X-Men Gold, Vol. 1: Back to the Basics

X-Men Gold (Collected Editions)

by Marc Guggenheim, Ardian Syaf (Penciler), Cullen Bunn

In the wake of their war with the Inhumans, the X-Men are at a crossroads - where do they go from here? Luckily, one beloved X-Man has the answer to that question! Now, Xavier's dream comes full circle as Kitty Pryde returns to lead the team into a golden future! Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Rachel Grey and Old Man Logan will renew their mission to protect a world that hates and fears them, as the next chapter in the saga of the X-Men begins! But even as the new team rises out of the ashes of IVX, a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants isn't far behind. And when their rampage through New York City begins, there will be some surprisingly familiar faces in their ranks! Who has turned their backs on the X-Men...and why?

COLLECTING: X-MEN: GOLD 1-6

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 23, 2017

About the author

Marc Guggenheim grew up on Long Island, New York, and earned his law degree from Boston University. After over four years in practice, he left law to pursue a career in television.

Today, Guggenheim is an Emmy Award–winning writer who writes for multiple mediums including television, film, video games, comic books, and new media. His work includes projects for such popular franchises as Percy Jackson, Star Wars, Call of Duty, Star Trek, and Planet of the Apes.

His next book, In Any Lifetime, coming from Lake Union Publishing on August 1st.

Guggenheim currently lives in Encino, California, with his wife, two daughters, and a handful of pets.

Keep up to date on his latest projects with LegalDispatch, a weekly newsletter where he shares news and notes about writing, comics, and the entertainment industry.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rachel Grey is now called Prestige! Kitty assumes leadership of the X-Men and wants them to be more like heroes for all, a new Brotherhood of Mutants and Sentinels beg to differ. Prestige... seriously? The series does have a nice feel and has a fair few Claremont like sub-plotting, but the art is quite poor at times, as are many of the characterisations. Old Man Logan is a gem everywhere at the moment :). Prestige??? 6 out of 12, Three Star read.

2019 read

[Sean Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conceptually, this is exactly the approach I would adopt if Marvel handed me the reins to the X-Men (still waiting for that call, incidentally…apparently, DOCTOR, DOCTOR wasn’t enough to convince the editorial Powers that Be that I’m their next superstar; I’m sure it’ll happen any day now, though—feel free to pester C.B. Cebulski and Joe Quesada on Twitter to make that happen, please and thank you). It’s very much in the Claremontian/Byrnian mold—character-driven stories highlighted by quiet moments in the midst of high-octane adventure. No longer are the X-Men at war with the world or themselves; they’re fighting the good fight again, and accepting the fact that they’re forever destined to protect a world that may hate and fear them. It’s a welcome return to what made them a phenomenon in the first place.

In terms of execution, though…well, reading it was like eating a saltine cracker. And, we all know exactly what goes through your head in that split second between when you pick up a saltine and pop it in your mouth: “Hey, a saltine…absent literally any other food in the world, this is…fine. It’s fine. I mean, it’s not great, but it’s not terrible. It’s fine. Damn. I wish there was literally any other food handy, because I can have a strong opinion, bad or good, about every single other food in the world. Except maybe cucumbers. Saltines are like the cucumbers of, um, food. Wait, that doesn’t work. You can’t use food as a metaphor for food. Oh well. I guess I’ll just eat this saltine.” The only you’re ever excited about eating a saltine is after you’ve been puking for two days and it’s the first time you’ve tried to get solid food to go down, and even then after you eat one, you start wondering if you can risk putting peanut butter on the next one even if it means you hurk your guts up again.

Net-net: I’m up for reading more, but disappointed that this didn’t end up getting crumbled into a delicious, steaming bowl of tomato basil bisque. Still time, though.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title says it's back to basics for the X-Men. We've got 6 X-Men from their golden era of the 70's and 80's (or as close as they can get with the original Wolverine still dead). They are just straight up heroes with the classic mutant hate still happening. Putting Kitty in charge of the X-Men was a genius move. I love how she takes charge in the book. This is where the X-Men need to be, as part of the heroes of the larger Marvel universe, not off in there own X-universe where they do their own thing and the rest of the Marvel U is unaffected and vice-versa.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the back-to-basics approach and it's great to see Kitty Pryde (my favourite X-Man) leading the team.

Things I didn't like so much were the inclusion of Old Man Logan on the team (just bring the One True Logan back already) and that some of the 'science' in the book was seriously stretching my suspension of disbelief... even for a superhero comic.

Overall, not a bad start, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd put it at a 3.5. I really thought this was better than recent runs I read of X-men.

