X-Eras

[Shadowcat99]

Late 70's - the 90's.

[NewMutant]

1) 90s - Animated Series Era
2) Morrison/Whedon Era
3) All-New All Different Era

[Rivka]

1) The Claremont era from 1982 until he was forced off the books, including X-MEN #1-3 as the swan-song of his first X-Men run. This includes classic NEW MUTANTS as well.

2) And surprisingly, for someone like me--an older fan who's been reading X-Men for 50+ years--a close second--like, I REALLY loved this era--the era of 2007 to 2014/15 that lasted until the O5, Inhumans crap, M-Pox, etc killed it. Scott Summers as X-Men leader was the best X-Men plot idea in decades. We got the best Magneto since Claremont, a complex and amazing Emma Frost, and a lot of interesting auxiliary X-books focusing on X-Men history (MAGNETO TESTAMENT) and interesting new characters. I enjoyed those years very much, including Messiah Complex, Utopia, Avengers vs X-Men (which demonstrated to the world that Marvel was prejudiced against the X-Men but in spite of their efforts, the X-Men still ruled). The whole era came crashing down when Cyclops was called "mutant Hitler" and his revolution revealed as some kind of trick. One of the greatest eras of the X-Men came crashing headlong into the Original Five taking over the books, and Marvel's push of the Inhumans as X-Men replacements.

[FUBAR007]

Favorite era of X-Men comics?

Just after Inferno up through Onslaught. So roughly mid-1989 through 1996.

Inferno neatly cleaned up and tied off the mess created by the launch of X-Factor, and the franchise started becoming more focused on mutant politics and less on all-purpose superhero stories. (I've never been as interested in X-Men stories where they function as off-brand Avengers, fighting demons, space aliens, generic supervillains, etc.) IMO, 1989 is when Louise Simonson really hit her stride on X-Factor and when Claremont started doing some really interesting stuff in Uncanny. The stories became more mature with the core cast actually behaving like adults instead of like teenagers in adult bodies. The plots and subplots became intricate and dense, and Claremont in particular made the world the characters lived in feel realistically deep and complex. Lots of different players with different agendas doing a lot of stuff. The franchise went from feeling like a Saturday morning cartoon to something more like a serialized prime-time drama, and I loved it.

At the other end, Onslaught is when the franchise began to stumble. It started off strong, but the rest of the crossover after Onslaught: X-Men read like it was made up on the fly. Just before Onslaught is also when the first of the 90s false starts began, specifically with Mark Waid's short-lived run. With Nicieza gone and Waid out, Lobdell was on his own. His stories between Onslaught and Zero Tolerance were hit-and-miss and often came across phoned in. I liked OZT even as disorganized as it was, and the Kelly-Seagle stuff that followed had a lot of potential. But, then that, too, was aborted. All of this happened against the backdrop of the 90s industry implosion, of course, and it showed as Marvel was swerving all over the place in spasmodic panic.

Honorable mentions:
-the Claremont/JRJR run of Uncanny (i.e. the tail end of the Bronze Age)
-the Alan Davis run on Excalibur
-Mike Carey's turn on X-Men: Legacy

[LordAllMIghty]

#1: The Claremont era(the whole thing including his work on NM, Excalibur, and the Wolverine solos)

This is the best the franchise ever was. World building, character development, fun adventures.

#2: The Morrison/Claremont era(New X-Men and X-treme)

Morrison brought some interesting new ideas to the table and Claremont came back for some classic beats in a brave new world.

#3: Real World:Westchester (the 90's X-Men/Uncanny/Gen X/X-Force)

This is what was happening when I was first collecting, and had a cohesive feel despite distinct stories happening in each book. Not as exciting as 1/2, but solid.
Attachment 63218

Pretty much everything said here.

[WheelchairX]

Difficult decision, but my top 2 are :

1. 1980 - 1986 (to whenever the out back era began)
2. 2004 - 2011 (Similar long overarching plot points to Claremont and I really enjoyed the darker tone)

[DavidMunroe]

I've generally enjoyed everything (to varying degrees) from GSXM #1 till the end of Claremont's third run on Uncanny*. Absolute favourite would have to be the Claremont/JRJR period.

*Thematically and tonally, I feel the X-Men took something of a nosedive following that period. Additionally, the editorial mandate or edict that stipulated Scott Summers and Emma Frost become the king and queen of the mutant community was probably one of the worst creative decisions and biggest mistakes to come out of that period IMO and I don't think the X-Men as they were, have recovered. What happened IMO was the systematic removal or character assasination of several characters (Storm, Bishop, Banshee, Charles, Nightcrawler) in order to butress the tedious extinction storyline and the laughable notion that Cyclops was the only candidate worthy of shouldering the burden of being mutantkind's leader. Post-Brubaker, the family aspect of the X-Men that was the team's pride and joy during the 80s', 90s' and bits of the naughties has since been annihilated. Rogue was lucky in that she had a title all to herself, several other characters were sadly not. I think that's why Ressurexion was introduced and has failed on that front (of trying to resuscitate the halycon days of yore before Cyclops and his army entered a cycle of constantly staving off extinction) catastrophically because of the damage that has been done. Unrecognizable characters and repetitve stories. No true sense of family, at least where the "flagship" titles are concerned, because they haven't really been one for such a long time IMO.

[sungila]

Interesting. Reading ANAD Giant Size again last night and began thinking about the landscapes and languages and even the word bubbles and fourth wall dimensions of eras.

We live in a special time. I really believe that. There's a luxury in even affording such an opportunity of perspective.
Every moment and every day is more potently and potentially ANAD for us. And it has and does and will increase, adapt and grow in scope, power, diversity, accessibility, multiplicity and means through the channels of those who most challenge to dare, defy, astonish and confound the status quo standards of the immediate. There's a momentum of life in the X-Books that seems to out-write itself and spill its narrative over its own containers.

So much of this has to do with the late 70's early 80's period of change in modern era comics. There was a real backlash against the replacement of the original X-Men. Not because they were oh so popular at all. But, I think, because of THE CHANGE itself. To actually change! To actually survive the James Dean teenage years intact and grow out of that rebellion without tossing out the cool and unruly unrest. To actually account for those 'something better somewhere out there' hopes and dreams. To crash land the spacecraft and see yourself the alien!?

It's, the details. Xavier has a blanket over his legs and he is definitively manipulating his recruits into service. He's not coy about it at all, he's not mind controlling them, he's not particularly creative and there is this glaring hyper-forced technicolored self parodying going on with all sorts of dive-in-saturday stereotype and satire. Bryne, Wein, Claremont and Cockrum were totally aware of themselves and had a live-for-the-moment punkish devilishness to their approach. So much stereotype, transparent innuendo, dare-you-to's and such roguishness.

But, increasingly, as the characters took shape out of the narrative they, themselves, questioned their purpose, being and desires.

For me, every era is important and has its necessity, but if there is one moment when that great leap off the edge happened, when the momentum off the cliff gave the X-Books the realness of necessity and generated that big alt bang of life as we have come to know it and experience ourselves, it's 'When God Loves Man Kills' 1982. In fact, that graphic novel was way ahead of itself and it took the ongoing comics a long time to even catch up. The darkness and depth of shadow in the X-Men is something of real blood, saturated tears and blank spaces. That happened most resolutely/resoundingly in 'When God Loves Man Kills.'

I really appreciate this thread. It's a wonderful perspective and meaningful resource. As well as a real communal expression of vivid and unique individuality.