de los yanquis del grupo original y sumaron: un canadiense, un alemán, un irlandés, una keniata, un "nativo americano" y un ruso. Después volverán un par de personajes estadounidenses y se irán (o morirán) algunos de los extranjeros, pero sigue siendo un grupo de lo más variopinto.
-Que se aprovecharan del misterio que había alrededor de varios personajes (sobre todo Wolverine) para ir sacando revelaciones de la manga sin que necesariamente resulten chocantes. Y vuelvo a Wolverine como ejemplo: en un capítulo le dicen irónicamente "Sr. Logan" (por ser Logan la montaña más alta de Canadá) y después este queda establecido como su nombre. De un capítulo para el otro, nos enteramos que las garras de metal son parte de sus brazos y o de los guantes. En otro, que ese metal es el indestructible "adamántium". En otro, que tiene muy buen olfato, se lleva bien con los felinos y parece que se cura rápido. Y así todo el tiempo, y eso que todavía no llegué a donde se revela que todo el esqueleto es de adamántium (y eso que Magneto estuvo jugueteando con él en más de un capítulo).
-Que las historias transcurrieran en tiempo real. No soy un fundamentalista del natural paso del tiempo en los comics, pero sí un simpatizante. Y en este comic demuestran que no por tener un año más o un año menos los personajes van a perder encanto o empatía, más bien al revés.
-Que pasaran casi por alto la vieja guardia para centrarse en personajes desconocidos, que fueron ganando popularidad y presencia gracias a méritos propios.
-Los dibujos: tanto Cockrum como Byrne dibujaban deputamadre en ese entonces y eso no sólo se ve en los diseños, sino en las caras de los personajes, en las naves, en las peleas, en las "escenas de café", y en un montón de etcéteras. También aportaban mucho al guion y, por lo que veo, la mayoría de esas ideas (al menos las que prendieron) estuvieron muy buenas, y bastante bien explotadas.
-Un par de cosas más que seguro reseñe más adelante.
No me gustó:
-Que prácticamente no haya ninguna historia de carácter social. Está bien, está claro que este es un comic de superhéroes de género (pero no genérico) y que enfrentarse a imperios galácticos es más entretenido que contra una turba iracunda e ignorante, pero aun así estaría bueno meter un par de palos al tema de la discriminación, que es lo que hizo distinto a los X-Men de todos los otros superhéroes (y una de las razones por las que me fanaticé con los dibujos animados de los 90s).
-Que la edición española tenga como 280 menos páginas que la estadounidense. Por lo que veo, los comics que contienen ambas ediciones son los mismos, así que sospecho un enoooorme recorte de contenidos extras en la edición española. Aunque sí me gustaron los extras especialmente creados para esta edición que trae curiosidades como la historia editorial de los X-Men en España.
-Un par de cosas más que seguro reseñe más adelante.(less)

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Aug 22, 2012 Shannon Appelcline rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, comics-marvel

Though not as polished as modern-day comics, these still remain gripping. They're also impressive for the raw creativity that continues to influence the comics today, including creations such as the Shi'ar, the Imperial Guard, Alpha Flight, the Hellfire Club, and of course the new X-Men themselves.

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Oct 25, 2010 Gord rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: super-hero-gns

I dont actually own the Omnibus edition but I read the originals when they were out. #94-145 was just amazing. The Paul Smith era that followed was very good too but Byrne and Claremont were on another planet at the time.

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Mar 16, 2013 Keith rated it 5 of 5 stars

I apparently bought this for sixty bucks back in 2006, according to Amazon records. I would guess this is one of the smartest things I did that year.

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Jul 21, 2007 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great collection. I gobbled it up. The pages are nice and heavy and glossy. I read this collection because I was only familiar with the newest X-men and not with the UnCanney X-Men. I would like to read the originals that came even before this collection. The evolution of the X-men is a topic that fascinates me.

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Feb 07, 2010 Mer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: geekery-scifi-fantasty, comics

Perfect reading for a snow day. Made me feel like I was 13 again.

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Sep 12, 2011 Mike Wierzbicki rated it 3 of 5 stars

The series is put in the hands of Claremont. He definitely makes the series better but it still doesn't reach its peak in this volume.

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Jul 10, 2009 Michael Moreci rated it 5 of 5 stars

Not a whole lot needs to be said about one of greatest--if not the greatest--runs in X-Men history. Epic.

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May 21, 2013 Matthew Holland rated it 5 of 5 stars

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About Chris Claremont

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

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