I'll be honest, I am not a HUGE X-Men fan. I enjoy them. They're cool. I love the "idea" of them more than the product. Saying that, I'll always enjoy a good story with my favorite mutants. This one is more about the team working together and it just feels like a fun little adventure. More like a TV episode of the X-Men. Kitty is running the X-men and right off the bat I'm happy. I love her. She's a natural fit for being a lead. With the rest of the team she tackles some tough fights but also focusing on becoming the new X-men team to help. Against racist politicians and crazy sentinel creators the team of X-men have to face adversity once more.

Good: I dug Kitty as a leader. She's awesome. most of the team is pretty cool too. Rachel is smoking hot. Also how fun was Gambit here? For once he didn't actually annoy me. I also really liked the first half a lot for it's plot points and the art kicked ass.

Bad: The 2nd half suffers from a plot we've seen a few too many times and the art goes down a few notches. Also Old Man Logan is just not...fun? He's too...meh.

Overall I enjoyed this quite a bit. It's easy read, fun moments, Kitty is Boss, and I'll continue reading as long as it stays being this enjoyable. I don't expect to be blown away but most X-Men comics don't do that for me. So this works. A 3.5 out of 5.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read!

The X-Men are back together again after RessurXion and the war with Inhumans and we see Kitty taking the place of the leader and they are in central park and well they have to save people and get hated for it (usual themes) but when they are attacked by Brotherhood of evil mutants led by Amara under control of Mesmero, her team is captured and knocked down so its upto Kitty to save them and meanwhile they are captured and the big battle and all that jazz and finding who really hired him, crooked politicians and all ensure and its just amazing. I love the way the story is told, it takes usual storylines and twists them in a way which makes for a smooth read and the focus on Kitty being the leader is awesome and she is so well written.

Next is the return of Gambit as he is hired by someone to steal some Nanites and then we find it was a trask and all that and Nanotech merging with sentinels and teh threat of it, the coming of X-Men and how they defeat this evil and save people but at what cost but this story does a great job of focusing on Rachel and I love her psychic thought process in the end and how she saves the day and all that.

Its a very cool volume and like it says back to basics and I have read like all the issues as they were coming out and after a whole lot of things that happened to them then in the previous decade, this was a great story at the time and the art is great too. The expressions, line work and all are awesome and the usual threat of evil mutants and sentinels are well done here and it does a good job of establishing things to come.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Read as single issues]
The partner book to X-Men Blue, X-Men Gold is your Uncanny X-Men title nowadays. This features all of your favourite heavy hitters - Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Storm, Old Man Logan, Nightcrawler, and Rachel Grey (now superheroing as Prestige) in two quick-and-clean three issue stories.

First the X-Men fight a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, who seem to have more of a role to play later in the series, and then some new nanotech Sentinels (co-starring Gambit!). There's not a lot of risks being taken storywise here, but it's nice to see the X-Men doing some good ol' fashioned bad guy punching after that mess with the Inhumans and their constant feeling sorry for themselves. This arc is called Back To The Basics, and Marc Guggenheim definitely delivers. It's not groundbreaking, but really this is the kind of thing the X-Men need right now, at least for a while.

We get Ardian Syaf on the first three issues (and the less said about that controversy, the better), before R.B Silva pencils issues 4-6; this book definitely beats out X-Men Blue on the art front, for consistency and sheer talent. Silva's art is some of my favourite these days; it just has a very real feel to it, and ever since he's paired up with his current inker, his visuals have been next level good.

In the grand scheme of things, nothing to write home about. But considering the trouble the X-franchise has been in recently, I think this series is just what the doctor ordered.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid start to what seems to be a promising series. Back to the Basics is a pretty good summation of what this book has to offer. It really does feel like a classic X-Men story wrapped up in a modern day paint job. Unravelling the themes of racism and discrimination flows through every page of this volume, a core aspect of their creation which I feel gets lost amongst needless action and overcomplicated plots in a lot of more recent X-Men content. If I had any kind of bone to pick with this, it's the shift in art styles which represent very different tones. Looking forward to continuing on with this journey and seeing where it goes.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe I should've saved all of my raves that went towards X-Men: Blue, Vol. 1 and used them for the even better X-Men: Gold, Vol. 1. Gold was X-cellent! X-citing! Am I getting X-tremely annoying with this schtick? Should I just belt out 'When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again' like Elvis? Is anyone still reading???

But really, I was sold when I learned Kitty Pryde - who, along with Kamala Khan, are my favorite Marvel ladies - was leading the team into the thick of it. The nostalgic icing on this cake was the Reagan-era line-up - including Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm, and the artist formerly known as Wolverine - by her side. When Kitty coolly responds "That's okay . . . I've got this" in the face of an unfolding disaster, you BELIEVE (and believe in) her. Shameless gushing, to be sure, but even away from the expected super-heroics she can hold her own by diplomatically interacting with skeptical and sometimes openly hostile New Yorkers.

Two connected stories (with a scheming villainess straight out of cable news purgatory), a few cameo appearances, and enough drama and BAMF! action in the streets of the Big Apple to keep things interesting the entire time - more of this, please!

[ScottIsANerd (GrilledCheeseSamurai) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Growing up, my X-Men were the Claremont X-men.

For so long now I feel like the X titles have been pretty lackluster. Sure, there are some blips of greatness scattered in there, but for the most part I feel like our Mutants have been chasing the glory days. Don't get me wrong...I'm a pretty big Mutant fan...They're my Marvel Jam...I just feel like they've gotten really convoluted and hard to manage in the past 7-8 years.

This one, however, was fun. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and it's no secret that the team on this title are trying to capture that Claremont spark. And it works, for the most part. Nothing life changing, but I got 6 issues that didn't confuse the fuck outta me and they didn't bore me to death either. That's a good step in the right direction for an X title these days.

Also...I'm a sucker for a good Sentinel bash and in this volume, we get a self-aware mutant Sentinel nano-swarm...which...you know...is pretty freaking awesome!

Anyways, I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I liked this first volume. Fingers are crossed that it only gets better from here...

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good! So The X-Men are back, I know its been hit or missed for some people, but for me its great! So the X-men have been split into different teams now, this one includes: Rachel(Cyclops and Jeans Daughter), Kitty Pryde, Old Man Logan, Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler. If I had to compare this to Blue I would say the main difference is the tone and themes; this series is more serious and talks a lot about serious issues at least in the first arc where as the second arc its a bit lighter. But overall I really liked both arcs this trade includes, it reminded me of the old X-men stuff, at least in my view. Artwork (Despite the major career ending controversy which I don't personally get) I liked it in the first arc, had a very real rough look which suited the tone; second arc the new art was a bit more cartoony, which is fine, but I feel that's better suited for X-Men Blue which is more fun and goofy in its tone. But overall I'm liking X-Men gold so far!

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have taken a look at a few of the (seemingly endless) X-books out right now, and if you want a book that is most like the classic X-Men stories, This is probably the book you are looking for. We've got racial hatred for mutants, sentinels, The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, a human who is leading a crusade against mutant-kind, etc.

It's not perfect, but it is a good start.

[Alex Sarll]

I’ve read far worse comics – indeed, far worse X-Men comics – but if you wanted to make the case for the utter creative bankruptcy of corporate superhero product, this would be a suitable exhibit. To recap: for reasons of corporate synergy, Marvel made a determined yet doomed effort to sideline mutants in favour of Inhumans. That project is now over, a decision which I’m guessing was made around the same time they saw the SFX of Medusa’s hair in the Inhumans' TV series. So the story where Earth’s atmosphere became toxic to X-gene carriers has concluded, and the X-Men’s mansion has been relocated from Limbo (not metaphorical limbo, the literal suburb of Hell) to Central Park – the first in this volume’s parade of ‘Hey! Look! We brought this old thing back, but guess what – there’s a twist!!!’

So: the softball games are back, and the black-and-yellow uniforms, at least for the juniors. There’s a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants – a name which it’s repeatedly mentioned is now a bit on the nose. There’s a new nanotech Sentinel. There’s a new spin on the fastball special. But lampshading it all with endless allusions to the old saw about how 'the more things change….’ doesn’t excuse how painfully samey it all feels, another pointless go-round with minor tweaks obscuring the lack of any genuinely exciting new ideas. And sometimes it’s outright idiotic; that Sentinel, for instance, is apparently ’sub-luminal’. Which here means that it learns and becomes immune to attacks it’s already faced, a definition I’ve seen nowhere else for a term commonly understood to mean ’slower than light’. Oh, and that Brotherhood? Guess what? They’re a false flag operation for an anti-mutant bigot, who’s busily using fake news to badmouth mutants while angling to get them all deported. Well done, a Trump analogue, how novel. I mean, I guess there are some grudging points for having her look more like Hillary than a tiny-fingered satsuma in a cheap wig, but still, that’s the best you could manage in terms of social commentary? And then that itself got another, unintended layer of irony when the book’s first artist got fired for hiding islamist messages in the art. No great loss; he did give all the characters very similar, often unduly hard faces. Though the replacement goes too far the other way and looks a bit like Stuart Immonen doing a rush-job for a romance comic on an off day, so it’s debatable whether that’s much improvement. A book only to be read if your addiction to X-truded X-product has reached a stage equivalent to the desperate smoker collecting fag-ends from gutters.

[Jessica Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

An original X-Men story with the team being led by Kitty Pryde. Mind control, nanobytes, and hating on mutants all make a big comeback in this storyline full of action. The art is splendid and the color exceptional for a pleasing visual experience. The only issue I had was the story up until now squares look more like a picture book than a graphic novel. Otherwise, X-Men Gold really was gold.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid X-Men book. It's a fun read, though there's nothing really exceptional here. The first storyline does show some promise going forward.

[Monsour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its alot of fun to read actually. It has 80's X-Men vibe on it with its own twist.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5*

Compared to his "Blue" flag title,  "Gold" is a gem. But this is all relative, you know.
Titled "Back to the basics", this is exactly what this volume is: Basic. Generic. Totally unoriginal but somehow comfortable.
Not bad, no. But not good either. Like your average Big Mac. It feeds you up but doesn't particularly leaves you with a feeling of bliss.

So our team is facing 2 kinds of threats in one volume. A new "Brotherhood of evil mutants" (rings a bell?) and a Sentinel-friendly nanotechnology. All this in an oppressing climate of anti-mutant hate, racism and bigotry. It's interesting to see Kitty in charge for a change but that doesn't make for a revolution.

When all is said and done it's not a bad book but it's like a book I've read a dozen times already, with nothing new or creative to add up to the previous ones. No shame in watching reruns but it can really get old after a while.

The clone wars invade the drawing board: on my left (#1-3) Ardian Syaf with a total 90's vibe due to his infatuation with Jim Lee. Above average-there are worse influences-but nothing to write home about. On my right R.B. Silva (#4-6), more on a Stuart Immonen line. Since the latter is a huge favorite of mine, guess where goes my preference. But again nothing very original here either.

After the underwhelming X-Men runs of late where the concurrent Inhumans totally pulled the plug on them and the sitcom-teenagery "Blue" title, "Gold" is not that bad. But like I've said this is all relative

[Michael Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a damn good start to yet another X-Men relaunch, and sister title to Cullen Bunn’s X-Men Blue. It’s got a classic feel to it as the Gold team, led by Kitty Pryde, squares off against an anti-mutant bigot and new nanotech sentinel. Good scripting and, for the first three issues, excellent art from Ardian Syaf. It’s a shame he turned out to be anti-Semite and hid anti-Semitic and anti-Christian Easter Eggs in his work (on a comic book with a long history of tackling issues of prejudice and bigotry, including the very issues collected herein, in which the team is led by a Jewish woman), because he was pretty talented. But since I’d rather not support a bigot, I have to applaud Marvel for canceling his contract and replacing him with R.B Silva for the final three issues of this trade. I have to admit, though, that while I liked Silva’s artwork, it’s not quite as good as Syaf’s, but I’ll certainly take it given the trade offs here.

[Robert Kirwan · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 issues of X-Men goodness!!

Really is back to basics!! Just a fun romp with some drama and FANTASTIC enemies. Issue 6 in particular was gorgeous as all of New York and other teams were strewn all over the pages!!

Definitely X-Men goodness and it would be a great place to start!!

Not to mention it has my fave Kitty Pryde in it

[Lucas Savio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay vamos lá, estou lendo algumas coisas de X-men para começar ao run do hickman e tinha aqui em casa as primeira edições de gold e blue e vamos de leitura...
a arte é irregular começa boa mas em alguns momentos cai. O bom é que a kitty pride que pega o comando da equipe porém n sinto muitas inovações há a presença da filha da jean que claro que a fenix persegue ela (além de perseguir a jean trazida do passada, que tenho mais carinho por ela por ter lido o run do bendis) o velho logan é um contraste interessante na equipe porém o plote se baseia em uma pessoa política que traz mutantes malignos para generalizar a raça mutante um plot mais basicão mas que amo, porém poderia ser melhor trabalhado

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

A poorly written awkward mess. This does not feel like a Marvel comic book.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty simple and straight forward. A very easy read. Kitty runs the xmen..villains turn up..solid fight scenes. Not the best xmen story but not the worst.

[ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this one, story and art.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/bUrYBpkkktI

[Jesús De la Jara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tras los sucesos terribles de X-Men vs Inhumanos que terminó en la estigmatización de los mutantes. Kitty Pryde convertida en la dirigente de los X-Men (creo que es la primera vez por lo menos en el Universo normal de Marvel) atrae a sus filas a Rachel Grey (ahora llamada también creo por primera vez "Prestige"), Coloso, Tormenta y Kurt. Ellos ahora habitan un espacio en el Central Park donde aún así son repudiados por gran parte de la población debido a los sucesos negativos que ocurren en la ciudad siempre ligado a los mutantes. La primera historia aburrida, la segunda más interesante, no me ha impresionado demasiado la trama argumental. Pero ver a Kitty al frente siempre es divertido e interesante, así como a Rachel. Por ese lado me gustó regular.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really cool Team line up, with some great art, but I'm a little over the whole "starting over again" storyline. For real, I'll bet the X-Men Have done this every 15 months or so for the last 5 or 6 years. The well has run dry.

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty solidly entertaining X book.

[Vidu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took a long, spiteful break from Marvel Comics after what they did to my precious Scott Summers, but you know what, it's time to come back home. I love the X-Men and I always will. It's not the same (in terms of characters and team dynamics) as it used to be, but it's time that I accepted change. This new (well, new in 2017) rebranding – the ResurrXion, what a stupid title – is inspiring hope in me. It's true that we probably won't get Scotty back for a while, and I'm still a little wary of the time-displaced original team, but I am also hopeful for the future of the X-Men! I guess that means that I am ready to get hurt again :)

In all honestly, I actually love this new team. These characters are tried and true fan favourites that have also been kind of underrated (except for Logan, of course). Kitty leading the team and being headmaster makes a lot of sense, even though I absolutely loved Logan being in charge and messing everything up. Storm is working through some stuff and trying to make up for her part in the war. I love that she's holding herself accountable because some of the more culpable characters, who truly made the past situation worse *cough* Emma Frost *cough* sure as hell won't do that! Peter as usual is being a boring wallflower, but that's all he's really been there for so who really cares. Kurt, oh my lovely, wonderful, cinnamon roll of a mutant Kurt is here as a main part of the team and I am so happy to see him. I want nothing bad to happen to him ever. Just keep showing me how too good for this world he is and I'll be fine. Time-displaced Logan really is going by the code name Old Man Logan, even though he doesn't want to be called a grandpa. Whatever floats your boat, Howlett, you've already captured my heart anyways. No need to do anything else. And then there's Rachel, who I am legally obligated to love and worry about because she is the daughter of my two favourite characters, Jean and Scott. I have high hopes for Rachel, and the way that this volume ended is indicating that her character arc will go in the way that I want it to! She is already so fucking powerful and I am so proud of her. But ahhh just think of the possibilities! I could just weep thinking about all the things that she could do if she reaches omega status. And even if she doesn't it's still going to be a great run with her on board.

The plot itself was a fairly standard repeat of what usually happens on a regular X-Men comic. It wasn't bad but it was predictable. That's fine though because it gives a safe, familiar setting for this team to begin anew. It lets us see how the dynamics of the team work, and builds up to the more complex and long-running problems that they will have to face in the future. They have to pay property tax for living in Central Park! Who knows how that will pan out?

Overall, this volume made me feel like it was safe to come back to this world and it gave me hope for the future of these characters. There is still that underlying suspicion that will stay there until I feel like Marvel has truly redeemed itself when it comes to their treatment of the X-Men. But I am willing to move forward and see where things go. I really am so happy to be back.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should have thrown this up when I finished this, but hey mistakes get made when reading the digital floppies.

I've read a little bit of Guggenheim's work in the past, and it was enough for me to give an X-Men title a multi-issue try for the first time in years. There are just some intellectual properties that I've been put off on for various reasons, and this was one of them.

Guggenheim hit many of the right buttons for me. Yes, he admits he is trying for some of the old Claremont feel. He is not being a slave to that though. He is going with the smart, take charge version of Kitty Pryde, the one that Claremont and Ellis crafted, received some refinement from Whedon before he frigded her, and throws out some of the crappy work that was done with the character.

I could do without Peter. I think Logan and Ororo are used well as supporting characters providing hints of guidance and friendship that help Kitty through her new mantle as the face for mutants everywhere.

[jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

guggenheim is a b*tch we know he hates established female characters since his arrow days therefore of course he would sideline and push storm to the back. storm has lead the x-men for years but suddenly that doesn’t matter because uwu kitty has to lead.
i aint got anything against kitty at the moment but we know old ass dudes are only obsessed with her because she has always been the girl next door of the xmen. therefore they keep writing her in romances with their self insert straight dudes named peter of the day.